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Oklahoma State Football

Holiday Over, Big 12 and New Commissioner Brett Yormark Moving Forward

July 5, 2022
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STILLWATER – New Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark doesn’t officially start his tenure as league commish until Aug. 1, but from the sounds of it the veteran sports sales and marketing representative and executive had no time for fireworks or picnics the Fourth of July weekend. It sounds like the “boom” of the holiday was more Zoom for Yormark. We know he had a Zoom meeting with the Big 12 athletic directors on Friday and Pokes Report learned that he was on a Zoom or call with all of the Big 12 present, soon-to-be past, and soon-to be-joining school CEOs on Tuesday morning.

Our guess is Yormark has been like a sponge since he was officially announced early last week and then got his rapid introduction to the dog-eat-dog world of college conference realignment with the Big Ten’s Thursday move to set up a Western front in the securing of membership from USC and UCLA.

PDA Entertainment Group
July 4th weekend a working holiday for Brett Yormark.

The athletic directors came out of their Zoom introduction impressed with Yormark and the very sketchy word was the Presidents and Chancellors of the Big 12 now and in the future were equally, if not greater impressed on how fast their new commissioner gathers information and grasp the lay of the land.

The word “aggressive” has been used in the description of Brett Yormark by each source we spoke with. One of the new commissioner’s biggest problems is the division within his own ranks. It is hard to lay all the strategy on the table when you have the equivalent of the fox-in-the-hen-house presence of Oklahoma and Texas involved in your meetings and even the new schools of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF involved.

Collecting information from various sources including those outside Oklahoma State and the Big 12 purview, everything is on the table.

goducks.com
Oregon a prize brand left in the Pac-12.

We did learn that the Oregon and Washington move to the Big Ten may not be as much of a slam dunk as we were led to believe on Saturday. Perhaps, Oregon and Washington have a greater allegiance to in-state rivals and educational partners than Oklahoma had to Oklahoma State and Texas to Texas Tech or the private schools they’ve been affiliated with in the old Southwest Conference and then Big 12.

That could make things interesting for Big 12 and Pac-12 considerations. Bringing together any combination of Pac-12 schools or introducing any sort of permanent merger increases in value greatly with the Ducks and the Huskies involved. If you had a conference with Oregon, Washington, Stanford, and a football power like Utah with a rivalry in place with future Big 12 member BYU, then you add Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, BYU, and Cincinnati, a combination of proven brands with bright significant rising ones, then you aren’t an equal to the SEC or Big Ten, but you are in the ballpark.

Earlier reports had the Big 12 looking at Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah and even meeting with them as early as today (July 5). Those four schools have value. Utah is a really good football program, but the others are sketchy based on current success, television numbers, and possible NCAA infractions with Arizona State.

We also know that across the board and outside of the current SEC and Big Ten membership there is plenty of anxiety to see the conference realignment process hit its end or at least a point of stability before the upcoming 2022 season.

Oklahoma State Athletics
You think Mike Gundy has a crystal ball.

Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy was absolutely right this spring. Remember when he was criticized by the media for suggesting the best move in the COVID pandemic was to get your athletes back on campus? Some writers completely threw Gundy under the bus, but he ended up being right. Now, Gundy’s projection of conference realignment is being written about again with credit that the coach knew what he was talking about.

Along those lines, now that Yormark has met with the Big 12 athletic directors and the school CEOs, we’ve learned he is also looking to establish connections to the Big 12 head football coaches. That tells me that Yormark has a complete understanding of what is important here and who has views that can be beneficial to the outcome.

Nothing is off the table, so it seems. Also, the anxiety of the USC and UCLA move to the Big Ten has put desires for a somewhat permanent position as a high priority.

There is still no substitute for membership in either the SEC or Big Ten as that is where the most money will be and it is a sure thing.

The ACC has problems as they have a well-written and strict grant-in-rights signed and in effect through 2035 and their current multi-media rights deal. Can any conference find a way to pry attractive additions like Notre Dame, Clemson, Florida State, and Miami out from the ACC?

The Big 12 is an aggressor and on the prowl with a new commissioner that is working at warp speed compared to the former commissioner.

Stay tuned because this is a story that is not going away and will potentially change day-to-day.

Discussion from...

Holiday Over, Big 12 and New Commissioner Brett Yormark Moving Forward

5,047 Views | 8 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Robert Allen
Joe Khatib
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Welcome to the roller coaster ride of College Athletics Mr. Yormark, Goid Luck!
CaliforniaCowboy
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hurry up and wait.

We might as well wait until the season is over (or nearly over) to worry about any further "alignment".

Everything is set in place until the existing GOR contracts end for every conference (aside from adding more)

IMO, then next significant item to happen is a decision on playoff expansion, or not. Then the teams will have a better idea of what they need to do (like ND)

I don't think that anybody else needs to panic, because there is no need to make hasty decision at this point.

Maybe the 12-Pac has some soul searching to do, and private talks could still continue with the 4 teams being mentioned. And 6 PAC teams could ask to join the B12, but there is no real rush.

Perhaps the B12 would be wise to make their desires known (adding 4 or 6), but once that is extended, then it's a wait and see game.

Eclectic
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I, respectfully, disagree. I do think there needs to be a rush. The Big 12 has sat on the sidelines until they bit us in the butt. The big 12 reacted.... Hopefully, Yormark has the vision and leadership to create a sustainable power conference in the here and now. I do agree that trailblazers, pioneers, etc. are generally the first to die, but in this case, the path is already there, and it needs to taken advantage of soon.
Otherwise, my primary hope is that we get an SEC offer soon.
Prattvillepoke
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Robert if you are correct with Oregon and Washington possibly having an allegiance with their sister schools why would they consider joining the Big 12 without them. Unless I missed it Oregon State and Washington State were not mentioned in any scenario.
PrattvillePoke
GreyGhost
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Isn't it ironic that the presidents(especially the president of USC) of the Pac 12 were absolute in saying that they would not entertain bring OSU, Baylor, Texas Tech, etc. into the Pac 12 against the advice of Kliavkoff, and now in large thanks to USC have had the script flipped? This indicates that USC had clear intentions of leaving a year ago and new that "building the conference up" would hinder those ambitions. Not unlike the presidents of the Big 12 following Texas and Oklahoma blindly, so too did the powers that be in the Pac 12.
CaliforniaCowboy
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Prattvillepoke said:

Robert if you are correct with Oregon and Washington possibly having an allegiance with their sister schools why would they consider joining the Big 12 without them. Unless I missed it Oregon State and Washington State were not mentioned in any scenario.
that was a rumor (bout the "sister schools") based on some Yahoo state legislator saying that he was going to introduce legislation to bind them together (UW/WSU) in the "next session".

if you look through the recent articles from that area, most writers do not think the legislation would pass, and that those individuals understand the economic impact if one or both get excluded.

TUSKAPOKE
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Commissioner Y - Be the aggressor and not get the BIG 12's arse handed back to you like your predecessor. Do not let the PAC 12 raid the BIG 12. Take eight of them and make this conference the BIG 20......UT, AZ, AZ ST, CU, WA, WA ST, OR. OR ST......GO POKES!!!!
Robert Allen
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Staff
I do think all PAC-12 schools would potentially be in play. I think i wrote all PAC-12 schools were in play. PAC-12 not limited to the four other media had mentioned in UA, ASU, CU, and Utah.
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