Two of his teams were snubbed from the College Football Playoff, igniting a season-long debate about a league title game. Then last month, Oklahoma president David Boren re-ignited the expansion conversation by calling the 10-team Big 12 "psychologically disadvantaged."
Bowlsby even dealt with a bad case of road rash and a pair of cracked ribs after tripping over some loose gravel on a run during a Caribbean vacation.
All this to say: He's had better offseasons.
"I lost the pool, by the way," Bowlsby joked, when asked about Boren's comments. "I thought that would be the first question."
The Big 12 has grown closer and more akin to one accord since inviting TCU and West Virginia into the fold, and deserves credit for doing so. Still, comments like Boren highlight an uncomfortable reality: It is still the most unstable Power 5 conference and smaller schools best tread lightly in some respects, lest programs who could find options for themselves develop wandering eyes.
When comments like Boren's hit the newswire, it means Bowlsby gets busy. He's OK with that reality.
"As long as we're different than everyone else, that's going to be a story," Bowlsby said. "The good thing is our CEOs are engaged."
"We've got good leadership in the league and the fact that they're engaged is a good thing. ... They all have opinions and those collective opinions are what I end up having to act on."
There's no consensus within the Big 12 about whether it should immediate expand, given the climate of lukewarm candidates, but Bowlsby also believes it's "not realistic" to expect strong wills like Boren from expressing themselves, even if doing so can cause reverberations that give the somewhat accurate appearance of deeper instabilities.
The issue of expansion won't completely go away for the Big 12 in the foreseeable future, and even events like this one, where football is intended to be the focus, will take place amid a haze of expansion chatter.
Let's take a look at the week's highlights:
Best quote: Dana Holgorsen on new Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. "Mike Leach saw something in him as a freshman QB. And what he saw was a s***ty player and a great mind."
Biggest PR ploy: The Big 12's new contact rules. Bowlsby announced on Monday that the Big 12 will allow just two days a week of full contact, which includes game day. That means teams can practice with tackling and full pads just once a week, one below the NCAA's allowable totals. The catch? Almost no teams in the Big 12 were still using the two contact days and when asked about it, the league's coaches said they wouldn't be impacted by the rule change. It's a good move and the league didn't use any deception, but by stating a rule, it managed to assume a spot as a leader in concussion prevention, despite making almost zero sacrifices to do so. It's a shrewd PR move and will be an effective one that will sell well for coaches in recruiting. This is a classic "Don't hate the player, hate the game scenario," but I suspect the league will get far more credit for this measure than it deserves. Well played, Big 12.
Second-best quote: Bill Snyder. "I became acclimated to a steamer..." Snyder was asked about his habit of eating one meal at the end of the night rather than eating throughout the day and explained that when he eats that late, his wife isn't going to make a meal, but he learned the basics of cooking. My favorite thing about that quote is you know the first time he tried to use the steamer, it went a little rough. However, through determination and daily improvement, he was able to effectively soften those carrots and various other root vegetables through the use of steam.
Third-best quote: Shawn Oakman, DE, Baylor. I asked him the most impressive thing he's ever seen DT Andrew Billings, one of the best defensive players in the country, do. "He's the strongest kid in the world. We all know that. It's in the record books. you can look it up. And eating, he's a mammoth. You don't get that big not eating. You've got to remind him to breathe once in awhile. Bill, he'll eat almost anything. ... He's just a little fat kid."
And what's it like to play alongside him?
"It's lovely. You've got somebody who brings the same intensity as you. You can see it in his eyes that we're one in the same. You don't find too many people that's just as crazy as you and are still able to have a conversation with you off the field."
Fourth-best quote: Briles. What is Baylor doing to combat its penalty issues? "Trying not to commit 'em," he said.
Best dressed: Branden Jackson. The Texas Tech defensive end flew solo on the private bowtie plane at media days this week. It was a solid look, mixing a neon green and pink and a matching pocket square. See our video interview with him here.
Most surprising fashion decision: It truly is a new day at Baylor. Art Briles eschewed his usual mock turtleneck in favor of a white shirt and green tie. He also elected to forego the sports jacket. Just when you think you know a man...
Best first impression: David Beaty. The new Kansas coach didn't have much name recognition entering the week, having spent most of his career as a position coach in the midwest. However, it didn't take long to see why he's such a good recruiter and was an attractive hire for Kansas. He brought more energy and enthusiasm than any player or coach all week and was realistic about the task ahead of Kansas without resorting to "piece of crap" comments that are intended to be frank but backfire. It's far too early to tell if Beaty can revive a program that won a BCS bowl game more recently than half the Big 12, but his love for Texas and KU and ability to sell his program is a good combo to at least get KU moving in the right direction.
Best revelation: Beaty, a Dallas native who revealed that his father (a police officer) was one of the men around Lee Harvey Oswald when Oswald was shot in 1963.
Best cultural reference: Briles, in response to a question. "Did you really say started from the bottom and now we're here? Did I hear you say that? Never heard that before."
Dumbest nontroversy: Shawn Oakman saying "Who?" when asked about Oklahoma State DE Emmanuel Ogbah. Talk to enough college athletes and you learn most of them don't watch as much college football as you think. When they do, they're usually watching film to study future opponents. Oakman has very little use to watch Ogbah, so it's no surprise that he's not very familiar with the name. This isn't ignorance or a slight. It's the reality. For what it's worth, Oakman was very well-versed later in the day when he was asked about Texas Tech offensive tackle Le'Raven Clark.
Most impressive order: Karl Joseph, S, West Virginia. The Mountaineers contingent paid Del Frisco's in Uptown a visit on Monday night and Joseph ordered a 32 oz. Porterhouse. "I couldn't even finish it all," Joseph said.
Most deserving of pity: Charlie Strong, Texas. Not in general, but hear me out. Strong seems to be going out of his way to battle a perception that he's looking for reasons to kick guys off his team. Why? He admitted it had come up as something that was being used against Texas in recruiting. The truth of Texas' nine dismissals a year ago is those players were given months to adhere to Strong's standards and didn't do so. Removing them was a no-brainer.
"Such a big deal gets made about that and it shocks me," Strong said.
Me too. Under the Texas microscope, nine players seems like a lot but Charlie Weis didn't garner the same reputation after kicking 26 Kansas players off the team in his first year.
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