At the end of May, Brett Yormark flew to West Virginia to convene the Big 12’s spring meetings. The commissioner and his presidents, chancellors and athletic directors gathered at the swanky Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs.
During that three-day session, the leaders had extensive discussions about their expansion options. They walked away aligned on a strategy. Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec went so far as to say he’d never seen greater unanimity among the Big 12’s board of directors.
“We have a plan,” Yormark said on June 2.
They all agreed on step one: Go get Colorado. And now they’ve pulled it off.
The Big 12 board met again for a conference call Wednesday night and voted unanimously to accept Colorado as a new member for 2024, a person familiar with the Big 12’s discussions confirmed to The Athletic. Colorado regents then met Thursday afternoon and unanimously approved a resolution to join the Big 12.
What, then, is step two for the Big 12?
The next move may not happen instantly. These processes are complex. But at this point, Yormark is not looking to stand pat at 13 members starting in 2024. He hasn’t been shy about acknowledging he prefers a 14-member league moving forward after Oklahoma and Texas exit for the SEC, and conference sources…
