TCU Athletics
Max Duggan leading the charge at TCU.
Visions of queso and bratwurst are dancing in our heads. What was that clatter? Ah, a linebacker collision.
Believe it or not, football season is in the air.
The kickoff of the Big 12 Media Days at AT&T Stadium is proof of that.
TCU coach Sonny Dykes and players Jamoi Hodge and Jared Wiley met with the media Wednesday afternoon to discuss the upcoming season, the second under Dykes.
However, there was one last matter of business to attend to from last season.
Max Duggan was named the male recipient of the Big 12’s inaugural Bob Bowlsby Award, the conference’s most prestigious individual accolade, named in honor of the former commissioner.
The award is bestowed on the two student-athletes (one male and one female) who represent the absolute best in the Big 12 for their leadership and excellence, on and off the field of competition.
Iowa State women’s basketball player Ashley Joens was also selected.
The winners were determined by a vote of the conference’s athletics directors.
Duggan, the 2022 Davey O’Brien Award winner, might need a bigger trophy case at home. He also won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award while finishing runner-up for the Heisman Trophy last season.
The 2022 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year was a unanimous first team All-Big 12 selection while leading TCU to its first College Football Playoff appearance and a trip to the CFP National Championship Game after a 51-45 semifinal win over Michigan at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.
The Council Bluffs, Iowa, native’s 41 total touchdowns (32 passing, nine rushing) during the 2022 season were the second most in TCU history.
Duggan, whom we praised for his courage, faithfulness, and leadership in a Fort Worth Magazine Best-Of profile, was one of two Big 12 student-athletes to represent the league on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee Student-Athlete Connection Group. The second-team All-American was a three-time Academic All-Big 12 member and was selected in the seventh-round of the NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers.
Each school was permitted to nominate one male and one female athlete of any classification who competed for his or her institution during the 2022-23 academic year in a conference-sponsored sport.
In his decade leading the conference from 2012-22, Bowlsby successfully navigated television rights deals, protected student-athletes’ well-being, and innovated the field of college athletics. Most recently, Bowlsby led the way for BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston to join the league while his inaugural year saw him successfully navigate the addition of TCU and West Virginia into the conference.
Joens, an Iowa City, Iowa, native left Ames as ISU’s career record holder for points (3,060), rebounds (1,391), games played and started (Big 12 record, 158), field goals (988), 3-pointers (344), free throws (740), double-doubles (65) and points per game (19.4).
Off the court, Joens completed student teaching last season, while also participating in elementary school reading programs to talk about character and leadership. The two-time WBCA All-American was a second-round draft choice of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.
Joens won the Cheryl Miller Award, given annually to the nation’s top small forward, for the third-straight season in 2022-23. The three-time Academic All-Big 12 member was the 2022-2023 Big 12 Player of the Year and a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team member, her fourth straight unanimous selection. She was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship, after leading the Cyclones to their first championship title since 2001.