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Shatel: Under Delany, Big Ten football takes a backseat - Omaha.com: Big Red Today - Huskers
Shatel: Under Delany, Big Ten football takes a backseat
By Tom Shatel / World-Herald columnist
Four years ago, Jim Delany walked through that door. And everything changed.
Ah, memories. The Big 12 meetings in Kansas City. The story floated out of Texas, about the six schools bolting for the Pac-12. Panic. Urgency. A regents meeting. Then a press conference at the NU student center.
Then the man walked through the door, offering refuge, offering a future. Stability.
Interesting word, stability.
Nebraska was leaving the chaos of the Big 12 as much as it was joining the safe haven of the Big Ten. But what exactly was it joining?
An expansion to Maryland and Rutgers. A league office in New York City. A basketball tourney in Washington, D.C. Football schedules with more Purdue and Illinois and less Michigan and Ohio State.
This isn’t the Big Ten that Harvey Perlman signed me up for.
The NU chancellor couldn’t have known what was coming (and certainly it wouldn’t have mattered — there’s a bigger picture here). The vision belongs to one man. The Big Ten’s boss.
You’ll have to pardon us. Here in Nebraska, we’re not used to proactive commissioners. Not since the days of Wayne Duke and Chuck Neinas in the 1970s Big Eight, anyway. Nebraskans are used to being at the front of the line of change, blazing the trail.
Clearly, in this Big Ten, Nebraska is along for the ride.
Where are we going, boss?
Delany is a brilliant man. A visionary. I don’t know if he plays chess, but the majority of his moves seem to set up another down the line.
Two decades ago, Delany added Penn State. Some wondered why. It was an 11th member. It was awkward. The Nittanys were out there on an eastern island, with no travel partners.
Now it appears that was Delany’s first move to opening the eastern seaboard to the Big Ten. Penn State had long been asking for some East Coast neighbors. Having PSU, the flagship of eastern football, would be an attraction to landing future East Coast members.
It wouldn’t be a shock if these moves — taking the Big Ten into Madison Square Garden, holding a basketball tournament on the East Coast, all these things — have been on the planning board in Delany’s mind for a long, long time.
But what’s the vision? If there’s a future checkmate on this chess board, what is it?
What is the Big Ten, in Delany’s mind?
Is it Midwest? Or is it East Coast?
Is it a basketball league? How much does football matter?
Is it a money league? A TV league?
I saw an interview with Delany on BTN last week from NYC. Delany is a son of New Jersey, a former North Carolina basketball player. It’s no stretch to say he’s East Coast and he’s a hoops guy.
You could see it on his beaming face as he talked about the Gavitt Tipoff series with the Big East. Delany talking about the Garden tradition. Delany saying the Big Ten isn’t visiting, it’s moving into the East Coast.
I don’t think this necessarily signals a major shift. I think the basketball tournament will be in the Midwest more often than east. I don’t see the football championship going over in an East Coast market.
Then again, these are not bones being thrown to Maryland and Rutgers. There’s going to be an East Coast presence. As ridiculous as Rutgers looks now, it’s not about that. There’s a bigger picture.
Maybe you were watching the same game I saw last week, where the Big Ten logo showed up on an advertising board behind home plate at Yankee Stadium, for the entire nation to see. Yankee Stadium. Big Ten.
But with 14 schools, two regions and a commissioner who loves his hoops, what does that mean for Nebraska football?
I had this conversation in the office last week with Sam McKewon. We agreed that the Gavitt series was another example of the Big Ten getting creative with basketball. This is big stuff, but par for the course for Big Ten hoops, which prides itself as a national leader, a league that will play anybody, anywhere, on aircraft carriers if necessary.
Big Ten football is more about the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten played three bowl games against SEC opponents, all in the same region and all at about the same time. It’s playing nine league games, which is great, but the power matchups are hard to find.
Nebraska was brought into the Big Ten for a reason. Presumably, to bolster football on BTN. But Nebraska doesn’t play Ohio State until 2016 or Michigan until 2018.
Meanwhile, next season’s league home schedule is the biggest dud you or I have ever seen in Lincoln. Bill Snyder, where are you?
Nationally, Big Ten football is a constant punch line. Does anyone in the Big Ten care? Do Husker fans care?
Last month, I ran into some old Big 12 friends at the Final Four. They asked what I thought about life in the Big Ten. My reply was, I don’t feel like I really know it yet.
The farther east it extends, the bigger it grows, the less I know it.
Then again, this isn’t about me or you. Soon, each Big Ten school will clear an estimated $44 million each year. NU might start recruiting New Jersey again. East Coast students may start flocking onto Perlman’s campus. Life has changed and it won’t stand still.
And Delany will keep blazing a trail. Where’s he going? It will be fascinating to watch. Big Ten football? Not so much.
Shatel: Under Delany, Big Ten football takes a backseat
By Tom Shatel / World-Herald columnist
Four years ago, Jim Delany walked through that door. And everything changed.
Ah, memories. The Big 12 meetings in Kansas City. The story floated out of Texas, about the six schools bolting for the Pac-12. Panic. Urgency. A regents meeting. Then a press conference at the NU student center.
Then the man walked through the door, offering refuge, offering a future. Stability.
Interesting word, stability.
Nebraska was leaving the chaos of the Big 12 as much as it was joining the safe haven of the Big Ten. But what exactly was it joining?
An expansion to Maryland and Rutgers. A league office in New York City. A basketball tourney in Washington, D.C. Football schedules with more Purdue and Illinois and less Michigan and Ohio State.
This isn’t the Big Ten that Harvey Perlman signed me up for.
The NU chancellor couldn’t have known what was coming (and certainly it wouldn’t have mattered — there’s a bigger picture here). The vision belongs to one man. The Big Ten’s boss.
You’ll have to pardon us. Here in Nebraska, we’re not used to proactive commissioners. Not since the days of Wayne Duke and Chuck Neinas in the 1970s Big Eight, anyway. Nebraskans are used to being at the front of the line of change, blazing the trail.
Clearly, in this Big Ten, Nebraska is along for the ride.
Where are we going, boss?
Delany is a brilliant man. A visionary. I don’t know if he plays chess, but the majority of his moves seem to set up another down the line.
Two decades ago, Delany added Penn State. Some wondered why. It was an 11th member. It was awkward. The Nittanys were out there on an eastern island, with no travel partners.
Now it appears that was Delany’s first move to opening the eastern seaboard to the Big Ten. Penn State had long been asking for some East Coast neighbors. Having PSU, the flagship of eastern football, would be an attraction to landing future East Coast members.
It wouldn’t be a shock if these moves — taking the Big Ten into Madison Square Garden, holding a basketball tournament on the East Coast, all these things — have been on the planning board in Delany’s mind for a long, long time.
But what’s the vision? If there’s a future checkmate on this chess board, what is it?
What is the Big Ten, in Delany’s mind?
Is it Midwest? Or is it East Coast?
Is it a basketball league? How much does football matter?
Is it a money league? A TV league?
I saw an interview with Delany on BTN last week from NYC. Delany is a son of New Jersey, a former North Carolina basketball player. It’s no stretch to say he’s East Coast and he’s a hoops guy.
You could see it on his beaming face as he talked about the Gavitt Tipoff series with the Big East. Delany talking about the Garden tradition. Delany saying the Big Ten isn’t visiting, it’s moving into the East Coast.
I don’t think this necessarily signals a major shift. I think the basketball tournament will be in the Midwest more often than east. I don’t see the football championship going over in an East Coast market.
Then again, these are not bones being thrown to Maryland and Rutgers. There’s going to be an East Coast presence. As ridiculous as Rutgers looks now, it’s not about that. There’s a bigger picture.
Maybe you were watching the same game I saw last week, where the Big Ten logo showed up on an advertising board behind home plate at Yankee Stadium, for the entire nation to see. Yankee Stadium. Big Ten.
But with 14 schools, two regions and a commissioner who loves his hoops, what does that mean for Nebraska football?
I had this conversation in the office last week with Sam McKewon. We agreed that the Gavitt series was another example of the Big Ten getting creative with basketball. This is big stuff, but par for the course for Big Ten hoops, which prides itself as a national leader, a league that will play anybody, anywhere, on aircraft carriers if necessary.
Big Ten football is more about the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten played three bowl games against SEC opponents, all in the same region and all at about the same time. It’s playing nine league games, which is great, but the power matchups are hard to find.
Nebraska was brought into the Big Ten for a reason. Presumably, to bolster football on BTN. But Nebraska doesn’t play Ohio State until 2016 or Michigan until 2018.
Meanwhile, next season’s league home schedule is the biggest dud you or I have ever seen in Lincoln. Bill Snyder, where are you?
Nationally, Big Ten football is a constant punch line. Does anyone in the Big Ten care? Do Husker fans care?
Last month, I ran into some old Big 12 friends at the Final Four. They asked what I thought about life in the Big Ten. My reply was, I don’t feel like I really know it yet.
The farther east it extends, the bigger it grows, the less I know it.
Then again, this isn’t about me or you. Soon, each Big Ten school will clear an estimated $44 million each year. NU might start recruiting New Jersey again. East Coast students may start flocking onto Perlman’s campus. Life has changed and it won’t stand still.
And Delany will keep blazing a trail. Where’s he going? It will be fascinating to watch. Big Ten football? Not so much.
