One of Delany's biggest accomplishments was launching the Big Ten Network in '07GETTY IMAGES
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany yesterday "doubled down on not formally retiring," explaining that he "plans to be active following his formal departure" from the conference next summer, according to Fornelli & Dodd of CBSSPORTS.com. Delany, 71, said, "I'm going to be doing some things, probably several things. I don't know if it will be teaching. I don't know if it will be speaking. I don't know if it will be consulting. I don't know if I open up a business. Some combination" (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/4). Delany said he "won’t be pulling up into the Big Ten parking lot, but I will be active in a variety of ways as long as my health and interest are good." Asked about his legacy of conference expansion, adding Rutgers, Nebraska, Maryland and Penn State, Delany said, "I like where we are. Our footprint is larger. We’re in two regions of the country. ... Going out east was new for us, but we’ve got millions of people in that corridor -- 15 percent of our alumni live out there -- and they’re in contiguous areas, all major research institutions. While the competitive outcomes haven’t been there, necessarily, for Rutgers ... they’re long-term buys" (THEATHLETIC.com, 3/4).
THE DEALMAKER: In Detroit, Nick Baumgardner writes any review of Delany's tenure "starts and stops with the invention of the Big Ten Network," launched in '07, and the impact it had on "both the league and the national landscape of college athletics." BTN "opened up enormous amounts of revenue for the league at a time when ESPN had a virtual iron-clad lock on the cable television market for college athletics." As money "poured in, full-fledged league members had the ability to spend more on coaches, facilities and everything in between" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 3/5). Delany said of his decision to step down, "This strikes me as a good time." In Chicago, Teddy Greenstein notes Delany has "positioned the Big Ten as the financial envy of the industry." By "embracing multiple outlets during media-rights negotiations," he secured $2.64B over six years for the conference. BTN "helps account for skyrocketing revenues," as the conference distributed as much as $52M to each of its schools in FY '18 -- a surge from about $21M in '14. Northwestern President Morton Schapiro: "He has put all 14 of us in an advantageous situation. His legacy is extraordinary" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/5).
NOT WITHOUT CONTROVERSY: YAHOO SPORTS' Pete Thamel wrote Delany's impending departure "marks the end of one of the most influential and polarizing tenures in college sports." He "shepherded the league into an era of enormous financial windfall" with the BTN. But Delany’s legacy also includes the "controversial decision to turn the Big Ten into a 14-team super conference, causing collateral damage around the athletics world and receiving diminishing returns on the field with schools like Rutgers and Maryland" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/4). The TRIBUNE's Greenstein writes Delany "will be remembered for his moxie, his business savvy, his willingness to green-light" the CFP and also the "questionable decision to have Rutgers and Maryland join." He also "pushed for better basketball matchups such as the Big Ten-ACC Challenge; and he moved the conference men’s basketball tournament" to DC and N.Y., "enraging Midwestern fans" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/5). YAHOO SPORTS' Dan Wetzel wrote Delany was "inconsistent, a situational traditionalist." That is "what made him so infuriating to fans." Wetzel: "How did someone who liked to use sepia-toned statements of how the old way was the best way for Midwestern values also chase every dime imaginable?" Delany was "all about the Big Ten, except when he wasn’t" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/4). ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg wrote Delany's run "likely will never be replicated." He pushed a "tradition-heavy league that, at times, needed to be moved forward" (ESPN.com, 3/4).
EFFECT ON CFP: YAHOO SPORTS' Thamel noted Delany’s departure will "kick off a new round of speculation about playoff expansion." Delany said the playoff would “probably” expand in the long term. But he "isn’t sure about the short term." Delany: “There are five or six very important interests in college football, and only two or three are being served. That’ll be for another generation to address. In the short term, we are where we are" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/4). USA TODAY's Dan Wolken notes the next Big Ten commissioner "will have an opportunity to make an even bigger mark by engineering" an expansion of the CFP. Though Delany has been a "driving force behind some of the most significant landscape shifts in college sports," his legacy on the playoff will be "defined by his ambivalence." Delany "hasn’t exactly been beating the drum for expansion" (USA TODAY, 3/5).
WHO'S NEXT? Ohio State AD Gene Smith yesterday addressed speculation that he may succeed Delany, saying that he is "happy where he is." Smith: “I’m blessed to be here at Ohio State. There are things I need to complete here." But in Columbus, Bill Rabinowitz writes Smith "wouldn’t completely close the door on the possibility." Smith: “There’s never a ‘No.’ You can’t say that. All I can say is I have things I want to get done." Other "potential candidates" could include former BTN President and current Fox Sports National Networks President Mark Silverman; Big Ten Senior Associate Commissioner Mark Rudner; Big Ten Deputy Commissioner Diane Dietz and Northwestern AD Jim Phillips (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 3/5).
