Rumors and news of a B1G football season

[gossamorharpy]

If it didn't hold any weight the Chancellors & Presidents would be out there telling us how Warren has lied or misrepresented what happened. 

They haven't done that. And that tells us he' doing exactly what they want him to do. 

In fact, Nebraska's own president went on record saying exactly what I've been saying happened the whole time. There was a vote, it didn't go our way, and we disagree with the conclusions. But it wasn't Warren acting unilaterally, and it isn't some bizarro political plot. It's a bunch of chancellors & presidents making what they think is the best decision at the time.  

You mean going on record after Warren dropped a passive aggressive line that Nebraska could leave the big10 if it pursued games elsewhere? You mean going on record after the same leadership literally made a public push with Moos to explore other options?

and you mean these same chancellors and presidents who have come out with 5 different interpretations of what the “vote” actually was?

Seems like a real bang up job and world class example of sound leadership putting a process in place that all follows!! But hey, I guess that’s what we get when a commissioner is relegated to nothing more than a messenger!

 

[knapplc]

the clear lack of a process and buy in from the conference of this is appalling.

There is buy-in. Just not from the middle-management (the Athletic Directors). Those guys have their opinions and they may want to play, but they don't make the call - the president/chancellor does. 

The commissioner is not beholden to the AD's, he's beholden to the heads of the universities. The ADs are welcome to their input and opinion, but they don't necessarily get to be in the room when the adults are making their decision.

Much as we like to think of these entities as sports programs, it's important to remember - and this situation is a great reminder - that these are primarily academic institutions of which the athletic programs are an offshoot.

 

[Wistrom Disciple]

Lol, what silence are you talking about? 1/2 the league was pissed immediately. 1/3 of the school presidents publicly said they didn’t even know there was a vote. Another 1/3 said, “we’ll there was a discussion on pausing but I wouldn’t call it a vote”.

of course warren didn’t make this decision in a vacuum  solo but the clear lack of a process and buy in from the conference of this is appalling. If you’re saying Warren had literally zero responsibility to pool all of the presidents/school leaders together to have an honest discussion and decide this, as a group, then tell me where I can apply to be the next big10 commish cause some of you are convinced it’s nothing more than a puppet position with zero influence yet gets paid millions

where Did that dumb sock poppet that brought us mike Riley ever go to? Let’s get him as commish as some of you seem to convinced that role is nothing more than a fluff job with zero power and clearly zero repercussions from doing a piss poor job 

That's because the school presidents who were asked voted No and were trying to save themselves from public ridicule. When I read some of the news reports mentioning how some school presidents didn't realize how important football and athletics were to their universities, it was mind-boggling that they run Big Ten institutions. Hate to inform them that alumni are not coming back to campus in the fall only to see Homecoming floats or tour their old classrooms. 

Thankfully, our administration has been transparent from the jump and held firm in their beliefs. Obviously it didn't bring football back but that ship has sailed it appears. 

 

[bugeater17]

It really, really, really does matter. Warren is the messenger, not the decision-maker.

It's like people have never heard the adage, "Don't shoot the messenger."

It's no wonder corporate America is able to advertise so effectively. People just don't get this stuff.

First, Warren is more than the messenger. It's been widely reported he directed the messaging between the Board of Presidents/Chancellors, influenced the vote by the type of evidence/reports that were submitted and considered, leaning on and swaying presidents, and also called the vote to happen when it did.

Second, the outcry against Warren has been his complete mishandling of 'the message.' I really don't think he could have handled this in a worse way. He is in over his head and doesn't have a pulse on all of his constituents and universities (see recent comments about not expecting the outcry that occurred). Similarly, he has attempted to control the messaging, refused to release the data relied upon, and muzzled experts/doctors that were relied upon (the lead expert from UNMC told reporters he wasn't allowed to comment). To call Warren's handling of this situation anything other than an unmitigated disaster is simply irrefutable - no matter which side of the play versus not play side you are on. 

 

[WyoHusker56]

Well, we can apply Occam's Razor to this and guess if the individual chancellors & presidents talked to their AD's, and then used those conversations to inform their vote. We can also infer those C's & P's talked to lawyers about liability, checked with any other advisors they felt were appropriate, and then made the call. 

I'm sure they discussed it with Warren, but as we know, he's been on this job less than a year, so his word isn't going to hold much weight with the leader of a multi-billion dollar institution. 

If any chancellor or president allowed Kevin Warren to talk them out of the decision they made based on all those conversations, they should be fired. 

We can also apply Occam's Razor to the idea that Warren wouldn't want to cancel football in his first season as Commissioner. That would be a great accusation requiring great proof. Rather, I think he'd have done just about anything he could to pull this off. 

Ok perfect, we'll ignore the reports from news sources and instead use Occam's Razor to make our own assumptions and use those. Never mind it was reported he wanted a spring season because Occam's Razor says he would have wanted a fall season and he would have done more than the other conferences who are playing. Carry on.

 

[knapplc]

It's been widely reported he directed the messaging between the Board of Presidents/Chancellors, influenced the vote by the type of evidence/reports that were submitted and considered, leaning on and swaying presidents, and also called the vote to happen when it did.

Ok perfect, we'll ignore the reports from news sources and instead use Occam's Razor to make our own assumptions and use those. Never mind it was reported he wanted a spring season because Occam's Razor says he would have wanted a fall season and he would have done more than the other conferences who are playing. Carry on.

All right. You've convinced me. Warren orchestrated his plan to cancel the first football season he'd have presided over as the new commissioner of one of the top conferences in the nation. He selectively chose what information to share and he guided conversations to a place where today's reality would be the outcome. 

All less than a year after taking this job.

Just one question - why would he do that?

 

[gossamorharpy]

All right. You've convinced me. Warren orchestrated his plan to cancel the first football season he'd have presided over as the new commissioner of one of the top conferences in the nation. He selectively chose what information to share and he guided conversations to a place where today's reality would be the outcome. 

All less than a year after taking this job.

Just one question - why would he do that?

Because you said it yourself, he's nothing more than a messenger with clearly no repercussions from doing a crappy job.. what does he have to fear in your world making millions simply to deliver a message for others?

 

[Wistrom Disciple]

There is buy-in. Just not from the middle-management (the Athletic Directors). Those guys have their opinions and they may want to play, but they don't make the call - the president/chancellor does. 

The commissioner is not beholden to the AD's, he's beholden to the heads of the universities. The ADs are welcome to their input and opinion, but they don't necessarily get to be in the room when the adults are making their decision.

Much as we like to think of these entities as sports programs, it's important to remember - and this situation is a great reminder - that these are primarily academic institutions of which the athletic programs are an offshoot.

Is there a reason why the Athletic Directors are not the council for which the conference is working with and deciding athletic matters? Wouldn't it be more prudent if the athletics-based Big Ten Conference worked with ADs instead of having school presidents meddle in these types of things? 

The school presidents could decide for their own particular school if they want to participate in athletics in any given sport/year. Having them make decisions for which some of the school presidents are clearly out of touch with their own programs seems a bit out of touch to me.

 

[knapplc]

Because you said it youself, he's nothing more than a messenger with clearly no repercussions from doing a crappy job.. what does he have to fear in your world making millions simply to deliver a message for others?

Think about what you're saying. His career is on the line with this call. He botches this he won't get a job as a commissioner of the HuskerBoard fantasy football league after this. Kiss the NFL goodbye. He personally stands to lose millions in future income.

Why would he do that?

 

[gossamorharpy]

Think about what you're saying. His career is on the line with this call. He botches this he won't get a job as a commissioner of the HuskerBoard fantasy football league after this. Kiss the NFL goodbye. He personally stands to lose millions in future income.

Why would he do that?

I dunno, why would he do a dumb press hype schedule release and lead an effort to establish guidelines on how to run a season with covid... only to halt everything and not even attempt said plan?

If he was truly a messenger of the universities then he probably shoulda put a halt on all of the marketing type events that did nothing but get the hopes up of fans who are sorely in need of something positive and normal in this strange year of 2020.  

I'm not saying this decision was 100% on warren... but if he truly had no power at all in working with university leaders then at the very least he  certainly should have had the power to stop the Big10 from the above PR misses i mentioned above.  

And honestly, he can already kiss the the NFL commish job and his dream of running huskerboard down the drain.  No one is touching this guy to be the face a bigger league when he looks like the most inept out of the current power 5 commishs.

 

[knapplc]

Is there a reason why the Athletic Directors are not the council for which the conference is working with and deciding athletic matters? Wouldn't it be more prudent if the athletics-based Big Ten Conference worked with ADs instead of having school presidents meddle in these types of things? 

The school presidents could decide for their own particular school if they want to participate in athletics in any given sport/year. Having them make decisions for which some of the school presidents are clearly out of touch with their own programs seems a bit out of touch to me.

Just because the Big Ten is an affiliation of athletics teams, that shouldn't stop them from realizing it's primarily an academic institution.  People tend to forget that in these discussions.

Athletic Directors are middle-management. They don't get to tell their superiors what to do. The chancellors & presidents made their decisions with not only their athletic teams in mind, but the student body as a whole, and their communities as well. They've made that pretty clear in their letters and legal responses.  

Athletics may be the most important thing to us, but it's only one piece of the puzzle they used to put together the picture here. And Warren, for all his siloing, could only inform them on the athletic side of the conversation. They considered many other things besides his input. 

 

[bugeater17]

All right. You've convinced me. Warren orchestrated his plan to cancel the first football season he'd have presided over as the new commissioner of one of the top conferences in the nation. He selectively chose what information to share and he guided conversations to a place where today's reality would be the outcome. 

All less than a year after taking this job.

Just one question - why would he do that?

A couple possible explanations. First, a couple Presidents/Chancellors really don't want to play - which have his ear. Second, liability concerns and his attorneys which advise him have recommended against playing. Third, he thought he would be the leading force behind all conference cancelling - thereby establishing himself and stepping out of Delaney's shadow (boy did this backfire). Fourth, the medical evidence he was relying on gave him pause (which after peer review has shown to have some flaws). Fifth, political pressure (as evidenced by Yahoo's June article on attempting to sway the election by the voter registration initiative).

I really think (based on comments which have come out) that he thought the ACC would follow suit and he'd look smart for paving the way on this crucial decision and would look like a visionary in doing so.

 

[knapplc]

I dunno, why would he do a dumb press hype schedule release and lead an effort to establish guidelines on how to run a season with covid... only to halt everything and not even attempt said plan?

If he was truly a messenger of the universities then he probably shoulda put a halt on all of the marketing type events that did nothing but get the hopes up of fans who are sorely in need of something positive and normal in this strange year of 2020.  

I'm not saying this decision was 100% on warren... but if he truly had no power at all in working with university leaders then at the very least he  certainly should have had the power to stop the Big10 from the above PR misses i mentioned above.  

And honestly, he can already kiss the the NFL commish job and his dream just of running the huskerboard away.  No one is touching this guy to be the face a bigger league when he looks like the most inept out of the current power 5 commishs.

Because he hadn't yet been told by the presidents & chancellors that they wouldn't condone a season. They pretty much screwed him there.

 

[WyoHusker56]

All right. You've convinced me. Warren orchestrated his plan to cancel the first football season he'd have presided over as the new commissioner of one of the top conferences in the nation. He selectively chose what information to share and he guided conversations to a place where today's reality would be the outcome. 

All less than a year after taking this job.

Just one question - why would he do that?

You've really twisted what I said at this point. My point was that as commissioner of the league he is more than just a spokesperson and his opinion carries more weight. He felt that football was better in the spring and whether he actively advocated for that or not his opinion carried weight. Board of Directors don't hire CEO's to just be the company spokesperson. CEO's make decisions, but do have to listen to the boards vote and the president's are no different than a board of directors. As you said earlier these President's are running multi million and multi billion dollar institutions, so sports is not their focus by any means. They hired Warren to lead their conference because they felt he was a person who could make decisions and lead the conference. They didn't hire him to be a spokesperson who is just a puppet to the president's. If you are paying someone millions a year you're probably going to listen to what he thinks and base part of your decision on that.

Warren doesn't deserve zero blame as you seem to think, but he also doesn't deserve the amount of blame he's taken so far.

 

[knapplc]

A couple possible explanations. First, a couple Presidents/Chancellors really don't want to play - which have his ear. Second, liability concerns and his attorneys which advise him have recommended against playing. Third, he thought he would be the leading force behind all conference cancelling - thereby establishing himself and stepping out of Delaney's shadow (boy did this backfire). Fourth, the medical evidence he was relying on gave him pause (which after peer review has shown to have some flaws). Fifth, political pressure (as evidenced by Yahoo's June article on attempting to sway the election by the voter registration initiative).

I really think (based on comments which have come out) that he thought the ACC would follow suit and he'd look smart for paving the way on this crucial decision and would look like a visionary in doing so.

OR, he was doing his job getting the season ready, hoping for the best based on the idea that we'd have ramped the virus way down by kickoff, only to have the chancellors & presidents pull the rug out from under him after he'd made the big schedule announcement.

The guy who's planning on pulling the plug on the Big Ten season doesn't release the Big Ten schedule the week before. That's career suicide. 

He didn't make this decision. It was made for him, and he was told to go present it.