Kansas AD Travis Goff: Jayhawks remain ‘right here comfortably’ in Big 12 amid realignment

By Zac Boyer     Jul 13, 2022

Missy Minear/Kansas athletics
Kansas athletic director Travis Goff speaks at Big 12 media days at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on July 13, 2022.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Kansas athletic director Travis Goff said Wednesday that he believes in the direction of the Big 12 amid the latest round of conference realignment, even though it seems “it’s a natural sentiment” the era of the superconference is beginning.

Goff, who spoke Wednesday at the Big 12 media days at AT&T Stadium, did not say whether the university would consider moving its athletic programs to another conference when asked directly.

But after UCLA and USC reached an agreement two weeks ago to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024, one year before Texas and Oklahoma leave the Big 12 to join the SEC, there are significant questions about the stability of Kansas and other Power 5 programs in a changing collegiate athletic landscape.

“The beauty of it is you get to live where your feet are, and for us, that is right here comfortably and confidently in the Big 12,” Goff said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do at our own place. We’ve got a backyard, front porch to take care of before we worry about other neighbors, neighborhoods. That’s where we’re focused and we’re glad to be doing it in a conference that has stability and has strength.”

The Big 12 has responded to the pending departures of Texas and Oklahoma by adding BYU, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF, which will join the conference next summer. It also hired a new commissioner, Brett Yormark, an executive with Roc Nation and former CEO of the Brooklyn Nets who will begin his post on Aug. 1.

Yormark, in his opening remarks Wednesday, said repeatedly that the Big 12 will be “open for business,” not just in terms of potentially adding new members but with regard to alternate, and perhaps nontraditional, ways of charting a future for the conference.

Goff said he believes in Yormark’s vision and that his experience as someone who has shepherded the development of the brands of the Nets and the Barclays Center can do the same for the Big 12.

“There’s no reason that the Big 12 shouldn’t feel confident about where it’s at and it’s positioning in the market,” Goff said. “I love the way he’s gone about establishing relationships with other commissioners, partners, exploring really all options, because ultimately, you can have a particular strategy in mind but a twist and a turn can change that real quickly, so you need to know what other options are out there.”

It’s been long thought that for Kansas, one of those other options could be the Big Ten. There are no indications that the conference is interested in adding Kansas — or even expanding beyond the 16 schools it will have once the two Los Angeles universities join — but Goff acknowledged that the recent defections have led to his examinations of what the Jayhawks’ strengths and weaknesses are.

Goff, a Kansas graduate who was hired as athletic director in April 2021, said the university’s academic quality, basketball excellence and recognizable brand and logo are assets.

“The thing I think about and probably spend most of my time feeling optimistic about is we have all of those things that are incredibly strong and that are proven with, what I believe to be the greatest potential in Power 5 sports in our football program,” he said. “That’s where I go, ‘My goodness. What we could be in the future with that potential in the sport of football is unbelievable.'”

But that’s also Kansas’ greatest weakness, he acknowledged.

“Everybody understands that,” Goff said. “The lasting effects of 10, maybe 10-plus years of the challenges we face — the lack of continuity, the lack of identity, right? Any resemblance, right, of a multi-year build in the right way. In this last decade of college athletics, there’s been an impact to that. There’s been an impact for our fanbase. There’s been an impact to the brand, so to speak. You have to not just understand that. You have to understand and talk about, what do you do differently this time around? How are you going to address that differently?

“Talking about the sport of football, you’re looking at a 100-year old stadium, right? One that has had some improvements made over time, but it’s not hard to understand that, indirectly, we’ve made statements about our commitment — or maybe lack thereof — in that sport if that stadium sits as is, stays idle, if we don’t have a vision or a real progressive lens on how we’re going to address that.”

Goff said in May that the university and athletic department are in the initial stages of developing a plan for the renovations of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. On Monday, Texas Tech announced its plans for a $200 million renovation of its football stadium and facilities, which Goff said he welcomes because it puts pressure on other universities to try to keep up.

Pressure to do so may also come from the potential expansion of the Big 12. Multiple reports have indicated in the last two weeks that Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah have been in the Big 12’s sights, and Goff acknowledged that he could foresee there being additions to the conference at some point — “if ‘at some point’ means as far out as any of us can see,” he said.

“I think there’s certainly a chance that this thing could continue to shift,” he said. “There could be more growth in any of the conferences. I don’t think anybody thinks 12 might be an ultimate outcome or 16 might be an ultimate outcome at other leagues. There’s going to be more change out there, and again, I think the beauty of (Yormark’s) approach is he hasn’t become so predetermined on one particular path of what might be additional value and impact for the Big 12 (and is) exploring all options. We know that to be the case with how he’s going about it. It’s not just what sounds good at Big 12 media days.”

And while accepting that “it’s pretty easy to assume” the superconferences have arrived, Goff said he remained confident that Kansas’ success will continue as long as the proper investments in its maintenance and growth are made.

“If Kansas is taking care of business, so to speak, and really has gone about things in a different manner, made some statements, made some investments, then we’re going to be a program to be reckoned with in terms of football, in particular, and in terms of sustained basketball success and comprehensive excellence across the department,” Goff said. “That holds true in the Big 12 and that holds true in an unknown future as well.”

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