Texas Longhorns Football

The NAACP's Texas chapter and five anonymous University of Texas students have filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights saying the school's continued use of "The Eyes of Texas" as its alma mater song creates a "hostile environment" for Black students.

Kate McGee of the Texas Tribune reported Tuesday the complaint, which was filed Friday, states the song carries a "racially offensive origin, context and meaning."

The filing argues Texas has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to address racial harassment complaints related to the song and are failing to provide the 14th Amendment right of equal protection by having those who disagree with the song perform in a separate marching band, per McGee.

"As Black students, we kind of feel as if it's not like our voices are heard," Al-Nasser Lawal, who attends UT and leads the school's NAACP chapter, said. "The main objective of the administration and the campus is just to appease their wealthy donors so that they can continue to get that funding, and that they don't really have our best interests at heart."

The complaint also alleges students who've publicly opposed the song have attracted "threatening statements" from alumni, per Megan Menchaca of the Austin American-Statesman.

"University students, alumni, staff and faculty who oppose the use of this racially offensive song have been disregarded and subjected to racial hostility ... because the hatemongers have been empowered on UT campus and the dignity and respect for those who have different beliefs has been undermined," the complaint states.

The U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights has yet to say whether it will launch an investigation into the allegations.

In March, the school released a 58-page report following a review of the origins of "The Eyes of Texas."

Key findings from the university's investigation include finding no direct link between the song and Confederate general Robert E. Lee along with "no evidence" the alma mater's lyrics were "intended to show nostalgia for slavery," per UT News.

The report said "The Eyes of Texas" was likely sung originally with use of blackface, calling that a "painful reality of the song's origin."

"Although it was not written in dialect and does not appear to have been composed as a minstrel song, we are pained and uncomfortable with this aspect of its history. We believe it is important to fully acknowledge and learn from the university's past," the review said.

The school opted to keep the song as its alma mater, however, and president Jay Hartzell released a statement to UT News about the report:

I commend the committee for its outstanding work and willingness to explore a subject that has aroused such strong passions across our community. The members' work offers a model for how society can talk across divides to tackle difficult subjects. In particular, I am proud of the students and student-athletes who used their voices to raise concerns last summer and then stepped up to engage in this conversation and contribute to the research. They exemplify our mission of researching, teaching, and then changing the world.

Texas' band played "The Eyes of Texas" as part of the longstanding tradition after Saturday's 38-18 home win by the Longhorns' football team over Louisiana.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray turned 24 years old Saturday, and one of his presents was a birthday message from Cardinals backup signal-caller Colt McCoy via Cameo.

It was a surprise to Murray, but apparently, that was the case for McCoy too.

ESPN's Josh Weinfuss explained the situation:

Here's the catch: McCoy didn't know he was recording the video for Murray. In honor of Murray turning 24 on Saturday, Cardinals quarterbacks coach Cam Turner bought a video message from McCoy through Cameo, a site that enables people to pay celebrities to record personalized messages. Turner said the birthday boy's name was 'Buddy' and poked a little fun at the rivalry between Murray's Oklahoma Sooners and McCoy's Texas Longhorns.

Turner used his mother-in-law's credit card and made up an email address just for the gift. That way, it was untraceable.

As Weinfuss noted, McCoy initially declined to do the video, but Turner agreed to pay double McCoy's $112 Cameo cost to expedite the message.

McCoy is in his first season with the Cardinals and 12th in the NFL after starring at Texas. Murray is beginning his third NFL campaign following a dominant Heisman Trophy-winning 2018 season for Oklahoma.

For anyone wondering, reviews of McCoy's Cameo work are overwhelmingly positive, with 10 of 10 people providing perfect five-star ratings.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian acknowledged his job probably got a little tougher with the Longhorns' 2025 move to the SEC.

Sarkisian told reporters Thursday the program's profile already made it a prominent target. Now, the hostility is likely to be increased with Texas helping to upend the college sports landscape.

"I think coming out of [the SEC move] and the talk of what's happened, our bull's-eye got a little bit bigger. We can't be naive to that," he said. "Whether it's crowd noise, whether it's yelling at us on the bench, whether it's the 'Horns Down' signal, all those things are really irrelevant to our ability to execute and succeed at a really high level.

One thing that works to Texas' benefit is that a lot of people root for the Longhorns to win. And perhaps an even larger number of people root for the Longhorns to lose. That's how the school raked in $223.9 million in revenue over the 2018-19 school year, the highest in the country.

Now, Texas is potentially positioning itself to be one of the faces of the super-conference era. The amount of potential schadenfreude will be off the charts.

Whether that remains the case over the long term might hinge on the Longhorns' success in the SEC.

Since losing to Alabama in the BCS National Championship in January 2010, Texas has just one 10-win season. That 2009 campaign is also the last time the team won a conference championship.

Still, the "Texas is back!" discourse illustrates how the Longhorns are often perceived as a genuine threat to win the Big 12 in any given season. That helps to magnify the setbacks they experience because the defeats seem to carry real stakes.

If Texas ultimately becomes a bit of an also-ran in the SEC, then the whole thing could get a bit rote and the bull's-eye Sarkisian referenced goes away. 

Miami doesn't have the same kind of history as the Longhorns, but the Hurricanes teams of the 1980s and 1990s were arguably some of the most polarizing ever in college football. Now, national interest in Miami football is minimal as the program fell from prominence.

The same can be said to some extent of USC the longer the Trojans tread water after the Pete Carroll era.

Maybe Texas is simply too big to fail in that it will always generate strong reactions either positive or negative. Going to the SEC could put that theory to the test.

Texas and Oklahoma officially requested to join the SEC on Tuesday, with the schools eyeing July 1, 2025, as the target date.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey released a statement about the request:

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby also issued a statement on the matter:

According to ESPN's Heather Dinich and Mark Schlabach, SEC presidents and chancellors will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss the logistics of potentially adding Oklahoma and Texas to become a 16-team "superconference."

The meeting will come on the heels of Oklahoma and Texas formally requesting membership beginning in July 2025, when their media-rights agreements with the Big 12 have concluded.

A source told Dinich and Schlabach on Tuesday there's still "a lot of legal work" for the Sooners and Longhorns programs to handle before they could join the SEC, so it's unclear whether a formal vote—which would require approval from 11 of the 14 current members of the conference—will be held during the meeting. 

"There's a lot to do in a short amount of time in order to get to a vote by Thursday," the source told ESPN.

The media-rights agreements may be the biggest sticking point in terms of the timetable for Oklahoma and Texas to make the SEC jump. Leaving before the deals expire in 2025 would cost each school between $75-80 million, per Dinich and Schlabach.

For now, it appears the Sooners and Longhorns will be content playing in the Big 12 until those contracts wrap up. According to ESPN, however, the schools could also "hope that the Big 12 dissolves" before 2025, allowing for an earlier transition.

It's all part of what figures to become a rapidly evolving college sports landscape, with schools making a merry-go-round of moves to ensure they land in their own 16-team conferences to avoid being left out in the cold.

A source told Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle last week fans will see "shifts happen like they've never happened before" starting in three years as programs jockey to avoid falling on the wrong side of the "haves and have-nots in the college sports world."

It's a situation that stems from a variety of factors, including the recent name, image and likeness (NIL) changes, the likely expansion of the College Football Playoff and the immense value of the next round of media rights agreements, per Zwerneman.

So Oklahoma and Texas appear to be getting ahead of the curve by making their intentions of joining the SEC clear.

While it's unknown if the SEC will hold a vote during Thursday's meeting, a source told Dinich it's "believed" there's enough support within the conference for Oklahoma and Texas to join.

Meanwhile, the Big 12 will drop to eight teams if it doesn't replace the Sooners and Longhorns.

The Big 12 announced its executive committee met with the presidents of Texas and Oklahoma amid rumors the schools could bolt for the SEC.

"The meeting was cordial, and the Executive Committee expressed a willingness to discuss proposals that would strengthen the Conference and be mutually beneficial to OU and UT, as well as the other member institutions of the Conference," said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. "I expect that we will continue our conversations in the days ahead and we look forward to discussing thoughts, ideas and concepts that may be of shared interest and impact."

Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports reported additional details from the meeting:

The Houston Chronicle's Brent Zwerneman first reported earlier this week that the Longhorns and Sooners had reached out to the SEC about a move.

CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd reported Saturday the Big 12 had discussed one plan that would see Texas and Oklahoma collect more revenue than the rest of the conference. The schools would get $56 million annually, equating to 1.5 shares for member universities.

The obvious question is whether the horse is already out of the barn.

The Big 12 appeared to be teetering on the brink in 2010 before Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State recommitted to the conference. Perhaps the Longhorns and Sooners will return once again, but their exits feel inevitable. Even if the Big 12 makes it lucrative enough to stick around now, this could be a topic of discussion again in another five or 10 years.

There's also the not-so-small matter of how appeasing Texas and Oklahoma could alienate others in the Big 12.

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman and Sam Khan Jr. reported the general feeling in the conference is being "pissed at Texas and disappointed in Oklahoma." One athletic director also believes the SEC move has been in the works for some time.

"I think this has been going on for six months—at a minimum of probably three months—and ESPN has been right in the middle of it," the AD said.

Money is almost certainly a driving factor in this situation, so it's worth noting Dodd reported Texas and Oklahoma could be on the hook for up to $80 million apiece if they expedited their withdrawal in 2022.

If university officials believe playing in the SEC is enough to offset that kind of financial penalty, then it's difficult to see how getting a little more from the Big 12 would be enough for them to abandon the entire pursuit.

As rumors about the SEC moving closer to adding Texas and Oklahoma persist, the Big 12 is reportedly making an effort to keep its two signature programs from jumping ship. 

Per Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, Big 12 officials are discussing a new financial structure that would increase revenue for Texas and Oklahoma. 

According to Dodd, the structure "would grant the Longhorns and Sooners an additional half-share annually (1.5 shares each), bumping their payouts to approximately $56 million per year."

In order to make the revenue balance out, the other schools in the conference would decrease their annual payouts. 

Dodd did note the topic came up during a conference call with conference officials and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby on Thursday. 

The revenue increase plan was described to Dodd as being preliminary and "from the 50,000-foot level."

The Big 12 currently has a 13-year, $2.6 billion television contract with ESPN and Fox that pays each school around $20 million per year. That total doesn't include revenue earned from bowl games and the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments. 

Speculation about the Longhorns and Sooners switching conferences began on Wednesday. Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle reported both programs reached out to the SEC and an official announcement could happen “within a couple of weeks.”

Per ESPN's David M. Hale, both schools would likely have to pay the Big 12 "upward of $76 million apiece to buy out the remainder of their grant of media rights agreement, which runs until 2025."

Texas and Oklahoma are two charter members of the Big 12 when the conference began play in 1996. The two programs have combined to win 43 national championships in all sports over the past 25 years. 

Texas and Oklahoma have "reached out" to the SEC about potentially joining the conference, according to the Houston Chronicle's Brent Zwerneman.

Brett McMurphy of Stadium spoke to a source who said there's mutual interest in the partnership:

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said that "somebody dropped a report from unnamed people" and that conference officials are only focused on the upcoming season.

A spokesman for the Longhorns was similarly vague, per the Austin American-Statesman's Brian Davis: "Speculation swirls around collegiate athletics. We will not address rumors or speculation."

Oklahoma State said in a statement it "would be gravely disappointed" if Texas and Oklahoma have engaged in discussions with the SEC:

The situation could evolve fast; a source told Zwerneman an announcement could come within a few weeks.

This isn't the first time the Big 12 has faced the threat of losing its two biggest member schools.

Oklahoma was "within 30 minutes" of bolting to the Pac-12 when realignment changed the landscape of major college sports in 2010, CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd reported in 2016. Intrigue surrounded Texas around the same time before the Longhorns recommitted to the Big 12.

The timing of this move would be surprising given the College Football Playoff could expand to 12 teams.

Leaving the Big 12 with the four-team playoff in place would make sense given that Oklahoma is the only conference representative to make the event.

The Pac-12 and Big 12 have both been losers in the playoff era because they're not perceived to be as strong as their Power Five counterparts. But a 12-team playoff might alleviate that problem since it could guarantee every Power Five conference at least one bid.

Jumping ship to the SEC could leave Oklahoma and Texas in the same position they are now:

The Big 12's TV contracts with ESPN and Fox could also be an issue; Zwerneman noted they run through 2024. "A source said Texas was planning to notify the Big 12 within the next week that it wasn’t interested in renewing the league’s media grant of rights, which expire in 2025," according to McMurphy.

Exiting would be a costly endeavor, negating some of the financial benefits of playing in the SEC.

From the SEC's perspective, adding Texas and Oklahoma would be a no-brainer.

The conference would widen its footprint while getting a perennial playoff contender in the Sooners and one of the most recognizable programs in college football in the Longhorns.

And if the NCAA follows the suggestion of president Mark Emmert and allows conferences to enjoy autonomy, 16-team super-conferences in college football are probably inevitable.

But those who remember the 2010 realignment saga will likely be skeptical about the likelihood that Texas and Oklahoma say goodbye to the Big 12.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield took a not-so-subtle shot at the Big 12 on Friday after the conference updated its guidance on taunting, which now includes a potential penalty for using the "horns down" gesture in the direction of Texas players.

Mayfield, who starred at Oklahoma during his college career, made ample use of the "horns down" symbol while a member of the Sooners and has continued its use in the NFL.

Big 12 Coordinator of Officials Greg Burks said Thursday a crackdown on taunting was one of the conference's goals for 2021, but he noted a lot of discretion would remain with the officials to handle on a case-by-case basis.

"Lemme put it this way," Burks told reporters. "If you do a 'horns down' to a Texas player as an opponent, that's probably going to be a foul."

He added: "Please all of you note, I said 'probably.' We have to consider intent and consider the situation. We'll leave it to officials."

This year's Red River Rivalry is scheduled for Oct. 9 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The implementation of the updated guidelines will surely be watched closely throughout the contest.

Unfortunately for Mayfield, it's unlikely he'll be able to attend this season's game between the Sooners and Longhorns because the Browns have a 1 p.m. local time kickoff in Los Angeles the next day as they face off with the Chargers in a key AFC matchup.

The 2017 Heisman Trophy winner will probably be active on social media, however, especially if OU picks up its fourth straight victory over UT.

The Texas Longhorns may be one of the most recognizable and lucrative programs in college football, but new head coach Steve Sarkisian doesn't believe the university can assume it will succeed just because of the resources it possesses. 

"We can't sit back and relax and think because we've got a great stadium, because we've got great resources, because we've got 5-star, 4-star players, that we just sprinkle a little magical fairy dust and all sudden we're a really good football team," he told reporters Thursday. "Winning is hard. Winning takes work. Winning takes grit and great teamwork."

Between the 2010-20 seasons, Texas had just one year with 10 or more wins. They haven't won a conference title since 2009, and have yet to appear in the College Football Playoffs.

Sarkisian, 47, has been tasked with returning Texas to the realm of the elite programs in college football. He's had two previous stints as a head coach—from 2009-13 with Washington (34-29) and 2014-15 with USC (12-6). He went 2-2 in bowls between the two schools. 

Neither stint was particularly successful. He had more success in his two separate stints as Alabama's offensive coordinator (2016, 2019) and as an assistant for USC, seeing those two programs play in four national championship games and win two titles. 

So Sarkisian, like Texas, is looking to prove he can reach the upper echelon in the sport. And he's projecting optimism about the Longhorns chances of taking the next step. 

"We've got a roster that is one that is more than capable of being competitive at a high level," he said. "This is my third time around being a head coach. And to inherit this team coming off a 7-3 season with three losses by a combined 13 points, we're in a little better position than most when you take over a new program."

There's no doubt Texas has the tools in place to be successful. They had the No. 15 recruting class in the nation in 2021, per 247Sports.com, and their Class of 2021 is currently ranked No. 5. They have a long, proud history and world-class facilities. Everything is in place except for the product on the field. 

Sarkisian's job security rests on him handling that part of the equation.