One of the biggest pieces of news in collegiate athletics in the past years has been conference realignment. Rumors and rumblings are a regular occurrence in the college sports world, but it’s become very real especially in recent months with brazen new TV deals and wild realignment news.
The headliners in recent times have been the moves made by current Pac-12 teams, with all but two of those teams heading to the ACC, Big 12, or Big Ten for next season. These are moves that make little to no sense geographically but are strictly about security for those programs, with super-conferences and mega-funded TV deals inspiring all of these moves.
What actually jumpstarted the current run of realignment was a move made by the SEC over a year ago, when the conference announced it would add Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12. Two high-profile programs would abandon longtime conference rivals and help bolster an already juicy SEC Basketball, with this move having a significant impact in college football, as well as in a few other sports.
No matter how you feel about realignment or react to the news we’ve heard, this is very real and is the future of college sports. The Pac-12 as we know it will cease to exist in nine months and that might not be the only league that falls apart in the coming years. These programs and executives are chasing the big bucks and you never know which league may fall victim next. It’s a major reason why the ACC recently announced their additions of California, Stanford, and SMU, adding to their membership in case they themselves are raided.
Moving proactively is important and that’s why we’re checking out the SEC again today. It was their additions of Oklahoma and Texas that seemed to jumpstart this madness, bringing them to 16 teams. What if they want to add more members to the league, perhaps reaching an even 18 or 20? Today we’ll be looking at ten potential programs that the SEC could look to add, presenting them strictly in alphabetical order, not based on preference level.
Clemson
There are a lot of factors in play for the SEC but the Tigers certainly check a number of the early boxes. Their location works perfect, right there in South Carolina not far from their rivals the Gamecocks. The football program has been one of the best in the nation across the last decade, winning a pair of national championships. Why couldn’t they work in the SEC?
Clemson has been one of the vocal leaders in the ACC in recent months in regards to adding to the league and there’s certainly reason to believe the Tigers could be setting up for their own exit from the conference. The SEC is overwhelmingly a better football conference and will likely have much sweeter long-term benefits from a monetary and security standpoint. This league isn’t going to throw in two Bay Area schools and SMU just to boost their numbers.
From a basketball perspective, things aren’t too shabby at Clemson, even if they aren’t exactly the class of the ACC. Brad Brownell has led this program since 2010 and been to a few NCAA Tournaments, making decent enough headway against the likes of Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia over the years. Why couldn’t this program be just as successful in the SEC?
Florida State
There was certainly a time when Florida State boasted one of the nation’s best football programs. Based on this year’s early results, that time could be coming back again, but we’re thinking about the long-term prospects here. There’s certainly plenty of excitement, fan support, and great play down in Tallahassee, but would the Seminoles really consider leaving the ACC and joining their rival Florida in the SEC.
From one perspective, the SEC would certainly love to steal another fantastic football program with historic success. They’d additionally increase the Florida market for the conference, getting a firm grip on northern Florida by adding the Seminoles. Thirdly, Florida State naturally fits into the geographic footprint of the league and there’s no question they’d immediately be competitive in the major sports.
The Seminoles recently made three trips to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, with Leonard Hamilton’s squad shocking people in the ACC with their success over the last decade. Now, Florida State’s basketball prowess certainly wouldn’t be the reason for a conference swap, but it is worth noting that they’ve surpassed the Gators recently and could absolutely make noise in basketball in a new-look SEC.
Louisville
Seemingly always on the move, Louisville has been in the Metro, Conference USA, the Big East, the AAC, and the ACC in the last three decades alone. It’s a program that has been successful at the major sports, though the football program wouldn’t exactly move the needle at all in the SEC. It would certainly be a proactive move for Louisville to jump down south, but wouldn’t it be sweet?
Kentucky and Louisville in the same conference would be quite the event, though these teams do regularly play in a number of their shared sports. The Cardinals fit the roadmap of the conference already, though you’d have to wonder if the league really wants another school in Kentucky instead of expanding somewhere different. However, we’re talking about a significant city and media market in Louisville, and that’s certainly not something to scoff at.
If we’re looking just at basketball, it’s a tricky tale with the Cardinals. Rick Pitino built a ton of success with the Cardinals earlier in the century, but it’s been a spout of inconsistency in recent years, with the program bottoming out this past season. In due time, Louisville will get back into the national picture; we don’t have to worry about them flailing in basketball in the SEC. The program has proven to be a national power, perhaps a move to the SEC could help jump start a revival?
Memphis
While the Volunteer State already has both Tennessee and Vanderbilt in the SEC, a third team could prove to be quite the addition. We’re certainly not finished with this current run of realignment, but Memphis is one of the biggest losers to this point. They’re still sitting there in the AAC, passed over by the Big 12 and other power conference leagues despite general success in the major sports in recent memory.
Moving the SEC into Memphis would provide another major media market, one that’s certainly comparable to Knoxville and Nashville in other parts of Tennessee. As these conferences look to expand, Memphis is a program that makes a ton of sense for everyone involved, and the SEC could proactively swipe them before someone else takes them. After all, the Tigers usually make a Bowl game and have a very solid basketball program.
Penny Hardaway certainly underachieved early in his tenure leading the Tigers, but they’ve been to the last couple of NCAA Tournaments and certainly sit as one of the powers left in the AAC in basketball. We don’t know what exactly will happen in this new-look AAC in the years ahead, but it’s not hard to imagine the Tigers looking like the class of that league. Perhaps that’ll set themselves up even better for a look at the SEC.
Miami
We already mentioned the Seminoles, so considering Miami only seems fair for the SEC. As it currently stands, this 16-team conference has just a single team from the state of Florida and the addition of the Hurricanes would do several positive things for the SEC.
First and foremost, Miami has a historically impressive football program. While recent years haven’t been as bright as say twenty years ago, Miami’s history and passion do legitimately mean something. A conference like the SEC is much more likely to court Miami than a younger program like Florida Atlantic or UAB. These aren’t exactly Jimmy Johnson’s Hurricanes, but putting the SEC in the South Beach market certainly sounds appetizing from a monetary standpoint for the league.
Then there’s what the basketball program has done in recent years. Jim Larranaga has done a fantastic job in shaping basketball down in Coral Gables, and that was even before the last two seasons. After leading Miami to their first ever Elite Eight in 2022, he took the Hurricanes to the Final Four for the first time less than six months ago. Basketball has been elevated in the SEC across the last half decade and Miami would be a spicy new addition to the conference and in recruiting for all sports.
North Carolina
We’re looking at North Carolina (sorry Duke) and we’ve certainly noticed that they’ve been outspoken in recent weeks and months about ACC expansion. It seems like the Tar Heels could be a program destined to move on, especially if a more attractive money deal comes along in the SEC. Plus, there are a number of reasons why North Carolina makes sense in the SEC if things do go awry in the ACC.
First and foremost, there’s no current SEC team in the state of North Carolina, and putting a foothold in Chapel Hill would be a fantastic move for the league. It’s a state that’s been owned by the ACC for generations, but peeling the Tar Heels away from Duke and NC State would have major consequences. From an athletic perspective, North Carolina is a rich program with plenty of history in many sports and already faces off with several of these schools on a regular basis.
We’re not even yet considering basketball, as North Carolina is a Blue Blood program, quite literally one of college basketball’s premier programs. With the opportunity to add a program like this to your conference, you absolutely jump at the chance, even if these movies are primarily due to football deals. The Tar Heels have an extensive history in the ACC and it’s hard to picture them leaving for the SEC on a whim, but this is one of the additions that would make the most sense for their league, reuniting them with former conference rival South Carolina and extending the SEC’s footprint.
Oklahoma State
Things start to get interesting now for the SEC, who could certainly raid even the new-look Big 12 for more members. We already know that Oklahoma will join the SEC next season, but why not extend a future invitation to rival Oklahoma State as well? One of the absolute worst parts of conference realignment is the death of regional rivalries and the ability to continue Bedlam would be a win for everyone involved.
Clearly, preserving rivalries is not the focus of realignment, and this move would be made in the best interest of both the Cowboys’ programs and the SEC. Right now, they are sitting in a decent position as the Big 12’s only team in the state of Oklahoma, but reuniting with their longtime rivals could be a sweet proposition if the money speaks in the SEC. Oklahoma State’s football program has been in pretty good shape historically, even though things have been a little rough this current season.
The Big 12 is a beast of a basketball conference, but would there be much of a difference for the Cowboys in the SEC? Oklahoma State has been in the Big Dance in just one of the six years since Mike Boynton became head coach, though they have been a decent contributor in a Big 12 jammed with talent. There’s no telling how different life would be in the SEC, but basketball isn’t going to be the reason for or against a potentially successful transition.
Texas Tech
Things get even more interesting because Texas Tech would be quite the pull for the SEC. Consider first that the recent additions to the league already mean that Texas is departing the Big 12 to reunite former conference rival Texas A&M. Could it actually be possible to get all three of those Texas schools into the SEC? Would the league even want three different Texas schools, and only the Longhorns in a major TV market?
Texas Tech’s football program is no slouch, though clearly adjusting to life in the SEC wouldn’t be an easy task. If the money came calling and the SEC was interested, this would be a fantastic move to retain some of those rivalries formerly from the Big 12. Again, we’re talking about Lubbock, so we’re not exactly giving the SEC a huge new base or even a new footprint of fans to pull from. There might be more exciting options on this list than another Texas team.
We haven’t even considered the basketball program, which in itself has been a never-ending saga in recent years. Texas Tech was in the national title game back in 2019 and could actually fit well with some of the basketball teams in the SEC. The program enters its first season with Grant McCasland and we’re still wondering if the Red Raiders are going to continue to be a consistent winner. For all intents and purposes, Texas Tech sounds like a great Big 12 program, but they could certainly do some good if the SEC is their next step.
Virginia
Though these moves are insanely bizarre in theory, the Pac-12 schools heading to the East Coast leagues does achieve something important. It’s given the Big Ten the markets in Los Angeles and Seattle, gives San Francisco to the ACC, and puts a few major markets into the Big 12. The SEC already added Oklahoma and Texas, giving them new footholds, but the addition of Virginia could be just as impactful.
The footprint of the SEC stops well south of Virginia and a brand new market is certainly a win for the league. Clearly the money would be the biggest factor, but the Cavaliers expanding the SEC’s hold further north would be a major occurrence. From an athletics standpoint, the football program has had its issues but there’s no question that basketball in Charlottesville is an art form.
Tony Bennett has done masterful things with basketball at Virginia, winning several conference championships in the ACC. If the Cavaliers are winning a league with Duke and North Carolina, among others, then they can certainly carve out success against the likes of Alabama, Kentucky, and the other great programs in the SEC. Again, Virginia basketball alone is not going to get this program into a new league, but it’s interesting to think about.
Virginia Tech
Could a well-established team like Virginia Tech be an attractive addition to the SEC? Virginia Tech football has (until very recently) been a relative great program and they certainly have history. Much like rival Virginia, they’d grant the SEC a new state and could even be a great pair of schools to add to the league.
The Hokies boasted a very successful football program a decade ago, but has their recent struggles cost them? They certainly fit well in the ACC for a number of reasons, but if the league starts to falter they would be an interesting addition to the SEC. Could that new league and a potential uptick in recruiting help get the Hokies back on track? Would adding Blacksburg really move the needle for the SEC? It’s fair to ask all of these questions; we’re not exactly putting Virginia Tech at the top of the potential list of additions.
Virginia Tech doesn’t exactly boast a super successful history in basketball, but they did recently make five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and have been a very decent ACC programs going back nearly a decade. For some, it may seem really weird to picture the Hokies in the SEC, but they could actually make a ton of sense competing with some of the programs in these major sports. Again, this isn’t exactly one of the top names under consideration, more of a byproduct if things start to fall apart down the line in the ACC.