A Week Later, The Questions To The Big Ten Keep Coming
Imagine if, one week ago, the Big Ten's decision to postpone fall sports and hope for spring seasons had been handled differently.
What if, instead of what looked like a hastily-assembled announcement on Tuesday afternoon, the Big Ten would have put together a show on its network covering the decision that would have had Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, one of the conference's presidents and chancellors, and someone from the league's task force on infectious diseases?
What if each representative gave a transparent explanation of why the conference made its decision? Clear, concise answers on why, six days after the release of the conference's football schedule, the conference decided that it was time to take a different course. What changed, and why?
How about answers on who made the decision. Was there a vote? Was there a simple majority, or a substantial majority?
How about a breakdown of the medical information found during this COVID-19 pandemic that led to the league's concerns? The Pac-12 did it.
Did the conference think about how the spring seasons would look? Any timetable on when the planning will begin? What about eligibility concerns?
Just think what something like that would have done.
Instead, the decision was treated as here-it-is-we-gotta-go-now-see-you-in-a-few-weeks. BTN's Dave Revsine pressed Warren on these issues, but got plenty of non-answer answers.
And then, silence.
That silence has led to the cacophony of questions around the conference.
Parents from several schools have written letters to Warren, asking for a better explanation.
Athletic directors have been pressed for deeper explanations, but even that has led to more puzzlement.
We have attorneys making their own challenges.
A cardiologist at a Big Ten school has his concerns.
And, getting back to the parents, some of them — a lot of them, it sounds like — are going to show up at the Big Ten offices on Friday, asking for answers from Warren.
It wasn't Warren's decision, but ultimately he was the face of it as the presidents and chancellors logged off whatever video conference they were on to make the decision and left him to deal with the questions.
Those questions keep pounding on the door at the Big Ten offices, but nobody is answering.
It's hard to see the Big Ten shifting course now, even with the complaints, even with other conferences pressing on with the football season, even with the new saliva test for COVID-19 that is faster and less expensive. The conference has spoken, and now the microphone is shut off.
Anger has the tendency to subside quickly in these days of the 24-hour news cycle, yet this cycle appears to have a lot of rotations left in it, a whirlwind staying stationary while the rest of the college sports world moves ahead.
The decision needed transparency, and Warren, along with everyone else who should have been answering questions, left clouds.
A week later, that gloom still hangs around the conference.
