Who will replace Bob Bowlsby as Big 12 commish, and where does BYU fit into new league?

PROVO — When BYU joins the Big 12 in 2023, a familiar face to the Cougars won't be with them.

Longtime Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced last week he is stepping away from the commissioner's chair, putting to a close a 40-year career in college athletics as he prepares for the next phase of his career, likely retirement.

Bowlsby, who turned 70 in January, calls the move a "natural transition point" in his career, stepping aside just before the Big 12 is scheduled to negotiate a new television deal in 2024 with a conference that will welcome four new members in BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF.

"I truly believe the Big 12 and our member institutions are in a strong position now and as we look into the future," Bowlsby said. "As such, this is an appropriate time for me to step away from the commissioner's role so that the next leader of the conference can take the reins on these significant matters that will come to the forefront before the end of the term of my employment agreement in 2025 to set the stage for the Big 12's future ongoing success."

With Bowlsby's departure, a steady chapter in college athletics also closes. The longest tenured commissioner in college football's top subdivision will be the SEC's Greg Sankey, who became the league's eighth commissioner in 2015. Three other Power Five commissioners — Kevin Warren of the Big Ten, Jim Phillips of the ACC, and George Kliavkoff of the Pac-12 — have all been thrown into the job since 2019.

Bowlsby won't formally step down until after his successor is chosen, according to the league. But Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec told The Athletic that the Big 12 hopes to hire a new commissioner within 90 days — a rapid turnaround for most job openings, but especially so in college sports.

That would give the new hire time to acclimate to the new position, new members and new conference while Bowlsby is around to help guide the process. But make no mistake: The deadline of the new media rights deal, which expires in 2025, is the ultimate endpoint of this move.

With that in mind, the conference will look to someone with experience in media rights negotiations — including television deals, but also a media savvy for the next generation of broadcasting — for its top position. Familiarity with the league will help, but may not be a requirement for a conference that once prided itself on being a bus league based primarily in Texas that will soon expand to three time zones between Orlando and Provo.

Could a sitting Big 12 athletic director take the position? Would BYU's Tom Holmoe be a candidate?

That one is unlikely; Holmoe just turned 62, and while the four-time Super Bowl champion and former Cal head coach has plenty of experience in football, most of his administration experience has come since he was named BYU's AD in 2005. The same may be said of Mack Rhoades, the Baylor athletic director who stabilized the Bears' athletic department in the years following a round of sexual assault controversies under Art Briles' regime.

Rhoades recently signed a 10-year contract extension to stay in Waco, a deal that could take the 56-year-old native of Tucson, Arizona, into retirement. But others, such as West Virginia's Shane Lyons and Texas Tech's Kirby Hocutt, may be prime candidates for the job.

Other candidates may include Alabama's Greg Byrne, who was reportedly in the running for the ACC and Pac-12, and Washington's Jennifer Cohen, who has experience in the league at Oklahoma; and a range of university presidents like Washington State's Kirk Schultz, who The Athletic reported "would be the first call" for the opening, citing multiple unnamed sources.

Darkhorse candidates include West Coast Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez, who is seen by many as a rising star in the profession, and Big East counterpart Val Ackerman. But both lead conferences that don't sponsor football, a significant hindrance toward jumping to the Big 12.

Here's perhaps the biggest name of the candidate pool, one that began popping up even before Bowlsby's announcement had cooled: Oliver Luck, the former commissioner of the XFL until the league suspended operations in 2020 who recently worked as a consultant to the conference.

"He's well respected, he's well-liked, and he knows the Big 12," said The Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel, one of the more veteran scribes in the Big 12 footprint. "To me, the search starts with him."

The former West Virginia and Houston Oilers quarterback has experience in NFL Europe, as well as from his time leading the Mountaineers' athletic department from 2010-14. He also spent years in sports management with the Houston Dynamo, and led the XFL following a stint with the NCAA for four years.

Luck is just enough of a newcomer to try new things in a rapidly evolving college landscape, but also knows the college athletics landscape well enough to fit in from the get-go.

"They want someone with collegiate experience," Tramel said. "The decision-makers are still fairly conservative; they don't make rushed or crazy decisions.

"I think everyone in the collegiate landscape is a little bit leery of what Larry Scott did with the Pac-12 10 or 12 years ago. I know the new guy has done some good things, but I think the Big 12 is much more likely to go with someone with collegiate athletic experience."

Tramel spoke to ESPN radio in Utah County shortly after spending a weekend in Utah with his wife, first covering the Thunder's recent game at the Utah Jazz then navigating to Provo, where he spent time with various BYU administrators, media relations folks, and coaches prior to attending a sold-out BYU baseball game against Santa Clara.

He called Miller Park one of the top settings in Big 12 baseball — new or old — for a game, and praised many of the facilities in Provo a year and a half before officially joining the conference (while adding that "some facilities" will need upgrades before July 1, 2023, a sentiment shared by many in the conference, various sources have told KSL.com).

But there should be little doubt at the Cougars' ability to compete in its new conference home in two years, even amid a time of uncertainty in the space.

"Brigham Young football has gotten remarkably better, noticeably better, the last two years," Tramel said. "They're not going to struggle in the Big 12 to win games.

"It won't be easy, but when the Big 12 teams leave the field, they'll know they have been in a battle."

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