Iowa State reacts to Colorado’s return to the Big 12

AMES — Iowa State men’s basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger thinks highly of his counterpart at Colorado, Tad Boyle.

“I have a lot of respect for him,” Otzelberger said Thursday morning.

Hours later, news broke that he and Boyle would be Big 12 coaching adversaries starting in the 2024-25 season. Colorado’s Board of Regents voted unanimously Thursday afternoon to approve the university’s return to the Big 12.

Colorado had left the league in 2011 and will spend one last season in the Pac-12, which lost flagship programs USC and UCLA to the Big Ten last summer. The Pac-12 is in its final season of a media rights contract and has yet to finalize a new deal, which is one of the reasons it’s on shaky ground.

“The landscape of collegiate sports is ever-evolving, and (Colorado) has determined the Big 12 is the best future fit for our athletic teams,” Colorado President Todd Saliman said in a statement. “The move is good for our student-athletes and the university.”

Iowa State’s Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard welcomed the Buffaloes back to the conference they helped found in 1996 with a statement of his own.

“Iowa State is thrilled to welcome the University of Colorado back into the Big 12 Conference,” Pollard said. “The Cyclones and Buffaloes enjoyed a spirited rivalry for more than 60 years in the Big 7, Big 8 and early years of the Big 12, so we are excited to resume competing with them next year.

“This great news for the Big 12 Conference would not have been possible without Commissioner (Brett) Yormark’s vision as well as the hard work by former Commissioner (Bob) Bowlsby in bringing BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston on board as members in 2023-24. The Big 12 brand has never been stronger, and I believe great days are ahead for our conference.”

Colorado recently hired NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders to be its football coach and until recently indicated it planned to remain in the Pac-12.

Boyle, as Otzelberger noted, is highly respected on the men’s basketball side. He was the head coach of USA Basketball’s Under-19 team that played earlier this summer in the FIBA World Cup in Hungary. Cyclone freshman Omaha Biliew played on that team and Otzelberger served as a court coach.

“Learning from them and also learning from my teammates and then playing against different basketball (teams) across the world, I think that just changed my perspective on basketball,” said Biliew, a five-star forward from Waukee.

Change happens quickly when it comes to conference realignment. That was certainly the case when it comes to Colorado and the pace generally quickens once a single domino falls. The Big 12 features 14 teams this season, then will shrink to 13 (with the addition of Colorado) the following season after Oklahoma and Texas leave for the SEC.

“Things are changing and certainly we want to continue to be the top basketball league in the country,” Otzelberger said. “So to do that, there’s a level of aggressiveness you have to have when you talk to other schools and programs.”

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