Sources: The #Bears are expected to name Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren as their new president and CEO. A major hire for the organization and for Warren, who spent time in the NFL prior to college football as a top executive for the #Vikings.— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 12, 2023
Haven't seen anything like this before. Wonder if BIG looks to Phillips to hire.
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This has been rumored for a while. It will be interesting to see how they fill the job - there's a couple directions they could go:
Personally, I would go for option 2. Option 1 is a bad idea. Option 3 isn't really necessary since the TV deal is complete. I'd avoid option #4 since I don't think a divided congress is going to swoop in and pass legislation.
Instead of focusing on expansion, I'd get my member schools prepared for athletes as employees/contractors, long(er) term health care for athletes, individual bodies for each sport, etc. But, as always, I'm just a fan on a message board, and have no expertise in this space.
I am not sure why the Big Ten would want Phillips, but I can understand why Phillips would want the Big Ten. Given Phillips' comments last year about wanting to emphasize old school college athletics where money amateurism is most important, I can't imagine why the Big Ten would want him.
I could see them going after a well regarded Athletic Director, however. And I could see them going after Whit Babcock, especially when you realize how he's helped raise our profile across the board and overhauled alumni giving to surpass even the most optimistic of expectations in a very short time.
So why wouldn't they go after a B1G AD, they know and supports the cause of making them uber rich? Like UM or OSU AD wouldn't be a good choice?
They might not want to mess up a good thing internally within the Big Ten. I could see them trying to stay away from an internal hire and going external, and trying to pick off someone from a conference who is falling or has already fallen behind.
You know how everyone in the ACC thinks the ACC just does what's best for UNC? That's why the B1G probably wouldn't just hire the OSU AD
I agree that they would not want Phillips, but I don't see them going the sitting AD route at all. I don't think any power conference except the ACC has a former AD as it's commissioner?
I can definitely see Whit looking at a conference commissioner job. There's a lot to like about Whit at a macro level. He's done some great things at VT in regards to fundraising and overall athletics profile. But I still feel he's just not a football-first kind of AD. I don't think VT's athletics department is set up to be or can realistically become a director's cup program. We don't have elite donors like UVA or UNC and don't have the championship pedigree in non-rev sports. If you look at UVA, I think they honestly have realized where they make their bread and invested heavily in it. They can compete in basketball, invested heavily with JPJ which is inarguably a great venue. and support the non revs which keeps the bulk of their donors and fan base happy. We've been trying to be a well-rounded AD and have drifted away from football over the years, but I don't think that is sustainable at VT. Whit would probably be great at dealing with university presidents and navigating those political hurdles. I could see why he would be a candidate eventually for a job like that.
Would possibly be the best thing to happen for us. Whit Babcock in a position to get us an invite to the big boy table.
Assuming Whit (knowing everything from the inside) actually thinks thats where we belong. If he doesn't believe that, then he's basically the nail in the coffin (at least for B1G).