In some corners of Nebraska football fandom, there has likely been some raucous celebrating going on since yesterday afternoon. That’s when Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren announced that he would no longer be the conference commissioner. Instead, he’s taking the job as the president of the Chicago Bears.
Warren has been a polarizing figure since he took over the job from Jim Delaney – who was quite popular among the schools that made up his conference as well as people outside of the Big 10 – and there were plenty of Nebraska football fans who have been calling for his ouster or departure since 2020. However, now that he’s gone, it’s safe to assume that those same Cornhuskers fans could find out in no short order just how good they had it.
Let me start this off by saying that by no means did Kevin Warren handle everything 100 percent correctly. While I had no real problem with the conference postponing games and whatnot during the pandemic, the less-than-uniform way he handled things wasn’t great.
However, since 2020, Warren has done a lot right for the conference and its member schools. That includes the insane television contract he scored the Big Ten. It’s also worth noting that the enemies he’s made along the way might point to a group that Nebraska football fans should want to have as enemies.
It seems the following people are not unhappy to see Kevin Warren leave the Big Ten:
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 13, 2023
-- Big Ten ADs
-- Some Big Ten prez
-- Other commissioners, most of whom he alienated during CFP negotiations & realignment.
-- Certain TV execs.
Just a small list.
Obviously, Big Ten ADs not liking Kevin Warren isn’t a great thing. However, it also fits a bit into his job description. If they’re not allowed to run roughshod over him, they’re probably not going to like him. The same goes for some of the Big Ten school presidents.
But the other two groups of people who are glad to see Kevin Warren leave should give pause to Nebraska football fans. Other commissioners being mad at him has a lot to do with the Big Ten getting the better end of several deals.
Absolutely the same goes for “certain” TV execs. Those “certain” people are mad that he took as much money off them as he could.
The next guy to take over for Kevin Warren might not make those kinds of enemies. And that wouldn’t really be a good thing. And that’s why Nebraska football fans might eventually end up missing the now ex-Big Ten commissioner.