Fans left debating over Texas' extravagant celebration as they officially join SEC: "So embarrassing" "Seriously impressive"

The Texas Longhorns joining the Southeastern Conference (SEC) was one of the major moves in the conference expansion and realignment games that have plagued college sports in the past few years. They joined the powerhouse conference alongside Red River Rivals, the Oklahoma Sooners and negotiated an early release to join in 2024 instead of 2025.

The Longhorns rang in officially joining the powerhouse conference with extravagant celebrations. There was entertainment throughout the day at the UT Austin Campus with fireworks and music shows headlined by musician Pitbull to usher in a new era in the Longhorns' history.

While speaking to reporters, Kevin Eltife, the program's Board of Regents chairman showed the program's enthusiasm at joining the elite SEC:

“We believe the SEC is where we belong," Eltife said. "We respect the schools in the SEC, and we’re excited to compete against them.”

College sports fans had mixed reactions in the comment section of the SEC post showcasing the celebrations in Austin. Some thought that they were over the top with the celebrations:

Many fans thought that the celebrations were pretty neat:

"Damn, that was seriously impressive," one fan tweeted.

"Looking forward to visiting all the great universities across the SEC. Renew old rivalries & start new ones. Texas truly looking forward to being part of the best sports conference in the Universe," another fan tweeted.

"Definitely blew Oklahoma’s welcome to the SEC event out of the water!!!" One fan tweeted.

Texas is an essential addition to the SEC

The Texas Longhorns are one of the blue bloods of college sports and combined with the Oklahoma Sooners, have one of the most intense and prized rivalries in the sport.

During an appearance on the "SEC Network," SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey revealed how he made the decision to target the Longhorns and Sooners for conference expansion and realignment:

"It goes back to an athletic directors' conversation," Sankey said. "Scott Stricklin at Florida, we were talking generally about potential new members years ago and he said, 'You need to apply the It Just Means More test,'" when considering expansion candidates.

"So, on a campus and in an athletic department, a university, does what they do as an athletic program meet that kind of expectation that we have? Obviously, [Oklahoma and Texas] do. It's interesting to travel the country and I hear from fans of the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma about their excitement."

The Longhorns by themselves generate a lot of hate, fear and adoration from other programs and their move to the premier conference in college sports makes for some spicy storylines in a packed season.

The Longhorns will also officially revive their storied rivalry with the Texas A&M Aggies which has been on hold since 2012 when the former joined the SEC.