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BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe talks during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby (from left), BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe, BYU president Kevin Worthen and Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec talk during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

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BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe talks during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

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BYU President Kevin Worthen talks during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

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Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby (from left), BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe, BYU president Kevin Worthen and Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec talk during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

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BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe (right) listens as Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talks during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

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BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe talks during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

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BYU president Kevin Worthen talks during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

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As BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe walked into the BYU Broadcasting building for a press conference on Friday morning, there was a bounce to his step and a big grin on his face.

Can anyone blame him?

After years of scheduling headaches and maneuvering through the politics of national college athletics, Holmoe finally got to see his Cougars joining a Power Five conference.

The Big 12 conference officially confirmed Friday morning that it was inviting BYU — as well as Cincinnati, Houston and UCF — to join the league. The Cougars are scheduled to become a member in 2023-24.

“Congratulations, Cougar Nation,” Holmoe said in Friday’s press conference. “It’s been a long time coming and now here we are.”

BYU president Kevin Worthen emphasized that the move fits well with the mission of the university.

“This a historic day for BYU athletics and for the university as a whole,” Worthen said. “Our mission statement indicates the BYU is to be a place where a commitment to excellence is to be expected and the full realization of human potential is pursued. We strive to provide that opportunity in everything we do, including our core academic endeavor. Membership in the Big 12 gives us an opportunity to reinforce that commitment for our student-athletes by allowing them to compete academically and athletically at the very highest level.”

Worthen credited Holmoe for being key in the process that led to the new conference membership.

“It’s hard to describe how central Tom (Holmoe) is to our athletic program,” Worthen said. “This would not have happened without Tom Holmoe. There are risks with anything that we do but my confidence in going forward is heightened considerably by the fact that we have Tom Holmoe here.”

For his part, however, Holmoe didn’t view the Big 12 invitation as a personal triumph.

“I don’t really look at this as being personal,” Holmoe said. “I was a player, a coach and an administrator here, so it’s in my blood. I feel it. I know what this means to everybody. This is not about me.”

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby noted that Holmoe was the national athletic director of the year recently and also talked about how he has been “so impressed” with everyone he has come in contact with at BYU.

“I want to express my gratitude to President Worthen and Tom Holmoe for the collaboration and confidence they have shown,” Bowlsby said. “Speaking on a purely personal level, I enjoy working with people that I trust, that I like and that I know share the values that I have for intercollegiate athletics. In a very short period of time, I’ve come to know that that is what you university stands for.”

He said he sees BYU bringing a lot to the league.

“Your iconic programs are a tremendous addition to the conference,” Bowlsby said. “National championship, Heisman Trophy winner, excellent broad-based programs in lots of different sports. We look forward to coming to Provo. It’s as picturesque a city as there is in the United States. Although I haven’t seen a game at LaVell Edwards Stadium, I’ve been to the stadium and it’s a spectacular venue for college football. I think this will be a very successful partnership, one that will make BYU more competitive and make the Big 12 more competitive.”

Some BYU fans with long memories might be somewhat skeptical about the source of the effusive praise, since a few years ago the league considered adding the Cougars but ultimately didn’t do so.

“Some might view that as a failure when we didn’t get into the Big 12,” Holmoe said. “But at that point in time, our coaches, student-athletes and administration determined that it wasn’t going to be a failure; it was going to be a launching point. The last six years have been a constant effort with all of us together to try and make it happen. We just didn’t know who, where or when.”

He smiled as he added that in recent weeks, “the stars aligned and it all came together.”

The convergence of circumstances that included Texas and Oklahoma announcing they were moving to the SEC and the announcements by other leagues about not expanding set the stage for Big 12 to accept BYU unanimously, even though the Cougars present some challenges.

One of those is the firm commitment by the university, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to not participate in sporting events on Sundays.

While that was often brought up in years past as a reason why the Cougars wouldn’t get an invitation to a high-level conference despite their enormous fan base and athletic success, Bowlsby was almost dismissive when it was brought up.

“I wouldn’t call it a concern,” Bowlsby said. “I’d call it a consideration. We had very open and frank discussions about it. Everyone has their eyes wide open about it. We understand that there are scheduling considerations that are going to have to be taken into account, just like there are with all of our members. We’ll respect an honor those requirements and we got to the point where we didn’t feel like it was going to be an issue.”

There are still nearly two full years of competition before BYU officially joins the Big 12. That means it will be almost exactly 12 years of independence for Cougar football before it once again has a conference championship to play for.