ORLANDO -- Terry Mohajir and the rest of the Big 12's athletic directors crammed at least three years' worth of pressing issues surrounding college sports into three days at the conference's spring meetings, held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Spa near Walt Disney World.
"A lot of governance. A lot of House case. Obviously the CFP (College Football Playoff); you've read about that, a lot of stuff going on. And the transfer portal. All the fun stuff," Mohajir said.
Indeed, the House settlement with regards to the payment of athletes remains unsettled. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark told CBS Sports he's in favor of the CFP moving to a 16-team model that grants automatic berths to the top five conference champions and 11 wild cards. The league's head coaches unanimously favor one transfer portal window in January, thus eliminating the second free agency period following spring camps.
With no shortage of topics to discuss, Mohajir met with the media for nearly a half-hour Thursday evening. Here are some of the most notable questions and responses from that session, edited lightly for clarity.
"I think we're all aligned. We like the 5+11. Having been on the selection committee, we have a lot of really talented people on it. I was on there, and we had a lot of good coaches (Frank Beamer, R.C. Slocum, Ken Hatfield) and even some of the ADs that represented their conference. Despite what people may think, I don't think there's as much brand loyalty. I think people try and pick the best teams, at least when I was on there. You're supposed to go in there as a football person, not a conference person. And I think there's a real opportunity. I do think it's fair.
"Every week matters in college football. You could lose every game in college basketball but win your conference tournament and get to the NCAA Tournament. ... Having the chance to have your conference champion rewarded for winning, having the best team in the Group of Five to also be able to participate in this Playoff and then to have 11 at-large is, I think, really fair. I think it gives the Big Ten, the SEC the opportunity to get even more teams in than what they're proposing for automatic qualifiers."
"We're real close. We'll be there, for sure. I've just got a couple more things we're working on, some revenue pieces that we're putting together. But we'll be there come July 1. We're very happy about that, by the way. We'll become full-share members, but we have a lot more other expenses we have."
"It doesn't change the naming rights deal, but it does change the potential name of the stadium (from FBC Mortgage Stadium to Acrisure Mortgage Stadium). We have a governance process we have to go through. We're still trying to figure out if we have to get that approved by our board of trustees again since they changed their name. ... We have a board meeting coming up in June, and hopefully we'll be ready for that. But they've told us they definitely want to change the name."
"Really good. ... It's going faster than I thought. I'm watching the parking lot go up, and the gateway. I can see the concrete elevator shafts and the pillars going up. So it's pretty cool, very exciting.
"There's a guaranteed maximum price. We have that, so they have to stick to that. A lot of the steel is coming from Florida. That's one of the things I was worried about, some of the tariffs because you get some of it from overseas. There are several steel plants in Florida and domestic -- Arkansas, where I used to live -- that are high-producing steel companies. Most of our products are being bought domestically. We're under (budget) right now, so we're doing well."
"Why not a couple more? That would be great. It gives more people opportunity. I'm fine with that. It's good, happy about it. We don't know a lot about it except that there's a couple more that (the NCAA) would like to add. The tournament is exciting. Why not expand it?"
"Just getting better. Our expectations, I want to see progress and us to get better. The league's still really good; it didn't get any worse. ... Are you talking about, like, a record? To win every game. Is that likely? Probably not. But you go into every game and you want to win the game."
"This is not new in college athletics. You know the story; it's been well chronicled. All I can say is my interactions with Moustapha were always positive. I really like the young man. I wish him nothing but the best. And I'll just leave it at that."
"Women's basketball needs to get better. I do think that (head coach Sytia Messer's roster) was more decimated than any of our other teams when she got here. (Katie Abrahamson-Henderson) took all of our players to Georgia, and all of our recruits. This is a big year for (Messer).
"Men's basketball, I believe, is the best it's been since I've been here. We've only been to five NCAA Tournaments in the history of this school. When I got here in February 2021, our program is better now than we were (then). There's no doubt in my mind. I have said that we all as administrators have to look ourselves in the mirror. It's easy to just make changes. Or you look at yourself and say, 'What happens if I actually help the coach get more resources, put a little more investment into it? I've been lucky to work for a school that has an elite basketball program (Kansas). When I got here, we knew we had some work to do with men's basketball. And I think you see not only is (the Big 12) the best basketball conference in the country, but you see that our basketball program is more competitive than it's ever been.
"This is a big year for Johnny (Dawkins) as well. I'm excited that he's here. I think that he has amassed a really good roster from everything that I have seen. ... I'd like to get to the NCAA Tournament. That's my expectations. I'd like to be there. I think it's time; I don't think it's time, I know it's time."
"Why don't we just help him try to win as much as he possibly can and then evaluate it after the year? ... Everything is transactional, year-to-year nowadays. So, we'll see."
"I'm more optimistic the more we go through these sessions. We've been working on this House case for almost a year-and-a-half. It's coming around. We get periodic updates. It's a living, breathing document. We thought everything was in place, and then we had some (rejections) on walk-ons. It looks like walk-ons are going to be grandfathered in, which I think is fantastic. I feel pretty confident.
"There's going to be a separate governance, the College Sports Commission, with its own CEO that will basically oversee the enforcement. And they will have a chief investigative officer. This is all stuff that is going to be part of the House settlement case. We feel good about the enforcement of this.
"We need a level playing field. I don't think anybody doesn't think that, right? They have it in most of the pro sports, so why wouldn't we want that?"