[Updated June 26, 2009]

Since it began play in 1996-97, the Conference can boast of 34 team crowns and over 400 individual NCAA Championships. The success continued through 2008-09 as Texas A&M captured national titles in men's golf as well as men's and women's outdoor track & field. The league placed two teams in the Bowl Championship Series for the fifth time and had a team play for the BCS National Championship for the sixth season. In addition, two volleyball teams advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship and Oklahoma played in the Women's Final Four. Missouri softball and Texas baseball punched tickets to the College World Series.

Among individual honors, Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech) became the first NCAA Division I female or male runner to win three consecutive cross country national championships. She was named the Honda Award winner for the third season as the nation's top female cross country runner, becoming just the eighth athlete to win the award three times in any sport. Jenny Barringer (Colorado) claimed the Honda Award for Track & Field while Oleksandr Nedovyesov (Oklahoma State) was named ITA/Campbell's Tennis Player of the Year.

For the fourth time in its 13-year history a Big 12 student-athlete won the Heisman Trophy. The Big 12 also established a high-water mark, as for the first time in the 74-year history of the Heisman Trophy four of the top five vote-getters hailed from the same conference, including award-winner Sam Bradford (Oklahoma).

Over the past five seasons a total of 13 NCAA trophies have been hoisted by Big 12 institutions, with at least one national crown won in all but one year for the Conference, including each of the past 12 seasons.

The Big 12 leads all conferences with its six appearances in BCS title games. League squads have played for the football national championship six times in the last nine years with berths in 16 BCS games overall, including two each in 2007 and 2008. The Big 12 led all conferences with five teams ranked in the final 2008 BCS Standings. In addition, an all-time high nine league players earned consensus All-America recognition this past season, more than any other conference.

In basketball, 10 women's and nine men's teams have advanced to their respective Final Fours in the past eight seasons as the Big 12 continues its place among the elite intercollegiate athletic conferences. The six men's Final Four participants since 2002 are tied for the most of any conference. Numerous national honors have been won by basketball student-athletes during the league's history. The Big 12 had a national player of the year honoree for the third straight year when Blake Griffin (Oklahoma) was the consensus winner in 2008-09. Courtney Paris (Oklahoma) gave the conference a consensus All-America selection in women's basketball for the ninth straight season.

The Big 12 and its member institutions are committed to a competitive environment where sportsmanship and fair play take center stage. Whether on the field, in the classroom, or within the community the student-athletes, administrators, coaches and game officials of the Big 12 support the highest ideals in sportsmanship.

Big 12 student-athletes also do well in garnering national academic recognition. Sarah Pavan (Nebraska) was named Academic All-America of the Year in volleyball in 2006 and 2007 by ESPN The Magazine and College Sports Information Directors of America with a 4.0 grade-point average in Biochemistry. She also won the national academic honor presented for all sports in 2006-07 and was named recipient of the prestigious 2006-07 Honda-Broderick Award as Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. She is the first athlete since the Big 12 was formed to earn the accolade. In its history, the conference has over 330 academic honorees, averaging more than 25 each season.

The Big 12 can boast of other stories that combine on and off the field success. Patience Knight (Texas Tech) was the recipient of the Honda Inspiration Award in 2008, given to an outstanding female college athlete who overcomes adversity to excel in her sport. She was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in 2007, but rebounded to win All-America honors at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Competitive excellence, scholarship and sportsmanship are all equal components of the Big 12 philosophy. All-Big 12 teams and Academic All-Big 12 squads are recognized for each sport at the end of their respective seasons.

At the end of each academic year, the Conference honors its top male and female student-athletes with the Big 12 Athlete of the Year and Big 12 Sportsperson of the Year awards.

Institutions can also nominate student-athletes for the prestigious Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarships at the end of each academic year. A total of 225 scholars have received over 1.3 million in postgraduate financial aid through the first 13 years of the program.

The Big 12 sponsors 21 sports. Men's squads include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, swimming & diving, tennis and wrestling. Women's teams are fielded in basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis and volleyball.

The conference is made up of 12 institutions that have shared many traditional rivalries throughout their histories. Member schools include - Baylor University, University of Colorado, Iowa State University, University of Kansas, Kansas State University, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, University of Texas, Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University.

The institutions created a league that encompasses seven states, over 46 million people and television households in 18 of the top 100 markets within its geographic footprint.

The conference conducts championships for 20 of its 21 sports. Each championship helps to determine teams and/or individuals that will represent the Conference in national postseason competition. The winner of the Big 12 football championship game earns the league's berth into the prestigious Bowl Championship Series.

In the last several years the Big 12 has increased its bowl agreements and expanded television opportunities for all sports through contracts with ABC/ESPN and FSN. Most recently, the league renewed and expanded its multi-year arrangement with ABC/ESPN, Inc. The new contract began in 2008-09.

In its first 13 years, the Conference has distributed more than $1.1 billion to its 12 member institutions.

The Big 12 staff administers to over 4,600 student-athletes in its 21 sports. The conference office is headquartered in Irving, Texas.