Of the Big Ten when they passed on the career Big Ten man with vast experience and chose the man with no intercollegiate administrative
experience, Dr. Jim Phillips, a Chicago native who graduated from Illinois and has three decades of intercollegiate experience looked to have been made to fill the shoes of Big Ten Cimmissioner when he stepped down. Nationally respected and honored for his career achievements, he was passed over by the Big Ten Presidents and promptly hired shortly thereafter to be the Commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Nothing personal about Kevin Warren, but this is hardly the time in college athletics when the Big Ten should be breaking in a guy who was,
and remains, virtually unknown in the world of Playoff expansion, Conference realignments, Transfer Portals, NIL introduction and expiring
Television contracts. The Presidents might not have foreseen all this happening in 2021, in the midst of a Pandemic, but expecting Warren to
ease into the job was rather naive. Even Delaney cut his teeth as Commissioner of the OVC before donning his Big Boy suit. Scary times with a man at the helm who very well could be wondering why he left a safe haven in the NFL where the Team Owners and the Commissioner have rules and a Big Stick, complete with seven figure fines to keep Mavericks in tow!
experience, Dr. Jim Phillips, a Chicago native who graduated from Illinois and has three decades of intercollegiate experience looked to have been made to fill the shoes of Big Ten Cimmissioner when he stepped down. Nationally respected and honored for his career achievements, he was passed over by the Big Ten Presidents and promptly hired shortly thereafter to be the Commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Nothing personal about Kevin Warren, but this is hardly the time in college athletics when the Big Ten should be breaking in a guy who was,
and remains, virtually unknown in the world of Playoff expansion, Conference realignments, Transfer Portals, NIL introduction and expiring
Television contracts. The Presidents might not have foreseen all this happening in 2021, in the midst of a Pandemic, but expecting Warren to
ease into the job was rather naive. Even Delaney cut his teeth as Commissioner of the OVC before donning his Big Boy suit. Scary times with a man at the helm who very well could be wondering why he left a safe haven in the NFL where the Team Owners and the Commissioner have rules and a Big Stick, complete with seven figure fines to keep Mavericks in tow!
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