Stanford Cardinal athletic director Bob Bowlsby is leaving his post to replace interim Chuck Neinas as the commissioner of the Big 12, according to multiple outlets from both sides of the equation. Jon Wilner of the Mercury News reports Bowlsby has informed his Stanford staff he's gone at a Thursday morning meeting.

Before arriving at Stanford, Bowlsby was the Iowa Hawkeyes AD from 1991 to 2005. He's also been involved with the NCAA Tournament and the Summer Olympics. As for how he'll do in charge of one of the nation's squirreliest conferences, we can only look to how he's done in his past ventures. Wilner sums up the Bowlsby era at Stanford as such:

He worked wonders with the football program because he was allowed to.

I've addressed this numerous times in the past, but it's worth repeating: Stanford's recent football success is based on an institutional commitment to winning that did not exist before Bowlsby arrived.

Bowlsby was hired to implement the change, and he did it marvelously: hiring Harbaugh and Shaw, increasing the salary pool for assistants, pushing for reasonably-priced, on-campus staff housing, working with admissions to get everyone on the same page, bolstering recruiting resources, etc.

How do you think that relates to what he'll face in the modern Big 12?

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