Big 12 Spring Meetings are 'Awkward' and 'A Little Weird,' but Everyone is Moving Forward

The "trust" issue between Joe Castiglione and Bob Bowlsby that came to light last summer are being worked through, they said.

IRVING, TX — The first day of this week’s Big 12 Conference annual spring business meetings have been “awkward” and had “some weirdness to it” but otherwise, it’s been business as usual.

Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who talked last summer about “trust” issues with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione following the July announcement that Oklahoma and Texas were leaving for the Southeastern Conference, explained the tenor in the room when league athletic directors — both of the four newcomers and of the two outgoing schools — met on Wednesday morning at the Four Seasons Resort and Club.

“This meeting has got some weirdness to it, between the incoming members and the outgoing members,” Bowlsby said. “And … the fact that I’m retiring and there’s transition afoot there.”

Prior to Bowlsby’s press conference, Castiglione met with a small group of reporters and acknowledged the oddity of a traditionally collegial meeting held amid such a period of transition and even upheaval.

“It is what it is,” Castiglione said. ‘We knew there were going to be times of awkward discussions, difficult conversations. We’ve moved past that. The conference has also made some terrific moves about their future, and we’ve been meeting with the four (new) institutions three times. … It’s a little different.

“We’re trying to do our best to be positive.”

To that end, Castiglione seemed positive that OU and Texas would not be leaving until the terms of their current contracts with the Big 12 and its partners expire ahead of the 2025 football season.

“There’s no answer to that question,” Castiglione said, “until there’s something to talk about. Right now, we're still on track for July 1, 2025."

Meanwhile, Castiglione said he has been involved in discussions with the SEC about the future — particularly scheduling — while maintaining good standing as a voting member with the Big 12.

“So it’s a unique dialogue,” Castiglione said, “but everybody’s been very professional, very cordial. And yes, the SEC has been very thoughtful about engaging both Oklahoma and Texas in conversations about scheduling models — in all sports.”

Castiglione, Bowlsby and West Virginia AD Shane Lyons all referenced the expected arrival of BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston ahead of the 2023 football season, giving the league one year with 10 members, two years (2023-24 and 2024-25) with 14 members — if OU and Texas don’t find a way to leave early, which Castiglione said there’s no indication of at this point — and then 12 members after that.

“We almost feel we have to color-code the agenda,” Bowlsby said. “Some the eight would talk about, some the 10 would talk about, there’s some that the four would talk about and there’s some the 14 would talk about.

“It would be less than forthright to admit there’s not some strangeness to it, and a little bit of tension. People are getting along and working together. We work together because we have to.”

The meetings will continue as scheduled Thursday and Friday morning. Thursday’s agenda will combine both the athletic directors and the presidents as they explore numerous topics, including scheduling and branding.

While league members have been in lockstep about the decision a decade ago to move forward with 10 members and no divisions while adhering to a true round-robin scheduling formate for football and basketball, that harmony could change as the membership numbers change.

“The idea of not playing divisions is not perfect either,” Bowlsby said.

“We’re going through a scheduling exercise, and where that starts is we start with scheduling principles that we make sure every schedule entails.

“ … we’re still considering whether divisions are the right things for us, or whether one group together is the right thing. And that decision process is undertaken for every sport.”

He said some sports could compete with divisions, while other sports could compete without.

Either way, Bowlsby expects much of the same cooperation — and perhaps awkwardness — as meetings progress the rest of the week.

“Our athletic directors session this morning was as productive as any we’ve ever had,” Bowlsby said. “We worked through the issues.”