Missouri officially accepted as 14th member of Southeastern Conference
Missouri has officially been accepted as a member of the Southeastern Conference. Along with new member Texas A&M, that means the SEC will compete as a 14-team conference starting next season.
Following is the official announcement sent out by the SEC Sunday morning:
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (November 6, 2011) – The Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced today that the University of Missouri will join the Southeastern Conference effective July 1, 2012, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2012-13 academic year.
The addition of Missouri will increase SEC membership to 14 institutions. The additions of Texas A&M, announced on September 25, 2011, and Missouri, are the first expansions 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 Presidents and Chancellors of the Southeastern Conference are pleased to welcome the University of Missouri to the SEC,” said Dr. Bernie Machen, President of the SEC Presidents and Chancellors and president of the University of Florida. “The University of Missouri is a prestigious academic institution with a strong athletic tradition and a culture similar to our current institutions.”
“The Southeastern Conference is a highly successful, stable, premier athletic conference that offers exciting opportunities for the University of Missouri,” said Chancellor Brady J. Deaton. “In joining the SEC, MU partners with universities distinguished for their academic programs and their emphasis on student success. The SEC will provide our student-athletes with top flight competition and unparalleled visibility. We came to this decision after careful consideration of the long term best interests of our university. We believe the Southeastern Conference is an outstanding home for the Mizzou Tigers, and we take great pride in our association with this distinguished league.”
Missouri, located in Columbia, will also be the fourth institution in the Southeastern Conference to hold membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities, joining University of Florida, Texas A&M University and Vanderbilt University. Missouri has an enrollment of 33,800 students, which would be the fourth largest institution in the SEC, with Florida, Georgia and Texas A&M having a larger student body. There are more than 260,000 “Mizzou” alumni around the world. The State of Missouri borders three SEC states: Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas, and they bring an existing rivalry with former conference foe Texas A&M.
Missouri athletic teams have excelled recently. Its men’s basketball team has made it to the NCAA Tournament three straight seasons and 24 times overall. The Tiger football team has been to post-season bowl games for six straight years and 28 times overall. The softball team has participated in the College World Series each of the last three seasons. The Tigers have won Big 12 Championships in men’s basketball, soccer and softball.
“I am pleased to officially welcome the University of Missouri to the SEC family on behalf of our presidents, chancellors, athletics directors, students and fans,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. “Missouri is an outstanding academic institution with a strong athletic program. We look forward to having the Tigers compete in our league starting in 2012.”
The Tigers sponsor 20 varsity sports. Men’s sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, swimming and diving, wrestling, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country. Women’s sports include basketball, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country and volleyball. Missouri participates in every sport sponsored by the SEC except men’s tennis and the SEC sponsors every sport the Tigers participate in except wrestling.
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224 comments Add your comment
St. Simon's Daddy
November 6th, 2011
4:27 pm
What difference does it make who the SEC brings in to a Tech Fan? You Tech posters are full of envy or absolutely have no life or you would not be on here.
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
4:28 pm
I hope all conferences go to nine game schedules, Still. As a Tech fan, I’d be fine with nine conference games, the UGA game, a good but rarely scheduled non-conference game (like Auburn or Tennessee or something) and one gimme.
The problem with the nine game conference schedule is that teams won’t have the same number of home and road games, and that’ll cause problems down the line.
Steve
November 6th, 2011
4:29 pm
Roy Kramer had vision when the conference expanded to 12 and a championship game was created. Since then, others have imitated but never duplicated its success. He also stated the strength of a conference is built on the relationships with a limited number of institutions.
Todays SEC college sports administrators would put heroin dealers to shame for all the ethics they have shown in the conference realignment dog’n'pony. Say hello to the CFB version of championship wrestlin’.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
November 6th, 2011
4:33 pm
St. Simon’s………you must not be from the south. they say football is year round down here. There is no new TECH news because the players are at home for the weekend. There were Dawgs running their mouths on the Tech blog (during the BYE) about the Clemson game. Southerns like to talk about football. I am watching the Falcons version of the UGA v NMSU game. I hate Bradley and don’t go on his blog.
St. Simon's Daddy
November 6th, 2011
4:34 pm
Good point George. All schools need at least 6 home games to support the overall athletic budget. Title IX changed everything.
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
4:34 pm
What a boneheaded comment, St. Simon’s.
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
4:36 pm
Agreed on your 4:34 post, St. Simon’s. Cool it with the Tech hating stuff. You’re better than that.
St. Simon's Daddy
November 6th, 2011
4:43 pm
George, I am not the one hating Tech. Read all the posts from GTBob and Kool Aid. I am not including you but UGA Blogs have Tech fans on here constantly berating anything and everything UGA does. I was simply making a comment.
J-tag
November 6th, 2011
4:44 pm
With all the yammer about Georgia Tech, I wonder, does the ACC even play football??
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
4:44 pm
Dude, I fully get that GTBob and GTJoe (assuming they’re different) are complete idiots. Don’t stoop to their level.
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
4:45 pm
Auburn is at 3:30?? Have we had a night game yet this year?? beside Boise???
Gordon
November 6th, 2011
4:46 pm
Is it just me, or is anyone else troubled that with a 14 team conference with permanent opponents and an 8 game conference schedule, you will only see teams like Alabama, LSU, and Texas A&M once every 12 years in Athens? Right now it is once every 5 years.
St. Simon's Daddy
November 6th, 2011
4:49 pm
I am not “stooping” to their level or anyone else. Not only them, read the blog on a regular basis. Half of the comments are negative and trying to provoke an argument. I will tell you this. Tech belongs in the SEC and not the SEC. I understand why they left but I would prefer the SEC to have the original teams and be a regional conference. Unfortunately television controls everything now. Eventually there will be 4 super conferences.
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
4:49 pm
Gordon, from the previous blogs, looks like we will go to a 9 game conf. schedule in a few years… Wait till we expand to 16 teams…. That will be interesting
Bucs coming back on the Saints now….24 – 16
Still@theKool-aidBAR
November 6th, 2011
4:51 pm
bobDawg Vandy and Tennessee were both 7 pm kicks. Did you have a few too many to remember? LOL
ARdawg
November 6th, 2011
4:51 pm
Gordon, don’t you think the talent level of the LSUs and Bamas are inclinded to change, ebb and flow every 5 years?
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
4:52 pm
Fair enough, St. Simon’s. It’s easy for fans of any team to be a big shot behind their keyboards. That goes for the UGA clowns on the Tech blogs and the Tech fans posting nonsense here.
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
4:54 pm
@ Still, yeah, Long day in Athens yesterday and the “Wedge” front chilled me to the bone……
BurytheBone
November 6th, 2011
4:55 pm
@Ward your post @ 4:18 was well spoken. I feel the same way. What happens at Tech doesn’t affect myself or any other Dawg fans. Like people on a train. I would much rather discuss football than read post that have no bearing on the season or its outcome. I’ve always enjoyed following high school football and its players. I like to follow the recruiting process and watch kids develop. For better or worse.
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
4:55 pm
If you were that cold, maybe you should have had a few more!
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
4:56 pm
… and I’m thinking no night games in Athens this year yet…..Seems like we are playing well during the day so maybe 3:30 is fine except for the shadows…..
Still@theKool-aidBAR
November 6th, 2011
4:56 pm
It was that Chilly with the wind? I figured the sun would have been fine in the stadium.
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
4:57 pm
…. George, I ran out of Makers waaaay tooo early in the day!!!!
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
4:58 pm
… the shade was not my friend yesterday!!!
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
4:58 pm
Ha! Bring two flasks next time!!!
Atlanta Gator
November 6th, 2011
4:59 pm
“Atlanta Gator, you have done your homework well, my friend[,] or you cut and paste well??!!!”
BobDawg, I have followed this like a hawk for a year and a half. While my personal preference was to have A&M and FSU invited to join the SEC, I could have predicted this outcome 18 months ago based on what Mike Slive and several SEC presidents were saying about TV markets. It’s what makes the most sense from a financial standpoint. An extra three or four million a year in additional television revenue may not be a big deal for Alabama, Florida or Georgia, but it will really help Vanderbilt and the Mississippi schools, and it can’t hurt all of the other mid-tier SEC sports programs.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
November 6th, 2011
4:59 pm
Thursday night at Bobby Dodd could be pretty Chilly for sure.
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
5:00 pm
I Did! Everyone else was begging for it… Geez, I felt like the local alchohol pimp in the stands….
St. Simon's Daddy
November 6th, 2011
5:00 pm
Bob,
Either way traffic is going to be a nighmare leaving. The Athens Clarke County police have no earthly idea on how to direct traffic. The SC game was a night game if you remember.
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
5:01 pm
You gotta be tough, Bob! Tell ‘em to bring their own!
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
5:02 pm
Long as it isn’t raining, it’ll be fine, Kool-aid.
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
5:02 pm
@ Gator, I heard you folks would not allow FSU anywhere near the SEC Kitchen Table. Been listening to Barnhardt/Durham alot and all this conference politics is amazing… Like Va. Tech would have to ask UVA’s permission to do anything as they begged to get into the ACC…..
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
5:04 pm
George, I made the mistake of telling them I had Makers… Next time, I’m bringing Ancient Age in the flask I have to “give away”…
richmondDawg
November 6th, 2011
5:05 pm
thanks ward….
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
5:05 pm
I just hope it’s close to being finished, Bob. I enjoy listening to B&D, too, but I could go another 10 lifetimes without having to listen to more of this nonsense.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
November 6th, 2011
5:06 pm
St. Simon’s………..USC was a 4:30 kick. Not really a Night game. It ended when it was darker but not a NIGHT game with a Full Day of Drinking and leaving at 11:30 or Midnight.
richmondDawg
November 6th, 2011
5:06 pm
With that home schedule, season tickets aren’t looking very attractive right now, but hey, what can you do?
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
5:06 pm
Excellent plan, Bob.
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
5:07 pm
traffic will be bad, Simons as we will be leaving “in the night”! Plus, my Frat is gone from Lumpkin which is a major pain as we would just resume “activities” there after the game…
Still@theKool-aidBAR
November 6th, 2011
5:08 pm
BOB………….get some Old Crow bottles and put your Makers mark in them. Nobody will ask for the CROW will they? LMAO
Inconvenient Truth
November 6th, 2011
5:08 pm
GT would have done anything and in fact, would have purchased knee pads, just to get BACK in the elite SEC. Anyone over the age of 50, recalls how GT tried and tried and tried ( without those knee pads) to get in the back door of the SEC in the mid 70s and was REJECTED.
For supposed strategic thinkers …………… the GT FATHERS were big fools leaving THE CLUB when they did and that departure has cost GT over the last 43 years, more money than their once every blue moon 2 Urange bowl trips afford them. They did the 1967 and 2009 Urange Bowls and as for a major bowl appearance …………………….these two were it.
No, GT would do anything to beg back in the SEC ……………….. 100% of ALL GT elders over the age of 50 would love to get back. AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN NERDS !!
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
5:11 pm
Hmmmmm…. @ Still…. I’m taking notes and this is a good Idea! Crow bottles… that is wise my friend…..Now this is the kind of info we need on these blogs, gents…..
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
5:12 pm
It doesn’t matter if we never went to an Orange Bowl, Inconvenient Truth. The bowl money is shared equally with the other members of the conference.
Atlanta Gator
November 6th, 2011
5:14 pm
“Gator, I heard you folks would not allow FSU anywhere near the SEC Kitchen Table.”
BobDawg, I don’t think that’s true, just for Florida’s own selfish reasons. Having FSU in the SEC would simplify Florida’s scheduling in football and virtually every other sport, and allow the Gators to play another non-conference opponent in football (Miami anyone?). Florida was FSU chief advocate during the 1991-92 SEC expansion cycle, but Bobby Bowden talked the FSU administration out of it because he thought it would be easier for FSU to win a national championship in the ACC. You know what? Bowden was right, but he sacrificed one of the long cherished goals of FSU administrators and alumni to do it.
Georgia, and South Carolina in particular, have real reasons for keeping their in-state ACC rivals out of the SEC. Moreover, neither Tech nor Clemson wold really add anything to the SEC as it exists in 2011. Unlike Georgia and South Carolina, however, Florida already shares its top-tier home state recruiting with FSU, and FSU does have a national fanbase. Having FSU in the SEC would not have expanded the television footprint, but it would still have added a lot of eyeballs and huge alumni base.
If the SEC ever expands to 16 teams as part of some consolidation trend to “super conferences,” FSU still has to be on the SEC’s short list even if Tech and Clemson aren’t.
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
5:14 pm
I go to disposableflasks.com to get mine, Bob. They work well because they are plastic and fit will in my belt (or sock).
Paddy
November 6th, 2011
5:20 pm
UGA Alumnus……Mo & Texas A&M are not in the Southeast, you are right. But neither is Kentucky. Last thing we need is another Yankee school like Kentucky in our conference.
garrymoore
November 6th, 2011
5:21 pm
hi to all dawgs.comers this is my frst post and thought i would say a big hello to yous –
thank yous speak soon
garry moore
Delbert D.
November 6th, 2011
5:22 pm
I never doubted that Mizzou would be the 14th school. None of the ACC schools were going to leave, and West Virginia, Louisville or Memphis (who actually publicly tried the case as the obvious choice) are not quality institutions like the top of the SEC has in Vandy, Florida and Georgia. These 2 new schools will be competitive in sports as well. The eyes of the Midwest are now on the SEC.
BobDawg
November 6th, 2011
5:25 pm
@ Gator, I feel Like FSU and the Dawgs are rivals even thought we don’t play them but they recruit South Ga. hard…. That would give us another rival to get our Alums riled up even more… great….
George Stein
November 6th, 2011
5:26 pm
The ladies at Mizzou had better be shopping for sundresses if they have any intention of fitting into the cultural norms of the SEC, Delbert.