Briggs: With Big Ten season on life support, a leadership void
Talk about a Big House divided.
By David Briggs / The Blade
Tue, 11 Aug 2020 01:14:50 GMT
On second thought, maybe the Big Ten shouldn’t go first.
At least that’s the opinion of the Ohio State and Michigan football programs, which have finally found some common ground.
Both believe the league presidents are dead wrong.
Talk about a Big House divided.
In a 24-hour stretch that was as ridiculous as it was perfectly 2020, the Big Ten presidents on Sunday reportedly voted 12-2 to cancel the football season — Iowa and Nebraska were the alleged dissenters — positioning the league to become the first power conference to pull the plug.
Then, on Monday, Ohio State, Michigan, and several other conference schools replied, “Like hell you are,” taking aim squarely at their own ivory towers. Jim Harbaugh quoted Theodore Roosevelt, issuing a data-driven appeal to save the season so that “our place will not be among the cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat,” while Ohio State players and coaches launched a full-blast campaign on social media.
By the end of the day, Ohio State sources said — hold on a minute — its university leadership was on board with a season, and coach Ryan Day was on ESPN entertaining the prospect of playing the season as an independent.
“Swinging as hard as we possibly can right now for these players!!” Day wrote on Twitter. “This isn’t over! #FIGHT.”
Even President Trump weighed in, tweeting, “#WeWantToPlay.”
The President vs. the Presidents.
What a world.
What a mess.
No matter your opinion on the prudence of a fall season, let us agree this crossroads has exposed the exasperating absence of leadership in major college football.
I don’t say that lightly.
The university presidents and conference commissioners pulling the strings are largely well-meaning people doing their best on uncharted terrain. There is no playbook for navigating a novel virus with consequences known and unknown, only hard questions and harder answers. We could all use some more humility.
As former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer told us Monday, “In the grand scheme of things, you’re talking about college football when you’re dealing with a pandemic. You have to bend your knees, stay flexible, and adapt. This is serious business.”
Still, the benefit of the doubt only goes so far.
I’ve seen first-grade fire drills more organized than big-time college football the past few months. In a moment that demanded a clear, coordinated response with input from the players, the multibillion-dollar industry did the exact opposite, with each of the FBS leagues for themselves, 10 trains veering off the rails in slow motion.
My question for the Big Ten: Why cancel now?
If the league had called off the season last week, that would have been understandable. It didn’t. It went through the charade of releasing a new schedule Wednesday, then allowed teams to begin training camp the next day.
What changed for the presidents between then and now? Did the Mid-American Conference — which postponed its season Saturday — tweak their conscience? Or is it possible they were without a clue all along?
I’ll suggest the latter, and, if there is anything good to come out the plight of the 2020 season, it will be the establishment getting its comeuppance.
If the past months have told us anything, it’s that players are learning the power of their voices, and are prepared to use them going forward.
“The opportunity to be heard is essential,” Meyer said at Inverness Club, where he played in a golf outing to benefit Folds of Honor, which raises money to fund scholarships for families of fallen and disabled service members. “You saw that coming. I’d like to think Ohio State was well ahead of the curve as far as listening and learning, but I think 2020 is going to go down in the history books for a lot of transformation.”
As it should, beginning with the athletes forming a players association.
That’s my opinion alone here, but it’s the right time.
Imagine how differently this season could have played out if players earned a small share of the football revenue — a topic for another day — and had a real seat at the table from the beginning (Note: We’re talking only about the money-printing power conferences here. The Group of Five programs have no financial path forward this fall.) .
Think back to early June. There’s a reason college players were back in their training facilities well before the pros returned to theirs. It’s because the pro leagues — the NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball — were still busy trying to figure out how to play, the players bargaining the terms of their restart.
What if college football players could have done the same? What if they could have negotiated the conditions of their return, built a a collective trust, and were comfortable enough to explore creative solutions?
Say, living in a pseudo bubble, which I believe would be the only way you could responsibly — and logistically — stage a season. Players could take online classes and split their time between the football complex and an athletes-only dorm, with limited exceptions. Throw in regular testing and you’d have yourself a functional season.
Is this crazy? Sure.
Too crazy for 2020? After another news cycle ripped straight from The Onion, is anything anymore?
Either way, it feels like the end of the college football world as we know it, and that’s just fine.
Michigan WR Giles Jackson scores a touchdown against Ohio State safety Jordan Fuller.
Urban Meyer tees off during a Folds of Honor golf and dinner event at The Inverness Club.
Urban Meyer gets ready to tee off with his golf team during a Folds of Honor golf and dinner event at The Inverness Club.