With micro-rebuild complete, Oklahoma confidently embraces SEC era and its bevy of new challenges

The Sooners have as much college football history as anybody, but they know life in the SEC will be much different than the Big 12

By Brandon Marcello Jul 17, 2024 at 10:12 am ET• 6 min read

DALLAS -- Joe Castiglione hovered in the shadows Tuesday, content to blend into the crowd of 1,200 reporters as he watched Oklahoma take the stage for its grand debut at SEC Media Days.

The longtime Oklahoma athletics director marveled at the scene in the familiar stomping grounds of Big D, where the SEC transformed an entire floor of the Omni Hotel into an indoor carnival for the media to pose questions to college football's best coaches and the sport's brightest superstar athletes.

"It's an event," Castiglione told CBS Sports. "It's not just a press conference. I've seen fans of other schools."

The chaotic scene this week is a far cry from the wide-open, lightly-covered media gatherings in the Big 12, but it's nothing new for the SEC, which rolled out the red carpet for the Big 12 castaways, traveling west to Dallas -- just a 15-minute drive away from the Big 12's headquarters -- to celebrate Oklahoma and Texas' long-awaited arrival after three years of waiting in conference realignment's purgatory.