Tramel: Big 12 leaders trust Commissioner Brett Yormark, even if they don't agree

ARLINGTON, Texas — Brett Yormark already has earned his stripes with Big 12 presidents and athletic directors.

Yormark took the stage at JerryWorld for Big 12 Media Days a year ago, said the conference was “open for business” and promptly proved it, improving the league’s status and bottom line.

When Yormark trots out wild ideas, be it stuff that doesn’t matter (hip performers for Big 12 events) or stuff that does (building up basketball), people listen.

Even if they initially don’t agree with some of Yormark’s ideas.

That’s the consensus of Big 12 decision-makers who walked around JerryWorld on Wednesday as 2023 Big 12 Media Days arrived.

Add a non-Power Five Conference school like Connecticut, which would not require the networks to add a full share to the conference television payouts?

Add Gonzaga as a basketball-only member?

Play games in Mexico?

None of it sounds kosher, but as one Big 12 athletic director told me, “we’ve got to listen.” Yormark has earned that respect.

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The plan remains clear. Wait on the Pac-12 and its long-coming television contract, to see if its payouts are meager enough to warrant league-jumping from the likes of Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State or Utah.

“We’ve got to run out that ground ball on the Pac-12,” said another Big 12 athletic director.

If no Pac-12 school is coming, then move on to Plan B.

“Relative to expansion, I said coming out of our spring business meetings at the Greenbrier (in West Virginia) that we have a plan, and we have a plan for expansion, and I'm not going to really address it today,” Yormark said. “We do have a plan, and hopefully we can execute that plan sooner than later.”

Still, Yormark offered some clues.

He took the JerryWorld stage on Wednesday and went old school, reading his state-of-the-conference address off stapled papers. So old school, it almost was hip.

Yormark lauded this “first-ever” season as a 14-team league. We know OU and Texas are headed to the Southeastern Conference next summer, so if there’s a second year of a 14-team (or larger) league, expansion is mandatory.

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“I feel like I've been talking about expansion for a year now,” Yormark said. “When I said we were open for business last year, I think people that as, ‘my god, this guy is new and he wants to go and disrupt, I guess, in some respects.’

“But indicative of my opening comments today, open for business was that we were going to explore every and all possibility to grow revenue, to diversify our conference, and to do things that hadn't been done before.”

Check, check, check.

Yormark mostly dodged direct questions. I asked him how much support there might be for a non-Power Five candidate.

“We have great collaboration with the board and our athletic directors,” Yormark said. “Obviously, there's lots of different routes you can take with expansion. As I said, we have a plan.

“But as it relates to a school that's a non-Power Five, if they create value and they align well with our goals and objectives, it's a conversation we'll consider having.”

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Yormark said the presidents and athletic directors don’t always agree with him. Indeed, a Big 12 AD told me that after some meetings, after Yormark has left the room, the athletic directors scoff at some of his ideas. But they show him respect and they’ve come to learn that dismissing his ideas is not smart.

Yormark has proven to be prescient. What seems goofy today might be golden tomorrow.

UConn or Gonzaga? Maybe they’re a revenue loser initially, but the long-range plan will make money. Or maybe the answer at the end of the process is no.

For example, another AD said a non-Power Five isn’t necessarily a non-starter, but if a mid-major is selected, “it has to be the right one.”

So for now, the Big 12 will run out its grounders, waiting on the Pac-12, but knowing it has a leader it believes in, even when they don’t necessarily agree with his ideas.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big 12 expansion: Brett Yormark, athletic directors preach patience