Brett Yormark hasn't quite completed three full years in his post as Big 12 Conference Commissioner, but in that time he's emerged as an innovative, push-the-boundaries leader who's unafraid to speak on any topic across the spectrum of college athletics.
As Yormark launched Big 12 football's media bonanza Tuesday morning inside the Dallas Cowboys's 'Jerry World' stadium, he unabashedly pushed for the 5-11 model for the College Football Playoff, which is expected to expand to 16 teams in 2026.
The 5-11 model has been constructed to dole out five automatic bids -- one each for the Power 4 Conference champions and one to the highest-rated Group of 5 champion plus 11 at-large bids.
Yormark expressed his confidence that the 5-11 model would be adopted -- even as he acknowledged it might not be the best scenario in the present state of his conference's football programs. Only Big 12 champ Arizona State was selected into the first-ever 12-team CFP after the 2024 regular season.
"I think as you look at how things are weighted and different metrics, strength of schedule matters," said Yormark, who also revealed an projected addition to the CFP formula. "There's some new metrics that are going to brought into the puzzle as well to complement what is already there.
"I'm confident we will get to the right place and ultimately I'm confident we'll go to 5-11."
Yormark further shared insight into recent high-level meetings in North Carolina that focused on the future of collegiate athletics at the dawn of the House Settlement revenue-sharing era and specifically examined the CFP process.
"I have a lot of faith in the selection process. I was recently at North Carolina, we had a CFP meeting that was hosted by the executive director, Richard Clark. They are doing a full audit of the selection process to figure out how they can modernize and contemporize and they use data and how certain metrics can be heavily weighted," he said. "Most importantly, they have a great leader in Mack Rhodes of Baylor, and I have a lot of faith in Mack Rhodes and the work he's doing with the selection committee. So, I have a lot of faith in what they're doing.
"Five-11 is fair. We want to earn it on the field. It might not be the best solution today, for the Big 12, given your comments about the (automatic qualifiers). But, knowing the progress we're making and investments we're making, it's the right format for us and I'm doubling down today on 5-11. And I know Jim Phillips will, and I'm sure some of the other conference commissioners will as well."
Sources have emphasized to FootballScoop that SEC coaches staunchly favored the 5-11 model and conveyed that message Memorial Day week at the SEC's annual meetings in the Florida panhandle. SEC coaches, sources shared, prefer the 5-11 model that would likely keep the league at eight conference games as opposed to a nine-game conference slate that likely would afford the SEC four automatic CFP bids under the proposed 4-4-2-2-1-3 model. That iteration provided four automatic berths to both the Big Ten and SEC; two apiece to the ACC and Big 12, one for the top G-5 champion or Notre Dame -- whichever was highest-ranked -- and then three at-large bids.
Yormark earlier in his opening remarks stood in the trench against the "NFL model" that has engulfed much of college football. Countless programs have hired general managers -- many directly from NFL franchises or with extensive NFL backgrounds -- to manage college football rosters, construct revenue-sharing "agreements" and tier salaries across the various players' on-field positions.
"We do not need a professional model because we are not the NFL; we are college football, and we must act like it. There is nothing in sports like college football, and we must protect what makes it special and do what's right for the fans and for the game.
"I will continue to collaborate with my commissioner colleagues on a new governance model that will provide the Power 4 with more autonomy and influence around decision-making in key areas. We anticipate this being done sometime in August. We will also advance our work with the College Sports Commission.
"One of the primary goals of the CSC is to change the market from pay-for-play to a market of true NIL."
Lastly, Yormark teased the Big 12's burgeoning desire to become a truly "global" entity. The Big 12 has three of the four participating teams in the next two Aer Lingus College Football Classics to be hosted in Dublin, Ireland; it also has other member institutions slated for international competition elsewhere.
"I've been on the record as saying I want this conference to be a global conference. I think we can win globally, big-time," Yormark said. "Playing in Ireland obviously is that first step. We'll return there next year. There's a good chance we'll be in Mexico City this spring for baseball; Baylor, the women, are kicking off basketball in Paris. We're having conversations with other countries throughout the world that are very interested in bringing the Big 12 to their marketplace."