Bowlsby, Luck believe future is bright in Big 12

While the Big 12 Conference was welcoming two new schools into the league Sunday, it was also in the process of breaking in a new league commissioner.

"It feels like I’m getting welcomed myself," said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. "Having only been on the job for three weeks, it’s been a lot of fun to get fully immersed and fully engaged."

Bowlsby took the reigns as the head of the Big 12 from Chuck Neinas on June 16 after spending the last six years as Stanford’s athletic director.

But, even when he was still at Stanford, Bowlsby was working behind the scenes getting ready for his move to commissioner.

"I essentially had two jobs for six weeks. I was carrying two cell phones and two iPads, and I was getting two sets of voice messages," Bowlsby said. "It was all right in the middle of the BCS negotiations, and the TV negotiations and the acclimation of West Virginia and TCU. I haven’t had any trouble staying busy.

"There were some important things going on and some things that we needed to get right, so that made it imperative that I had to stay busy."

The Big 12’s new commissioner is getting to come into the conference during a great time of change in the landscape of college athletics.

With the two new schools joining the league and the changes that have come with a playoff in college football, it’s only fitting the Big 12 is moving forward with a new person in charge of leading the league. And the schools have faith Bowlsby will be able to lead the Big 12 to where it wants to go.

West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck thinks, between what interim commissioner Chuck Neinas did to keep the league together last year and what Bowlsby has the ability to do, the Big 12 will be in great shape.

"Chuck Neinas did a phenomenal job. He was the one who really invited us into the conference and saw the value that we could bring," Luck said. "There is some symmetry in TCU and West Virginia coming in at the same time that the new commissioner is coming in. That could be really nice for all involved."

Luck got to know Bowlsby when two of his children were student-athletes at the time Bowlsby was at the school.

"He’s seen it all," Luck said of Bowlsby. "He appreciates the academic mission that all the schools have. It’s easy to talk about sports and how much fun it is, but ultimately we’re trying to help the student-athletes get through school with a meaningful degree and get good job opportunities.

"He knows all 360 degrees of what every athletic department is trying to accomplish and he has a great understanding of the Big 12 and what the conference wants to get done."

At this time last year, it looked like the Big 12 was on the verge of breaking down.

Now, with Bowlsby at the helm, it has a chance to continue to thrive as one of the nation’s premier athletic conferences in every sport.

"It looked to me like at least some of the issues with the league were self-inflicted, and as much as I could tell, we’re over those things," Bowlsby said. "We really are looking progressively at the future and are in very good position to capitalize on some of the coming opportunities.

"With the progress we’ve made on the BCS and things we’re doing with our TV negotiations and the addition of the new members, I feel very good about the stability of the league."