Tag: Kevin Warren

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.

Well known player advocate attorney Tom Mars files Freedom of Information Act request with Big Ten

Attorney Tom Mars has filed information requests with Big Ten member institutions to dig into Big Ten decision to postpone fall sports.

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has finally spoken after over a week of silence. As the league continued to crack at the foundations with player, parent, and administrator concerns over the lack of transparency and plan surrounding the postponement of the fall football season in 2020, we waited for reaction.

Warren finally released an open letter to the Big Ten community reiterating the stance to postpone the season to the spring, and a so-called final verdict that it will not be revisited.

That has now resulted in some action well known collegiate player advocate Tom Mars. We reported earlier this week on a piece from the Columbus Dispatch that showed Mars beginning to weigh in on the situation, and even speaking on behalf of some that were questioning how the decision was made.

Mars, who represented several players, including Justin Fields, in gaining waivers for immediate transfer eligibility, had previously said that getting lawyers involved in the process was not his desire. However, you had a feeling if this thing continued to gain momentum without Big Ten cooperation that things could change.

And change it has apparently.

According to Angelique Chengelis of the Detroit News, Mars has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Michigan to gather further details around the decision to postpone fall sports. There are reportedly other FOIA requests that will be, or have already, been sent to the other Big Ten institutions.

In it, Mars asks for all-encompassing details that you can view below to try and foster more transparency about how everything was arrived at, and what drove the decision-making process.

“Because the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of the Big 10’s decision to cancel fall football, I request a waiver of all fees,” the request reads.

The Michigan Freedom of Information Act requires a response within five days, however, Mars also states that he understands the pandemic could hinder that timing in the letter.

This is an evolving story, and it’s probably just the beginning, but it’s clear Mars is representing someone of significance in pulling these strings here.

 

Big Ten working on spring football season plan that could start in January

The Big Ten is reportedly working on a few different plans for spring football, one of those being a plan that would start in January.

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Big Ten Commissioner set the record straight on Wednesday when he confirmed that the decision to postpone the fall college football season in the conference would not be revisited. However, if you are a fan who wants Big Ten football sooner rather than later, you might be in luck. Multiple college football insiders have reported that Big Ten officials have decided to start the season as soon as possible, and there is one model for the season proposed by Ohio State coach Ryan Day would be to start in January.

“I think that starting the first week in January would be the best way to go,” Day said. “That way there is some separation between that season and the next season.”

By starting the season in January, they would give veteran players enough time to recover and enter preparation for the 2021 NFL Draft, and give returning players enough time to repair their bodies before the next season in the fall. Since it would be in the dead of winter, they would likely need to utilize indoor facilities. There are multiple indoor pro football arenas in cities near Big Ten schools, such as:

  • Detroit (Lions)
  • Indianapolis (Colts)
  • Minneapolis (Vikings)

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Big Ten Commissioner: Decision to postpone fall sports won’t be revisited

Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren put out a statement on Wednesday confirming that the fall sports decision won’t be revisited.

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The Big Ten Commissioner, along with the university presidents, made a divisive and decisive judgment call when they decided to postpone fall sports, including the football season. The decision led to a group of players who led a #WeWantToPlay campaign, along with a petition, attempting to get the Big Ten Conference to reverse their decision and reinstate the fall football season. Despite those pleas, it has now been confirmed that the postponement will not be revisited, officially ending the Big Ten fall football season.

Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren confirmed this today in a statement made on the Big Ten’s website.

“While several factors contributed to the decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season, at the core of our decision was the knowledge that there was too much medical uncertainty and too many unknown health risks regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection and its impact on our student-athletes,” Warren wrote in the release.

Warren instead said that the conference will be working with coaches, athletic directors, and medical personnel to find a safe way to hold the season in the winter or spring. It’s possible that the season could start as early as January.

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Ohio State releases statement in response to Big Ten’s open letter to not revisit fall sports

Ohio State AD Gene Smith released a statement in response to Kevin Warren’s open letter to the Big Ten community. It was an interesting one.

In case you missed it, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren finally crawled out from under wherever he was in the face of some mighty aggressive criticism hitting the conference over the last week. It’s been a war on several fronts, and it took eight days for the man in charge of the richest college football conference to finally speak.

If you haven’t seen the complete open letter Warren unleashed on the world today, you can find it here.

However, suffice to say, the letter won’t squash all of the parents, fans, players, media, and administrators’ efforts. They have been calling for more transparency, a clearer plan and path towards resuming competitive environments, and even — yes — a continued fight to allow student-athletes to choose their own fate.

All of what Warren said was not lost on the folks at Ohio State. Shortly after the open letter, a university spokesman released a statement from athletic director Gene Smith.

We have it in its entirety on the next page. It’s an interesting statement because it doesn’t exactly throw all of OSU’s weight behind Warren’s statement. At the same time, it doesn’t go completely against the Big Ten’s decision.

Oh, the tangled and politically correct web we weave at times.

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Next … Complete statement from Ohio State AD Gene Smith

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Kevin Warren, Big Ten release open letter on sticking with fall sports postponement

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren released an open letter Wednesday and confirmed that decision on fall sports will not be revisited.

Ever since the Big Ten announced the postponement of the fall football season for 2020, there has been some extreme pushback from different corners of the college football world, and it’s come from all angles really.

From coaches, to players, to even parents, there’s been a real push to make conference commissioner Kevin Warren revisit what many viewed as a short-sighted and premature decision to shelve things ahead of students even arriving on campus.

Despite it all, Warren and the Big Ten have been very silent on the criticism and outrage many have shown, almost as though the hope was that it would just go quietly into the night.

Now, finally — even mercifully, the Big Ten has released a statement in the wake of all the controversy, and it’ll probably do little to calm the storm of chaos that has encompassed the conference over the last week or so.

Regardless, we are passing it on like good stewards and will have more on this later, so stay tuned.

Next … The complete Big Ten open letter

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An open letter from Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren on why the fall sports season was cancelled

An open letter to the Big Ten community

With over a week gone by since the Big Ten made the extremely difficult and scrutinized decision to cancel the fall college sports season, Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren penned a letter to the public in order to hopefully clear up reasons behind the cancellation.

As had been previously stated by the conference, nearly all of the reasons listed in the letter are related to the health and safety of the athletes who would be living on a college campus in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Warren, “financial decisions did not influence the COP/C decision, as the postponement will have enormous adverse financial implications.”

Here is the complete letter from Commissioner Warren:

I write on this occasion to share with you additional information regarding the Big Ten Conference’s decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season. We thoroughly understand and deeply value what sports mean to our student-athletes, their families, our coaches and our fans. The vote by the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) was overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports and will not be revisited. The decision was thorough and deliberative, and based on sound feedback, guidance and advice from medical experts. Despite the decision to postpone fall sports, we continue our work to find a path forward that creates a healthy and safe environment for all Big Ten student-athletes to compete in the sports they love in a manner that helps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protects both student-athletes and the surrounding communities.

As you are well aware, we are facing a complicated global pandemic with the SARS-CoV-2 virus discovered in November 2019. The first medically confirmed cases did not appear in the United States until January 2020. Over the course of the past seven months, the U.S. has recorded more than 5.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in more than 170,000 deaths, with more than 22 million confirmed cases and 780,000 lives lost around the world.

We understand the disappointment and questions surrounding the timing of our decision to postpone fall sports, especially in light of releasing a football schedule only six days prior to that decision. From the beginning, we consistently communicated our commitment to cautiously proceed one day at a time with the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes at the center of our decision-making process. That is why we took simultaneous paths in releasing the football schedule, while also diligently monitoring the spread of the virus, testing, and medical concerns as student-athletes were transitioning to full-contact practice.

While several factors contributed to the decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season, at the core of our decision was the knowledge that there was too much medical uncertainty and too many unknown health risks regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection and its impact on our student-athletes.

Listed below are the primary factors that led to the Big Ten COP/C decision:

  • Transmission rates continue to rise at an alarming rate with little indication from medical experts that our campuses, communities or country could gain control of the spread of the virus prior to the start of competition.
    • As our teams were ramping up for more intense practices, many of our medical staffs did not think the interventions we had planned would be adequate to decrease the potential spread even with very regular testing.
    • As the general student body comes back to campus, spread to student-athletes could reintroduce infection into our athletics community.
  • There is simply too much we do not know about the virus, recovery from infection, and longer-term effects. While the data on cardiomyopathy is preliminary and incomplete, the uncertain risk was unacceptable at this time.
  • Concerns surrounding contact tracing still exist, including the inability to social distance in contact sports pursuant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. While risk mitigation processes (e.g., physical distancing, face coverings, proper hygiene, etc.) can be implemented across campus for the student body population, it became clear those processes could not be fully implemented in contact sports.
    • With the start of full-contact practices and competitions, it became increasingly clear that contact tracing and quarantining would risk frequent and significant disruptions to the practice and competition calendar.
    • Accurate and widely available rapid testing may help mitigate those concerns, but access to accurate tests is currently limited.
    • Significant concerns also exist regarding the testing supply chain, generally, for many of our institutions.

Financial considerations did not influence the COP/C decision, as the postponement will have enormous adverse financial implications. We understand the passion of the many student-athletes and their families who were disappointed by the decision, but also know there are many who have a great deal of concern and anxiety regarding the pandemic.

Moving forward, we will continue to build upon the framework that our medical experts have developed over the past five months while we take the opportunity to learn more about the virus and its effects. As we expand upon a plan to allow our student-athletes to compete as soon as it is safe to do so, we will keep our focus on creating protocols and standards set forth and established by our medical advisors that are responsive to the medical concerns evaluated by our COP/C.

To that end, the Big Ten Conference has assembled a Return to Competition Task Force consisting of members from the COP/C, sports medicine and university medical personnel, Athletic Directors, Head Coaches, Faculty Athletic Representatives and Senior Women Administrators to plan for the return of fall sports competition as soon as possible. In evaluating winter/spring models, we will explore many factors including the number of football games that can reasonably be played from a health perspective in a full calendar year while maintaining a premier competitive experience for our student-athletes culminating in a Big Ten Championship. The Big Ten Conference will continue to collect feedback from student-athletes, families, and other constituents and remains in active discussions with its television partners regarding all future plans.

We have tremendous appreciation and understanding regarding what participation in sports means to our student-athletes, their families, our campus communities and our fans. We will continue to make the best decisions possible for the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes. We appreciate the passion of the Big Ten community and will harness that energy towards providing the best possible experience for all Big Ten student-athletes.

Kevin Warren
Commissioner
Big Ten Conference

 

Kevin Warren (finally) responds as to why Big Ten postponed 2020 football season

The commissioner finally responds to the uproar by the players, parents and college football fans.

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The fever pitch wasn’t just smoke as Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren had hoped. It’s been a blazing inferno.

As student-athletes and parents seek to gain an understanding of why the 2020 season was postponed — or like we say, ‘effectively canceled’ — Warren and the Big Ten presidents and chancellors have been close to silent.

After Warren made a disastrous appearance on Sports Business Journal on Thursday, he finally released a statement, at least going into some detail about how the conference came to a decision. Warren notes that the Big Ten will not revert on its decision, despite the numerous calls from players and parents that it do so.

While it might not satiate some, it’s at least something. The full ‘Open Letter to the Big Ten Community’ is posted below.

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Full statement:

I write on this occasion to share with you additional information regarding the Big Ten Conference’s decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season. We thoroughly understand and deeply value what sports mean to our student-athletes, their families, our coaches and our fans. The vote by the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) was overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports and will not be revisited. The decision was thorough and deliberative, and based on sound feedback, guidance and advice from medical experts. Despite the decision to postpone fall sports, we continue our work to find a path forward that creates a healthy and safe environment for all Big Ten student-athletes to compete in the sports they love in a manner that helps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protects both student-athletes and the surrounding communities.

As you are well aware, we are facing a complicated global pandemic with the SARS-CoV-2 virus discovered in November 2019. The first medically confirmed cases did not appear in the United States until January 2020. Over the course of the past seven months, the U.S. has recorded more than 5.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in more than 170,000 deaths, with more than 22 million confirmed cases and 780,000 lives lost around the world.

We understand the disappointment and questions surrounding the timing of our decision to postpone fall sports, especially in light of releasing a football schedule only six days prior to that decision. From the beginning, we consistently communicated our commitment to cautiously proceed one day at a time with the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes at the center of our decision-making process. That is why we took simultaneous paths in releasing the football schedule, while also diligently monitoring the spread of the virus, testing, and medical concerns as student-athletes were transitioning to full-contact practice.

While several factors contributed to the decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season, at the core of our decision was the knowledge that there was too much medical uncertainty and too many unknown health risks regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection and its impact on our student-athletes.

Listed below are the primary factors that led to the Big Ten COP/C decision:

  • Transmission rates continue to rise at an alarming rate with little indication from medical experts that our campuses, communities or country could gain control of the spread of the virus prior to the start of competition.
    • As our teams were ramping up for more intense practices, many of our medical staffs did not think the interventions we had planned would be adequate to decrease the potential spread even with very regular testing.
    • As the general student body comes back to campus, spread to student-athletes could reintroduce infection into our athletics community.
  • There is simply too much we do not know about the virus, recovery from infection, and longer-term effects. While the data on cardiomyopathy is preliminary and incomplete, the uncertain risk was unacceptable at this time.
  • Concerns surrounding contact tracing still exist, including the inability to social distance in contact sports pursuant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. While risk mitigation processes (e.g., physical distancing, face coverings, proper hygiene, etc.) can be implemented across campus for the student body population, it became clear those processes could not be fully implemented in contact sports.
    • With the start of full-contact practices and competitions, it became increasingly clear that contact tracing and quarantining would risk frequent and significant disruptions to the practice and competition calendar.
    • Accurate and widely available rapid testing may help mitigate those concerns, but access to accurate tests is currently limited.
    • Significant concerns also exist regarding the testing supply chain, generally, for many of our institutions.

Financial considerations did not influence the COP/C decision, as the postponement will have enormous adverse financial implications. We understand the passion of the many student-athletes and their families who were disappointed by the decision, but also know there are many who have a great deal of concern and anxiety regarding the pandemic.

Moving forward, we will continue to build upon the framework that our medical experts have developed over the past five months while we take the opportunity to learn more about the virus and its effects. As we expand upon a plan to allow our student-athletes to compete as soon as it is safe to do so, we will keep our focus on creating protocols and standards set forth and established by our medical advisors that are responsive to the medical concerns evaluated by our COP/C.

To that end, the Big Ten Conference has assembled a Return to Competition Task Force consisting of members from the COP/C, sports medicine and university medical personnel, Athletic Directors, Head Coaches, Faculty Athletic Representatives and Senior Women Administrators to plan for the return of fall sports competition as soon as possible. In evaluating winter/spring models, we will explore many factors including the number of football games that can reasonably be played from a health perspective in a full calendar year while maintaining a premier competitive experience for our student-athletes culminating in a Big Ten Championship. The Big Ten Conference will continue to collect feedback from student-athletes, families, and other constituents and remains in active discussions with its television partners regarding all future plans.

We have tremendous appreciation and understanding regarding what participation in sports means to our student-athletes, their families, our campus communities and our fans. We will continue to make the best decisions possible for the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes. We appreciate the passion of the Big Ten community and will harness that energy towards providing the best possible experience for all Big Ten student-athletes.

Kevin Warren
Commissioner
Big Ten Conference

‘Infuriated’ Aidan Hutchinson calls out hypocrisy by Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren

The Wolverines football star didn’t mince words about the Big Ten’s commissioner or University of Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel.

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In the words of Samuel L. Jackson in the acclaimed 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park, ‘Hold onto your butts.’

While former Michigan team captain and All-American Chris Hutchinson — father of current DE Aidan Hutchinson — has been outspoken as an ER doctor about the Big Ten’s decision-making in terms of postponing or effectively canceling the 2020 fall football season, his son is now speaking out.

Appearing on ESPN personality Marty Smith’s podcast, the younger Hutchinson didn’t mince words when it came to the Big Ten and Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel’s involvement in the changes that have happened to college football this season — or the result in a lack thereof, rather.

“I would say my emotions are just frustration. I’m just infuriated,” Hutchinson said on the show. “They made this decision without talking to us. The commissioner, our president — there were no words exchanged asking our thoughts on whether we wanna play. Because, at the end of the day, we’re the ones playing the game and they didn’t ask us for our opinion and it’s super frustrating to find out one day that our president voted for us not to have a season when I’ve never seen that guy in my three years here at Michigan. So, you know, it was definitely frustrating and felt kinda helpless because there’s nothing I can do and us players don’t have a voice.”

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But that’s not all.

Powers Warren is a tight end at Mississippi State. That’s important for a handful of reasons: Mississippi State is in a conference — the SEC — which fully intends to play the season in a conference-only slate; and Powers is the son of Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.

None of that is lost on Hutchinson.

“I think it’s unfair that Kevin Warren, the B1G commissioner, is canceling the B1G season yet his son will be playing football at Mississippi State this year. That doesn’t quite make sense.”

Aidan’s father, Chris, appeared on Jon Jansen’s Conqu’ring Heroes podcast on Tuesday and further explained why he feels concerned about the Big Ten’s lack of communication to go along with its lack of transparency.

“Zero. I’m outside right now and I can hear the crickets in my backyard and it’s the same thing from them,” “I have a friend who has a player at Iowa and they’re hearing the same thing – nothing. Complete silence. That’s not the way to tackle this sort of thing. I don’t know why they’re not getting out in front of this. It’s as if they think they can just shut the doors and let the winds blow by and then they’re gonna open up the doors and we’re gonna say, ‘Oh, great! One big happy family again!’ I don’t know what sort of leadership academy teaches that, but I don’t think it’s the right way. You need to get out in front of this, you need to be transparent, you need to be forward. We can accept the fact that you didn’t like whatever you interpreted was too much of a risk for our kids. But you didn’t share that with us, you didn’t get our input, and now you made a decision on our behalf and a lot of people don’t like it.”

Meanwhile, the Big Ten’s Warren did make a media appearance — on Sports Business Journal — where he reportedly only got one question on the conference’s decision, and did little to help the fervor or firestorm currently surrounding him and his cohort.

Stay tuned. The inferno is only now starting to heat up.

Are Ohio State administrators still working on a fall football season? One report says yes.

According to a report by longtime college football writer Jeff Snook, Ohio State AD Gene Smith and others are still working on fall season.

Each morning I wake up and wonder where the saga of a lost season for Ohio State and Big Ten football stands. And each day, without fail, there seems to be a new development. First, there was Ryan Day and Scott Frost both vowing to fight still for their teams. That was followed by some letters  to Kevin Warren and the Big Ten penned by football parents at Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State, Nebraska, and Michigan.

That was followed up by an online petition to overturn the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the fall football season organized by Justin Fields. The former Heisman finalist and Big Ten Player of the Year also appeared on ESPN radio to help push the efforts. And … not to lose site of it, OSU DB Shaun Wade’s father, Randy, is organizing a peaceful protest outside of the Big Ten offices in Chicago for Friday morning (time to take a PTO day Warren).

But it’s not done. Now we have a very reputable source reporting that Ohio State is still working behind the scenes to get five other teams to join it in a Big Ten only fall season. Jeff Snook, an Ohio State graduate and an author of several college football books, has been using his sources behind the scenes to confirm that, despite what’s been stated publicly, that there is indeed some wheeling and dealing still going on outside of the public’s eye.

He detailed it all as a Facebook post on his personal profile Tuesday night.

The gist of it is that Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, and Iowa are all on board to play a schedule amongst themselves, but that they need two more teams to join in to get half of the league on board. There are efforts to get Wisconsin and Michigan on board who apparently have differing opinions between the presidents and football administrators.

The season would kick off somewhere around September 26, and would not culminate with a Big Ten Championship Game.

Obviously, if this is all true, time is of the essence here since preparations also have to be put in place to get a so-called spring season off the ground, so if things don’t materialize in the next couple of weeks, this could go quietly into the night.

Either way, there appear to be some legs still to getting teams in the Big Ten to play a competitive schedule in the fall. So, is there still hope? I think it’s still a tall order, but it’s just one more log on the fire of this rolling inferno of push back and support to have the Big Ten reverse course on its decision to shelve the fall season.

You can read the complete transcript of Snook on the next page.

Next … Full text of Jeff Snook Facebook report

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