What Shane Beamer said of the SEC potentially adding Texas, Oklahoma
It was hard for Shane Beamer to ignore what’s been the elephant in the college football room the last few days.
Speaking at Columbia’s Welcome Home event Monday night, Beamer was asked about the possibility of both Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference and mentioned he hasn’t paid much attention to it.
“I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t been on twitter at all today. I had plenty going on at the office going on with our program. Obviously a lot going on in college football right now and college athletics. I’m still trying to figure out what’s what and what’s real. I saw some of the news today, but I’ll be honest with you,” Beamer said.
Also see: A list of visitors expected this weekend
“I talked to nobody at Oklahoma, other than the golf coach. The golf coach is a really good friend of mine and he called me. haven’t talked to anyone else and haven’t talked to anyone at Carolina. We’re worried about what we can control at south Carolina and ready to start practice next week.”
Both the Longhorns and Sooners released Monday morning they will not renew their contract with the Big 12, the first step toward officially joining the SEC.
If it happens, it mean Beamer having to play conference games against two of his former employers: Oklahoma, where he worked the last three years, and Georgia, where he spent two seasons.
The potential addition also brings two of the biggest brands in the sport into what’s been college football’s premier conferences over the last 20 years.
Beamer didn’t want to get too much into talking about it since nothing about either program joining the league is official, but while he understands it makes an already formidable conference that much tougher he also welcomes the challenge.
Also see: Which offensive players could make the biggest impact this season
“In this league, you’re in the toughest conference in America already. We know that week in and week out you’re playing against the very best,” Beamer said.
“Adding potentially two new programs to this conference makes it even more challenging but I’m in the mindset we get to play these other teams and get to do this. Certainly it makes it more challenging but makes it more exciting too.”
