Longhorns football program roasted by Texas state senators during committee hearing

Pete Grathoff
·2 min read
7

Because of the University of Texas’ decision to jump from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, the state legislature started hearings about the future of college sports in the Lone Star State.

On Monday, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby spoke to a Texas state senate committee about the Big 12’s future without the Longhorns and Oklahoma.

University of Texas president Jay Hartzell also testified and there were some funny moments, just not for Longhorns fans.

First, Texas State Senator Lois Kolkhorst, who graduated from Texas Christian University, asked Hartzell about the Texas Longhorns’ lack of success on the football field.

Kolkhorst first asked Hartzell about the amount of Texas’ athletic budget (roughly $225 million) and where that ranks in the nation (likely first).

“And that’s without a winning football team of late,” Kolkhorst said.

Hartzell responded: “In spite of our football team. We’ve been winning, just not like we’d like to win.”

Kolkhorst then dropped the hammer: “(Texas is) 3-7 against the Horned Frogs, so maybe your fan base would rather lose to Alabama than TCU.”

Things didn’t get better for Hartzell after that.

Texas state senator Charles Perry, who graduated from Texas Tech, told Hartzell: “If you’re as big and great as you think you are, you should have made the Big 12 equal or better than the SEC. You didn’t do it.”

Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, formerly the AD at Mizzou, also slammed the Longhorns.

“Many of my colleagues around the country believe that the University of Texas created this situation because they think so highly of themselves,” Rhoades said. “My humble opinion: I completely disagree. I think it’s because they felt too little of themselves.”