Duncan helps
shape Big 12
The former Sooner
athletic director be
comes a top conference
administrator.
By Ghegg Madsen
Staff Reporter
With four football teams currently
ranked in The Associated Press Tbp 25,
the Big 12 is easily recognized as one
of the top conferences in the nation.
Donnie Duncan, the conference’s
director of football operations, is pre
. pared to make sure Big 12 football
stays that way.
“I feel veiy positive,” Duncan said.
“I think that in many instances, it’s
mind boggling with the universities that
make up the Big 12.
“All the coaches tell me that we
have a national presence and tradition.
It has been that way for decades, and
that’s not going to change.”
Duncan, who recently left his job
as the athletic director at Oklahoma—
a position he held since 1986—said
leaving the Sooner state was a bitter
sweet decision.
“Any time you’re involved on a
college campus and in a college town,
you have a lot of friendships,” he said.
“But the job that I currently have em
bodies a lot of the things I have done
over me years.
Duncan oversees everything from
selection of officiating crews to ticket
sales for the Big 12 championship
game. He said he cherishes the oppor
tunities to meet new people and keep
in touch with old friends.
Duncan said he will be an active
voice in negotiations to keep the con
ference aligned with at least five ma
jbr bowls. Currently, the Big 12 is
aligned with the Cotton, Holiday,
Alamo, Aloha and Capper Bowls.
“I am very involved in alliance dis
cussions,” he said. “We will diligently
watch our bowl structure to make sure
our teams have good bowl games and
good destinations ffbr our teams that
have worked for thpt all season.”
Postseason bowl appearances, as
well as the Big 12 championship game
Dec. 7 in St. Louis, should give the
conference the national exposure it
needs to establish a reputation of ex
cellence, Duncan said. , r.'
“We’re still in a meshing process,
DONNIE DUNCAN oversees all
aspects erf Big 12 football.
both in the conference and nationally,” 1
he said. “We have to be good listeners
in everything. I think any time you
combine conferences, there will be a
lot of discussion.”
Having a north and south division
in the conference was a major ques
tion when talks of merging the Big
Eight and the Southwest Conference
began. But Duncan said now that the
Big 12 is a reality, the conference will
start to become a cohesive unit.
“The competition helps that a lot,”
he said. “We heeded very badly to get
into competition with our sports, es
pecially football. Once you begin that
process, you begin to grow together as
a conference.”
Duncan said he didn’t think old ri
valries, such as Nebraska and Okla
homa, would die with the new confer
jenceaKgnraeau I 10 Mod
“The Nebraska-Oklahoma* game ,
will always be a special game, even
though it will only be played half as
much,” Duncan said.
Although NUand OU will play this
^11 audnext season, teams from the '
North Division and the South Division
Wilf will hot play every season under
the confeiencerschedule.
“Oflier rivalries will be just as good,
though,” Duncan said, “because, when
you look at things, we’re in a era of
parity. The Big 12 isn’t a mile wide and
an inch deep. It’s a mile wide and a
mile deep.* - ‘
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