Mountaineer Golf
BIG 12 CONFERENCE The Big 12 welcomes in 2021-22 fresh off its 25th anniversary as one of the nation’s premier athletic conferences under the direction of 10-year commissioner Bob Bowlsby. TCU and West Virginia joined the league on July 1, 2012 and became the Big 12’s first additions since inception, joining Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech. With 10 members, the Big 12 remains as the only autonomy conference to determine its champions in all sports directly on the field of play with a full round-robin schedule. The Conference’s hard work ethic and strong values have translated to enormous success in its first 25 years. Since it began competition in 1996-97, the league can boast of 69 NCAA team titles and over 700 individual national championships. The Big 12 has been at the forefront in college athletics reform, specifically with student-athlete welfare issues to include cost of attendance, student-athlete time demands and strengthening its policy for concussion diagnosis and management. In 2014-15, the Big 12 introduced and hosted three “State of Collegiate Athletics” forums to examine the issues facing college athletics. Two were conducted in Washington, D.C and one in New York City. Panelists included respected authorities from intercollegiate athletics, university leadership and sports journalism. The third forum featured a special session comprised of student-athletes. The Big 12 continued the “State of Collegiate Athletics” forums with Dallas serving as the host site for three events and one staged in Atlanta. The award-winning Big 12 Champions for Life, an initiative of the Conference, begins its seventh year in 2021-22. It features current and former student-athletes, selected by league institutions, in a series of public service announcements highlighting the positive impact an athletics scholarship has had on their lives leading to stories of personal growth and success. The Big 12 claimed five team national championships in 2020-21, the third-most in an academic year in Conference history, and tallied five NCAA runner-up finishes. Baylor won its first and the Conference’s second
4
title in men’s basketball while Texas men’s swimming & diving captured its and the Big 12’s ninth national crown since 2000. Texas women’s tennis and rowing captured the Big 12’s first national championships in those sports. Oklahoma softball won its and the Big 12’s fifth Women’s College World Series since 2000. Additionally, 17 individual national champions were added in 2020-21. NCAA runner-up finishes included Oklahoma women’s gymnastics, Texas volleyball, Baylor men’s tennis, Oklahoma State women’s golf and Oklahoma men’s golf. The Big 12 was the only autonomy conference to go undefeated in 2020 bowl games with a 5-0 finish (a sixth game was canceled due to COVID-19). It marked the first perfect bowl record in Big 12 history. Oklahoma and Iowa State played in CFP New Year’s Six Bowls to give the Big 12 two teams in the postseason structure for the fifth season in its seven years. The Big 12 has made 12 appearances in a CFP News Year’s Bowl in the seven years of the structure. From 2017-19, the Sooners made three straight CFP semifinal appearances and has made four since 2015. The Big 12 sponsors 23 sports. Men’s squads include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, swimming & diving, tennis and wrestling. Women’s teams are fielded in basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis and volleyball. Big 12 institutions create a league that encompasses five states and nearly 38 million people. Nearly 5,000 student-athletes from across the United States and around the World compete annually in the sports sponsored by the Conference. The Conference currently conducts postseason championships for 22 of its 23 sports with the Football Championship Game returning in 2017 after a six-year absence. Each championship helps to determine teams and/ or individuals that will represent the Conference in national postseason competition. The Conference office is headquartered in Irving, Texas.
