Opinion: Big Ten Should Name Ohio State A.D. Gene Smith New Commissioner If Kevin Warren Leaves For Chicago Bears
The top two teams in the Big Ten are in the College Football Playoff this weekend, marking the first time that the league has gotten two teams into the 4-team iteration of the playoff.
But with all eyes on Ohio State and Michigan as they prepare to play Georgia and TCU Saturday, ESPN's Pete Thamel shared some news that likely caught Big Ten fans off guard: commissioner Kevin Warren is apparently on a short list of candidates to be the next President/CEO of the Chicago Bears.
Twitter isn't a particularly kind place these days, and as you can imagine, there are plenty of fans who wouldn't mind seeing him go. Warren has had a really tough job, leading the conference through an unpredictable era that included CoVID lockdowns and conference realignment nationwide. He endured some pretty harsh criticism for the way the league handled the pandemic, but he also orchestrated a massive acquisition with USC and UCLA joining the conference and he spearheaded a media rights deal that is worth more than $7 billion.
Regardless of what you think about his performance though, I started to think about who might be a viable option to replace him.
ACC Commissioner James Phillips was a coveted target when Warren was hired for the job a few years ago. Given that the SEC and Big Ten have pulled themselves well ahead of the rest of the country, I wouldn't be surprised if he showed interest in a potential opening.
That said, I immediately thought of another possibility: Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith.
Ryan Day, Gene Smith and Peach Bowl CEO Gary Stokan pose for a picture at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center after the Buckeyes officially accepted the invitation to play in the CFP in Atlanta.
This is just my opinion and I don't know if Gene is interested in the job, but it would make sense for a lot of reasons. I think he would be a terrific commissioner.
College athletics is changing at an extraordinary pace and perhaps nobody really understands that better than Smith. Leaving Ohio State might enable him to step back and address the bigger picture challenges facing college athletics, rather than having to focus on running a department. Right now, he has a responsibility to take care of three dozen varsity athletics programs. While football "drives the bus" financially for the Buckeyes, he's running an athletic department that has world class amateur athletes in lots of Olympic sports and those deserve his time and attention too.
Smith is certainly in the twilight of his career, but he is an exceptional leader and I see this as a new challenge that would inspire him. He's one of the most respected people in college athletics (and he might be the most powerful person in the country outside the Power 5 commissioners). If he were to become the commissioner of the oldest and wealthiest conference in the country, he might be better able to advocate for the changes he wants to see to Name, Image and Likeness legislation and the future of college athletics as a whole. There isn't an athletic director in the country who has more experience on a bigger stage. He would be excellent and the conference would be lucky to have him.
Who knows if Kevin Warren will leave. As of this writing, he hasn't issued any public comment about Thamel's report. I'm not sure exactly what his salary is, but I'm certain that Warren is well-compensated. If the Bears convince him to leave the Big Ten, they must be offering him a lifestyle change that he can't pass up (likely beyond just enticing financial terms).
But if the job does open, unless the league is ultimately looking for someone to be its commissioner for 20 years, I don't think the Big Ten will find a better candidate than Gene Smith.
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