Houston announces Chris Pezman is no longer athletic director and search for successor must begin immediately

Houston leaves the post of sports director Chris Pezman, the school announced Thursday. Pezman, a former Cougars football player, held the position for more than six years.

The search for a replacement for Pezman will begin immediately. Raymond Bartlett, Houston’s senior vice president of administration and finance, will serve as interim athletic director. As the Cougars announced a change in athletic leadership, university president Renu Khator cited “a paradigm shift” in college athletics that prompted the decision.

“Chris Pezman ushered our athletics program through a period of incredible transformation, and we are grateful for his leadership over the past six years,” Khator said in the release. “He played a pivotal role in our entry into the Big 12 Conference and championed student-athlete success on the field and in the classroom. It was a necessary decision as we experience a paradigm shift in college sports. I want to thank Chris for his hidden dedication to UH and our student-athletes. On behalf of the University, I wish Chris and his family the best.

Big changes could be coming for the Big 12

The Big 12 Conference has provided college athletics with a summer talking point with two potential moves for the league that were reported in mid-June: A potential deal for league naming rightsAnd another possible deal to give a private equity firm a stake in the league. And these are not movements created equally.

Although the possibility of the Big 12 seemingly becoming the “Allstate 12” conference, or something similar, has sparked plenty of jokes and furor online, this would be a private equity deal that could ultimately return haunt the league and its members. schools, up to On3 Andy Staples And Pete Nakos are concerned.

And the problem comes from a key difference in how these respective agreements would work. Naming rights, while easily mocked, are essentially a league rebranding its title for an infusion of cash. The operations would not be carried out, except for a little more money to be distributed to schools. Private equity, on the other hand, would stake a large sum of initial money in the league – likely to make up for the shortfall relative to the Big Ten and SEC – and gain partial control over the league, member schools and would get repaid with interest over a period of years (probably decades). The first of these would probably be tolerable for college athletics, and the second could be disastrous.

“They’re going to lead, they’re going to tell you what to do, and there’s probably a higher percentage of people who will tell you to cut the sport than if you don’t bring in investment capital,” Nakos said.

Staples further explained how things could go for athletic departments if they opened the door for a private equity firm to have a say.

“Yeah, because they’ll say, ‘Which one of these sports makes money?’ And they’ll say, “Football and men’s basketball.” And they will say, “Cut everything else.” And you say, “Well, no. There’s something called Title IX. “Cut exactly what you need to comply with Title IX and have nothing more.” That’s what they’re going to say. It’s a pretty dangerous situation, it’s a dangerous path to take,” Staples said.

The exact nature of a possible private equity transaction between the Big 12 is also still unknown. The terms announced Thursday are by no means final, but the broad outlines of an agreement would be a payment to the Big 12 – therefore the league’s schools – in the range of $800 million to $1 billion from one company. in Luxembourg, for a participation of approximately 20% in the league, in addition to being reimbursed with interest.