Brett Yormark's silence and submissiveness toward the College Football Playoff selection committee as they blatantly, nakedly shaft his Big 12 conference has been more than puzzling.
After all, Yormark is a shark. He's a shrewd, savvy business man. He's an expert negotiator. He's visionary and innovative. And he's aggressive, willing to throw down -- in business terms -- with anybody who crosses his path and attempts to derail his plans for the Big 12 conference.
Except, that is, with the CFP selection committee.
Those who determine the 12 teams that make the College Football Playoffs are acting as though No. 11 BYU and No. 13 Utah simply don't exist. The CFP selection committee is clearly building its case to make the Big 12 a one-bid league with only the conference champion getting invited to the big boys' table, and Yormark has remained frustratingly, inexplicably silent. Worse yet, when he has broken that silence, he has said all the wrong things, making asinine statements about being "thrilled" with the CFP's decisions and that the Big 12 is "getting the respect it deserves."
I have been openly critical of how poorly Brett Yormark is handling the CFP's denigration of the Big 12 as a whole, and especially the disrespect being thrown at 10-1 BYU.
But just when I thinnk Yormark is acting the part of a submissive, weak, ineffective leader, I go back to what I previously wrote about him: He's a shark. He's shrewd. He's savvy. He's visionary. He gets results.
And with that perspective in mind, what if Brett Yormark is publicly playing the fool while privately knowing something the rest of us don't: The he has already come to an understanding with the CFP selection committee that the Big 12 will get two teams into the College Football Playoffs.
The past is the best indicator of the future
Brett Yormark didn't get to where he is today by being bad at business. His career has been a string of successes in sports and media from NASCAR, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, Roc Nation (global entertainment), and now the Big 12.
Yormark knows how to negotiate. He knows how to make deals. He knows how to influence, find solutions, and create win-win opportunities with his partners.
He's shrewd. He's a shark.
When I consider Brett Yormark's track record of what can only be considered as profoundly successful leadership, there's a part of me that's inclined to give him some grace. To trust his process. To be humble enough the recognize that he knows things that I don't know, and he has earned the right to let what appears to be a current CFP debacle play out.
Now, as a BYU fan, that requires a leap of faith. Last year the 11-2 Cougars finished No. 13 in the country and after their gut-punch loss to Kansas never really got the time of day from the CFP selection committee. This year's 10-1 resume is even more impressive than last year's, and yet the Cougars are still on the outside looking in on the playoffs despite their only loss coming on the road to No. 5 Texas Tech.
And Brett Yormark is nowhere to be seen when it comes to advocating for BYU specifically, and the Big 12 as a whole.
If I give Brett Yormark the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he has already reached a handshake deal with the CFP selection committee that if BYU ends the regular season 11-1 and loses a second time to Texas Tech in the Big 12 conference championship game, the Cougars will still get a CFP at-large bid. Perhaps he has somehow reached a gentleman's agreement with the committee that he'll keep the heat off them publicly while they privately see how things play out with BYU's final week of the season. Maybe Yormark has even stated that he'll praise the selection committee's approach (i.e. "thrilled", "respect"), thus giving the CFP selection process more public credibility,
In laying out this scenario the obvious question is what leverage Yormark has to reach this kind of a deal, and I don't have the answer for that. From the outside looking in, the selection committee is dismissive toward the Big 12 to the point of making the conference look like a pesky annoyance rather than a potentially valuable partner.
But that's what good leaders do: They strategically negotiate deals that nobody else saw coming.
As a BYU fan, I'm desperately hoping Brett Yormark has somehow reached a two-bid agreement with the selection committee, with the Cougars getting the chance to prove it on the field.
After all, Brett Yormark is a shark.
Let's give him some time to prove his conference is more than just chum.