Tag: Kevin Warren

Official Big Ten statement on postponement of 2020 fall football season

The Big Ten has officially announced the decision to shelve college football for fall 2020 and to try and move it to the spring of 2021.

In case you haven’t heard, after several reports and back and forth debating apparently, the Big Ten has officially made the decision to shelve the 2020 fall college football season for Ohio State and its 13 other member programs.

And while that’s not the news most of wanted to hear, there is a pandemic still gripping the country, and the abundance of caution can’t be overstated in these sorts of things.

The news was swift after a president’s meeting Tuesday morning. Shortly after, early this afternoon, the Big Ten release its official notice that we have for you here. We’ll have more on this throughout the next couple of days, but for now, it’s important to also understand that the conference is going to try its best to move the season to the spring.

We shall see.

Next … The complete Big Ten statement on the fall season

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Report: Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren prefers spring football season

According to a report from the Detroit Free Press, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren is pushing to move the football season to the spring.

If you’re just getting around to the news cycle for today in college sports, you’ve missed a lot. The MAC shelved its football season for 2020, the Big Ten released a statement putting a pause on progression to pads for fall camp, and there’s a meeting of Big Ten presidents where we expect some news on fall sports to come forth.

To be fair, the meeting of B1G presidents was a regularly scheduled one, but with all the developments today, one can say with pretty good certainty that discussions will center around the plausibility of having a college football season this fall.

In fact, according to a report from the Detroit Free Press, if Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has anything to do with it, the college football season would be moved to the spring. That’s at least according to a couple of sources not close to the situation, but not authorized to speak on the development.

While moving college football to the spring would likely give the COVID-19 pandemic a chance to mitigate because of the likelihood of a vaccine or herd immunity, it raises all kinds of operational and timing concerns that have been discussed and exhausted ad nauseum.

You will undoubtedly have several high profile player opt-out, the time between seasons would cause safety concerns, and the 2021 NFL Draft could also staddle the season.

This, like most news today, is a developing one, so as more becomes available, we’ll be on top of it.

WATCH: Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren discusses football schedule release

The conference’s commissioner discusses schedule changes, testing, fall camp and more.

The Big Ten has released a modified ten-gam conference-only schedule in the hopes to play football during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren sat down with Big Ten Network on Wednesday to discuss the release and challenges associated with playing football during a global pandemic.

Notable in the schedule release is that the conference has kept the start of the season as the week of September 3. Some conference have moved back the start date of their seasons. Warren says keeping the start date the same is to, “give (the conference) maximum flexibility.”

All Big Ten teams have two bye weeks and an open date at the end of the season to allow for rescheduling.

Warren also confirmed camps are set to begin on Friday.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1362]

Big Ten reportedly set to make decision on fall camp for college football within next five days

According to a letter obtained by Eleven Warriors, the Big Ten plans to make a decision on fall football camp within the next five days.

As we continue to keep our eyes and ears on where college football is headed this fall, news has come out from the Big Ten that it plans to make a decision on fall sports, and fall college football camp specifically in the “next five days.”

This, according to a letter sent to conference athletic directors on Thursday by Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and Chris Kratochvil, the chair of the conference’s task force for emerging infectious diseases, that was reported by Eleven Warriors.

From the letter per Eleven Warriors:

“We will not, and cannot, proceed with preseason camp until we are certain that we can do so safely and that will depend, in part, on testing,” the letter states. “Once we have everything in place to execute our testing protocols effectively, including the appropriate number of tests secured for all fall sports, we can make a decision as to whether preseason camp will begin as currently scheduled.”

“If we determine as a Conference that it is not prudent to compete in the fall of 2020, we will not do so, much like our decision in March 2020 to cancel the Men’s Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis,” the letter states. “Our final decision will be rooted in guidance from medical experts and in consultation with institutional leadership, student-athletes, coaches and appropriate federal, state, and local authorities.”

[lawrence-related id=34167]

[lawrence-related id=34089]

There have also been rumors and sources cited alluding to a conference-only schedule release within the next couple of days, but that doesn’t necessarily appear to be a locked in decision based on language within the letter.

“Administrators, coaches, and Conference staff have been working daily to create schedules that provide the appropriate levels of flexibility to respond in real-time to necessary changes,” states the letter. “While we remain hopeful for a start in September 2020, flexibility has been created within our scheduling models to accommodate necessary adjustments. Consistent with our collective need to be adaptable to changes in circumstances and evolving medical knowledge, even issuing a schedule does not guarantee that competition will occur.”

Stay with us as more becomes known on this, most specifically within the next five days. It should be interesting.

 

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

We have a forum and message board now. Get in on the conversation about Ohio State athletics by joining the Buckeyes Wire Forum.

Chances of college football in the fall are dwindling

With recent announcements by the Ivy League, PAC 12 and Big Ten Conferences, it feels like the idea of football in the fall is a long shot.

It has been a total of 121 days since the sports world came to a stand still. A total of four months since any athletic competitions have taken place on the Forty Acres or ones that have involved the University of Texas. The Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments were cancelled. As were the NCAA tournaments to crown new national champions. The Longhorns promising start in baseball was halted. The historic start by the Texas Longhorns women’s softball team interrupted.

The hope was that after those four months that we might see the Texas Longhorns football team take the field at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 5th. The chances of that opening kickoff against the South Florida Bulls seems like the longest of longshots with each passing day. While other countries are seeing a return to their sports leagues, football doesn’t feel like much of a possibility.

Each day there has been news about conference leadership having meetings about how sports can return with the health and safety of the athletes and staff in mind. However, when the Big Ten cancelled all non-conference games more doubt started to creep in. Not to mention that came off the heels of the Ivy League cancelling all fall sports. Then the PAC 12 and ACC were both rumored to follow the lead of the Big Ten.

“One thing we have to realize that this is not a fait accompli that we’re gonna have sports in the fall,” Warren said. “We may not have sports in the fall. We may not have a college football season in the Big Ten.” – USA TODAY Sports via the Detroit Free Press

Hope. It is something that we have all held on to for the last several months. Trying to go about a semblance of a normal life believing that we could very well have football. Was it having faith that sports would return or was it being naive? If the commissioner of a major conference doesn’t believe that we will have sports, why should we? It didn’t stop with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren either.

The SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has yet to make a decision on cancelling non-conference games. However, his recent statement echoed the sentiment of Warren. Sankey stated his concern for football this fall as “high to very high” according to Andrea Adelson of ESPN.

“We are running out of time to correct and get things right.”

The PAC 12 followed the decision to cancel the non-conference games and it was recently reported commissioner Larry Scott tested positive for COVID-19. It almost feels impossible that we do see football and while others have come to grips with that idea, some of us held onto hope.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has been bullish on the idea of playing football this fall and it starting on time. That was his stance back in late May. A little over a month later, is he still feeling that way? In response to the two conferences that have announced the changes to their schedules, if feels as if Bowlsby is in no hurry to make a decision.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports recently published an article discussing where Bowlsby currently sits.

“We need to do what our doctors and our scientists are telling us, which is move slowly ahead and constantly reevaluate,” Bowlsby told CBS Sports on Thursday. “The virus is going to decide whether we’re ready and able to play.”

He goes on to say that the Big 12 commissioner wasn’t happy with the quick decision from Warren. In a time where all the power five schools should be in unison, they are very much operating on their own.

“[Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren] never gave any indication that this is what they were going to do,” Bowlsby said. “In fact, he told us this morning at some length that he was not going to surprise anybody and that he would get to us in advance.”

Bob Bowlsby and the Big 12 are aiming for a concrete decision in late July. That deadline would put them just over five weeks away from the start of the college football season.

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, “We may not have a college football season.”

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren warned fans and others that it’s not certain we will see a college football season because of COVID-19.

The news and soundbites coming out from decision-makers on whether or not we have a college football season in the fall are getting less and less optimistic. We’ve heard from Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith on his less-than-optimistic outlook on where things are headed. We’ve also seen the Ivy League make the tough decision to cancel its fall sports.

And now we can add Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren to that list. He met with the Big Ten Network on Thursday on the heels of an announcement that the Big Ten will play conference only games this fall. That includes Ohio State football, and basically washes out the game scheduled in Eugene, Oregon against the University of Oregon on September 12.

But that might not be all. According to what Warren said to BTN’s Mike Hall during an interview segment on Thursday, it’s a real possibility that there may not be sports at all in the fall, and that the college football season could be shelved.

“This is not a fait accompli that we’re going to have sports in the fall,” said Warren. “We may not have sports in the fall. We may not have a college football season.”

There was much more that was said, but the fact that many are now believing that college football is in real danger for the fall because of the spike in COVID-19 cases is pretty big news — especially when you hear it directly from the mouth of the man running the Big Ten Conference.

Remember, Warren and the Big Ten were one of the leaders in making a decision to cancel the Big Ten Basketball Tournament in March when things began to initially turn south with the coronavirus pandemic. Many followed suit after that. Any decisions Warren and the conference makes in the near future could have a similar ripple effect.

You can listen to the entire interview below thanks to what was shared via BTN’s Twitter profile.

In case you wondered, these are truly remarkable and historic times we are living in, and we won’t forget the year 2020 for many years to come. We’ll stay on top of any further developments as it relates to a new schedule release — or heaven forbid — any further cancellation of sports and activities.

[lawrence-related id=33030]

[lawrence-related id=33024]

[lawrence-related id=32981]

 

Big Ten Conference announces creation of Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition

The Big Ten has announced the creation of a new coalition to empower student-athletes to combat hate and racism.

In the wake of George Floyd’s death, most Americans are asking themselves what they can do to prevent future tragedies. For Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, that call led him to create the Big Ten Conference Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition.

Warren announced the coalition in a powerful statement he released on Monday along with a $100,000 donation to the National Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

The coalition will invite student-athletes, coaches, athletic directors, chancellors, presidents, and others to join him as they work to empower student-athletes to create meaningful change.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Big Ten to create Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren wrote an open letter today announcing the creation of an Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition.

We’ve seen a slew of celebrities, sports personalities, players, coaches, and almost all of humanity denounce the senseless and tragic death of George Floyd. Words are great, but putting real, tangible things in action is even better.

Enter Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren. He released an open letter today that expressed some concerns about where this country is today. Warren himself has a deep history in the Minneapolis area where the tragedy occurred. He is also a part of the African American community and his words have power.

To that end, Warren announced the formation of a Big Ten Anti-Hate and Anit-Racist Coalition in his letter. The coalition is meant to invite all Big Ten stakeholders to join him in bringing about change.

The full context of Warren’s letter is on the next page. Of note is Warren and his wife’s generous initial gift of $100,000 to the coalition:

Next … Complete text of Kevin Warren’s open letter

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Notre Dame and Big Ten join forces to battle Mental Health

The Big Ten along with Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins has formed a Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet to assist student-athletes.

It has been quite a ride for Kevin Warren, the new commissioner of the Big Ten, since taking over full time for the retired Jim Delaney at the beginning of the year. Warren could not have expected to be battling a global pandemic, but that has not stopped the conference from moving forward and putting the student-athletes at the forefront of their minds.

Yesterday, the Big Ten along with Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins, announced a partnership in the battle against the mental health and wellness of their athletic student body. There will be 2 representatives from each school that will form a Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet to assist the student-athletes with anything they may need.

In addition to the added focus on their mental well-being, student-athletes, coaches, full time members of athletic departments and conference staff members will be given free access to the Calm app.

It has been a recent development for athletes to come out and speak about their mental health issues. These issues could affect anyone and by joining forces with the Big Ten and Johns Hopkins it is a move in the right direction. Having extra support for student-athletes is a huge step forward, just because they are in the limelight doesn’t mean they don’t go through tough times.

It seems very fitting for all parties to announce these plans now, as May is Mental Health Month.  This gesture by the 16 schools involved is a step forward in battling mental health issues on college campuses.

Big Ten Conference announces mental health initiatives

The Big Ten announced the formation of a mental health conference and other initiatives surrounding the mental health of its members.

This is a long time coming, and we give a tip of the cap to the Big Ten on this. In case you didn’t know, the month of May is mental health month.

On that note, Monday, the conference announced the formation of a mental health cabinet to assist its members and their student-athletes. It compromises all fourteen Big Ten institutions as well as sport affiliate members John Hopkins and Notre Dame.

As part of the initiative, all Big Ten student-athletes, coaches, full-time members of university athletic departments and conference staff members will receive free, unlimited access to Calm, the No. 1 mental fitness app for helping individuals experience lower stress, less anxiety, improved focus and more restful sleep — something we could all use these days.

“When I was hired as the Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, a core pillar of my vision was to make sure that we educate, embrace, engage and empower our more than 9,500 student-athletes. This is a complex and stressful time in our society and the mental health and wellness of our Big Ten family is a critical component of our focus,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren in the release. “The Cabinet will be instrumental for us both short and long term, as we pursue our goal of creating and maintaining the most comprehensive mental health and wellness platform in college athletics.”

“Our hope is that the Calm mental fitness app will provide an immediate resource for all Big Ten student-athletes, coaches, athletic department staff members and conference staff during these unprecedented times and is only the first of many steps that we will take in the area of mental health and wellness. We are fortunate to have so many professionals on our campuses who have dedicated their lives to tackling mental health issues. We were driven to supplement their inspiring work with additional resources, important under normal circumstances, but even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Count head football coach Ryan Day as a big proponent of these moves by the conference. He started his own foundation to assist juveniles with mental health, and it’s been something that he has championed since his arrival.

“I think the work the Big Ten Conference is doing with regard to mental health initiatives is incredibly important,” Day said. “Forming a Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet is a reflection of the conference’s leadership, engagement and support for mental health initiatives. These efforts will help bring much-needed attention and awareness to the subject of mental health.”

Here is the complete membership and school affiliations for the cabinet:

The membership of the Big Ten Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet can be found below by visiting the Big Ten’s website.