Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor didn’t need much time to think about the question.
Was he willing to join the College Football Playoff selection committee and help rank the nation’s top teams for the next three seasons?
“It took me not even 10 seconds to say, ‘Yes,’” Taylor said in a phone interview. “When you get a call like that, you’re going to be excited, because not only does it give you an opportunity to represent college football, but it gives you an opportunity to represent your school and your conference. That is a big-time honor.”
Taylor joined one of the most prominent working groups in all of college sports on Wednesday, and he celebrated the occasion with family while he was on vacation in Colorado.
Congratulatory texts rolled in all day long. It was a big moment for him, one that seemed to validate his years of work as an A.D. But it also made him feel good about the future of K-State sports during uncertain times.
“I think it says a lot about Kansas State and how we are seen across the country that I have an opportunity to serve on this committee,” Taylor said. “We have respect as a football program if we’re on there. It’s more about where we are as a program than it is about me.”
Now is undoubtedly a good time for Taylor to assume a more visible role within the industry. The future of the Big 12 is in doubt now that Oklahoma and Texas have announced plans to leave for the SEC. Any exposure Taylor can shine on K-State and the Big 12’s eight remaining members is a positive.
The Big 12’s last representative on the selection committee was Oklahoma A.D. Joe Castiglione. Texas A.D. Chris Del Conte was originally tabbed as his replacement, but he stepped down because of conflicting interests with the Longhorns on their way out of the league. Now it’s Taylor’s turn.
Interacting with leaders from other conferences and schools on a regular basis while conference realignment unfolds will give him opportunities to network and sell K-State’s brand.
It will also give him the perfect excuse to watch more football and to be on the inside when top 25 rankings are announced, bowl matchups are set and playoff fields are decided.
That, he says, will be his main focus on the selection committee. He joined to help rank playoff teams, not to boost K-State’s prestige. But, hey, if that happens along the way he’s all for it.
“I don’t know that it will have a major impact,” Taylor said. “But we’ll see.”
Navigating another round of realignment
Speaking of Big 12 realignment, Taylor was willing to discuss some of the most pertinent issues currently facing K-State and the conference.
His main message: The Big 12’s eight remaining teams are working together to find the best possible path forward for the league.
Despite rumors to the contrary, he thinks the conference is unified.
“It feels that way,” Taylor said. “It really does. Right now, it feels really galvanized. When I talk to President (Richard) Myers, he says it feels the same way with the presidents and chancellors. So I don’t sense anything different. I’m excited to see where it goes.”
Conference leaders are prepared to begin seriously exploring ideas for the future later this month when they are scheduled to meet at a face-to-face meeting in the Dallas area.
Things have slowed down on the realignment front this week, allowing everyone involved to take a deep breath. Taylor thinks that has been good, as rushing into a poor decision would be the worst decision anyone could make at the moment. But an in-person meeting with Big 12 athletic directors may put some things in motion.
Still, it could be a while before the next domino falls. Oklahoma and Texas are publicly saying they will remain in the Big 12 until July 1, 2025, when the conference’s media rights contract expires with Fox and ESPN. But most in the industry expect them to exit sooner and pay the Big 12 a massive settlement on their way out.
Taylor said he hopes the Longhorns and Sooners stay in the league for four more years. Either way, he is ready to talk through realignment options while that gets sorted out.
“We have time on our side, but we can’t sit on our hands,” Taylor said. “We have to start looking at options and we have to be aggressive, and we have to talk through all the pros and cons of everything. We just can’t sit here and start talking about it three years from now. If we start talking about it now, which we will, and we all stay together we will end up with some good options.”
What’s next?
What might some of those options be? Taylor said Big 12 leaders haven’t gotten that far yet, but myriad ideas have been mentioned.
The eight remaining teams could try to rebuild the Big 12 in some form through expansion. But Taylor said no expansion candidates have been discussed.
“Not even close,” Taylor said.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby met his Pac-12 counterpart George Kliavkoff on Tuesday to discuss a wide range of topics that could be mutually beneficial for both conferences, perhaps a 20-team merger or a scheduling alliance.
Taylor said it’s too early to know if those conversations will lead anywhere. He said Bowlsby didn’t report any news to Big 12 athletic directors on Wednesday. But he’s glad Bowlsby is exploring those options.
It seems like the Pac-12 is willing to listen more than other power conferences. Taylor used to work as the deputy A.D. at Iowa, and he has many contacts in the Big Ten. Based on his conversations with those colleagues, he thinks that league is happy with its current makeup.
“They have told me they’re not talking to anybody,” Taylor said. “I think they would be honest enough to tell me if they were looking at expansion. But right now, they’re telling me, ‘Hey, Gene, we have no desire to expand right now. We don’t need to expand.’ I don’t know that the ACC is looking to expand either.”
Perhaps that is why K-State, more than some other schools in the Big 12, has preached conference solidarity throughout this process. Taylor and the Wildcats think the league can prosper in a new form.
Learning from the past
Taylor has been here before. When he was athletics director at North Dakota State, he led the Bison football program out of Division II and into the Football Championship Subdivision without any assurance that the school would find a Division I conference to call home.
It was a tricky path, but NDSU landed on its feet and is now a FCS football juggernaut.
K-State is in a better starting position.
Fans were understandably nervous when Oklahoma and Texas announced plans to leave the Big 12, but Taylor has remained confident because of everything K-State has built since the last round of conference realignment a decade ago.
After all, it was enough for Taylor to land a spot on the CFP selection committee.