In the modern, big-money days of major college athletics, a commissioner leaving for another job is unprecedented. Those are end-game positions, jobs that the office-holder either retires from (Mike Slive, SEC; Jim Delany, Big Ten; John Swofford, ACC; Bob Bowlsby, Big 12) or gets retired from (Larry Scott, Pac-12).
But Kevin Warren could be in the process of leaving the Big Ten for a return to the NFL.
Multiple outlets reported Thursday that Warren is in discussions to become the next president of the Chicago Bears. The search is still ongoing and is expected to be wrapped up "in the upcoming weeks," but Warren is said to be a "strong candidate."
The majority of Warren's experience lay in the NFL before he took the Big Ten job in 2019. He was initially waylaid by the COVID-19 pandemic, with his conference postponing, then canceling, and then reviving its 2020 season.
But since then Warren has overseen the coming additions of USC and UCLA, a record-breaking TV contract that will see Big Ten games take prime spots on Fox, CBS and NBC, and represented the Big Ten in the coming 12-team expansion of the College Football Playoff.
While the SEC will argue its product is the closest thing to the NFL, Warren's regime ensured like the Big Ten will be covered like a mini-NFL.
The TV deal begins with the 2023 season; the LA and CFP expansions will commence in 2024.
Warren's predecessor Delany created the idea of a super-conference in his 30 years atop the conference by adding Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers and creating the Big Ten Network, and he was paid handsomely for it. The conference handed Delany a $20 million bonus in 2017, based on $483.4 million in reported revenue. The conference will earn soon more than twice that number per year in TV contracts alone.
In the event Warren does leave, it will be interesting to see if the Big Ten sticks with current trends for major administrative hiring jobs. The B1G hinted at the trend by hiring Warren out of the NFL, but three successive jobs (George Kliavkoff, Pac-12 commissioner; Brett Yormark, Big 12 commissioner; Charlie Baker, NCAA president) have gone to candidates wholly outside of the college athletics industry.
Stunningly, the Big Ten could soon decide if it wants to continue that trend.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
Update: The Big Ten has released this statement.