New Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark visits KU’s athletic department Monday
.JPG "Incoming Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark speaks during a news conference opening the NCAA college football Big 12 media days in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (AP Photo/LM Otero)")
New Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark continued his tour of campuses and athletic department facilities of teams in the conference Monday with a stop at the University of Kansas.
Yormark, who officially took over for Bob Bowlsby on Aug. 1, has also been to Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas Tech and TCU with plans to visit all existing members of the league plus incoming members Cincinnati, UCF, Houston and BYU.
The KU band greeted Yormark on Monday as he made his way into the Booth Family Hall of Athletics where KU athletic director Travis Goff and the Jayhawk coaches and athletic department staff members lined up to meet him. He also spoke with KU Chancellor Douglas Girod.
Included in the handshake line in the Hall of Athletics were basketball coach Bill Self and football coach Lance Leipold. Yormark also visited with several of KU’s student-athletes.
Yormark toured the Hall of Athletics, including checking out James Naismith’s original rules of basketball, as well as Allen Fieldhouse, KU’s basketball practice facility and the players lounge and locker rooms. Several pictures of Yorkmark’s visit are available at kuathletics.com.
Yormark is headed to Oklahoma State on Tuesday, Baylor on Wednesday and West Virginia on Thursday.
Yormark recently told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that after his six-week tour of conference campuses he will report back to Big 12 presidents and ADs with impressions gained of the league and ideas for the future. At the recent Media Days in Texas, Yormark called his campus visits a “listening tour.”
“By mid-September, I will have visited all the campuses, which I’m really excited about. And it’s been fantastic. The welcoming has been over the top,” he told the Lubbock Avalache-Journal.
“I’ve been able to meet all the key stakeholders, which has been great, and I will tell you that the biggest takeaway — I mean, there’s a lot of takeaways; I shouldn’t say the biggest — but one of the key takeaways has been the investment the schools are making in our student-athletes and affording them every resource possible so that they’re successful. I love that. I think it’s fantastic. And I bring, obviously, a professional lens to my visits, and seeing the world-class facilities, the world-class resources, the world-class coaches and the human capital that supports our student-athletes has been amazing. So, very impressed,” he added to the Avalanche Journal.
This story was originally published August 22, 2022 at 11:01 PM with the headline "New Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark visits KU’s athletic department Monday."
