The Roots of the Big Ten's Disconnectedness Go Back 30 Years. 

When the Big Ten Conference added Penn State University in 1990, ADs jumped up and down screaming that the Presidents had made a decision without their input. Back then, the Athletic Directors ran the conference, and could not have imagined the Presidents even cared about how the Conference was run. Later, this was an early signal that the NCAA would eventually designate Presidents as the decision makers in college sports,

Powerful coaches like Bo Schembechler of Michigan and Bobby Knight at Indiana weighed in publicly at the time as to (in their view), the insanity of the President's recommendation. (Sound familiar, Ryan Day, current OSU football coach?) Over 8 months, the question loomed--would the "Council of Ten" Presidents hold firm, or would they buckle under the pressure from the powerful coaches?

There are parallels with the struggles as to "who's in charge" that are relevant today. Who makes the decision if/when they return to play? 

Is it the:

I’m joined today by columnist David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News. David has covered Penn State basketball for 28 seasons and Penn State football for 27, first as the beat writer and, since 2002, as a columnist.  He is a multi award winning journalist; a past president of the FWAA and was inducted into the USBWA HOF in 2018. 

David wrote an insightful article looking back at the political battles waged in getting Penn State into the Conference, and we discuss why they apply to today's landscape. We'll discuss and debate the critical issues and talk about the role of Kevin Warren, the new Commissioner of the Big Ten.