Texas Tech University Athletics
Big 12 Meetings Update
Big 12 Meetings Update
Following are the daily Big 12 Spring Meetings Updates: June 1, 1999 Big 12 Conference Concludes First Day of Spring Meetings With Meaningful Discussions, Future Planning Issues COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Big 12 Conference administrators completed their first of four days of annual spring meetings Tuesday with over four hours of discussion on key issues such as governance, committee structures, the national conference alignment picture, and internal/external communications at The Broadmoor Hotel. Commissioner Kevin Weiberg noted that members of the Big 12 Conference had been very open to refining the committee structure and to helping the conference operate as efficiently as possible. "I know this probably isn't of great interest to the general public," he said, "but we had lots of committees on the books when we started the year (1998-99 fiscal year), and some had never met. "We have received an endorsement from the Faculty Athletics Representatives to change the committee structure and to streamline things," he added, "and that's a good sign. We had a good first day of discussions with such groups as the Faculty Athletics Representatives, the Directors of Athletics, Senior Woman Administrators, and head men's and women's basketball coaches. Kim Anderson, the new Director of Basketball Operations, attended his first Big 12 Conference meeting in this new capacity. Anderson, a standout basketball student-athlete in his Missouri undergraduate days, had been a longtime assistant coach at Baylor and Mizzou before accepting the position on May 19, 1999. Outgoing Basketball Consultant Bill Foster wrapped up 1998-99 basketball campaign operations, in which 17 of the 24 Big 12 men's and women's teams received postseason bids to the NCAA, NIT or Women's NIT meets. Coordinators of Men's Basketball Officials Dale Kelley and Women's Basketball Officials Becky Marshall joined in the hoops' discussions along with Big 12 Conference Office personnel. While basketball issues and general discussion occupied much of the day's schedule, the Commissioner also addressed the somewhat-changing landscape of national NCAA Division I athletics. "There is always talk in the rumor mill," he noted, "but there's not a lot out there currently for conference realignment. Our people have related to me that they want the Big 12 to be the best conference it can be. We want to look at the national landscape and see how the Big 12 best fits into it. "The Notre Dame decision with the Big Ten Conference has had somewhat of a calming effect on conference realignment," Weiberg said. "The Big Ten found it difficult to build a consensus on any other possible new members besides Notre Dame." Weiberg has been near the center of those discussions for the past several years as an Assistant Commissioner and later Deputy Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference before he accepted the Big 12 Commissioner's post in Oct., 1998. "I don't know the current situation with the Big Ten since I have moved over to the Big 12," he explained, "but I do know that our membership has given me the commission to be aggressive nationally with the Big 12 Conference and to help make it (Big 12) work as well as it can work. "We're currently working hard with achieving Conference equity on many levels," he continued. "Twelve is a good number with respect to championship competition, and that number is a good model that works effectively with respect to communication and other areas. Communicating with 12 members is tough enough, and any number higher than that makes things difficult." The Commissioner, working with chairpersons from the University of Nebraska as committee heads at the fourth annual Big 12 Spring Meetings, also noted that bowl discussions in the coming days would be vital to the history of football in the conference. "Because of our existing agreements with the Bowl Championship Series and other bowl entities," he noted, " we have been discussing the possible free-fall of a team such as Kansas State (11-1 after its 36-33 loss to Texas A&M in the 1998 Dr Pepper Big 12 Conference Football Championship) in the bowl system. We have discussed this situation in advance of these meetings with several of our bowl partners, and there is an openness to work with us. It's a little difficult because the existing agreements were in place this year before we started talking about modifications. "The bowl invitation issue is a tough one because the decisions aren't made until the first week in December," said Nebraska Director of Athletics Bill Byrne. "To help with fans' travel arrangements and with bowl ticket sales, there are times where some arrangements almost have to be made. It is something that we continue to ponder and discuss with hope for some solutions." -- Big 12 -- June 2, 1999 Television, Bowls, Football Scheduling Highlight Second-Day Big 12 Conference Spring Meetings Discussions COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - With a composite conference games' football schedule denoted for the 2000 - 2003 seasons and several key discussion items tackled by committees, the Big 12 Conference had a fairly eventful second day of its fourth annual spring meetings Wednesday at The Broadmoor Hotel. Directors of Athletics announced the four-year schedule for the 2000-2003 campaigns after the first four Big 12 football seasons had been compiled on an annual basis. Due to the confluence of the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences prior to the 1996 football season, the Conference Office had to come up with a fast solution to scheduling to preserve some traditional dates for rivalries and to accommodate divisional scheduling. The North and South Divisions of the Big 12 continue to play all five geographical opponents and three alternating foes from the other division annually. Forming the North Division are Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, and Nebraska. South Division members are Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech. All intraconference contests are slated to start on the last Saturday in September and to end on or around the final Saturday in December. While the 2000 Dr. Pepper Football Championship Game site has not been determined, the North and South champs meet for the Big 12 title and an automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series. The 1999 Big 12 Dr. Pepper title game is slated for Dec. 4 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. After the 1999 campaign, the year 2000 rivalries include the five divisional opponents and the following three interdivisional opponents for these teams: Baylor (Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska); Colorado (Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M); Iowa State (Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M); Kansas (Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech); Kansas State (Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech); Missouri (Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas); Nebraska (Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas Tech); Oklahoma (Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska); Oklahoma State (Iowa State, Colorado, Missouri); Texas (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri); Texas A&M (Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State); Texas Tech (Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska). All the future schedules are subject to change for television scheduling purposes and if two schools mutually agree to change dates for other legitimate reasons. An upcoming example is the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State football game in 1999 on the final Saturday of the season - Nov. 27 - to enhance the scope of that longtime rivalry, known as the "Bedlam Series" in all sports. In addition, television executives agreed to denote the Big 12's televised contests for the first three weeks of the 1999 season. Fox Sports syndicated, over -the-air affiliates and other local stations will carry UAB at Missouri on Sept. 4 at 2:30 p.m. (CDT) and Tulsa at Oklahoma State on Sept. 11 at 11:30 a.m. (CDT). The Sept. 18 syndication is to be announced later. ABC Television Sports will slate regional telecasts between Stanford at Texas and Nebraska at Iowa on Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. (CDT), California at Nebraska on Sept. 11 at 2:30 p.m. (CDT), and Kansas at Colorado on Sept. 18 at 1:30 p.m. (MDT), FOX Sports Net regional cable affiliates will air Colorado State-Colorado at Denver's Mile High Stadium on Sept. 4 at a time to be determined, Iowa at Iowa State on Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. (CDT), and will take an "open week" on its Sept. 18 broadcast date. Closing out the 1999 ABC Sports regular season telecast schedule will be Texas at Texas A&M at 10 a.m. (CST) and Nebraska at Colorado at 1:30 p.m. (MST)/ 2:30 p.m. (CST) on Friday, Nov. 26. ABC Sports will broadcast the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship Football Game live nationally at a time to be determined on Dec. 4 from San Antonio. Big 12 Conference committees among head men's and women's basketball coaches, Faculty Athletics Representatives, Senior Woman Administrators, and other subcommittees met Wednesday and heard reports from ESPN, ABC, several bowl groups, and related agencies. The six bowls to which the Big 12 are tied contractually for post-1999 football all were represented. Other discussion items included a recommendation to hold the 1999 men's and women's basketball media days in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and to move up the date to include more weekend competition in the Big 12 women's basketball tournament. During its first three years, the women's tourney has been played on a Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday night title game at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium. The proposal possibly moves the meet to a Thursday or Friday before the corresponding week of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's postseason tournament. -- BIG 12 -- June 3, 1999 Big 12 Conference Spring Meetings Enter Joint Groups' Discussion Stage COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Big 12 Conference spring meetings entered the large group and joint discussion stages Thursday in the next-to-last day of the fourth annual gathering at The Broadmoor Hotel. Chief executive officers - presidents and chancellors - of the 12 member institutions arrived for Thursday meetings as well as head football coaches. The four-day meetings are in a wind-down stage as key administrators prepare for a Friday 1:30 p.m. (MDT) new conference here to summarize the proceedings. Basketball and bowl issues continue to highlight a full agenda, which included joint meetings of the Faculty Athletics Representatives, Senior Woman Administrators and Directors of Athletics for the first time in '99 at the Thursday afternoon sessions. Big 12 men's basketball coaches, chaired by Nebraska head coach Danny Nee, recommended that Big 12 joint basketball media days in Oct., 1999, be held in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to promote both men's and women's basketball in a different location from the Phillips 66 Men's Basketball Tournament at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. The women's tourney is slated for the fourth consecutive year at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City on March 7-9, 11 prior to and during the men's postseason meet on March 9-12, 2000. "We will carry over the discussion about the media days' location in conference calls to the head women's basketball coaches in the coming days," said Commissioner Kevin Weiberg. "We have had good discussion among both these coaches' groups about promoting basketball in several areas during the coming year." The Commissioner pointed to a Aug., 1999, European tour by an all-star team of Big 12 women's basketball players as one means of additional promotion and noted that the Aug., 1998, three-nation European trek by Big 12 men's basketball all-stars, coached by Texas Tech's James Dickey, had been a success at home and abroad for the conference. Oklahoma State women's basketball coach Dick Halterman, who has guided the Cowgirls to almost a dozen NCAA and WNIT appearances in the last 15 years, is scheduled to coach the 1999 all-star voyage. "We have been working on ways to promote and enhance Big 12 basketball in all areas," said Weiberg. "We hope to put together a plan where Big 12 coaches can visit various areas and make speeches or hold clinics outside their geographical areas in the preseason. As a matter of fact, we held free coaching clinics in the Kansas City and Dallas suburban areas in May, 1999, and noted a great deal of interest. "Our men's coaches have expressed a desire possibly to have a yearly tour of men's all-stars to some areas of the world," he continued. "This gets to be a budget issue, but for now we are alternating summer tours between men's and women's teams. The men's all-stars are scheduled to have their next out of the country tour in 2000. We think the whole package of promotional items that we hope to undertake will lead to the enhancement of Big 12 basketball." Bill Byrne, director of athletics at Nebraska and chair of the Big 12 Directors' committee, also noted that bowl and postseason discussions were an ongoing portion of the discussions. "We cannot be sure if or when a fifth bowl might be added to the current Bowl Championship Series," Byrne said, "and we are intent on working with our current bowl structure and at the same time trying to get the best fit possible for all bowls and their Big 12 selections. The main considerations that we must keep in mind are the lateness of the selection process in the first week of December, the travel involved for the fans attending the bowls and the best-case scenario for ticket sales by the bowls. We have some very fine bowl agreements currently, and the Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship has been a great event for Big 12 football. We need to look at the long-range ramifications and take a common-sense approach to the whole process." Big 12 administrators will have morning-long meetings Friday, with the football coaches scheduled for an early afternoon session. The University of Oklahoma will take over chair positions of all the active standing committees from Nebraska officials Friday, and it will mark the second time that Oklahoma Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione has been his committee's chair. He served in the same capacity as AD at Missouri before becoming Oklahoma's director in 1998. -- BIG 12 -- June 4, 1999 Big 12 Conference Re-Elects Officers, Concludes Successful Spring Meetings COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Big 12 officials re-elected their Executive Board officers for a second term and concluded a productive four days of activity Friday during the fourth annual spring meetings of the Conference at The Broadmoor Hotel. Chancellor Robert Hemenway of the University of Kansas was re-elected Chair of the Board of Directors, composed of Presidents and Chancellors of the Big 12 universities and the group's highest governing body. Dr. Robert Sloan, President of Baylor University, continues as Secretary while Nebraska Chancellor James Moeser is the Treasurer for the 1999-2000 fiscal term. Chancellor Hemenway was instrumental in the hiring of the Big 12's second full-time Commissioner Kevin Weiberg in Oct., 1998, and expressed satisfaction over the conduct of Big 12 matters since that date and in the immediate future. "The Conference is growing and developing and people are becoming very comfortable with one another," Hemenway said at a Friday news conference. "We are doing some long-range planning and have agreed on the Board level as well as the Directors of Athletics, Faculty Athletics Representatives and Senior Woman Administrators that Kevin Weiberg has had great success since he began his tenure. "Not only have we had great athletics success since the inception of the Big 12," Hemenway continued, "but we have made progress in bringing together a number of university groups. We have established a great university sense of communality within the Conference. "Some examples are the Big 12 Provosts' organization, the Public Information Officers, the Chiefs of Police, and Big 12 Cities," he said. "We want to use this sense to draw upon another's experiences and to be able to communicate within the university structures among athletics and the related groups." Commissioner Weiberg, noting that NCAA revenue distribution for the 1998-99 academic year has helped bring the Big 12's anticipated revenues to $61 million for the same term, outlined the chief areas for planning and focus in the coming weeks. "We need to continue to explore the structure of postseason football," Weiberg noted. "We need to investigate the future trends in the television media and electronic marketplace such as the convergence of television and the computer industry. We also must continue to work with the NCAA and to continue to assist and help improve our national organization. We also want to foster and develop our non-athletics relationships and build and promote university community relationships. "Big 12 governance also has been a "campaign promise" of mine since late in 1998," Weiberg said with a smile, "and we have made good progress in this area. We have been able to eliminate some of the various officiating committees for single sports and to bring them together into some unified groups. We have discontinued six committees altogether, and, as I mentioned earlier in the meetings, we had some committees on the books that had not met since the formation of the Conference. We now have a formal Committee on Committees to monitor this activity and to assure the production of our committee system." "We have grown as a membership," Hemenway explained, "and we have discovered that 12 is a good number for athletics' competition and governance. There is a base for success, and we have become smarter, leaner and more effective within the Conference. We have learned to appoint Committee chairperson by skill and administrative levels. Earlier, we wanted to be sure that everyone was included in the activities, and we have established closer ties within our committees. Some examples on the Board of Directors have been Ray Bowen, the Texas A&M President with whom I served on the faculty at the University of Kentucky some years ago, and Robert Sloan, with whom I have had many conversations about our university structures since we have served as officers." Big 12 officials have distributed Requests for Proposals (RFP) to several cites for the Dr. Pepper Football Championship Game, the Phillips 66 Men's Basketball Tournament and Women's basketball tourney and the Phillips 66 Baseball Tournament. Venues for these events are in place for the 1999-2000 term, but future sites are under consideration. Weiberg hopes to conclude most of the negotiations by mid-October, 1999, and notes there may be some fine-tuning even after that projected closing time. "Our proposals can be foe one to six years," he said, "but we won't know how long these locations may try to make their bids until we receive the RFP. We also included a separate RFP for the women's basketball tournament in the bid process. That tournament has been in the same location (Kansas City) as the men's tournament for the first three years, but the new RFP doesn't preclude holding those tournaments in the same city. In fact, with the proposal to move up the women's tournament to a Saturday before its current Tuesday start through the 2000 tournament could have an impact on the selection city." -- BIG 12 -- |
