There is no question that Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is the biggest winner of the Brendan Sorsby saga.

Think about the pressure he was under. On one side, he had the entire college football world screaming at him to do something. With the NCAA rendered powerless by a retired Fort Worth judge to defend what many viewed as the integrity of the game, Yormark’s league became the last line of defense.

There were also 15 furious athletic directors, some angry enough to drop f-bombs on the record in Yahoo Sports stories, demanding action from the Big 12.

But on the other side sat the defending Big 12 champions, led by one of the most powerful people in college sports, like him or not. Texas Tech megabooster and chairman of the board Cody Campbell has nearly as much political and college sports influence as he has money these days. That was who Yormark had to reckon with.

The Big 12 has spent more than three decades living with the consequences of bowing down to the most powerful program in the league. Nebraska took issue with the preferential treatment Texas got before the conference even played its first football game. League commissioners over the years never had the backbone to truly stand up to the Longhorns. 

A common Big 12 criticism has also historically been that it is simply too reactive and not proactive enough. 

Yormark knocked down both league stereotypes in one fell swoop when the Big 12 filed a federal lawsuit in the dead of night that forced Sorsby to abandon his plans to play for the Red Raiders and head to the NFL supplemental draft. It was a move that one legal expert called “devastating” and “as creative as anything I’ve ever seen.” 

Instead of dealing with a months-long legal drama, as I feared if the Big 12 came after the Red Raiders, or passively letting Tech play a QB who bet on his own team 40 times, Yormark found a way to thread the needle perfectly.

You think that might earn him some respect from SEC and Big Ten officials, who aren’t exactly hiding their animosity toward Campbell’s influence over the Protect College Sports Act? Try as they might, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti haven’t been able to brush back Campbell. Yormark just did. 

But was it a little too perfect for the Big 12’s own good?

I haven’t seen much discussion about this paragraph buried in this story from The Athletic that ran before the Big 12 filed its lawsuit. 

This conflict with Texas Tech will test his leadership like never before. The consensus among those in college sports is that this is unlikely to be the 59-year-old’s last job. Those who know Yormark well say he is keenly aware that how he handles this could not only define his tenure with the Big 12 but also have an impact on whatever he aspires to do next.

So people close to Yormark told reporters before all of this happened that he was keenly aware the outcome could shape his future job opportunities.

As somebody who thinks Yormark has done an excellent job delivering big-picture wins for the league, that makes me a little uneasy. The perception across the sports world is that Yormark came out of that leadership test a big winner. Will he parlay that success into a new opportunity?

With so much happening in college sports right now and a wildly unpredictable future ahead, this would not be an ideal time to break in a brand-new commissioner.

I’ve never been naive enough to think Yormark would retire as the commissioner of the Big 12. He’s a very accomplished sports executive who moved the Nets to Brooklyn, broke new ground with NASCAR, and outlasted the Pac-12. 

But I also wasn’t expecting to see that kind of reporting surface at such a critical time in college sports history.

Let’s hope Yormark’s next venture is at least a couple of years down the road. 

What You Need to Know

• It’s possible that the Big 12 could still punish Texas Tech over the Brendan Sorsby situation. Here’s why I don’t think that’s a good idea. 

• A Utah judge dismissed former BYU WR Parker Kingston’s rape charge after denying another request to delay the jury trial. The case was dismissed without prejudice, which means the alleged victim can seek to bring it back at any time. 

• One Big 12 stadium made the list of EA Sports’ 20 toughest places to play in the College Football 27 video game. 

• K-State head coach Collin Klein is putting together arguably the best Wildcat recruiting class in 20+ years. Here’s the proof. 

• Iowa State will sell alcohol at Jack Trice Stadium this fall. Here are the full details. 

• You won’t see a better commitment picture than this one from a recent Utah recruit.

• Want your Big 12 news and analysis in podcast form? Listen to Open For Business at the gym, in your car, or first thing in the morning on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

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