By Logan Dubel, Editor-in-Chief

It’s an adrenaline rush first-year students will finally taste this fall; The sight of Bevo, AC DC’s “Thunderstruck” blaring and a sea of burnt orange across Darrel K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. For upperclassmen, Texas Exes and fans alike, it could feel new all over again. As the Longhorns finally make their highly-anticipated entry into the Southeastern Conference, there promises to be no shortage of excitement surrounding Texas sports this year.

When news broke more than three years ago that the Longhorns, along with longtime rival Oklahoma, would leave the Big 12 after nearly three decades, many began imagining a new era for Texas on the field. Moody faculty and students started dreaming of new opportunities in the press box.

“I came here from Northwestern, and for anyone who watches sports media, Michael Wilbon gets on ESPN and tells you how he went to Northwestern almost every day of the week. I have always thought, ‘This is Texas.’ We should have somebody on the air who says, ‘I went to Texas,’” said Interim Provost Rachel Davis Mersey, who served as Moody College Dean at the time of this interview. “I always thought that was true, and you combine that with the move to the SEC. I think there’s a tremendous opportunity for UT to be the leader in sports production and broadcasting.”  

This commitment spans inside and outside the classroom. Moody recently hired two new  faculty members, who will teach sports media classes starting this semester. The process is  already underway to approve a sports production and broadcasting minor.   

Additionally, Bevo Video Productions will vastly expand its footprint, offering students paid  opportunities with gameday in-venue  production for dozens of athletic contests. While some of these opportunities existed in years prior, the move to the SEC will bring UT athletics  personnel into the booth with students, rather than an outside production company. Plus, UT Athletics invested in four new state-of-the-art control rooms, which will offer students the chance to work with the latest sports media technology.   

Still, not everyone came along for the ride to the SEC. The Longhorn Network, which operated as a home for Texas content for over a decade, closed at the end of June. The channel is now a free digital platform, serving as a library for archival content and new school-produced programming.  

“Before, there were maybe two or three students (in the control room). Now, the opportunity is for more students with Bevo Video Productions to be up there,” said Gerald Johnson, Moody’s executive director for innovation and partnerships. “There’s definitely a much bigger desire that didn’t exist before to tap into the students’ talent, and content that they would propose for LHN. Given that it’s digital, and it’s not constricted to a 24/7 cycle, the possibilities are unlimited.”   

For Longhorns aspiring to enter the sports world, particularly in front of the camera, this new model offers much-desired opportunities.    

Jason Kinander, who graduated from Moody in May 2024 and now works as a sports and news reporter at WBIW in Topeka, Kansas, said he felt the  Longhorn Network’s presence on the field  prohibited students from racking up as many  opportunities.   

“It made student media’s job more difficult, and it really created an inauthentic experience,” said Kinander, who led Texas Student Television’s sports department his senior year. “We never got to  interview the football players on the field after home games, and that’s something that is  customary. It takes the opportunities away from the students, and it honestly restricts the exposure to media training for the athletes too. We felt like any other outlet, which is fine, but there was no learning aspect.”    

While many Moody faculty worked long before SEC talks heated up to offer students more  opportunities in sports, Kinander said there were few chances for students to get their reps in with a camera and microphone. He said while his parents helped him pay for his trip to cover the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans earlier this year, there should be more funding made available for other students to get in on this action.

“It’s about learning opportunities and giving people what they’re paying for,” he said. “Having students on the sidelines calling games and interviewing athletes is harmless.”

Johnson said he somewhat agrees that LHN did not make it a regular habit to open opportunities to students. However, Johnson said he feels optimistic that with new initiatives and an exciting level of attention, students in sports media will feel every bit as much of the action as athletes on the court or field.

It’s an ask that seems simple but now has renewed attention. Just like speech pathology students learning from real patients at the Blank Center or aspiring public relations professionals interning via UTNY and helping combat a real communications crisis, students in sports media want to be there for the action. Whether it’s in the end zone, beside the diamond or on the sidelines, they’re hoping more people say “yes,” and it appears the dawn of the SEC has many ready to help them score.