Bob Bowlsby’s departure not a good thing for college athletics
College athletics got a lot less grounded Tuesday when Bob Bowlsby announced he would be leaving the position of Big 12 commissioner he has held for a decade. Bowlsby showed the value of common sense every time he opened his mouth, a trait as rare as a 4.3 40 in these parts. The former wrestling coach could be as direct as a blast double and just as effective.
The Big 12 came to life as a blended family in 1996, and its 26-year existence has not been a story of unending love. Texas always has been first among unequals – ask Nebraska and Texas A&M why they got mad and left in 2011 – but until last year the university wanted its footprint to remain where it historically has been.
It’s neither a fair nor an accurate portrayal of Bowlsby’s career as commissioner to define it by saying that Oklahoma and Texas decided to leave the Big 12 on his watch. But the force of their departure-to-be to the SEC is such that nine months later it remains the first thing that comes to mind.
It doesn’t matter that the decision had nothing to do with Bowlsby’s leadership. OU and Texas left a few days after Bowlsby proclaimed that he saw no realignment on the horizon. In his defense, no one else saw it, either.
Bowlsby took the move personally – how could he not? – but rebounded from such a grievous blow to quickly lead the Big 12 to bring in BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston. Without the Sooners and Longhorns, though, the Big 12 is a conference without a traditional power. Given the unprecedented change that the sport is undergoing, it’s hard to say how big a loss that is. Cincinnati has been to more playoffs in the past three seasons than Oklahoma and Texas combined. The Big 12 also has won the past two men’s basketball championships and put a team in the past four Final Fours.
Before he arrived at the Big 12 in 2012, Bowlsby proved himself the best judge of football coaching talent of his generation. In late 1998, he hired a little-known NFL assistant named Kirk Ferentz to coach Iowa. In December 2006, he hired an untested former NFL quarterback named Jim Harbaugh to coach Stanford. Four years later, after Harbaugh led the Cardinal to the Orange Bowl and headed to the NFL, Bowlsby promoted a young wide receivers coach named David Shaw to replace Harbaugh.
Ferentz is a shoo-in for the College Football Hall of Fame, Shaw surpassed Pop Warner and Bill Walsh to become the winningest coach in Stanford history and Harbaugh has become an iconic coach of this generation.
Bob Bowlsby turned 70 on the day of the College Football Playoff Championship Game. It would be easy to surmise that, in the era of NIL money and the transfer portal, new thinking will be needed to take on the new challenges facing college athletics. Bowlsby’s retirement gift may have been a golden parachute to go with being shoved out of the plane. But the last thing this business needs is to lose someone with Bowlsby’s gravitas and emotional IQ. Common sense never goes out of style.