College Football

'Everybody will want that one': What's next for Big Ten after Kevin Warren's departure?

Updated Jan. 15, 2023 5:08 p.m. ET

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Bryan Fischer

College Football Writer

SAN ANTONIO — Just three days after the national championship game, there was supposed to be a carefully curated passing of the torch in college athletics.

Shortly after outgoing NCAA president Mark Emmert took a bow at his final keynote address during the organization’s annual convention, incoming leader Charlie Baker formally introduced himself to throngs of administrators who journeyed to central Texas to discuss the future of college sports.

Leaving the address — and in the hours beforehand — however, it was neither Baker nor Emmert who athletic directors, commissioners and numerous school delegates were discussing as their focus turned quickly to more pressing matters. In fact, attention centered on a far more powerful figure in the growing enterprise at the heart of the convention and a handoff that took place Thursday that was far more seismic.

"Oh, hey, next Big Ten Commissioner!" some joked one to another, a refrain that was repeated several times in the hallways of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

"So, how do you like Chicago?" a handful of others posed to peers amid a chorus of chuckles.

While the comments circulated around the NCAA Convention were mostly made in jest, they cut to the big news of the day that the Chicago Bears had named Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren the franchise’s new president and CEO. 

[Bears hire Kevin Warren as president, CEO]

Even as reports and several sly hints had been dropped in the days leading up to the new year, numerous college athletics officials who spoke to FOX Sports this week raised an eyebrow upon hearing the official news, though no one seemed totally astonished — outside of the swiftness of it happening less than two weeks into 2023.

"I’m not surprised," one FBS commissioner said. "That was always his world."

But Warren, who is well-known in NFL circles across stints with the then-St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions and, most notably, the Minnesota Vikings, leaves the Big Ten in good shape. 

After entering the Big Ten as an outsider in 2020, he was forced to immediately navigate the pandemic and ensuing shutdown of sports. But over his tenure, he helped engineer the additions of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten ranks last summer — among the most stunning moves made since the conference was founded. It not only gave the league a western beachhead but extended the footprint from coast to coast and secured the top three media markets (New York, Los Angeles and Chicago) under the Big Ten banner.

Later, Warren completed the task he was chiefly hired to do by negotiating the richest media rights deal in the history of college athletics. Already one of the most financially secure conferences, the 16 members will soon split over $1.2 billion per year and appear on an extraordinary number of broadcast windows in a vein similar to his previous (and now future) home at the NFL.

Then there is the forthcoming College Football Playoff expansion, which the Big Ten commissioner has been integral in shaping as things will shift from four teams to 12 starting with the 2024 season. On Monday in Los Angeles, according to sources in the room, Warren appeared to still be heavily invested in the unfolding process before formally taking the Bears job, chairing meetings and leading lively discussions with presidents, chancellors, fellow commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick over details surrounding the postseason structure.

Warren also leaves behind a legacy as the first, and so far only, Black commissioner of a Power 5 conference. He also personally led several Big Ten players, coaches and administrators on a trip to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama to learn more about the civil rights movement, and has made diversity, equity and inclusion central to a number of league initiatives.

So, yes, the Big Ten is in a good place, having emerged from the turbulent pandemic with a future that looks secure, lucrative and compelling for just about every university beyond a select few that chant S-E-C at the end of games.

What has been unleashed now, though, is a torrent of speculation about who will get one of the most coveted (and powerful) jobs in sports. Much of the chatter outside committee meeting rooms and the plentiful restaurants along the Riverwalk outside the NCAA convention has been less on what Warren accomplished or his loss for the league, but rather about who fills the chair next.

"Everybody will want that one," said a Power 5 athletic director with experience in the Big Ten. "Everybody." 

It is too early to sort out if that will truly be the case, but the sentiment isn’t too far off. 

Speculation has immediately centered on ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, a Chicago native who spent years at nearby Northwestern and finished runner-up to Warren in the initial search to replace Delany. He remains highly regarded throughout the Big Ten footprint and recently finished off a stint helping shape the future of collegiate sports on the Division I Transformation Committee.

When contacted, Phillips smiled and declined comment addressing such conjecture.

Others such as Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, Arizona State vice president Chris Howard, Patriot League commissioner Jennifer Heppel and numerous additional names with Big Ten ties figure to end up connected with the highly sought-after opening over the next month or two.

That said, it’s not a complete walk in the park given the challenging times pretty much everybody under the big tent of the NCAA seems to be facing.

Name, image and likeness remains a subject of concern; the association is battling several major lawsuits and a holistic review of the entire enterprise remains ongoing. Throw on top of it the continued details that still need to be ironed out on CFP expansion, a forthcoming new football calendar and recruiting model, plus future changes to the transfer portal and increased costs surrounding student-athlete welfare, and it's a lot. 

On the bright side, the next Big Ten commissioner will have plenty of time before needing to worry about a new media deal and, probably, conference expansion. Instead, listening and getting to know the new constituency will be a priority, and plenty of time will be afforded to them to get that done. Plus, the gap between what the Iowas and Michigans of the league take in from conference distributions will continue to widen and provide a growing cushion of cash compared to those in other conferences or their own region.

It is also encouraging for the Big Ten and a further testament to what occurred in Warren’s brief tenure that, amid so much change going on in college athletics, it was the quick exit stage left by a once-unknown outsider that has all the insiders talking this week. 

Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.

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Bryan Fischer