OSU's Mike Gundy: Big 12 Commissioner 'Best in All of Sports'

Oklahoma State is set for another football season in the Big 12, and Mike Gundy believes the conference is in good hands.

After an abundance of conference realignment over the past few seasons, the Big 12 seems to be holding steady with 16 teams. Eight of those 16 have made their Big 12 debut over the past two years and have clearly been a positive addition for the conference.

After the departures of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC, there was some concern about how the conference might respond, but Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has been adamant about building up the conference. With the future of OSU football also partially in the hands of Yormark’s leadership, Gundy couldn’t be happier about who is calling the shots.

“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the Big 12 has the best commissioner in all of sports,” Gundy said. “He’s energetic, he thinks out of the box, he’s motivated. But as I spend time with him, what I learn, more than anything, about him, is he has a way of getting a group together, having a discussion and then coming up with a plan.”

Yormark’s ability to come up with plans and follow through has played a huge role in how the conference looks today. After the losses of Oklahoma and Texas, the conference could have folded in a similar manner to the Pac-12. However, with Yormark leading the way, the Big 12 has made eight new additions and is in a solid spot to keep growing in this evolving college athletics landscape.

Along with Yormark’s leadership within the Big 12, he has also been the conference’s leading voice in discussions about the College Football Playoff. With a 5+11 format seeming to gain traction, the rest of the Big 12 has followed suit in campaigning for five automatic bids for conference champions and 11 at-large spots.

“I like the Big 12 conference, I like the future of this league, and I put my name behind the agreement that we made that that standard, that [5+11 format], is the way it should be, and if you play well, you deserve it, you earn it, you get in,” Gundy said. “If you don’t, then you try again next year.”