Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe says he is encouraged by the Fiesta Bowl’s response to an investigative report that led to the firing of its longtime president for alleged misuse of funds.

The Big 12 has a contractual agreement to send its champion to the Fiesta Bowl if that team is not playing for the national championship.

“I feel good about their commitment to do the right thing,” Beebe told the Associated Press in a phone interview Friday. “There hasn’t been a reluctance or pushback (from Fiesta officials) at all.”

Beebe said he has been in contact with Fiesta Bowl officials often in recent weeks, and they have asked for help and suggestions for how to reform the organization’s leadership structure to ensure similar mistakes won’t be made again.

“I don’t feel good about what happened,” Beebe said. “I’m saddened by what occurred.”

While he said he is optimistic about the Fiesta’s future, Beebe stressed it is still too early to determine whether his conference and the Bowl Championship Series will continue to do business with the Arizona game.

“Yes I am confident,” he said, “but I’m not there yet.”