Warren may have alienated some fellow commissioners with an earlier move to a conference-only scheduleGETTY IMAGES
Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren's decision to postpone all fall sports "gives us a glimpse into what we'll see from him in the upcoming years as a leader," according to Pete Thamel of YAHOO SPORTS. Warren "hasn't been perfect through his eight-month baptism by blowtorch as Big Ten commissioner." He "alienated some of his fellow commissioner colleagues when he surprised them by going to a conference-only schedule." He "certainly burned some goodwill with his coaches, athletic directors and presidents with the clunky way the Big Ten arrived at the decision." But this was a "no-win situation for Warren." Warren's "concise Nebraska rebuttal" to the school's insinuation it would attempt to go rogue if the Big Ten season was canceled is a "nice window into the bottom line he used to help guide the decision that may ultimately define his career as Big Ten commissioner." Warren's stance on Nebraska "would make former commissioner Jim Delany proud" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/11).
THE RATIONAL CHOICE: In Minneapolis, Jim Souhan writes as college football "goes on hiatus, it's not hard to spot the adults in the meeting rooms." Warren, Univ. of Minnesota President Joan Gabel and the Big Ten "didn't face a difficult decision, just an expensive one." UM and the Big Ten and college football in general "will lose, cumulatively, hundreds of millions of dollars." Souhan: "Don't get mad at those charged with making the only rational decision available to them." Gabel and UM AD Mark Coyle, like Warren, "distinguished themselves" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/12). ESPN's Michael Wilbon said the Big Ten presidents “have to exert something and exercise something we haven’t seen much of in the country when it comes to the pandemic and that is leadership, and that’s what they’ve done” (“PTI,” ESPN, 8/11).
MAN IN THE MIRROR: The Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein noted Warren, from his "first moment, has talked about health, safety, and well-being. I don’t think he was going to be able to look himself in the mirror and say, ‘If this is medically risky, this is the best for them.’" But Greenstein also said he did not want to grade Warren yet, because "it’s going to depend on the fall." If the SEC, ACC and Big 12 "play football and they’re able to pull it off like these other sports have pulled it off, he’s not going to look good." If it ends up "being an issue, if they try and fail, then he’s obviously going to be able to say, ‘We took the right course here’” (“The Paul Finebaum Show,” ESPN Radio, 8/11).
BIG TEST FOR WARREN: In Indianapolis, Zach Osterman writes rarely has the Big Ten, for "so long boastful of its academic reputation, communal professionalism and lack of public infighting, seemed so out of step with itself." It is "up to Warren to get both hands firmly back on the wheel starting right now, because the conference's plan to try and play its football season in the spring will require far more togetherness and joined-up thinking than have been on display in the past few days." This decision was "rooted in health concerns." The conference "didn't want to press forward into football season and have it cost an athlete their life." Yet when Big Ten Network host Dave Revsine yesterday "rightly pressed Warren on why the conference might feel comfortable revealing a revised fall football schedule last week, only to punt to spring this week, Warren equivocated." He "used the word 'uncertainty' several times, and cited medical advice." Osterman: "Can Warren get his entire conference on board for a spring season?" Getting his house in order is Warren's "biggest non-health related job right now" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 8/12).
VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE: In Pennsylvania, David Jones wrote Warren "lost big" yesterday during his press conference announcing the postponement. He was "repeatedly stonewalling simple questions he could've handled in plainspoken response," and because of that, the Big Ten's decision "will be received by many as nervous and apprehensive rather than sensible and necessary." Rather than the "brave thing to do, it will be perceived as cowardice." It is "not always what you say, it’s how you say it," and Warren "came off like a politician rather than a statesman." Jones: "This is when leadership counts. This is when being a nodding cardboard cutout spewing vacant platitudes and strings of words bathed in a hundred shades of gray just doesn't cut it" (PENNLIVE.com, 8/11). ESPN’s Paul Finebaum responded to Warren's justification for postponing the season as being in a pandemic, noting, "What Kevin Warren just said doesn’t work. We all know that we’re in a pandemic. We’ve been in a pandemic since March 11th. I thought that was in inane answer, and he said that because he doesn’t have a justification right now." Finebaum continued, “There was simply no reason to shut down yesterday, and that is why there is such chaos right now. That’s another reason why the other three leagues are holding on for dear life, whether it’s right or wrong" ("The Paul Finebaum Show," ESPN Radio, 8/12).
