Barry Alvarez will join the Big Ten office as a special advisor for football, commissioner Kevin Warren announced Thursday at the conference's media days.
"I trust Barry Alvarez implicitly. He means everything to this conference. We're so grateful he's agreed to join the conference office," Warren said.
The news confirms a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel report from May.
Alvarez will be a perfect compliment to Warren, a newcomer to college football. The College Football Hall of Fame coach has been involved in Big Ten football every season dating back to 1990. He's worked in college football continuously since 1979, when he landed a job on Hall of Fame coach Hayden Fry's Iowa staff.
After a -- let's put this politely -- bumpy debut season that saw his conference lead the way in canceling its 2020 season only to reverse course six weeks later when only the Pac-12 followed suit, the events of 2020 showed Warren lacked institutional knowledge of the college game.
Barry is staying in the Big Ten!
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) July 22, 2021
During his opening address at 2021 #B1GMediaDays Commissioner Kevin Warren announced that Barry Alvarez has been named the Big Ten Conference's Special Advisor for Football. pic.twitter.com/t7wXz7DDCe
Put simply, Warren is still figuring out where the trip wire and mines are laid. Alvarez can draw him a map from memory.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.