State Legislator Clowns University of Texas President in Hearing Over School’s $200M+ Athletic Budget: ‘That’s Without a Winning Football Team’

After the University of Texas and Oklahoma announced their bombshell decision to join the SEC, effective July 1, 2025, the Big 12 is left to pick up the pieces and figure out what’s next.

Days after the announcement and years before the move goes into effect, state legislature began hearings to discuss the “Future of College Sports in Texas.” On Monday, University of Texas president Jay Hartzell testified in front of the state senate committee.

During the hearings, State Senator Lois Kolkhorst asked Hartzell to estimate UT’s athletic budget.

“It’s over 200 million,” Hartzell said. “It’s probably 220, 225, in that range,” which he acknowledged likely makes UT the biggest spender on college athletics in the country.

“And that’s without a winning football team of late,” Kolkhorst said bluntly.

“In spite of our football team. We’ve been winning, just not like we’d like to win,” Hartzell responded.

But Kolkhorst wasn’t finished grilling Hartzell on his university’s lack of success on the football field. “(Texas is) 3-7 against the Horned Frogs, so maybe your fan base would rather lose to Alabama than TCU,” she said, brutally roasting the president.

Kolkhorst is a TCU alum and she was even too generous in her assessment of Texas, who is actually 2-7 against the Horned Frogs. But she’s right, fans probably would prefer to lose against Alabama, because at least losing to the best college football program in the country gives them an excuse, whereas the mounting losses to TCU offer no excuses.

The University of Texas president had to stand there and take one for the team, but despite getting beaten on their way out the door, the departure of Texas and Oklahoma will leave the Big 12 brutally battered and scouring for solutions.

Watch above via KDFW