OP/ED
In what is one of the biggest announcements in the history of Bobcat Athletics, Texas State received approval from the Texas State University System Board Regents to authorize the withdrawal fee payment from the Sun Belt, allowing the university to join the Pac-12 Conference, which was approved by the conference members.
It was a move that was speculated about for months but finally came to reality for Texas State who became the ninth member of the conference and the eighth football- playing member.
For many longtime Bobcat fans and alumni, it was a move many did not think was possible.
Seven years earlier, reports of the athletic administration failing to provide significant support to their athletic programs circulated, culminating in an infamous airplane flying around UFCU Stadium during the 2018 football season with banner reading “Fire Teis” in regards to former Director of Athletics Larry Teis.
By the end of the 2022 football season, Texas State had suffered eight straight losing seasons, going 23-73.
With the hirings of Don Coryell as Director of Athletics, Kelly Damphousse as Texas State President and G.J. Kinne as head football coach, the perception of what the university could be officially took off.
Winning back to back bowls over in-state opponents and capturing three Bubas Cups, given to the best athletic department in the Sun Belt Conference, in four years, Texas State became one of the top members of the conference.
In a stroke of brilliance by capturing the momentum of their success over the past couple of seasons, Damphousse and Coryell were able to secure Texas State’s place in the restructured Pac-12 Conference.
With the Pac-12 Conference securing an anchor media rights deal with CBS Sports through 2031, the conference will broadcast at least three Pac-12 football and men’s basketball games, potentially giving Texas State a national platform for the first time in the history of the university.
It’s hard to put into words how massive the move to the Pac-12 is, especially with hardships many fans and alumni had to put up with.
For years, it felt like the previous administration sat on their hands while programs like North Texas, UTSA and other conference rivals captured the momentum and seemingly surpassed Texas State in terms of notoriety.
However, a fresh change on top of the power structure along with an invigorating drive to make wholesale changes within the athletic department has flipped the perception of not only the athletic department but Texas State as well.
The university is now gathering a ton of momentum and the announcement of joining the Pac-12 Conference will supercharge it into overdrive.
Times are changing for Texas State in the best way possible, and it’s been a wild ride to get to this point.
So sit down, relax and enjoy a cold one because it is now a new era for Texas State.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
COLTON MCWILLIAMS SPORTS EDITOR
