(11-20-2019 09:27 PM)Ourland Wrote:  I'll never believe that. There's no way Rice would have squandered an opportunity to join the SEC.

I had friends with SEC connections who called me to welcome Rice to the SEC. I think that means that the invite was extended. My understanding is that Rice had to commit to something in the range of $150 million in athletic facility improvements, and we were unwilling to do that.

Here's the way the politics have been explained to me from the SEC side. Ex-LSU football coach Charlie McClendon always enjoyed the Rice-LSU series because it helped him recruit Texas, and was a huge proponent of Rice to the SEC. He was living in Orlando at the time, and my understanding is that Florida nominated us (they wanted another AAU school). Vandy wanted a similar academic school so they wouldn't be the only one. LSU wanted it for recruiting. Alabama and Auburn had AAU aspirations, and thought that having Rice as a conference mate would help their case. Ole Miss and Mississippi State both have a lot of alumni in the oil patch in Houston. South Carolina was not a particularly happy choice, kind of the fallback when Rice said no. Georgia and Tennessee, in particular, did not want South Carolina because it infringed on their recruiting territory. South Carolina had kind of a renegade reputation, dating back to their leaving the ACC. There was kind of a feeling among some SEC presidents that Arkansas was a step down academically, and South Carolina was worse. That was 9 out of 10 votes, and Kentucky didn't have strong feelings either way.