Kansas' Lew Perkins on Dan Beebe being named Big 12 Commissioner

Sept. 5, 2007

The following is <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>University of Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins statement on Dan Beebe being named Commissioner of the Big 12 Conference. Perkins hired Beebe as assistant athletics director at WichitaState in 1986. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

“We are very excited to have Dan Beebe as the next Big 12 Conference commissioner. I have personally known Dan for some 20-plus years. He brings a great deal of integrity and is somebody with an extremely powerful vision. He is going to help take us to the next stage of college athletics.

“Dan has an unbelievably extensive background. He understands the conference with his four-and-a-half years of experience in the Big 12 office. He has a great working relationship with the NCAA through his work in its enforcement department. He’s been totally involved in bowl negotiations and sponsorships. Kevin Weiberg gave him a great deal of leeway in his role as associate commissioner. I know he has learned a lot at the Big 12, but he was also the commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference, so he has the experience of being a commissioner and I think he is a solid choice.”