BOB BOWLSBY’S CAREER TIMELINE
■ 1978-81: Assistant director of recreational services, Iowa
■ 1981-83: Assistant athletic director for facilities, Northern Iowa
■ 1984-1991: Athletic director, Northern Iowa
■ 1991-2006: Director of athletics, Iowa
■ 2002-03: President, NCAA Division I-A Athletics Directors’ Association
■ 2003-05: Chair, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee
■ 2001-02: Named National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics’ Central Region Athletic Director of the Year and Sports Business Journal’s National Athletic Director of the Year
■ 2002: Appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the Commission on Opportunities in Athletics to review the first 30 years of Title IX
■ 2006: $90 million renovation of Kinnick Stadium, orchestrated by Bowlsby, wraps up (his first paying job was selling concessions at the stadium)
■ 2006-12: Athletic director, Stanford
■ 2007-14: United States Olympic Committee board of directors
■ 2012-2022: Commissioner, Big 12 Conference
■ 2014-15: The College Football Playoff system begins, with Bowlsby playing a key role in its formation
■ 2015: Appointed to the inaugural NCAA Division I Council
■ 2017: Reinstates the Big 12 Football Championship Game
■ 2019
— Finalizes one of the most lucrative television deals in college athletics, an expansion of the existing ESPN rights agreement that will see ABC or ESPN carry every football championship game through 2024 and launch a Big 12-branded network on ESPN+; when added to the existing media rights deal, the conference will average $22 million per year
— Appointed to the NCAA’s Presidential Task Force on Federal and State Legislative Issues to address legislation related to name, image and likeness
■ 2021: Announces that BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston will join the conference in 2023, replacing Texas and Oklahoma, who will depart in 2024
■ 2022: The Big 12 announces the creation of the Bob Bowlsby Award, an annual honor presented by the conference’s athletic directors to one men’s and one women’s athlete who shows “on- and off-field leadership and excellence”
■ 2023
— Appointed to the board of advisers of Teall Sports & Entertainment, a holding company for sports and entertainment brands
— Inducted into the NACDA Hall of Fame
— Presented with the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s Outstanding American Award — David Broughton