Texas A&M to Join Southeastern Conference
BIRMINGHAM,
Ala. (September 25, 2011) - The Southeastern Conference Presidents and
Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced Sunday that Texas A&M
will join the SEC effective July 1, 2012, with competition to begin in
all sports for the 2012-13 academic year. The addition of Texas A&M
will increase the SEC membership to 13 institutions. It is the
first expansion for the SEC since September of 1991 when the University
of South Carolina joined the league. The University of Arkansas
joined the SEC in August of 1991. With the addition of Arkansas
and South Carolina, the SEC was the first conference to split into
divisions and add a conference championship game in 1992. “The
Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors are pleased to
welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family,” said Dr. Bernie
Machen, chair of the SEC Presidents and Chancellors and president of
the University of Florida. “The addition of Texas A&M
University as the SEC’s 13th member gives our league a prestigious
academic institution with a strong athletic tradition and a culture
similar to our current institutions.” “The
Southeastern Conference provides Texas A&M the national visibility
that our great university and our studentathletes deserve,” said Texas
A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin. “We are excited to
begin competition in the nation’s premier athletic conference.
This is a 100-year decision that we have addressed carefully and
methodically, and I believe the Southeastern Conference gives the
Aggies the best situation of any conference in the country.” Texas
A&M , located in College Station, will also be the third
institution in the Southeastern Conference to hold membership in the
prestigious Association of American Universities, joining Florida and
Vanderbilt. Texas A&M has an enrollment of 50,000 students,
ranking as the sixth-largest university in the country, with 360,000
former students worldwide. Texas
A&M also adds to the athletic excellence of the SEC. Last
season, the Aggies won three NCAA team titles (men’s and women’s
outdoor track and field, women’s basketball) and finished eighth in the
prestigious Learfield Sports Director’s Cup all-sport rankings. “On
behalf of our presidents, chancellors, athletics directors, students
and fans, I welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family,” said
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. “Texas A&M is a
nationally-prominent institution on and off the field and a great fit
for the SEC tradition of excellence-athletically, academically and
culturally.” The Aggies sponsor 20 varsity sports. Men’s sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, swimming and diving, tennis,
indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country. Women’s
sports include basketball, equestrian, golf, soccer, softball, swimming
and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross
country and volleyball. Texas A&M participates in every sport
sponsored by the SEC except gymnastics and the SEC sponsors every sport
the Aggies participate in except equestrian
|