By Mark Blaudschun
FWAA Columnist
FRISCO, TX--Back in the good old days (late 20th century in 1999) when I was performing my duties as the FWAA President, my travels took me to Nebraska, which was then-as it probably is even more so now-Tom Osborne country.
The legendary iconic football coach was just starting his duties as coach emeritus. A long-time assistant, Frank Solich, was the keeper of the Husker flame, and he was doing a pretty good job of it. But he wasn't Dr.Tom, on the field or off of it.
And that was most evident at this gathering in Lincoln, where Solich was part of a huge crowd, but hardly anyone knew he had entered the room.
And that was the problem.
Fast forward the college football clock 26 years.
We are in uncharted territory with transfer portals creating free agency and NIL deals giving many football players the income they deserve.
The leadership in college football has changed. It's a money game now, with mega-million or billion dollar deals being worked out.
It takes talent, but it also takes someone to sell what is being sold.
Say hello to Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, who is trying to sell a conference that had been ripped apart by the defection of Texas and Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference a couple of years back. Like Osborne, he has a big presence in the room.
Under Yormark's predecessor, Bob Bowlsby, the Big 12 was fighting the fight, but it had an identity crisis as Oklahoma and Texas began picking up and leaving for the SEC.
Even more poaching from the predatory sharks SEC and Big Ten seemed inevitable. Before Yormark, it was a toss-up if the league would survive or wind up like a crippled Pac-12. He is still working on the marquee matchups, but for now he is trying to turn the Big 12's parity into gold. Can he sell last season's Big 12 Football Champion Arizona State, which was picked to finish last by the league coaches a year ago, as a new power with 15 other clones? He seems to be able to turn the tide for now.
Yormark, of course, is a Jersey guy with a different point of view. He went to school in Indiana, but worked in NASCAR, in show business, in the shark-infested waters of New York real estate. He made deals.
All this with a presence. You almost always know when he enters every room. Having an entourage helps, but there seems little wasted time.
Recently at the Big 12 Football Media Day activities at the Cowboys facilities, the Ford Center, he gave a state of the Big 12 address in which he made his points standing on a huge stage with a splashy video. He has jazzed up the league. At the Media Days, he had loud music blaring, on-stage round tables with fiesty answers from the league's head football coaches in front of the media. He extolled the virtues and profitability of Big 12 sponsors.
Yormark, indeed, talks big, and sometimes he comes close to writing checks he can not cash---ask Gonzaga and UConn how they feel about their Big 12 courtship. But in this era, it is wise never to say never. He may raise some eyebrows in the Big 12 but the 58-year-old Yormark had a recent majority of schools agree to an extension of his contract, three years through 2030.
He closes deals such as the $2.3 billion television contract the Big 12 made with ESPN and Fox Sports, which put the Big 12 back at the main table.
Big 12 teams will now collect revenue deals worth between $47 and 50 million a year on a contract which expires in 2031, three years before the SEC and five years before the ACC, which should give the now 16-team Big 12 more negotiating leverage.
As Yormark pointed out, the Big 12 is spread over 10 states, from Arizona to Florida, "exceeding even our highest expectations.''
He contends the Big 12 is the deepest conference in college football, but concedes its still doesn't have an Ohio State-Michigan, or a Georgia, Texas, Alabama lineup. But he is selling something different right now.
"Parity matters,'' he says. And Yormark sells the Big 12 as one of the stars of college athletics, right in step with the mighty SEC and Big Ten who are selling their own magic formula for success.
He may be right.
"I think parity matters and I think ultimately over time and it's hopefully sooner than later, there'll be a couple of our schools that will emerge," he said.
Overall, Yormark sees bigger things: "From a brand perspective, the Big 12 profile is as strong as it has ever been. We truly have become a national conference and our narrative has extended beyond the sports page. Establishing and maintaining our position within the Power 4 also remains a key priority for us."
But he wants more than that. "I've been on the record to say I want this conference to be a global conference," he said. ''I think we can win globally big time.''
Iowa State and Kansas State will open this college football season in Dublin, Ireland. The Baylor women's basketball team will play a game in Paris. Plans are being made for Big 12 baseball to be played in Mexico City next spring. Success in college football and men's basketball has been established.
And Yormark makes his deals, a new breed commissioner, in a brave new world of college athletics.
Who is to say he is wrong?