Jim Delany hints at end of tenure

Jim Delany indicated at Big Ten media days this week that his tenure as conference commissioner could be ending in the near future.

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Jim Delany made it sound Tuesday like the campaigning can begin in earnest—if it hasn't already—when he indicated fairly strongly that he won't be the one to negotiate the league's next media rights deal once the new one expires six years down the line.

It wouldn't be the first time that the 68-year-old Delany has indicated he sees an end to his tenure, but it was another indication nonetheless.

"I have a lot of energy and a lot of interest in what’s going on in the college space today," Delany said in his Big Ten media days appearance here. "I will be around for a bit. Whether I’m around here for six years is probably a little bit beyond how I see it."

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Most view two current league athletic directors—Northwestern's Jim Phillips and Michigan State's Mark Hollis—as potential heirs apparent. But a half-dozen years or so certainly is a long time frame for candidates to survive.

In other mostly unsurprising news, Delany said he doesn't not anticipate any reshuffling of the College Football Playoff semifinal schedule to budge the Rose Bowl from its Jan. 1 afternoon kickoff.

"I don’t foresee change in how the Rose Bowl is sequenced into the college football playoff," Delany said. "I realize the challenge, there may be changes in the offing, but I wouldn’t expect those changes to affect the Rose Bowl."