The old Pac-12 paid failed commissioners Larry Scott and George Kliavkoff more than $15 million to go away. The Big 12 apparently won't have to pay a dime for commissioner Brett Yormark to leave the job in January. He has chosen to pursue other interests.
Yormark was a dozen times better at his job than Scott and Kliavkoff, but, in retrospect, he was average. The Big 12 can do better when it hires a new commissioner.
My first suggestion? Call Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne. He won't overspend, fail to communicate, see himself as a czar or major in hubris. His instincts are gold. Another plus: he has spent his entire career inside college sports administration. Scott, Kliavkoff and Yormark were all outsiders.
I doubt someone like Byrne would've goofed up by requiring each Big 12 team to install Monster Energy logos on their football fields, basketball courts and assorted game jerseys for a mere $1 million per year. That was one of Yormark's big misses.
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Greg Byrne hired Rich Rodriguez, kept Sean Miller and oversaw the UA baseball team's move to Hi Corbett Field and ensuing 2012 College World Series championship during his time in Tucson.
When Byrne was Arizona's AD, I asked him if he had any interest in the commissioner's job at the then-vacant West Coast Conference.
“None,” he said. “I want to engage with student-athletes on a daily basis; I want to have just one team to cheer for.”
Now, a decade later, perhaps Byrne would be open to moving to the Big 12 high command and completing his career cheering for 16 teams.
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