From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Big 12 Conference
Established: 1996
NCAA	Division I FBS
Members	12
Sports fielded	21 (men's: 10; women's: 11)
Region	Central United States
Headquarters	Irving, Texas
Commissioner	Dan Beebe (since 2007)
Website	http://www.big12sports.com/
Locations

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located mostly in the central United States. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I for all sports; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition. Member schools are located in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

The conference was officially formed on February 25, 1994, when the former Big Eight Conference joined with four Texas schools that had been members of the Southwest Conference, which had just disbanded.^[1] Athletic competition in the conference commenced on August 31, 1996. Big 12 headquarters is located in Irving, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas. According to the Big 12 Conference's website, the use of the alternate names "Big Twelve" and "Big XII" are incorrect; the trademarked name of the conference is "Big 12 Conference" (notwithstanding the Roman numeral XII featured on the conference logo).^[2]

The conference is split into two divisions for most major sports—a South Division consisting of the Oklahoma and Texas schools, and a North Division consisting of the other six former Big Eight schools.

The Big 12 is the former Big Eight plus the four Texas schools, but considers itself a separate conference and does not claim the Big Eight's history.

Membership

Endowment

• Baylor - $1 billion ^[9]
• Colorado - $870 million ^[9]
• Iowa State - $569 million ^[9]
• Kansas - $1.2 billion ^[9]
• Kansas State - $346 million ^[9]
• Missouri - $1 billion ^[9]
• Nebraska - $1.2 billion ^[9]
• Oklahoma - $1.1 billion ^[9]
• Oklahoma State - $617 million ^[9]
• Texas - $16.1 billion ^[9]
• Texas A&M - $6.6 billion ^[9]
• Texas Tech - $792 million ^[9]

Conference facilities

Locations of Big 12 conference member institutions.

Commissioners

Commissioners of the Big 12 Conference^[10]

• 1995–1997 Steven J. Hatchell
• 1998 Dave Martin (Interim)
• 1998–2007 Kevin Weiberg
• 2007–present Dan Beebe

Sports

The conference sponsors championships in the following sports: baseball (m), basketball (m,w), cross-country (m,w), football (m), golf (m,w), gymnastics (w), soccer (w), softball (w), swimming and diving (m,w), tennis (m,w), track and field (m,w), volleyball (w), wrestling (m)

Among the sponsored sports, all twelve universities participate in 12 sports, while the following sports do not have full participation:

• 11 schools participate in volleyball (Oklahoma State does not)
• 11 schools participate in women's soccer (Kansas State does not)
• 10 schools participate in baseball (Colorado and Iowa State do not)
• 10 schools participate in softball (Colorado and Kansas State do not)
• 7 schools participate in men's tennis (Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri do not)
• 6 schools participate in women's swimming and diving (Kansas, Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, and Texas A&M)
• 5 schools participate in wrestling (Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State)
• 4 schools participate in gymnastics (Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma)
• 3 schools participate in men's swimming and diving (Missouri, Texas, and Texas A&M)

Additionally, member schools participate in the following varsity sports, not organized by the conference:

• Kansas State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M participate in equestrian.^[11]
• Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Texas participate in rowing.
• Nebraska participates in women's bowling and women's rifle.
• Colorado participates in skiing.
• Nebraska, Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech participate in rodeo. (Rodeo is not sanctioned by the NCAA, but instead by the NIRA.)

Football

There are many national football powerhouses in the Big 12 Conference, and when the league was formed, it was decided that the top team from the South Division would play the top team from the North Division at the end of the season to determine the conference champion.

Teams play eight conference games a season, facing all five opponents within its own division and three teams from the opposite division. Inter-divisional play is a "three-on, three-off" system, where teams will play three teams from the other division on a home-and-home basis for two seasons, and then play the other three foes from the opposite side for a two-year home-and-home.

This format has come under considerable criticism, especially from fans at Nebraska and Oklahoma, who are denied a yearly matchup between two of college football's most storied programs. The Oklahoma–Nebraska rivalry was one of the most intense rivalries in college football history. (Until 2006, the teams had never met in the Big 12 Championship.) There has been talk of modifying the current format to allow each team to have one permanent opponent from the opposite division (as is the case in the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference), or for Nebraska and Oklahoma to play a non-conference game when the two teams are not scheduled to meet in conference play.

Championship Game

The Big 12 Championship Game is held by the Big 12 Conference each year. The championship game pits the Big 12 North Division champion against the Big 12 South Division champion in a game held after the regular season has been completed. The first championship game was held during the 1996 season. Since the 1996 season, the most football championships have been held at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 2008 Big 12 Championship Game was held at Arrowhead, while the 2009 game was played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas with the Texas Longhorns defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers 13-12.

Bowl affiliates

Rivalries

The Big 12 Conference has many rivalries among its member schools, primarily in football. Most of the rivalries existed before the Big 12 was established. The Kansas-Missouri rivalry is the longest running in the Big 12, being played for 118 years; however the Texas–Oklahoma rivalry is also unique, as it too was a major rivalry decades before the two schools were in the same conference. Some of the longstanding football rivalries between Big 12 schools include:

^† Through 2008

Other notable series

• Kansas v. Nebraska - The series began in 1892 and has been played 116 times, making it the second most-played series in the Big 12 and tied for second oldest. The series is also the longest uninterrupted series in Division I FBS, having been played each year since 1906^[16] While longstanding, the series is not known as a rivalry due to Nebraska's dominance. Nebraska once won 36 games in a row (the second most consecutive wins over a team in college football history) and currently leads the series 89-23-3.^[17]
• Baylor v. Texas - The series began in 1901 and has been played 99 times, including annually since 1946. Although Texas maintains a dominating 73–22–4 lead in the series and holds the series' longest winning streaks of 16, 11, and 11 games, Baylor has at times been very competitive, such as from 1913 to 1942, 1951 to 1957, and 1974 to 1992.^[18]

Men's basketball

Although standings in the conference are combined and not split among divisions, the schedule is structured as if the schools were split into two divisions. Teams play a home-and-home against teams within its division and a single game against teams from the opposite division for a total of 16 conference games. This denies Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, formerly in the Big Eight, two games a season against their opponents from that former conference, but does allow most of the other traditional rivalries to be played home-and-home.

Big 12 men's basketball champions

In 2005, Oklahoma won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on their 71-63 home victory over the Jayhawks.^[19]

In 2006, Texas won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on their 80-55 home victory over the Jayhawks.^[20]

In 2008, Texas won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on their 72-69 home victory over the Jayhawks.^[21]

Big 12 in the NCAA tournament

*Includes Missouri's 1994 NCAA tournament Elite 8 run that was later vacated by the NCAA.

Big 12 men's basketball programs all time

• Through the end of the 2008-09 season

Baseball

The top 8 teams compete in the Big 12 Baseball Tournament at the conclusion of each season. Colorado and Iowa State do not sponsor baseball.

In the 2008 Big 12 Baseball Tournament, The Texas Longhorns edged The Kansas State Wildcats, 15-7.

Tournament champions by year

By School

National championships

The following is a list of all national championships won by member schools in NCAA-recognized sports.^[3][4] Only championships 1996 and later should be counted towards the Big 12 total itself (48).

* Champion selected retroactively by the Helms Athletic Foundation
^ AIAW Championship, prior to NCAA sponsorship of women's athletics in 1982