How We Got to the New Big 12

The new era of the Big 12 is officially here.

Despite already being part of the conference’s media days last month, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah’s move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 became official on Friday. Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC became official July 1. With the addition of four and loss of two, that puts the league at 16 teams for the 2024 college football season.

Conference realignment has been chaos, and the Big 12 has been right in the middle of it all. And with the dust finally settling, the Big 12 has added eight new members just since last offseason. So with all that scrambling and a new era kicking off, here’s a timeline of how we even got this point in the Big 12.

July 2021

Conference Members: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia

We could probably go back further, but July 2021 is really when the college football world we became comfortable with started to rapidly change. Reports started surfacing that Oklahoma and Texas were looking to leave the 10-team Big 12 for the expanding SEC in search of a big pay day. By the end of the month, OU and Texas regents voted to accept the SEC’s invitations. When that move would actually happen, though, was still uncertain.

With the Big 12 losing its two largest national brands, speculation rose that the conference might crumble. Other members were reportedly looking elsewhere for a conference home. OSU and the rest of the remaining members (which Twitter then deemed the “Hateful Eight”) had uncertain futures.

Sept. 10, 2021

Presumed Conference Members: Baylor, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia

Trying not to wither away with eight teams, the Big 12 on Sept. 10, 2021 announced it was adding BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF. A date was unknown at first, but that June, the Big 12 and American Conference reached an agreement to let Cincinnati, Houston and UCF make the move in 2023. With OU and Texas still having one year left in the conference, the Big 12 became a 14-team league, having these specific teams for only one go-around.

Aug. 1, 2022

This might be the most underrated day in Big 12 history. With the conference trying to extinguish itself from burning to the ground, the Big 12 hired Brett Yormark as its commissioner to replace the retiring Bob Bowlsby. Yormark was previously the CEO of Roc Nation.

July 26, 2023

Presumed Conference Members: Baylor, BYU, UCF, Colorado, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia

Last July was even more wild than a college football season. Like the SEC, the Big Ten was looking elsewhere to expand and keep up, ultimately poaching Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC from the Pac-12. And now like the Big 12 a year before, Pac-12 members were deciding to either ride it out or look elsewhere. On July 26, 2023, Colorado became the first school to abandon ship before it sank, with reports surfacing CU was looking to rejoin the Big 12. Yormark confirmed the news the next day.

Aug. 4, 2023

Presumed Conference Members: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, UCF, Colorado, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah, West Virginia

Just over a week later, the Big 12 used a tweet to confirm three more schools were joining Colorado in the migration from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 — Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. They were now referred to as the “Four Corner Schools.”

With Cal and Stanford finding a home in the ACC, the Pac-12 was now down to just two schools — Oregon State and Washington State — leaving the conference where many believed the Big 12 was headed after OU and Texas’ departure. And let’s not forget there were even murmurs of UConn and Gonzaga joining the Big 12 as basketball-only members during this time.

Aug. 2, 2024

Official Conference Members: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, UCF, Colorado, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah, West Virginia

On Aug. 2, 2024, everything leading up to this became official. OU and Texas already left for the SEC on July 1, and this day marked the official welcoming of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.