Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark Says League Won’t Add UConn, Gonzaga

UConn and Gonzaga have been discussed as options to bolster the league’s basketball footprint.

After the Big 12 added Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State from the Pac-12 over the last month, the conference is no longer pursuing UConn and Gonzaga to add to the league’s portfolio of teams, according to commissioner Brett Yormark.

Rumors of UConn and Gonzaga began to circulate after Colorado joined the conference, but once the additions of Utah, Arizona and Arizona State came to fruition, it no longer made sense for the Big 12 to add those programs. Gonzaga, of course, does not compete in football and would be a pure basketball add as one of the best programs on the hardwood in the country.

“I did have conversations with UConn and Gonzaga,” Yormark confirmed on the Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast this week. “Unfortunately, you know, things didn’t work out only because the dream scenario unfolded for us. So those conversations are no longer. I’m a big admirer of both, those programs are fantastic for all the right reasons, but right now, you know, I’m focused on the transition of those four in right now, and also how do I leverage the fact of a 16-team league in 10 states with 90 million people in four different time zones? So that’s my focus right now.” 

Yormark certainly has plenty on his plate after the Pac-12 acquisitions, but with conference realignment far from over, time will tell whether or not UConn and Gonzaga will be attractive options in the future.