Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is leaving the conference, a decision he made as he prepares to take another job outside of college sports.
Yormark approached his bosses at the Big 12 about his decision nearly 10 days ago, Kansas chancellor Doug Girod told ESPN. They conversed about his decision over recent days, and the Big 12 board formalized his departure terms Friday morning with a vote.
Girod told ESPN: “He approached us with a proposal to craft a path for what you’d call an ‘elegant exit.'”
Yormark plans to stay through January to ensure a smooth transition. He was the league’s fifth commissioner, and they’ll launch a national search for a sixth.
“When I accepted this job, my goal was to put this conference on an upward trajectory and truly believe that the future of the conference could not be in better shape,” Yormark said in a statement. “The next commissioner of this league will inherit a conference that is 16 strong. There has never been a better time to be a member of the Big 12 than right now.”
Girod is the chair of the Big 12’s board of directors, and he summed up Yormark’s tenure this way: “He’s been really good for us.”
Yormark arrived at the Big 12 when he took over for Bob Bowlsby nearly a year after Oklahoma and Texas voted to bolt for the SEC. Girod said Yormark’s ability to navigate the Big 12 to its current television deal will be his legacy in the conference.
In his introductory news conference at Big 12 media days in July 2022 after accepting the job, Yormark declared the Big 12 was “open for business.” He took an aggressive approach to securing the Big 12’s future and strengthening its brand over his tenure.
His signature move came soon after taking over in 2022 when he guided the Big 12 leadership to exercise an option to go early on the Big 12 television deal. The Big 12 ultimately landed a strong deal with ESPN and Fox, outflanking the Pac-12.
“I think in all fairness, had he not joined us and convinced us to go early on redoing our television deal, we all believe we could have ended up like the Pac-12 did,” Girod told ESPN, “which was unable to get [a TV deal].
“We certainly recognized that and believed it at the time. As it played out, it demonstrated it was the right move. His leadership and experience and network in the media world has continued to be extremely beneficial for us.”
Girod also complimented Yormark’s handling of the integration of eight new schools into the Big 12 during his tenure, as they merged with the eight traditional schools.
The Big 12 had already added BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF prior to Yormark’s hire. He was in charge in 2023 when the league added Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. All formally entered under his watch.
The Big 12 had already added BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF prior to Yormark’s hire. He pursued additional expansion soon after taking over and succeeding in convincing Colorado to re-join the conference in the summer of 2023. When the Pac-12 failed to secure a lucrative TV deal, Yormark and the Big 12 landed Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to extend the conference’s national footprint.
“He’s helped us integrate eight teams and build a strong culture with eight new folks along with the legacy eight,” Girod said. “That was no small undertaking either.”
The Big 12 had extended Yormark’s contract through 2030 back in May 2025.
Upon his hiring, Yormark didn’t bring experience in the college space as the former COO of Roc Nation whose background was primarily in the NBA and NASCAR. And that was what the Big 12 was looking for.
“We felt that we needed not the traditional former athletic director kind of leader,” Girod said, “We needed someone who innovated in this space and built brands in very strong ways.”
Girod said with a chuckle that Yormark moved at a pace quicker than college athletics was accustomed to. That included a bid to add UConn to the league, which Big 12 leaders pushed back against.
“Just his fire and his drive, we had to slow him down a little bit because we didn’t move that fast,” Girod said, laughing. “If we had any issues early on, that was it. He was used to moving really fast.”
The addition of the eight new members did help separate the Big 12 as arguably the strongest conference in men’s basketball, with Yormark frequently calling it the second-best basketball league “behind only the NBA.” Houston played for the national championship in 2025, and Arizona reached the Final Four earlier this year.
Girod said Yormark’s decision came down to a simple premise.
“I think he thought he had one good run left in him,” Girod said. “He had to decide whether to do it with us or someone else.”
As for the Big 12’s future, Girod projected confidence he could help them land someone good.
“I’m going in very open-minded,” he said. “I don’t need a [Yormark] twin. I need someone who hopefully has some experience with campuses, and mostly is going to be an innovator and help us on that path of revenue diversification and thinking differently about how we conduct ourselves and be the tip of the spear in some of these changes.”
ESPN’s Max Olson contributed to this report.
