MEDIA DAYS: B1G commissioner punts on key issues facing college football
CHAMPAIGN – Quick, somebody grab the steering wheel.
The Big Ten Conference commissioner Kevin Warren fell asleep in the driver’s seat. After his first year on the job when his clumsy handling of the pandemic left schools openly griping about the league’s plans for the football season, parents of players picketing in the parking lot of the Big Ten office in the Chicago burbs and players organizing on social media, Warren took the podium at the Big Ten kickoff meetings this week – and said nothing.
These are challenging times for power conferences, who are looking to grow rather than fade. A former NFL executive with no real college experience, Warren has no more time to learn on the job. Already unable to make tough decision and provide strong leadership, he’s left the Big Ten drifting on rough seas. The timing couldn’t be worse.
Under the guidance of former commish Jim Delany, the Big Ten set the path followed by the rest of the NCAA. The Big Ten was an innovator.
Those days are done.
Instead of the Big Ten being an industry leader, it appears the conference may lose its position atop the Power 5 Conference ladder. With Warren in charge, the league office is trying to “decentralize’’ decision-making, passing the buck back to the schools. This sounds like Mark Emmert, the embattled NCAA president who is effectively leading a rebellion by refusing to run the show.
COVID-19, NIL, transfer portal issues and conference realignment present the major hurdles for a conference commissioner, and Warren was neither convincing nor strong in his presentation to league media this week. In comparison, Delany always oozed power from his years as a true power broker in college sports.
Delany was a step ahead of the competition. He was a trailblazer who gave us the Big Ten Network, and the Big Ten snagged Penn State decades ago, realizing the need to expand the conference’s reach when there’s a good match.
Warren hasn’t yet stepped forward to show he’s The Big Man On Campus.
“We’re at an inflection point in college athletics,” Warren said Thursday. “These are the kinds of issues that we all will be dealing with this year and for many years in the future. That’s the world we live in right now.
“From where we sit, we’re always constantly evaluating what’s in the best interests of the conference.”
The SEC has become the true leader in the conference wars, after news broke this week that the already powerful southern league was apparently well on the way to annexing Texas and Oklahoma into it conglomerate. While Warren was unable to answer if teams would forfeit games if they fail COVID testing, SEC commission Greg Sankey gave a definite answer. Where Warren talks about the lessons learned in his first year on the job, Sankey was taking aim at the NCAA leadership and perhaps preparing the SEC to lead the rebellion that leads big-time college athletics into the next era.
The biggest news from Warren’s time behind the microphone was his announcement of hiring former Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez as special advisor for football.
Don’t bother asking Warren a question. “Go ask Barry’’ is probably the answer.
“I trust Barry, and we look forward to working with him on relevant football-related issues and building upon the strong relationships we have with the College Football Playoff, our broadcast and bowl partners, as well as our member institutions and student-athletes,’’ Warren said.
Alvarez likely has a better working relationship with the conference heavyweights, such as Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith. Alvarez is a Big Ten tradition himself, a one-man gang who lifted the entire athletic program by reviving a moribund football program and leading it to three Big Ten titles and three Rose Bowl berths. (He turned over the keys to Bret Bielema, who also won three titles and made three Rose Bowl appearances.)
He’ll serve as the league’s backbone, propping up the inexperienced Warren.
It comes at a time of great upheaval. With college programs throwing out the NCAA handbook, generating cash for student-athletes in the cash cow of NIL sports and looking to play the game of Survivor by jumping leagues, the Big Ten must look out for itself. The SEC already made the first move.
There are only a few powerhouse programs that would change the balance of power like the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. The obvious move for the Big Ten is Notre Dame, but we’ve been down this road. Even Delany found that move impossible to make. Alvarez has some history as a former assistant with the Irish, but there’s little to believe he’ll be able to break the code.
Notre Dame is already sleeping with the ACC in a cozy agreement giving the Domers room to roam in football. And there’s the feeling that Notre Dame would rather be part of the East Coast elites than a Midwest outpost grinding its way through a Big Ten season. (But wouldn’t Notre Dame add some balance if they were placed in the West Division!)
There’s little reason to think Warren will outsmart the ACC and new commissioner Jim Phillips, if Notre Dame has analyzed the landscape and decided it’s time to give up its independence.
Who else moves the needle? Delany took Nebraska, and that might have been his biggest error. The Huskers aren’t the same after Tom Osborne retired. It doesn’t make sense to take Kansas, because football – not basketball – is the money maker in these decisions. West Virginia would be a border rival to the East, but the Mountaineers don’t turn on enough TVs to really make a difference. Would BYU add enough ratings to the Big ten Network to earn consideration? That might also be a stretch.
Of course, there might be other power conference programs who are unhappy with their current address, but there’s still one big issue.
The Big Ten is now run by a commissioner who would rather hand over some decision-making to the schools rather than step up and make the decisions he’s paid to make. Delany is gone, and so is the feeling of the Big Ten as the Leaders and the Legends.