Salt City Sooner
6/20/2007, 01:31 PM
http://tulsaworld.com/sports/article.aspx?articleID=070620_2_B1_spanc42015&breadcrumb=Football
KEVIN WEIBERG'S GREATEST strength as Big 12 Conference commissioner was also his biggest weakness.
Weiberg, who has announced he will leave the job July 15, is a low-key, soft-spoken person who prefers to get things done by working behind the scenes. Above all, he seemed to avoid confrontation and controversy at all cost.
That approach often served the Big 12 well in the early years of his tenure. In nine years as commissioner, Weiberg helped grow the league substantially in several areas, while also bringing peace to a new conference that included all the members of the old Big Eight Conference and four schools from the former Southwest Conference.
But Weiberg often seemed to disappear or wilt when the Big 12 needed a strong voice to defend one of its members or to silence some conference loudmouths like Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight.
The University of Oklahoma's athletic department was affected twice in recent months by Weiberg's unwillingness to either get involved to help the Sooners or defend OU under unfair attacks.
One example involved Knight, and the other was OU's controversial football loss to Oregon last season.
When television replays demonstrated that the Sooners had been royally undone by inept officiating in the 34-33 loss to the Ducks, OU needed the commissioner to come out with a strong statement in defense of a Big 12 member.
I know several current and former commissioners from many conferences who would have gone ballistic in making OU's case. They would have definitely questioned why the Pac-10 Conference arrogantly continues to insist that officials from its conference work games that are played on the home fields of league teams.
But, at least outwardly, Weiberg remained silent.
So it was left up to OU president David Boren, athletic director Joe Castiglione and coach Bob Stoops to raise a ruckus. And, of course, they took heat from critics that rightfully should have been shouldered by a conference office that has its members' backs.
Boren was derided nationally for the letter he wrote to Weiberg demanding the league take some type of stance about the horrible officiating. And Stoops was blasted when he said he might not take OU to Washington to play the Huskies during the 2008 season if the Pac-10 didn't change its policy on officials assigned to work home games in the conference.
Weiberg dismissed Boren's demands and Stoops was left to battle alone.
And Stoops apparently will have to continue to fight alone because of that inaction. Pac-10 officials considered the matter at their winter meetings and decided that despite the incredibly negative coverage the league received after the OU-Oregon game, it will continue to have Pac-10 officials work home games.
Weiberg also avoided a confrontation with Knight at the expense of OU's basketball team and Sooner center Longar Longar.
Knight lost what's left of his cantankerous mind last January when Longar's elbow connected with Tech center Esmir Rizvic's face. The blow, which fractured Rizvic's eye socket, looked unintentional to most rational observers. But Knight demanded that Longar should be suspended the rest of the season and perhaps for life.
Knight, sports' biggest bully and a master of intimidation, worked his antics on Weiberg. The commissioner folded and wrongly suspended Longar for two games, which also delivered a serious and grossly unfair blow to Longar's reputation.
Because it wasn't nipped in the bud, this is another battle that isn't over.
Several sources said Knight brought the incident up when the Big 12 basketball coaches met during the league's spring meetings. Sources said Knight lashed out at Sooner coach Jeff Capel, and demanded the coaches approve a new policy that would require a player involved in a situation like Longar's be suspended for as long as any player injured during the play.
A strong commissioner would have stifled Knight from the outset. But Weiberg also didn't silence Knight a few years ago when the Tech coach felt the clock operator at OU had cheated the Red Raiders. Knight has used these incidents to add nastiness to the OU-Tech series, and he seems hell-bent on escalating the bitterness between the two Big 12 schools.
Weiberg acknowledged at the press conference announcing he was leaving for a position at the Big Ten Conference's television network, that perhaps his style might no longer be best for the league. He added that his successor "needs to be a strong leader in this position. Certainly there's room for someone to come in and set an aggressive agenda."
A decent man who worked hard and did a lot of good, Weiberg's style undoubtedly worked well during the league's early days. But the Big 12 is still having growing pains, and at this point, it needs an extroverted, dynamic, visible leader whose agenda will be to speak up often and also tell some coaches to shut up.
KEVIN WEIBERG'S GREATEST strength as Big 12 Conference commissioner was also his biggest weakness.
Weiberg, who has announced he will leave the job July 15, is a low-key, soft-spoken person who prefers to get things done by working behind the scenes. Above all, he seemed to avoid confrontation and controversy at all cost.
That approach often served the Big 12 well in the early years of his tenure. In nine years as commissioner, Weiberg helped grow the league substantially in several areas, while also bringing peace to a new conference that included all the members of the old Big Eight Conference and four schools from the former Southwest Conference.
But Weiberg often seemed to disappear or wilt when the Big 12 needed a strong voice to defend one of its members or to silence some conference loudmouths like Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight.
The University of Oklahoma's athletic department was affected twice in recent months by Weiberg's unwillingness to either get involved to help the Sooners or defend OU under unfair attacks.
One example involved Knight, and the other was OU's controversial football loss to Oregon last season.
When television replays demonstrated that the Sooners had been royally undone by inept officiating in the 34-33 loss to the Ducks, OU needed the commissioner to come out with a strong statement in defense of a Big 12 member.
I know several current and former commissioners from many conferences who would have gone ballistic in making OU's case. They would have definitely questioned why the Pac-10 Conference arrogantly continues to insist that officials from its conference work games that are played on the home fields of league teams.
But, at least outwardly, Weiberg remained silent.
So it was left up to OU president David Boren, athletic director Joe Castiglione and coach Bob Stoops to raise a ruckus. And, of course, they took heat from critics that rightfully should have been shouldered by a conference office that has its members' backs.
Boren was derided nationally for the letter he wrote to Weiberg demanding the league take some type of stance about the horrible officiating. And Stoops was blasted when he said he might not take OU to Washington to play the Huskies during the 2008 season if the Pac-10 didn't change its policy on officials assigned to work home games in the conference.
Weiberg dismissed Boren's demands and Stoops was left to battle alone.
And Stoops apparently will have to continue to fight alone because of that inaction. Pac-10 officials considered the matter at their winter meetings and decided that despite the incredibly negative coverage the league received after the OU-Oregon game, it will continue to have Pac-10 officials work home games.
Weiberg also avoided a confrontation with Knight at the expense of OU's basketball team and Sooner center Longar Longar.
Knight lost what's left of his cantankerous mind last January when Longar's elbow connected with Tech center Esmir Rizvic's face. The blow, which fractured Rizvic's eye socket, looked unintentional to most rational observers. But Knight demanded that Longar should be suspended the rest of the season and perhaps for life.
Knight, sports' biggest bully and a master of intimidation, worked his antics on Weiberg. The commissioner folded and wrongly suspended Longar for two games, which also delivered a serious and grossly unfair blow to Longar's reputation.
Because it wasn't nipped in the bud, this is another battle that isn't over.
Several sources said Knight brought the incident up when the Big 12 basketball coaches met during the league's spring meetings. Sources said Knight lashed out at Sooner coach Jeff Capel, and demanded the coaches approve a new policy that would require a player involved in a situation like Longar's be suspended for as long as any player injured during the play.
A strong commissioner would have stifled Knight from the outset. But Weiberg also didn't silence Knight a few years ago when the Tech coach felt the clock operator at OU had cheated the Red Raiders. Knight has used these incidents to add nastiness to the OU-Tech series, and he seems hell-bent on escalating the bitterness between the two Big 12 schools.
Weiberg acknowledged at the press conference announcing he was leaving for a position at the Big Ten Conference's television network, that perhaps his style might no longer be best for the league. He added that his successor "needs to be a strong leader in this position. Certainly there's room for someone to come in and set an aggressive agenda."
A decent man who worked hard and did a lot of good, Weiberg's style undoubtedly worked well during the league's early days. But the Big 12 is still having growing pains, and at this point, it needs an extroverted, dynamic, visible leader whose agenda will be to speak up often and also tell some coaches to shut up.