Tag: Kevin Warren

Big Ten Parents United sends open letter to Kevin Warren

The Wolverines parents joined with Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State families to address concerns to the Big Ten commissioner.

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If you thought that with the Big Ten planning a winter season after commissioner Kevin Warren released a statement last week saying the fall season wouldn’t be revisited would cause those in uproar to go quietly into the night, think again.

On Wednesday morning, parents from Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State put out an open letter addressed to Warren under the moniker ‘B1G Parents United’ — echoing the Big Ten United and We Are United campaigns that preceded the season postponement.

While before there were groups of parents from individual schools who had put out letters or even protested at Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont (IL), this is the first time they’ve all come together under one banner. And though earlier iterations have called for a reinstatement of the fall season, this time around, that’s not the case. Big Ten Parents United, as it stands, is asking for more transparency, clarity as well as input into processes such as these.

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Whether or not anything amounts from this in the future, it remains to be seen. But the parents continue to be vigilant on behalf of their sons.

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Coalition of Big Ten parents pen criticizing letter to Kevin Warren, Big Ten

A coalition of Big Ten football parents groups sent a letter to the Big Ten demanding answers and a response from the league.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Not settling for the standard generalities in an open letter Kevin Warren released in response to massive criticism and outrage, Big Ten parents are striking back. A coalition from several big ten football parent organizations penned their own letter in response to what they view as a lack of accountability and response from the league on Wednesday.

Parent groups from the large majority of the conference released a letter under the banner and hashtag #B1GParentsUnited. The letter calls for the release of materials and documents that support the Big Ten’s decision and calls for a meeting and response from commissioner Kevin Warren. More than that, the letter is a scathing rebuke of the leadership the league has shown.

“Candidly, at this point, the parent organizations have a total lack of confidence in your ability to lead and communicate effectively with all key stakeholders,” the letter reads.

The latest document is on the tails of letters released individually by parent organizations at Ohio State, Penn State, Nebraska, Iowa, and Michigan and further unites the efforts for the Big Ten to provide some answers. It also is a rebuttal to a seemingly boiler-plate response from Kevin Warren when he responded in an open letter reiterating the league’s stance on not playing in the fall.

The full context of the letter can be viewed below.

At this point, this isn’t going away anytime soon. Don’t be surprised if attorneys begin to align. The lack of transparency and response from the Big Ten isn’t going to help move matters along and isn’t going to squash the big elephant threatening to wreck the Big Ten’s perception in its tight-lipped living room.

The Big Ten would be well advised to get in front of this more than it has now, or find some different leadership before this thing spirals even more out of control.

 

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Report: If Big Ten were to hold vote today, fall football season would not be suspended

According to a report from Wolverines Digest, if the Big Ten were to vote today, the same decision to shelve fall football would not occur.

He said, she said. We said, they said. Nobody said.

No, it’s not Doctor Seus you are reading but the current state of the drama going on with the Big Ten. The league pulled the plug on the season ahead of any of the Power Five conferences, and now the discontent has the conference burning from the inside.

From parent revolts to online petitions, to quotes about miscommunication and lack of unity, the SEC, Big 12, and ACC have their popcorn out — all while making a movie of their own — forging ahead with the season.

And now this.

According to a report from Wolverines Digest, after all of the pushback, and the three of the Power Five conferences still planning on starting the season, if a vote were held today, the Big Ten would not cancel fall football for 2020 with hopes of playing in the spring.

Per sources in the league, the Big Ten really felt that if it pulled the plug first, the Pac-12 would quickly follow after. From there, the ACC would cave followed by the Big 12. And once all of that occurred, the SEC’s play at all costs mentality would be forced to make the same decision because there would be nothing to purchase if you will.

Well the first two parts worked to perfection, but then Notre Dame threw a monkey wrench into the quest for college football world domination by getting on board with the ACC — even potentially conceding some things in the future — to play the fall. From there the Big 12 and SEC stayed with the Axis Powers rather than the allies and what resulted was uncontrolled and unfettered chaos.

“Notre Dame really wanted to play and was willing to enter into an agreement that could lead to something down the road … at the very least, more games every year against ACC teams,” an insider told Wolverines Digest. “They’re adamance about playing was the ace-in-the-hole a group, led by Clemson, needed to really push for a season and turn the tide in favor of ignoring the Big Ten.”

“I mean, if Notre Dame, with their academic reputation and their national brand, was willing to go forward … it sort of just sealed the ACC’s fate.”

And that’s where we are today.

The Big Ten and it’s arrogance thought it could set the price of tea in China but was living on an island in the South Pacific with the Pac-12. The conference severely miscalculated the feelings of discord among its members, fans, student-athletes, and yes — even administrators. In a lot of ways, it was the perfect storm of having a brand new commissioner looking to make a splash and not understanding the gravity of it all.

“I don’t want to call it arrogance but there was a surprising lack of awareness from the presidents that there would be such significant pushback when they voted to postpone the 2020 season,” a source in Big Ten HQ shared with Wolverines Digest. “I think you also have [Commissioner] Kevin Warren who is so eager to please his bosses still early in his tenure that he just sort of went along with them, without really being an advocate for the athletic directors and the football programs. ”

“It was like he didn’t know where his loyalties lie – is it with the presidents or is it with the ADs, coaches and players? In theory, all of those entities should be pulling in the same direction but there was, as we’ve all seen, incredible disconnect between the philosophies of the presidents and that of their coaches and athletes and, in some cases, athletic directors.”

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There you have it. With the benefit of hindsight, or with some forward-thinking about how much college football means to the Midwest, or — the ability to have a better-defined plan and communication, all of this would have gone down differently.

“We’ve already seen a university like Nebraska, which from top-down took issue with postponing the season but eventually gave in, and now there are five, six, seven universities on any given day that would have voted differently if the vote was being held two weeks later,” said a Wolverines Digest source.

At this point, we’d say there’s nothing that can be done now, but that wouldn’t be true. The Big Ten could get on a plan somewhere around — yesterday, figure this thing out and either plan for a late fall or early winter season. At the very least, spring has to be on the table now with all that’s gone on, or so you would think.

But yet, here we are waiting for further information to come out and the sands of the hourglass continue to empty on the future of playing any football at all for the Big Ten.

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Can Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren last through the year?

Can Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren last with his decision to go against the athletic directors in the Big Ten? Maybe, but money talks.

There has been a lot written about Kevin Warren over the past few weeks. I explained his background and Phil Harrison talked about how every Big Ten AD  wanted to play. With the groundswell on Twitter of #FireKevinWarren and the petition with over 10,000 signatures, there is a real question on if Warren can last through the year.

The answer is probably yes, as much as some out there want him gone as soon as possible. It would take a majority of the Big Ten presidents to vote him out. We know that Ohio State is more than likely one of those schools. Penn State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and probably Nebraska would be a part of that group as well. What no one knows is if a majority can come together and pull the proverbial trigger.

According to Steve Berkowitz at USA Today, the Big Ten brought in $781.5 million last year, the highest of all power five conferences. Money talks, and if the money starts talking school presidents could begin to ponder about whether Warren stays. With a $55.6 million payout to the schools, that kind of money could quickly become a topic of conversation. Some of the smaller Big Ten programs could certainly turn their attention quicker.

However, does this all mean that Warren’s job is on the line? Probably not, at least not yet. The presidents will at least wait and see how this whole thing plays out. They would not want to make a decision to find out later Warren made the right move.

The Buckeyes are leading the charge in the Big Ten in more ways than on the field. They hold a lot of weight and power in the Big Ten and their voice is at least listened to. Warren is safe for now, but never count anything out when the revenue and the fans start talking.

And yes, there are rumblings. The Big Ten is as fractured as it’s maybe ever been right now.

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren finally meets with affected student-athletes

After a lengthy silence between the commissioner and the players, the two are finally in a dialogue about the league postponing the season.

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Why didn’t this happen sooner?

While the call to cancel the 2020 season for all fall sports in the Big Ten is one that was made by the presidents and chancellors of the member institutions, for some reason, the constituents affected weren’t privy to the decision making involved — despite being called back to campuses in June to get back to training, while undergoing strict protocols to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus. Meanwhile, commissioner Kevin Warren, by not doing as the Pac-12 had and releasing a lengthy document to explain just why the conference was making the decision while other major conferences powered on, did himself no favors. After more than a week of uproar from the players and their parents — particularly in college football — he finally released a statement, noting that the league would not revisit the fall decision, and stating still in broad terms, but with a bit more specificity, the league’s findings.

But still, athletic directors, coaches and student-athletes affected were not a part of the conversation, and there was no transparency from the top on down.

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At least that’s starting to change as of Monday.

According to Sports Illustrated‘s Pat Forde, Warren is meeting with various student-athletes and coaches remotely so that the two sides can at least discuss the matters as they currently exist.

At the moment, it appears that the Big Ten is headed towards a winter season for college football, with an apparent eight game schedule beginning in January, which would take place at indoor stadiums across the region. There would be a B1G Championship Game in March to declare the winner of the league.

However, given that the College Football Playoff is going on as planned this fall, whoever the Big Ten representative would or could have been, won’t have the honor of winning a national championship, unless that team claims it outside of the playoff as teams once had before the BCS era.

Report: Kevin Warren to hold a conference call with Big Ten athletes, coaches and administrators

The Wisconsin Badgers and the rest of the Big Ten are not playing football this fall, that much is known. It was reported today…

The Wisconsin Badgers and the rest of the Big Ten are not playing football this fall, that much is known. It was reported today, though, that (finally) Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren is holding a conference call with Big Ten athletes, coaches and administrators that has the chance to create a dialogue about the season postponement and future steps for the conference.

Pat Forde did also report that the “call originated as a previously scheduled Big Ten Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism task force. Express purpose was not to discuss fall sports decision,” though this is the first known direct dialogue between Big Ten leadership and those directly involved with the sport since the season was postponed two weeks ago.

If you ask me, this is something that would’ve been useful, I don’t know, when the decision was being discussed? And even though it was a previously scheduled call to discuss anti-hate and anti-racism, it’s likely that this call will also address the sport and at least some of the thought process behind postponing the season.

Leadership and communication are key in moments and situations like this, and I’ve written extensively about how this lack of leadership and communication will prove costly for the future of the sport.

Related: What the NCAA can do to fix the structure of college football and save the sport

Hopefully this opportunity will finally put the players, coaches and administrators on the same page as Warren and the conference’s leadership, though it may be too little too late. Badger and Big Ten fans can mostly hope at this point that the future of the conference and the sport are in a good spot as we around the country deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Check back in to BadgersWire in the near future as we address the result of this call and analyze where the conference is heading going into the spring and next fall.

Report: Big Ten athletic directors wanted to play the season

The aftermath of the Big Ten postponing their fall football season has been interesting to say the least.  From Big Ten Commissioner…

The aftermath of the Big Ten postponing their fall football season has been interesting to say the least.

From Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren staying silent for more than a week after the announcement, to Justin Fields’ petition, to the #WeWantToPlay movement, to parent protests, to Warren’s letter explaining the decision–it’s safe to say the last two weeks have been anything but linear.

Well, yesterday the headlines continued to pour in as Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Moos spoke with Sam McKewon of the Omaha World Herald and explained that all of the Big Ten ADs were in favor of playing the season.

“Warren was aware, for example, that every Big Ten athletic director was in favor of playing a fall football season,” the article reads. “Moos said he, Ohio State’s, Penn State’s and Michigan’s A.D.s pushed hardest, but there was unanimous agreement in wanting to play. ‘[Warren] knew where we were coming from, and he was the messenger to the presidents and chancellors,’ Moos said.”

What has become clear from this piece and many other pieces of news since the cancellation is that there is a massive disconnect between the school presidents and the ADs and coaches. If you need anything during a time like this it’s constant communication and leadership.

It has become clear that the conference has had none of that.

“As easy as consistent Zoom meetings between all parties would have been — all it takes is a computer and a room without chaos — they didn’t happen,” the article explains.

“‘I knew where our people stood, but I would have liked to have been in the room when they expressed it to the commissioner and our presidents and chancellors,’ Moos said. ‘The commissioner was operating in silos, and the silos weren’t connected. And, in the end, that created varying degrees of communication not being delivered.’”

Related: What the NCAA can do to fix the structure of college football and save the sport

Say what you want about whether the season should happen, but the future of the sport doesn’t look promising if the athletic directors are far-removed from decisions like this one that have wide-ranging implications on the future of the sport.

Let’s hope the parties are able to come together in planning the spring season if it turns out it is possible to play.

 

Check back into BadgersWire all fall as we follow the developments related to the postponement and look ahead to the potential spring season.

Report: Every Big Ten athletic director wanted to play fall football, Kevin Warren had other ideas

According to a piece by the Omaha World-Herald, every Big Ten athletic director was in support of fall football. Kevin Warren, not so much.

We keep getting leaked information come out of surrounding the Big Ten’s decision to postpone fall sports, and it’s not a good look. There’s definitely a case to be made on a path of abundance of caution to shelve the season because of a global pandemic, but the process by which the decision was arrived at has come into question.

The latest comes from a report by Sam Mckewon of the Omaha World Herald who got Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos to go on record.

According to Moos, he was optimistic about a Big Ten season being played when the league announced a conference only schedule on August 5. The road map was there and it was one that allowed flexibility in the midst of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

However, his optimism quickly waned when he was made aware by Nebraska Chancellor Ronnie Green of a growing sentiment by university presidents and chancellors to postpone the season.

“As we got closer to the decision, I got less and less confident we were going to be playing,” Moos told the Omaha World Herald.

Moos was kept apprised of where things were headed because key, veteran athletic directors were not a part of extremely important Zoom meetings and further discussions. That included Ohio State’s Gene Smith, someone who has already served on several important NCAA boards and decision-making task forces.

Instead, according to Moos, the voice of the athletic directors on those meetings was left to one man, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.

And here’s the troubling part — Warren was aware that every single Big Ten athletic director was in favor of trying to play football in the fall. Moos, Ohio State’s Gene Smith, Penn State’s Sandy Barbour, and Michigan’s Wade Manuel pushed the hardest to do everything the league could to push forward, but it was unanimous agreement in wanting to play.

“He knew where we were coming from, and he was the messenger to the presidents and chancellors,” Moos said.

Yet the decision to postpone the fall still happened in the face of a mountain of support and willingness to play by the ADs. Moos said that occurred because things weren’t vetted out with the right people sitting down together.

“I knew where our people stood, but I would have liked to have been in the room when they expressed it to the commissioner and our presidents and chancellors,” Moos said. “The commissioner was operating in silos, and the silos weren’t connected. And, in the end, that created varying degrees of communication not being delivered.”

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In the face of a landslide of criticism and confusion surrounding the Big Ten’s decision, Warren, for his part, did agree that he could have arrived at the decision a little differently.

“What I would have done differently is I would have brought all the parties together,” Warren told Yahoo Sports.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and now the league appears to be slowly burning from the inside out. Parents have sent letters to Warren’s office and staged a protest, Ohio State QB Justin Fields started an online petition to force the Big Ten to overturn its decision, and a league that is usually very united has seen multiple administrators come out and question the way things were handled.

To be fair, Warren was thrust into a no-win situation really. To be a newcomer as the leader of one of the most historical and well-known college athletics leagues is hard enough, one that pulls in more revenue than any other. To do so in the midst of a global pandemic is drawing the short straw in a stack of short straws.

Still though, he was hired to do a job. And unfortunately for the Big Ten, the hard lessons that are being learned and playing out in front of the national media aren’t going to reverse the perceptional hit and loss of revenue that will be felt for years to come.

Nobody is rooting for the three other conferences to be hit hard with the pandemic and a bunch of kids to get sick, but that’s probably what it’s going to take for the other three Power Five conferences to cut bait on the football season this fall.

If that happens, then Warren will look like a genius who went against the desires of his collective athletic community, stood in the fire, and came out the other side.

 

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Exclusive: For Shuan Wade’s father Randy, protesting outside the Big Ten offices more than about playing football this fall

Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade’s father Randy believes protesting outside the Big Ten offices is more than pushing for fall football

Buckeyes Wire caught up with Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade’s father, Randy, Thursday afternoon on his way from his home in Jacksonville, Florida, to the airport in Orlando. He was hopping on a flight to Chicago with the intention of meeting other Big Ten parents to have a peaceful protest outside of the Big Ten offices.

For Randy, the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the fall football season hit home. First and foremost he is a father, one ready to fight for his and others’ sons affected by the decision that has become so polarizing.

He’s hoping Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren takes notice.

And while many criticized the parents’ group for protesting the ability to play during a global pandemic, Wade agreed that, yes, he’d like to see his son and others play, but that it’s much more than that.

“It is very important, and I’m just trying to change things,” Wade told Buckeyes Wire. “The message everyone is trying to convey is that we’re cavemen, and we just want football. No, we want football safely, and as soon as football is available to be there, we want to play it. We want to play in the fall, but if we can’t, we want to make sure everything is talked about for the spring.”

“I’m just a dad,” continued Wade. “I’m not even a part of the Ohio State parent’s association. I’m a dad trying to open better communication for the future. That’s all I’m doing.”

Wade says he’s heard from a few parents groups that he hopes will join him in bringing awareness Friday morning. He hopes to push for a Zoom call between the various football parents’ associations, the athletic directors and Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren. So far, he’s heard from groups from Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue, Illinois, and Indiana.

On whether he expects a good turnout, Wade said regardless, he’s planning on continuing with his mission.

“I hope so, regardless of that, I am a man of my word, I’m going to go out there and fight for these kids, do what I can,” Wade said.

Wade made the plans to fly to Chicago for a peaceful protest prior to Kevin Warren’s statement on not revisiting the fall season, but to him, he’s afraid it will be more of the same in the spring.

“We are trying to make sure to the best of our ability, what has happened doesn’t carry over into the spring,” Wade said. “Yes, we want to play in the fall, and everyone’s going to ask questions about the fall, but we don’t want to disappoint our kids again as parents. At the end of the day, people say that these kids are grown, but they’re still kids. We still got to support them — we have to pay their bills. They have a lot of growing up to do. Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean your grown.”

He also believes the kids and parents need more of a voice.

“The kids cannot vocalize themselves as they want to. If the coach says nobody say anything about this, for the most part you know what they got to do? Keep quiet about it and move forward. The kids get paid a stipend by the school, the coaches get paid by the school, ADs gets paid by the school, the president gets paid by the school, but us parents? We get paid by a job, so we can say what we want to say. We are going to be respectful, but we want to avoid a couple of the things that we think need to be done, and a couple of concerns that we have. So whether football is going to be played in the fall or the spring, open up that communication to us.”

We asked Wade why he is taking up this baton, especially considering his son is a potential high draft pick for the upcoming 2021 NFL draft. He said Shaun is in a good spot, but it’s about others, and he’s fighting for more than just his kid.

“Shaun is a potential first-rounder. It’s about the people at schools waiting for their chance to come,” said Wade. “This moment right here will be the biggest moment in a lot of young men’s life other than getting married or having a baby. We got to do what we got to do.”

He ended the conversation by imploring those that feel like the communication and decision-making needs improvement to show up outside of the Big Ten offices Friday morning with him to take up the cause.

“Showing up tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. is going to be the answer to Kevin Warren’s statement,” said Wade. “If you agree with his statement, then you’re not going to show up. But if you disagree with his statement and you don’t show up, that’s going to be the problem. Don’t complain in the spring when the same result happens.”

No matter how you feel about efforts to play football during extraordinary times, it’s hard to argue against a dad not only fighting for his son, but others that are on a similar journey.

According to Wade, all he wants is improved communication, transparent decision making, and inclusion for the student-athletes and other stakeholders that are most affected by the loss of competitive opportunities.

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Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

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Kevin Warren’s background likely played into his desire to postpone the Big Ten football season

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren’s background and experience likely played a role in his decision to postpone the Big Ten football season. 

Kevin Warren, the Big Ten commissioner, made his final decision on fall sports Tuesday in an open letter to the Big Ten community, and Gene Smith doubled down with his own statement. But who exactly is Kevin Warren? Warren has a long story of how he became the commissioner and we’ll try to sum it all up for you.

Following the news from Gene Smith, after he reiterated Kevin Warren’s message that the Big Ten, and thus Ohio State, would not play this fall. There are a lot of people who are saying that Smith is bowing to Warren and he should instead take a stand. Kevin Warren has a long history in football, and him deciding to cancel the season might have more to do with his background than anything else.

Warren is a lawyer by schooling, more specifically, sports law. He worked with former SEC commissioner Michael Slive prior to starting his own agency where he represented several former Kansas City Chiefs. He was eventually hired by Dick Vermiel as a front office/legal personnel for the Rams.

From there Warren went to work as legal counsel for the Detroit Lions. Here is where his history starts to get a little murky in some ways. He went to work for a firm in Phoenix and assisted the Wirf family in buying the Vikings. It was right after the purchase that Warren became the Chief Legal Officer for the Vikings. He then went on to be the COO, before becoming Big Ten commissioner.

While he was in the NFL, Roger Goodell placed him on the emergency planning committee. Between his law background and being on the committee is where I think his decision was made regarding the season. One thing lawyers are wary of is liability. Fear of reprisal if a player gets sick, or worse, probably was too much for Warren to decide any other way.

I don’t know that for certain of course, but it’s not hard to read between the lines, especially when considering Warren’s background.

The Buckeyes will not be playing this fall, and the cautious nature and legal background of Warren probably played a large role. Gene Smith is not going to rebel against Warren — at least not publicly — even if Warren needs Ohio State more than Ohio State needs him. It will be interesting to see if there is any fallout long term over the decision.

It’ll also be interesting to see if there are further actions resulting from all of this.