- ABC News
- July 21, 2021
HOOVER, Ala. -- Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork is standing up for his school after a Houston Chronicle report that Texas and Oklahoma have reached out to the SEC about joining the conference. The newspaper cited an unnamed college official and said an announcement could come within a couple of weeks. Both Texas and Oklahoma said they would not address the report. "Speculation always swirls around collegiate athletics," a Texas spokesman said in a statement. "We will not address rumors or speculation." Said Oklahoma in a statement: "The college athletics landscape is shifting constantly. We don't address every anonymous rumor." Even so, Bjork said he will be "diligent in our approach to protect Texas A&M." "We want to be the only SEC program in the state of Texas," Bjork said. "There's a reason why Texas A&M left the Big 12 -- to be standalone, to have our own identity." Texas A&M, along with Missouri, left the Big 12 to join the SEC in 2012. Bjork said he and...