One of the most powerful persons in college athletics just put a timeline on his retirement. “I’m 68”, Delany said. On keeping the program consistently winning “I think the first thing we’ve been able to do is retain our staff”.
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One year ago, only a handful of New Jersey-based reporters stayed for more than a driveby at the table occupied by then-Rutgers coach Kyle Flood.
Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett and Iowa cornerback Desmond King highlight the preseason all-Big Ten selections.
The league’s newly negotiated rights deal with ESPN and Fox is worth $2.6 billion.
Among his accomplishments as the Big Ten Commissioner, Delany has instituted several notable changes that have allowed the conference to thrive as a whole. I think in so many areas we can be really, really healthy in 2018. What makes it tricky, they’re not having to deal with some of the things we’re dealing with and working through, which magnifies it. Going into our tenth year we’ve had five coaches leave over the period of that time.
Delany’s vision of launching a conference-centric network in the mid-2000s led to the wildly successful Big Ten Network.
While the Big Ten has accomplished many feats in the more viewed sports such as football and men’s basketball, Delany’s leadership and direction has also paved the way for the conference’s schools to excel in all sports alongside academics as well. He has guided the conference’s relationship with the Rose Bowl through the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and the current College Football Playoff. “I won’t comment on other people’s drama”.
Candidates in other conferences during recent transitions have come from all areas, including the conference offices with assistant commissioners like Greg Sankey being elevated in the SEC and from outside, like Larry Scott in the Pac-12 who ran the Women’s Tennis Association previously.
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“That game sort of got out of hand”, he said.
