The addition of Texas A&M to the Southeastern Conference will not only bring a storied football program to the conference, but also a men’s and women’s track team that won the last three outdoor national championships.
Aggies coach Pat Henry coached LSU’s track team from 1988 to 2004, winning 27 NCAA titles. LSU boasted 37 Olympians and three Olympic gold medalists during Henry’s tenure.
LSU coach Dennis Shaver was an assistant coach during 12 of those championships and coached the Lady Tigers to the 2008 Outdoor National Championship. Shaver coached seven runner-up teams since taking over as head coach in 2005.
“I worked with Coach Henry as an assistant for nine years and had the opportunity to continue to compete against him while he’s been at Texas A&M,” Shaver said. “They bring a lot, at least in our sport, to the conference.”
The Aggies enter a historically strong SEC, which has accumulated 14 men’s national titles and 10 women’s titles since 2000. The combined 24 titles for the SEC make up more than half of all of the championships during that time.
“They’re going to have to compete at the level in the conference championships that we’re accustomed to competing at before going to the national meet,” said assistant coach Mark Elliott. “Basically, the same guys they have to run against at the national championship, they have to run against at the conference meet first.”
Elliott said the addition could give LSU an advantage in the national championship because the Aggies will be tired from competing in the grueling SEC championships.
“Now all their good guys and girls are really going to have to run hard to win the conference here and then also come back two or three weeks later to try and vie for the national championship,” Elliott said. “We all are traditionally going into the national meet somewhat banged up because the conference meet is so difficult for us, I don’t think they had as hard of a time with it.”
The Lady Aggies won nine Big 12 championships under Henry while the men swept both the indoor and outdoor titles in 2011, scoring a conference record of 175 points in the outdoor meet and winning by more than 85 points.
Shaver said Texas A&M will have to adjust to the SEC, which has different strengths than the Big 12.
“It’s a little bit different conference makeup in the SEC, where it’s a lot more sprint- and hurdle-oriented,” Shaver said. “It creates new challenges for all of us in the conference, but I think it creates new challenges for Texas A&M, too, in trying to win conference championships.”
The Lady Tigers enter the 2012 season defending indoor and outdoor SEC champions and finished third in both the indoor and outdoor national championships. The Tigers finished fourth in the indoor and outdoor titles.
Shaver said he’s excited to have them in the SEC and hopes that Texas A&M’s focus on track will be contagious in the SEC.
“They’ve made a real significant commitment to that sport there, and maybe that will encourage other universities in our conference to make more of a commitment to our sport here, too,” Shaver said.
 
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Contact Andrew Chapple at [email protected]