Big 12 commish Bowlsby stepping away from role this year

Updated Apr. 5, 2022 4:55 p.m. ET

Associated Press

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Bob Bowlsby said Tuesday that he will step away from his role as Big 12 commissioner later this year after a decade in that job.

Bowlsby will remain as the Big 12's leader until a new commissioner is appointed. The expectation then is that Bowlsby, whose contract goes into 2025, will transition into a new interim role with the league.

“After more than 40 years of serving in leadership roles in intercollegiate athletics, including the last 10 with the Big 12, and given the major issues that college sports in general and the Big 12 specifically will address in the next several years, I have reached a natural transition point in my tenure as commissioner, as well as in my career,” Bowlsby said in a statement.

The 70-year-old Bowlsby has been the Big 12 commissioner since 2012. He came to the league from Stanford, where he was the athletic director for six years. Before Stanford, Bowlsby had been AD at Iowa since 1991, overseeing the athletic program where growing up he sold soda at football games.