Much has been made of the increased revenue for Baylor University and the other nine Big 12 Conference teams that decided to remain united this week.

There has been talk of how much more difficult it would have been for Baylor to recruit top athletic talent if the Big 12 had dissolved and the school landed with a lesser conference.

What was largely lost in the recent conference shuffle, though, is that these teams are actually schools first, with athletics as an extracurricular function.

One Baylor official said athletics “is an investment in student recruiting.”
Duane A. Laverty/Tribune-Herald

It was a point raised by defenders of the conference in Baylor’s corner, who urged Texas and Texas A&M to look at more than their schools’ bottom lines and consider many factors, including what is best for the student-athletes.

Despite all the discussion about athletics in the recent conference realignment, Baylor’s participation in the Big 12 means quite a bit for the academic function of the school, too, according to university officials.

From recruiting quality undergraduate students to fostering research collaborations to student, faculty and staff morale, being a member of a so-called athletic power conference bears fruit for Baylor.

“When you’re engaged in a conference like the Big 12, that’s a way for students — potential students and their parents — to have a chance to see the kind of university Baylor is,” said Elizabeth Davis, Baylor interim provost.

“It might actually be the only way some folks get to see Baylor, so it’s a way for us to introduce academics and our mission in a way that we might not otherwise have the opportunity.”

The television exposure, whether for football, basketball, baseball or any other Big 12 event, Davis said, “is a marketing campaign none of us could afford, that’s for sure.”

Reagan Ramsower, Baylor’s vice president for finance and administration, said very few universities have athletic departments that make money.

“Athletics is generally an investment that we make as an institution,” he said.

“It is an investment in student recruiting. It is an investment we make on behalf of our alumni, and it is an investment in branding,” Ramsower said.

Undergraduate males, in particular, are drawn to colleges with big-name athletic programs, Davis said.

Baylor chemistry professor Kevin Pinney and vice provost for research Truell Hyde said while common research goals and interests drive who faculty collaborate with, being in the same conference fosters collaborations among the Big 12 schools.

“It’s sort of a consortium feel,” said Pinney, who is collaborating with UT Southwestern Medical Center on tumor imaging research.

“You compete on the athletic field, but you bind together in support of collaborations in all areas,” said Pinney, who also has collaborated with researchers at the Pac-10’s Arizona State University in recent years. “It’s interesting how college sports is linked to all this.”

Baylor President Ken Starr, who guided the school through the turmoil of the past week and a half, said, “It’s a genuine partnership (among conference schools). It’s most visible in athletics, but that partnership manifests itself in a wide variety of university programs, including, first and foremost, academic programs.”

Monday’s news that the conference would remain intact brought a noticeable morale boost to faculty Davis has encountered, too.

“We’re realists,” Davis said. “We know that when we are primarily tuition-driven, we have to attract students. . . . We know that the better our sports teams are, the greater the opportunity we have to not spend so much time worrying, ‘Will we meet our budget?’

“It has taken away a fear of the unknown. Staying in the Big 12, we don’t have to worry what kind of impact this could have on us that would prevent us from being able to carry out the rest of our mission.”

twoods@wacotrib.com

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