Ex-Big 12 manager Bowlsby named interim AD at UNI

• Pete Thamel, ESPNNov 29, 2023, 12:14 PM ET Former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is going back to his roots, as he’ll go back to Northern Iowa to work as interim athletic director, the university revealed Wednesday.Bowlsby, 71, first became an athletic director at Northern Iowa in 1983. He went on to a decorated career in college athletics that consisted of stops at Iowa, Stanford and the Huge 12. He retired from the Big 12 in 2022, but Bowlsby, a local of Waterloo, Iowa, decided to return since of the pull of the institution that helped release his career.Editor’s Picks”Very few opportunities could have enticed me out of retirement, even on a short-term basis,” Bowlsby

said. “UNI provided me such a remarkable opportunity as a young professional in collegiate athletics for which I’m eternally grateful. So much of what I found out at UNI assisted assist my decisions throughout my career journey. I owe a good deal to UNI, and it is my unique enjoyment to serve in this interim role until the position can be filled on a full-time basis.”He takes the spot of David Harris, who left to become the athletic director at Tulane. Bowlsby assisted turn UNI into an incubator for athletic directors, as Troy Dannen likewise left UNI for Tulane and is now the athletic director at Washington.UNI has introduced a nationwide search to replace Harris, and Bowlsby will stay in that function up until the search is total. Bowlsby remains in the Northern Iowa Hall of Fame and is on

the guiding committee for the school’s Our Tomorrow Campaign, which aims to raise $250 million.