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 WWJDHD.

What would Jim Delany have done?

That was the question on my mind during the Big Ten’s on-and-off-and-on indecisiveness regarding this pandemic-ravaged season.

The problem, I thought, was not with Kevin Warren. Rather, it was with the Big Ten chancellors and presidents who made the decisions.

And then, the question became WWJPHD? What would Jim Phillips have done?

When Phillips, the perfect and obvious choice to succeed the retiring Delany, left Northwestern, where he was an elite athlete director in every way, to become ACC commissioner last week, it became clear how big a price the Big Ten was paying for overlooking Phillips (above right, with Pat Fitzgerald).

Again, no disrespect to Kevin Warren, who brings a lot to the commissioner’s job.

The problem is, the Covid-19 crisis changed the job description. Immensely.

Managing this crisis required a lifetime of experience in college sports. It required longtime working relationships with the Big Ten’s hierarchy—chancellors/presidents and athletic directors. It required the experience to chart a difficult path and line up the support of the Big Ten’s member institutions.

This is about the health of college students, about charting the right path to contain a deadly virus. And yes, it is about money—lots of money. If the Big Ten had managed to play 10 games instead of 6-to-8, that is millions of dollars that pay for all kinds of college sports, not just football. Future revenue and recruiting also is impacted. This pandemic is a massive juggling act for college sports.

Jim Delany isn’t regarded as one of the best commissioners in the history of sports merely because he was a tough visionary. He also is a legend because he was a tireless worker who built relationships.

Jim Phillips, as a distinguished athletic director in the Big Ten, had a chance to deal with all the pressure and uncertainty that came with the pandemic crisis.

Kevin Warren, who was too new, did not. Warren has a fine background in sports law and as an administrator in the NFL. His connection, understanding and compassion for athletes, college or pro, is a strong and important quality. He might make an excellent NFL commissioner at some point.

He also may yet become a commissioner who gives the Big Ten the kind of stature it knew under Delany.

But that is for down the road, when true rebuilding can take place after the Coronavirus devastation.

A pandemic crisis called for different skills.

This comes to mind right now because it was only a week ago that Phillips was announced as Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner.

He was at his familiar station on Saturday, down on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, supporting Pat Fitzgerald’s football Wildcats in their Quixotic-like bid to defeat the Ohio State juggernaut. It went well for a long time before the inevitable disappointment. Phillips was there afterward, helping to ease the pain of defeat and remind Fitz and his players what they had accomplished.

This also comes to mind right now for a variety of other reasons.

Indiana is outraged that it did not receive a New Year’s Six bowl bid, to the Fiesta Bowl. Former IU athletic director Fred Glass told the Indianapolis Star that the Hoosiers were the victim of ``the good-old-boy Big Ten football power structure. . . influential people who don’t want Indiana to be good in football.’’

I don’t know if that’s true, that traditional Big Ten powers want Indiana to be down so they can recruit players from Indiana. I do think IU had a better case for the Fiesta Bowl than Iowa State, a case that Jim Delany would have won, and that Jim Phillips probably would have won, too.

The indecisive leadership that led to the Big Ten playing a sawed-off season that didn’t begin until Oct. 23 also is at the forefront now because of Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are about to play a rematch with Clemson, which snatched victory from Ohio State 29-23 in a tough College Football Playoff game a year ago.

This will be more than a football game in many ways. In the fine tradition of college football as passion play, this will be a referendum on the Big Ten’s herky-jerky handling of this entire crazy season. It was Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields, backed by coach Ryan Day and a legion of Ohio State fans, who protested the Big Ten’s cancellation of the season.

Ohio State felt it had a team that could win a national championship. Now it stands two wins away—against the Tigers and either Alabama, or a Notre Dame coming off an epic win over Alabama.

Win those two games and this Ohio State team creates its own legend.

However, a loss to Clemson, which is favored a touchdown, calls into question a lot of things. Among them, the wisdom of the Big Ten in playing a short season. Ohio State has looked vulnerable against its two best opponents, Indiana and Northwestern, who have had good years but will never be confused with Clemson.

Part of that, I believe, can be attributed to the Buckeyes’ short season. It takes time, and the challenges of game action, for a team to reach its peak. Wisconsin, which had the makings of a strong team, never really got going because of Covid-19 interruptions. Penn State never recovered from that shocking loss to Indiana, a situation that might have played out differently if this hadn’t been such a bang-bang season.

On the opposite side of the coin, there’s a sentiment in the SEC as well as the ACC that Ohio State might have an advantage because its players haven’t taken the beating in their six-game season that the other playoff teams have taken in their 11-game seasons.

This contention apparently has played a role in Dabo Swinney’s snub of Ohio State. The Clemson coach ranked the Buckeyes 11th in the coaches poll, which Day undoubtedly will use to play the disrespect card and fire up his players.

As if they need to be any more fired up.

I would guess that for all he has accomplished, Fields regards this as an important audition for his NFL future—which it is.

But it is so much more than that.