KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In 2021, Terry Mohajir and his wife Julie had family in town at their Orlando home, with plans to attend the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at nearby Daytona, when a telephone call disrupted their plans.
Then-Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said he wanted to visit with Mohajir, the Central Florida athletic director, along with the university’s president and chairman of its board of trustees.
And one more thing: Bowlsby wanted this kept as quiet as possible.
“We couldn’t have family at the house,” Mohajir said.
About two weeks later, the result of that meeting was announced publicly: The Big 12 had accepted Central Florida, Brigham Young, Houston and Cincinnati into the conference.
Four schools and their respective fan bases celebrated the jump to the autonomy of the Power Five and boost in revenue and reputation it portended.
This week, on Saturday, those memberships become official with the start of the 2023-24 business calendar for college sports.
From Kansas City to Orlando
With UCF’s admission to the Big 12, a small echo of cheers could be heard in KC from family and friends of the school’s athletics boss.
Mohajir grew up in Kansas City, attended Shawnee Mission South High and served two stints in the Kansas Jayhawks’ athletic department. The Mohajirs have a daughter on the KU dance squad.
Also, the Golden Knights’ senior deputy athletic director, Rich Zvocec, was UMKC’s basketball coach for six seasons. This new world for Central Florida is familiar territory for them.
“On the excitement scale of 1-10, this is a 12 for Central Florida,” Zvocec said. “For me, it’s a 15.”
Central Florida, which opened in 1963 to provide personnel to support the U.S. space program, will be the youngest Power Five program. But it’s ridden a rocket ship up the ranks.
Football debuted as a Division III sport at UCF in 1979 and three years later rose to Division II. In 1990, the school attained Football Championship Subdivision status, and by 1996, quarterback Daunte Culpepper was leading the Knights in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
In the years since, UCF has played in the Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference ...
And, now, soon, the Big 12.
“Getting in was really a monumental day for our fan base, alumni, and really cool for me personally growing up a Big Eight, Big 12 guy,” Mohajir said. “And the meteoric rise has been nothing but gratifying to the forefathers and the investments they made.”
Many around the UCF program today have been there every step of the way. They’ve watched the university in Orlando grow into one of the nation’s largest in terms of enrollment, with 68,000 students.
Big 12 enters the Florida market
Getting into Florida, the nation’s most talent-rich state when it comes to football prospects, was a smart move for the Big 12, Mohajir said.
“For a conference that wasn’t represented in Florida, this was a great opportunity to come in and plant the flag in the middle of the state,” he said.
Conference movement is not new to Mohajir. He’s seen plenty while advancing through his career. Back when he was an assistant coach with the Jayhawks’ offensive line and special teams from 1993-97 under Glen Mason, the Big Eight became the Big 12 with the merger of four Texas schools from the Southwest Conference.
Mohajir transitioned into administration at UMKC, where he met Zvocec, and returned to KU as associate athletic director and chief marketing officer in 2011. This was during a period of dramatic realignment for the Big 12: Nebraska and Colorado left, Missouri and Texas A&M were leaving and West Virginia and TCU were coming in.
“The first time it was exciting, with the new schools,’ Mohajir said. “The next time was a little nerve-wracking for everybody.”
This time, potential Big 12 instability lurked after the departures of Texas and Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference. But the current transition has actually been fairly smooth — perhaps, in part, thanks to some swift action and sound decisions.
Bowlsby knew the top candidates for admission to the Big 12. The conference had started keeping files on them (and several other schools) while considering expansion in 2016.
A media-rights goldmine
Bowlsby retired last year and was succeeded by new Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark. Three months into Yormark’s tenue, the Big 12 rocked the college sports landscape by announcing a six-year, $2.3 billion media-rights extension.
The deal starts in 2025 and will generate $31.7 million in annual media revenue to each of the league’s member institutions. Add that to other revenue streams, such as College Football Playoff payouts, bowl payouts and NCAA Tournament units, and each Big 12 school is expected to receive some $50 million in annual distribution. This year, Big 12 members received an average of $44 million apiece.
Those figures place the Big 12 in the middle of the Power Five conferences and thrust the league’s newcomers into a higher tax bracket. For 2022-23, Cincinnati received $11.3 million, Central Florida $8.9 million and Houston $8.3 million from the AAC.
How will the new Big 12 schools fare against Big 12 competition? If realignment from a decade ago provides a clue, they might be wise to expect an adjustment period. Upon joining the Big 12 in 2012, the TCU football program was coming off four straight seasons with double-digit victory totals, including a 13-0 team that won the Rose Bowl.
The Horned Frogs went a combined 6-12 in the Big 12 in their first two seasons.
West Virginia had the same record through two seasons — this, after the Mountaineers had finished 10-3 in 2011 to cap a stretch of seven straight seasons with at least nine victories as members of the Big East.
Transfer portal: The great equalizer
But now there’s a factor that figures work in favor of conference newcomers UCF, BYU, Houston and Cincinnati: The NCAA transfer portal has made it possible to improve a roster fairly quickly.
“We have a chance to take the next step in recruiting,” Central Florida football coach Gus Malzahn said two months ago in Atlanta. “It’s already been an attractive place before the portal really got going for transfers.”
When it comes to basketball, Houston, with a run of recent success that includes a 2021 Final Four appearance under coach Kelvin Sampson, should have a leg up.
The Big 12 will compete with 14 member schools this year and then drop to 12 when Oklahoma and Texas depart for the SEC next year. That is, if there’s no more expansion. Nothing is off the table for Yormark, and the Big 12’s finances put the league in position to be aggressive if it wants to.
Big 12 tournaments in Kansas City ... right?
One aspect that’s not expected to change: the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. They’re scheduled to be played in Kansas City through 2027.
Mohajir and Central Florida are eager to share Orlando with the Big 12, but he said he has politely deflected calls from city officials seeking to promote Orlando as a host site for future Big 12 hoops tournaments.
“I’ve told our people, and I told Brett (Yormark this), I grew up here (in KC),” Mohajir said. “I used to go to all the Big Eight tournaments at Kemper Arena. Look, if it ever opens up again and Orlando wants to bid, we’ll be first in line.
“But I can tell you with great confidence and great enthusiasm that it should never leave Kansas City.”
