SBJ College: Handicapping The Big Ten Commissioner Search

While everyone else is paying attention to Kyler Murray tonight, I’m watching Appalachian State’s budding TV star, Daniel Jeremiah, on NFL Network.

Here’s what is cooking on campus:

BIG TEN HONES IN ON NINE COMMISH CANDIDATES

• The Big Ten commissioner search has identified its first round of candidates, as I first reported this week. The list of nine high-ranking candidates includes three veteran college administrators, three respected media execs, two chief execs from the pro ranks and a global leader on diversity and inclusion. What the Big Ten presidents and their search firm, Korn Ferry, are doing now is creating a profile of the next commissioner, and then they’ll start eliminating some and adding others.
  
  

  BIG TEN COMMISSIONER CANDIDATES

  Former USTA CEO Katrina Adams

  America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen

  YES Network President Jon Litner

  ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Scheduling Burke Magnus

  Ernst & Young Global Vice Chair Beth Brooke Marciniak

  MLB Deputy Commissioner/Business & Media Tony Petitti

  Northwestern AD Jim Phillips

  Blue Jays President & CEO Mark Shapiro

  Big Ten Deputy Commissioner & COO Brad Traviolia

  Download the Big 10 Commish Candidates

• The favorite? I’d lead with Phillips. He fits the profile as a respected leader with influence -- both within the conference and nationally. The question is whether he would be willing to leave campus, which would mean giving up those day-to-day interactions with coaches and athletes.
  
  
• A dark horse? Magnus has negotiated media rights deals at the highest level. He’s well-respected in the college space and has the even-handed temperament required to manage 14 university presidents. Don’t forget -- he almost left ESPN to run IMG College in 2014, but the network wouldn’t let him out of his contract.
  
  
• Who do I think is most likely to stay put? Petitti. He's in Commissioner Rob Manfred’s inner circle and is highly valued at MLB. Not sure I can see him leaving right now.
  
  
• Who’s missing? I expected to see Mark Silverman from Fox Sports on this list. I also thought CFP COO Andrea Williams and WCC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez would merit a look. They still might.
  
  
  
  

THE PATH TO A P5 AD CHAIR

• The best way to become an AD at the biggest schools is to already be an AD somewhere else. Most schools in the P5 hire ADs who were sitting ADs before. That’s what the data shows about hiring trends in the last 16 months. For deputy ADs, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to vault from the No. 2 job in the athletic department into a P5 AD position..
  
  
• Since the beginning of 2018, LSU, N.C. State, Utah, Cal, Washington State and Auburn hired sitting ADs from other universities. Vanderbilt and Louisville stepped out of the college space entirely for their hires. Kansas and Wake Forest brought on former P5 ADs in Jeff Long and John Currie, respectively, while Maryland promoted Damon Evans -- who had AD experience at Georgia -- from within its ranks.
  
  
• Looking beyond the P5, the trends shift. Southern Miss, East Carolina and Texas-San Antonio hired sitting ADs. But there were more examples of deputies being hired as ADs, including at St. John’s, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic and Houston. South Florida looked to the College Football Playoff for its new AD, bringing Michael Kelly to Tampa.
  
  
• The recent trend of hires also got me thinking about this -- is is better to run your own shop at a smaller school or be the deputy at a bigger program? Jerry Bovee had an AD job at mid-major Weber State until this week, when he took the No. 2 job at a larger FBS program, Utah State. It reminds me of a conversation I had with Jay Jacobs. The former Auburn AD told me on his way to Florida that the No. 2 job in an athletic department is the "best job in college athletics,” because you don’t take as many of the arrows, but the pay and responsibility still are pretty good.
  
  
• Ultimately, though, if you consider the question based on upward mobility, the sitting AD has a clear advantage when it comes to taking the next step.
  
  

ADIDAS-KANSAS DEAL SHOWS CASH IS STILL KING

• Don’t expect Kansas officials to feel guilty about re-signing with Adidas for $196 million over 14 years. As badly as some people want to see Adidas shamed because it had three employees arrested in the college basketball scandal, most schools aren’t going to change apparel/shoe providers, especially if Adidas keeps paying top dollar. One AD told me sarcastically: “What are we going to do? Drop Adidas and go with (another shoe company), because I’m sure they’re not cheating.”
  
  
• The unfortunate conclusion: As long as there is a belief that everybody is cheating, schools will continue to take the best financial deals.

SPEED READS

• I wrote last week that there’s no way Sean Miller's attorneys would let the Arizona coach testify in the college basketball corruption trial this week. The defense team for former Adidas consultant Christian Dawkins argued this afternoon that Miller should testify about his voice allegedly appearing on FBI wiretaps, but again the judge sided with Miller. “A continued victory for Sean Miller, who understandably doesn’t want to testify,” tweeted Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel.
  
  
• It’s almost go-time for the NFL Draft. Where will the latest crop of college studs land? We took a look at a few major outlets and their projections for the top 10 tonight. The consensus is still that Oklahoma's Kyler Murray can go ahead and start house-hunting in the Phoenix area. But questions remain on if some team may trade up to land Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins. 
  
  

  NFL FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PREDICTIONS
  PICK (TEAM)	Mel Kiper (ESPN)	Todd McShay (ESPN)	Peter King (NBC Sports)
  No. 1 (Cardinals)	QB Kyler Murray	QB Kyler Murray	QB Kyler Murray
  No. 2 (49ers)	DE Nick Bosa	DE Nick Bosa	DE Nick Bosa
  No. 3 (Jets)	DT Quinnen Williams	DT Quinnen Williams	DT Ed Oliver
  No. 4 (Raiders)	LB Josh Allen	DT Ed Oliver	DT Quinnen Williams
  No. 5 (Buccaneers)	LB Devin White	LB Josh Allen	LB Devin White
  No. 6 (Giants)	DT Ed Oliver	LB Devin White	LB Josh Allen
  No. 7 (Jaguars)	TE T.J. Hockenson	TE T.J. Hockenson	TE T.J. Hockenson
  No. 8 (Lions)	LB Brian Burns	LB Brian Burns	OT Jawaan Taylor
  No. 9 (Bills)	OT Jonah Williams	OT Jawaan Taylor	OT Jonah Williams
  No. 10 (Broncos)	QB Dwayne Haskins	LB Devin Bush	LB Devin Bush
  PICK (TEAM)	Dane Brugler (The Athletic)	John Clayton (Washington Post)	Albert Breer (SI.com)
  No. 1 (Cardinals)	QB Kyler Murray	QB Kyler Murray	QB Kyler Murray
  No. 2 (49ers)	DE Nick Bosa	DE Nick Bosa	DE Nick Bosa
  No. 3 (Jets)	DT Quinnen Williams	DT Quinnen Williams	QB Dwayne Haskins (to Redskins in trade)
  No. 4 (Raiders)	LB Devin White	DT Ed Oliver	DT Quinnen Williams
  No. 5 (Buccaneers)	LB Josh Allen	LB Devin White	LB Devin White
  No. 6 (Giants)	DT Ed Oliver	LB Josh Allen	LB Josh Allen
  No. 7 (Jaguars)	OT Jawaan Taylor	OT Jawaan Taylor	OT Jonah Williams
  No. 8 (Lions)	QB Dwayne Haskins (to Redskins in trade)	DL Rashan Gary	DT Ed Oliver (to Falcons in trade)
  No. 9 (Bills)	OT Jonah Williams	OT Jonah Williams	OT Andre Dillard
  No. 10 (Broncos)	LB Devin Bush	TE T.J. Hockenson	LB Devin Bush

  Download the Projected Top NFL Picks

  
  
       

DOING THE MATH

• 56% -- Percentage of the top 100 NFL prospects that have deleted at least one old social media post, according to a review by Turnkey and SBJ's David Broughton. The top 50 prospects are more likely to have performed social media maintenance and to be more engaged on social than prospects 51-100. One prospect, who Turnkey did not name but said is a projected second-round pick, deleted 11,500 posts.
  
  
• 18,861 -- Attendance for Georgia Tech-Georgia on Tuesday night at the Braves' SunTrust Park. GT AD Todd Stansbury noted that it was best figure for a game in college baseball this season -- by more than 6,000 fans. Tuesday was the last time that the annual rubber match will be played on a weeknight, as the GT-UGA series moves to a weekend spot starting in 2020.     
  
  

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