Following the announcement that the University of Texas would be leaving its current Big XII conference for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) when the 2024 season begins, the critics have been pouring in. People are not happy with their decision to make the jump.
Given the status of the conference and the opportunities going to the SEC would bring their program, it makes sense. Yet, Texas Longhorns’ football head coach Steve Sarkisian is taking it on the chin for his words to ESPN and the new slogan.
“I think that they’ve kind of assumed this mentality of, ‘Embrace the hate.’ We get it. We’re the University of Texas, we get it. This is our last year in the Big 12. We can sit there and be a punching bag, or we can go attack the people that we’re going to play. And I think that they’ve assumed that responsibility to say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna go after everybody else too.’ I think that that’s the right mentality to have.”
Now people are calling them out for this and calling it racially motivated.
The American Association of University Professors, University of Texas at Austin chapter tweeted, “Exactly who at @utaustin authorized this hateful use of the Longhorn brand? Asking for all faculty working to instill a positive learning community in our classes and on campus. Surely there are better ways to show UT pride.”
In 2023, the message here is easy to understand. If you make a statement that the left can twist and turn into a racial issue, inject undertones of discrimination, or try to manipulate into their propaganda, they will. This is just a slogan from a college team. It’s time they let them just enjoy it.
