Longhorn Network in twilight: The life and legacy of a college realignment catalyst

Before the Longhorn Network aired a single minute of University of Texas athletics, its mere existence caused enough consternation to spark a round of conference realignment.

A decade later, another round of conference realignment hastened its demise.

When the Longhorns announced in 2011 the formation of a 24-hour television channel, it caused a stir. The flagship athletics program in a proud state securing a 20-year agreement with ESPN for a dedicated network, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars? LHN was unlike anything that came before it, a bold bet in a rapidly evolving media landscape. Nobody knew what to expect.

Years before making its vision a reality, Texas reached out to its heated rival, Texas A&M, about a potential partnership in the network. When the Longhorns eventually launched it alone, the move shook up the Big 12. But the realignment ripple effect is only part of LHN’s story. It endured heavy scrutiny leading into a debut plagued by distribution struggles. It also launched careers, elevated coverage to underappreciated sports and provided a template for the conference network Texas will soon play its games under starting in 2024. Although it will end before originally intended, LHN left a lasting imprint.

LHN was a one-of-a-kind undertaking that may never be duplicated given the conference realignment moves and television consolidation of the last two years. As LHN enters its final football season before Texas’ entry into the SEC, The Athletic spoke with key figures, past and present, at Texas and LHN, to examine the network’s history and legacy.

DeLoss Dodds, Texas’ athletic director from 1981 to 2014, said the idea behind LHN was hatched out of a desire to give a spotlight to sports that weren’t getting enough.

“Football was getting coverage, basketball was getting coverage, the other sports weren’t,” Dodds said.

Dodds figured that Texas would have to pay out of its own pockets to pull it off. The Big Ten Network’s launch in 2006 ushered in the era of conference networks, but nobody had tried one for a single school. Even Dodds was skeptical Texas could produce enough content for a 24-hour channel, which is why he called Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne early in the exploratory process — well before anyone, including Dodds, knew it would drive substantial revenue for the schools — to see if the Aggies were interested in partnering on it.

“There was a discussion about that, but it never got legs,” former Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said. “I never got the sense that we could cut a deal that would make sense for Texas A&M to be somehow connected to their network.”

Loftin had a trusted television industry contact later explore the idea of the Aggies launching a network of their own, “but the analyses I saw did not make sense for us,” he said.

A Big 12 network could have pre-empted the idea of schools launching their own, but some league members were reluctant to go that route. Kevin Weiberg, the Big 12 commissioner from 1998 to 2007, tried to talk league members into it before he left to take a vice president role at Big Ten Network.

“In order to do a conference network, you have to have a very broad assignment of media rights,” Weiberg told The Oklahoman in 2014, referencing the amount of content that must be surrendered and coordinated to fill out a cable channel. “In the Big 12, there wasn’t a willingness to participate in the common conference approach.”

Weiberg told ESPN in 2016 that Texas had opposed a conference network a decade prior but other members were “just as reluctant.”

Dodds pressed forward. He said he and then-Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson hired a pair of consultants to assess the viability of networks for each school. “In both cases, they said it was doable,” Dodds said.

Eventually, Texas went solo. Initial discussions with television partners were fruitful. Fox offered Texas about $3 million per year, way more than the Longhorns anticipated.

“We were shocked by that,” Dodds said.

Then ESPN offered $15 million per year for 20 years — a total of $300 million — to win the rights to the network. It raised eyebrows across college sports.

By the time Texas and ESPN announced the Longhorn Network in January 2011, the Big 12 had already been through the wringer. In the summer of 2010, the conference was on the brink of dissolution as six of its schools considered joining the Pac-10. The Longhorns were the swing vote in that saga and opted to stay in the Big 12. Colorado followed through and joined the expanding Pac-12, along with Utah, while Nebraska moved to the Big Ten.

The ability to retain and launch LHN, which would have been difficult in its new league with the Pac-12 planning to launch a conference network, played at least some role in Texas’ decision to stay in the Big 12. “It was definitely a sticking point,” former Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told The Athletic in 2019. “I don’t believe it was an insurmountable sticking point.”

The topic of a Big 12 network resurfaced in spring 2011 but never got significant traction. Texas had LHN, and Oklahoma was working on its own project with Fox, Sooner Sports TV, which launched in 2012. Other schools in the conference also began developing homes for third-tier content, some going the digital route.

As LHN inched closer to its August 2011 launch, others in the Big 12 took exception to how the network would be used. When LHN was first announced at the start of the year, “at least one exclusive football game” was to be assigned to the channel. Six months later, ESPN announced LHN would air a second game, which would be a Big 12 matchup.

Soon thereafter, Dave Brown, then LHN’s vice president of programming and acquisitions, disclosed the network’s intention to broadcast 18 high school football games during an interview with an Austin radio station.

“I know people are going to want to see Jonathan Gray,” Brown told 104.9 FM in Austin, referring to the five-star running back recruit from Aledo, Texas, who was verbally committed to the Longhorns. “I can’t wait to see Jonathan Gray. The feedback we got from our audience is they just want to see Jonathan Gray run — whether it’s 45-0 or not, they want to see more Jonathan Gray.”

Those comments made other Big 12 schools uneasy. Some were already frustrated with unequal revenue sharing in the league, which gave the bigger brands a financial edge. Loftin says Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe was “very deferential” to Texas leadership and it was clear that the Longhorns felt “they had control of the conference.”

“You can imagine the kind of angst that brought, because if you began to broadcast high school football games on a national network, you can imagine how much of an influence you might have in recruiting, especially here in Texas,” Loftin said. “So that became a big deal.”

Former Texas coach Mack Brown thought it was a great idea. “I wanted to do that to help the high schools,” he said. “(Opponents) thought it would be a huge advantage that Texas was helping the high schools and they might talk about our recruits.”

Texas and the networks had to navigate NCAA rules, which prohibit schools from publicizing the recruitment of a prospect unless the recruit has signed a financial aid agreement or letter of intent.

Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said at the time, “We either all recruit by the same rules or we don’t. … I don’t care what money they’re making. They’ve always had a lot of money. That’s why we have a recruiting manual.”

Dodds says now that “having high school games every Friday night would have been wonderful” but understands the criticisms: “It was just not the right thing for us to do.” The Big 12 and the NCAA eventually ruled to disallow high school football broadcasts on university- or conference-affiliated networks, permanently closing the issue.

But the saga sparked Texas A&M leadership and alumni to reignite discussion of leaving the Big 12. In summer of 2010, Loftin said, Aggies had been split into three camps: those who wanted to go to the Pac-12, those who wanted to stay in the Big 12 and those who wanted to go to the SEC.

The threat of LHN adding more football game inventory and airing high school games united A&M supporters and decision-makers.

“We went from having a divided house to I’d say 95 percent of the Texas Aggies, current and former students, saying the same thing to me: Let’s go to the SEC,” Loftin said.

In Dodds’ opinion, the high school game issue was a convenient A&M rallying point, not a primary reason the Aggies left the Big 12. In the book, “The 100-year decision: Texas A&M and the SEC,” Loftin admits that “the network really was not the final straw.”

Other schools were exploring networks and ways to monetize third-tier rights. More than anything, Big 12 opponents viewed LHN as a symbol of Texas’ power and influence, and A&M used it accordingly.

Loftin says now he was convinced a year before A&M’s decision that the SEC was the right place for the Aggies, but “if we hadn’t had the LHN, I’m not sure we could have pulled it off. So I have to thank Texas for doing that.”

All the while, there was the question of how much viewership a network dedicated to one school would get.

Whatever potential LHN had was stunted by distribution struggles in the early going.

When the network launched in August 2011, the two largest cable providers in Austin — AT&T U-Verse and Time Warner Cable — didn’t carry LHN.  Verizon FiOS was the first national provider to carry LHN, but its reach was an estimated four million subscribers, nowhere near the level of distribution ESPN and LHN hoped for. FiOS was available in North Texas but not Central Texas, where Austin is located.

The carriage issue led to occasionally awkward circumstances for LHN staffers.

“I went to the eye doctor the month that we launched and had a Longhorn Network T-shirt on,” said Brooke Miller, a former senior associate producer at ESPN who was on the initial LHN staff. “And I was berated by him because he did not have Longhorn Network access. He asked me why did we have to come in and ruin Longhorn sports and make it harder for him to watch football.

“I’m like, ‘Sir, I just need you to refill my contacts prescription.’”

Eventually, major carriers signed on. AT&T U-Verse agreed to carry LHN in 2012. Time Warner Cable reached an agreement to carry the network a day before Texas’ 2013 season opener against New Mexico State. By 2015, DirecTV and Dish Network had the channel. By 2016, it was available in 20 million households.

“I remember us cheering every time a deal would get done,” said former LHN reporter Kaylee Hartung.

Carriage issues notwithstanding, ESPN was determined to put forth a top-notch product and dedicated resources accordingly. Alumni of “College GameDay”, “Sunday NFL Countdown”, the network’s NBA coverage and “SportsNation” were part of LHN’s initial staff.

The LHN “OGs,” as current and former employees call them, saw it as an opportunity to build something great.

“We had studs at every position, on-air, behind the camera,” said coordinating producer Ande Wall, who has been at LHN since its inception. “It was a coveted role. We were doing something that had never been done before.”

It was a passion project for those who were there from the beginning. The buildup to launch was hectic because LHN was starting from scratch. “We had to create show names, graphics packages, music,” Wall said. Miller recalled getting boxes of tapes shipped from ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters to build LHN’s video library. She even spent a couple of nights sleeping under her desk in the office to help get things done.

The network launched on Aug. 26, 2011, with the “College GameDay” crew joining LHN anchor Lowell Galindo, reporter Samantha Steele (now Ponder) and analyst Kevin Dunn for a two-hour preview show to kick things off. That led into the first live competition, a UT volleyball match; followed by an episode of “Texas All-Access,” a behind-the-scenes program on the football team.

Former coordinating producer Patricia Lowry, now a vice president of production at ESPN, remembers venturing to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for a launch party midway through the volleyball match and watching LHN on the stadium’s giant screen.

“I thought, ‘Wow, we really made it and it doesn’t suck,’” Lowry said. “It looked fantastic.”

Texas football’s season opener against Rice in 2011 was exclusively broadcast on LHN. Lowry said the goal each year was to televise 175 live events across Texas’ 12 sport categories. For Longhorns fans, it was unparalleled coverage. “The people who you wanted to talk to were actually accessible,” Hartung said.

LHN aimed to give sports like volleyball, soccer, tennis, swimming and track first-rate treatment, akin to what the most visible sports get.

“I was very impressed,” Dodds said. “It was network quality.”

But the promise of unprecedented access provided some challenges, at least in football. The cameras were in practices and team meetings. Brown, now the head coach at North Carolina, said after he left Texas, opposing coaches who were in areas that received Longhorn Network told him they tuned in.

“They all sat there and watched us practice,” Brown said. “I thought it was happening, but nobody would admit it until I left.”

LHN staffers at times got the cold shoulder from opposing schools who were skeptical of the network’s intentions. Miller said producing LHN shows on other schools’ campuses was a challenge.

“There was a point where we were using duct tape to cover the Longhorn Network insignia on our cameras and gear just because of the vitriol that was received for being associated with Longhorn Network,” she said.

Hartung said that with some opposing coaching staffs, she had to make it clear that “No, I’m not a mole for the University of Texas. I’m not a spy. I’m just here to do my job.”

LHNers weren’t immune to the chatter, whether it was buzz about realignment or jokes about distribution.

“It was weird to feel hated, to feel like you were being personally pinned for conference realignment,” Wall said. “But I also understood it. Working in sports, you understand how passionate fans are.”

“We needed to be as good as we could be every time we were out,” Lowry said. “A lot of people think this isn’t going to work, it’s going to fail. We need to prove ‘em wrong.”

Several factors drove them apart during a previous realignment round, but Texas and A&M will be back in the same conference in 2024. (Darren Carroll / Getty Images)

The revelation in the summer of 2021 that Texas, along with Oklahoma, would move to the SEC rocked college football. As the schools and the league finalized the move, questions lingered about the future of the Big 12 and the College Football Playoff.

Although excitement bubbled on the Forty Acres, there were much different feelings for those at LHN, who were suddenly in limbo because the SEC already has a broadcast home for its schools’ third-tier rights.

“I knew right as soon as I saw that,” Wall said. “We already have an SEC Network. … When I saw that, I just felt really sad.”

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte confirmed during an athletics town hall in February that “the Longhorn Network will cease to exist as we move into the SEC.” The baseball, softball, volleyball and other live events that UT fans have become accustomed to watching on LHN will be moved to SEC Network and ESPN+.

“Our goal is to put all 175 events on the platform,” Del Conte told Horns247.com in February.

As part of that effort, Del Conte said Texas will build a $20 million studio and hire talent to produce the games itself, which is customary for schools that broadcast games on SEC Network or ESPN+.

Last month, Del Conte complimented SEC Network’s “massive reach” when discussing the transition.

“The Longhorn Network, it’s great for 175 live events, but we have a lot of time and a lot of other hours within the day you’ve got to fill,” he said. “So we’re excited about this new opportunity. Grateful for the partnership with Longhorn Network.”

But there’s a human element to LHN’s fate. “When you look at us now,” Wall said, “we are incredibly thin. We like to say efficient. We do a lot with a little.”

LHN has maintained a consistent level of live sports coverage, but a nightly studio show presence, like “Longhorn Extra” — what was LHN’s version of SportsCenter — no longer exists. Wall said the staff adapted by diving into storytelling.

An example: In 2021, LHN producers Nick Hetherington and Michael Holmes directed a three-part documentary titled “05” that provided a deeper look into Texas football’s last national championship season. It included 40 new interviews across three hour-long episodes.

In LHN’s first 11 years of existence, the channel won 33 Emmy awards.

Lowry found herself a bit emotional as it set in that so many of this year’s events will be the last ones LHN gets to broadcast as a team.

“This is a small office and it feels more like a family,” she said. “You know your family’s not going to be together anymore.”

Amid the sadness of LHN’s pending demise, there’s hope among those still there to strike a celebratory tone as things come to a close. “We just want to have as much fun and do as much cool s— as we can,” Wall said. She spoke of getting LHN alumni together, including Ponder (now the host of “Sunday NFL Countdown”), Hartung and Emmanuel Acho (now a Fox Sports studio analyst and co-host of FS1’s “Speak”) to pay tribute to the network.

Miller takes comfort in knowing that even though LHN won’t exist, the stories will live on in some form on SEC Network. It’s just that “the piece of the pie will become a little bit smaller,” since SEC Network will be home to programming for 15 other schools.

LHN’s existence was almost never stable, but it leaves a substantial legacy beyond its role in realignment. It launched careers for so many in front of and behind the camera. Wall called it “a place of learning.” Hartung, now a contributing correspondent for NBC News and “The Today Show” and a reporter for NFL Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, called it the most game-changing opportunity of her career.

“It was a real working newsroom in a way that I don’t think people understand,” Hartung said. “It’s hard for me to imagine that there could have been a better training ground for me for covering sports.”

LHN gave quality coverage to sports that didn’t typically get it, which was Dodds’ original goal. Texas volleyball coach Jerritt Elliott said the exposure was a positive for his national-championship-winning program on multiple levels, including recruiting.

“You need talent to be successful, you need culture to be successful and most importantly, for longevity and long-term success, you need a brand,” Elliott said. “And I think the Longhorn Network has given our program a strong brand.”

Said Lowry, “I hope that if anybody turned it on and watched it, they felt like they were watching ESPN.”

It also provided lessons and experience from which ESPN drew as it launched SEC Network in 2014. It’s not a coincidence that several folks who were integral in launching LHN were tabbed to help start and grow ESPN’s first conference network into a success.

“We were the little engine that could,” Miller said. “No matter what hill popped up before us, we just kept chugging. Even amongst the challenges and public perception, there was a lot of joy had along the way.”

Perhaps the most disappointing part of the LHN era, for all it did to reshape college football’s media and conference landscape: The star subject, Texas football, never reached the elite status it enjoyed prior to the network’s launch. From 2001 to ’09,  the Longhorns posted nine consecutive seasons of 10 or more wins and a 110-16 record, including two national title game appearances. Since 2010, Texas has hit 10 wins only once. The Longhorns are 91-72 in that span, with no conference championships. However, Texas was picked first in July’s Big 12 preseason media poll, a first since the conference eliminated divisions in 2011.

LHN alumni are well aware of the larger narrative that has followed the network. But they hold great pride in the work they produced and hope that, more than anything, those who watched it understand they cared deeply for the stories they told, the subjects they covered and the viewers who tuned in.

“Whether you like Texas, don’t like Texas or whatever,” Lowry said, “it was done the right way.”

And though casual college football fans may only know LHN from how it sparked Big 12 uncertainty, the network was more of a byproduct of the ever-evolving television landscape in the sport than something that actively altered it. The reason Texas A&M left the Big 12 was Texas, and the Aggies’ desire to find an identity away from its arch rival. LHN was a factor, but it was one of many, and the move was decades in the making.

Like the Aggies, other schools became frustrated with the perceived power imbalance and revenue structure in the Big 12. LHN proved to be a tipping point at the time, but ultimately, the doomsday scenario that some predicted when the network arrived never materialized.

For decades, schools and conferences have made major decisions based on TV revenue. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1984 ruled that the NCAA’s long-held restrictions on how often schools could be broadcast violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and thus, allowed schools and conferences to negotiate their own deals.

It was a harbinger for major conference realignment moves to come. The Southwest Conference dissolved in 1996 as Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor joined Big 8 to form the original Big 12, a merger made in large part to increase TV footprint. The Pac-12 as we know it has scattered, in large part because of its inability to attract a TV contract its members could agree upon. Conference strength is based heavily on TV contracts, payouts and the perceived stability those provide.

Those conditions created the possibility of the Longhorn Network, which provided a substantial revenue boost for Texas, even if it didn’t fill ESPN’s coffers.

“When you have that kind of atmosphere, you can be an entrepreneur,” Dodds says. “I think that’s what we did.

“I think the opportunity was there and we just took advantage.”

Editor’s note: This story is part of The Athletic’s Realignment Revisited series, digging into the past, present and future of conference realignment in college sports. Follow the series and find more conference realignment stories here.

(Top illustration: John Bradford for The Athletic; Photos: Brian Bahr, Aaron M. Sprecher, Robert Daemmrich / Getty Images)