College Football Doesn't Need More Carnival Barkers. It Needs More Statesmen.
Brett Yormark has been good for the Big 12 in some ways. But college sports needs fewer marketers and more commissioners.
There is a reason I believe college football needs more Greg Sankeys and Jim Phillipses, and far fewer Brett Yormarks.
That isn’t to say Brett Yormark has been a failure. He hasn’t.
In fact, I think history may remember him as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the most important day in modern college sports history: June 21, 2021, when the Supreme Court unanimously decided the NCAA’s Alston case.
That decision changed everything.
For decades, schools largely competed within similar financial restraints. Sure, there were advantages, but there were still guardrails.
Alston accelerated the collapse of those guardrails.
Now? Schools with deep-pocketed donors can openly flex financial muscle in ways they simply couldn’t before. That’s where the Big 12 quietly became fascinating.
Texas Tech suddenly became a legitimate heavyweight because of its incredibly wealthy donor base and institutional commitment. BYU possesses something almost no other school in America has: a worldwide alumni network tied together through the LDS Church that is remarkably engaged and willing to support its university. Houston has billionaire Tillman Fertitta, whose financial backing has transformed the university’s athletic ambitions.
Those schools always had resources. Now they can actually leverage them. That is why the Big 12 remains nationally relevant despite losing Texas and Oklahoma.
Without Alston, I don’t think the league has nearly the same ceiling. Ironically, that means Yormark inherited a much healthier situation than many realize.
Bob Bowlsby deserves more credit.
When Texas and Oklahoma announced they were leaving for the SEC, most people assumed the Big 12 was dead.
It wasn’t.
Former commissioner Bob Bowlsby deserves enormous credit for stabilizing the conference. Adding BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF wasn’t flashy, but it kept the league alive long enough for the sport itself to change.
Then Alston fundamentally reshaped the economics of college athletics.
Instead of becoming a permanent second-class conference, the Big 12 suddenly found itself filled with schools capable of competing financially. The SEC and Big Ten still possess enormous structural advantages.
Nobody disputes that.
But the Big 12 doesn’t need miracles to stay relevant anymore. It simply needs competent leadership.
