The Gould Standard: Big Ten Needs to Hire Phillips While Warren Moves on to Mission Impossible.
Two columns for the price of—well, never mind the price.
First, Kevin Warren. Second, Jim Phillips.
Intrepid leader that he is, Kevin Warren is leaving the Big Ten commissioner’s job to be president and CEO of the Bears.
This is where he should be. Now he is back to tracking for what’s likely to be his ultimate job—NFL commissioner.
Warren, the former Minnesota Vikings COO, has a resume better suited to the NFL Besides working with the Rams and Lions, the Notre Dame Law grad also has been a sports agent and held other legal-side sports positions.
Good luck to him with the Bears. He’s either going to be a hero for turning around a chronically underperforming franchise. Or the object of scorn for failing to wake up a sleepy franchise.
When a team has a large and loyal fan base like the Bears, the stakes are high.
The problem is, turning around an NFL franchise is like turning around the Queen Mary—with one itty-bitty tugboat.
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CAN THE BIG TEN GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME?
Top-notch sports administrator that he is, Jim Phillips has not always had the best timing.
He would have been the perfect guy for athletic director at his alma mater, Illinois—like the Bears, another Land of Lincoln sleeping giant, at least in the eyes of its alumni.
The problem was, he was well established as Northwestern athletic director when longtime Illini AD Ron Guenther retired.
He also would have been the perfect guy for Big Ten commissioner when legendary Jim Delany retired.
The problem was, Warren also was eminently qualified. What he lacked in college-level experience and Big-Ten consensus building, he made up for with a hard-nosed sports business background. And he gave the Big Ten the opportunity to be the first major conference led by a person of color.
Warren had a rocky start. Thrust into the to-play-or-not-to-play question by COVID, he was overwhelmed. Which was understandable, because he was so new in such a vast job.
Warren delivered the goods, however, in adding UCLA and USC, and then leading the Big Ten to television contract that’s bigger and better than a winning PowerBall ticket.
And for those of us who aren’t on board with two Los Angeles schools in the Big Ten, and who wonder where the chasing of television dollars will end—well, Warren did what modern commissioners apparently need to do.
But now, the Big Ten has an opportunity to make amends.
Bringing in Jim Philips would give the conference a chance to move forward with dignity—and confront the many complexities of big time college sports with the tradition and vision that the Big Ten ought to embrace.
Pay for athletes in the form of Name, Image and Likeness. . . athletes changing schools via the transfer portal. . . those things are here to stay. They need refining, though, to keep everything from spinning out of control.
And figuring out the details of the 12-team football playoff will be trickier than most people realize.
And then there is the larger question of a future where the Big Ten and SEC are dominant—while everyone else is chopped liver.
Jim Phillips is the perfect choice to be the voice of the Big Ten in these matters.
What the league needs now is experienced, down-to-earth leadership. Phillips has a vast network of former Big Ten partners. He built a model athletic department at Northwestern.
And for Phillips, the Big Ten commissioner’s job is a destination, not a stepping stone.
No doubt, Warren grew weary of the endless travel and behind-the-scenes consensus-building that is essential to being Big Ten commissioner. People like Delany and Phillips thrive on that.
While it would be awkward for Phillips to leave his current post as ACC commissioner, that’s no reason to stop him from returning to his home turf.
He has given the ACC excellent leadership, brought fresh ideas and provided a strong bridge from John Swofford to the next ACC commissioner.
Bringing back Jim Phillips is an obvious, easy decision.
So get it right, Big Ten.