Tuesday Skull Session

By Nicholas Jervey on June 4, 2013 at 6:00 am
32 Comments

Welcome to another thrilling Skull Session. After securing season football tickets yesterday I'm so excited I'll use some colorful language: dadgummit, I can't wait for some goldarn football.

The window for student season football tickets opened yesterday afternoon for upperclassmen and will continue through ranks of underclassmen.

If any tickets are left (fat chance), they will be sold to the public. Estimated price: 1.5 kidneys per game.

In other pump-up news, Phil Steele released his Preseason All-Big Ten teams. Six Buckeyes (Christian Bryant, Jack Mewhort, Braxton Miller, Andrew Norwell, Bradley Roby, and Ryan Shazier) were on the First Team while sixteen were recognized overall.

At this point, everyone is scrounging for football news, so why not find out about three seasons from now? The Big Ten's 2015 conference schedule was announced, giving Ohio State the same combination as its 2014 slate with only a reversal of home and away games.

Afte heavy recruiting from Ohio State and just about everyone, top-ranked 2014 quarterback Kyle Allen committed to Texas A&M yesterday. On the bright side, it may open the door to fellow quarterback recruit Brandon Harris for the Buckeye. Ohio State and Texas A&M were both recruiting Harris, and with Allen's commitment it appear Harris has removed A&M from consideration in about the most gracious way possible.

Even if Elite 11 quarterbacks don't always pan out (see: Troy Smith vs. Justin Zwick) they don't grow on trees; OSU will have to recruit Harris hard between now and his announcement on July 18th. It also wouldn't hurt to land a good guard (or a good 2015 defensive lineman for that matter).

 JOHNS HOPKINS AND UNCERTAINTY IN ATHLETICS. Johns Hopkins is now officially a Big Ten affiliate member in lacrosse after holding a press conference announcing a much yesterday. The addition of Johns Hopkins allows for lacrosse conferences, and brings the number of Big Ten sponsored sports up to 28.

The politics of this move are very, very dense. Smart people are trying to understand the move, part of the unending cycle of conference realignment. Some points of discussion:

  • The Big Ten wanted Notre Dame for ages but rejected them as associate members, but took on Hopkins for a less nationally relevant sport.  Why?
  • Johns Hopkins has a TV contract with ESPNU, but the Big Ten will not interfere with it in spite of needing inventory for the Big Ten Network. Why?
  • Johns Hopkins is the ideal Committee on Institutional Cooperation member, but unlike the Nebraska, Rutgers, or Maryland additions, the CIC was not mentioned in press releases. Why?

There are answers for all of these questions, though they are hardly fun reading. For example, the CIC question has to do with preserving CIC membership as an incentive to jump to the Big Ten. If Hopkins were to join the CIC – and we've been told Hopkins has indicated plans to contact the CIC regarding potential membership, opt out of the Big Ten and retain its CIC membership, it would open the door for other major programs to get into the CIC while spurning the Big Ten, like Notre Dame or Texas or [insert school undergoing extensive realignment rumors in 5-6 years].

Though it's not always clearly so, usually the Big Ten is the tail wagging the dog and not the CIC. Becaue of that, denying Johns Hopkins CIC membership until it decides to stay permanentl is the Big Ten's way of safeguarding an institution for decades in the future. 

If you want to predict the future of college athletics, understand the decision making process of university presidents. NCAA president Mark Emmert (former University of Washington president) has expressed the desire to create another division within the NCAA, which could be a split of "power" conferences from everyone else. Gordon Gee's candidness is still in the news one way or another, but a different part of his comments concerning his expectation for future conferences ("three or four superconferences of about 16 to 20 teams") is a glimpse into the future.

 PAC-12 TOO CHILL FOR CONCUSSIONS. The largest threat to football's sustained popularity may be the risk of long-term brain damage. At the college level, the Big Ten and Ivy League collaborated to create a concussion study last summer. This summer, the Pac-12 is introducing its own health initiative to improve all athletes' well-being (but especially those in contact sports). A number of measures in the initiative are discourse or research-oriented, but one pragmatic tack taken by the Pac-12 will be to limit contact in football practices:

Football Contact Reduction: The Pac-12 will codify into a formal policy the existing practices across the Conference as they relate to limiting contact in football practice. The final policy will be released at Pac-12 Football Media Day on July 26. Going forward, the Pac-12 will look at guidelines around contact in practice to ensure that student-athlete well-being is being closely monitored, both in the amount of contact and in providing our student-athletes and coaches with ample opportunity to teach and learn the correct tackling methods during the spring and preseason.

This would be the first codified contact policy for a college conference, and it wouldn't be surprising to see similar measures in other conferences. There are usually some loonies complaining about the wussification of America, but in this case the Pac-12 can point to the NFL's similar approach to contact in practice to show is use at the highest level.

Jim Delany (0-0, 0.00 ERA) pitching in Yankee Stadium.

 B1G REPPING IN THE BIG APPLE. The Big Ten had two major announcements, one positive and one major PR problem. In a bit of messaging synergy, commissioner Jim Delany visited New York to handle both and perhaps claim the city for the conference.

The PR problem was, as to be expected, Rutgers. The hits keep on coming for Rutgers administration, most recently in the form of a sexual harrassment lawsuit, but Delany reiterated his support for the Rutgers program and its continued membership in the Big Ten.

The New York Daily News suggests that former Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti would have an available job in the Big Ten as he is "well respected within the Big Ten, and that it wouldn’t be a shock if he landed there." As long as his position doesn't entail firing coaches for abusing players, it should fit him better.

The positive announcement was the inking of an eight year contract with the Pinstripe Bowl. The Big Ten replaces the Big East as a participant, and the ACC will likely be the other participant in the game.

Jim Delany arrived for a press conference to promote the Pinstripe Bowl, but he was vexed by pesky Rutgers questions. Later, he slipped into Yankee livery and threw the first pitch at Yankee Stadium that night. As evinced by the ball in the dirt, Delany should probably leave his pitches for board rooms.

 EVERYONE IN MIAMI IS TERRIBLE. In a cross between NCAA scandal and News of the Weird, Florida Man a Miami (FL) football player has filed an incident report that accuses an NCAA employee of coercing him into testifying against one of his coaches. Against whom did he file the police report? Specifically, against the whole NCAA organization. 

 Dyron Dye, who played at Miami from 2009-2012 and would be a senior this year, reported to the Coral Gables Police Department that he and other players were being unfailrly targeted by NCAA investigator Rich Johanningmeier to provide evidence against Miami coach Audrey Hill. Dye and several other players objected to the tone of the examinations, during which they say they were treated like criminals, and what they say were leading questions shaded against Hill. Furthermore, Dye believes that in order to secure his testimony against Hill the NCAA is holding his senior season hostage:

The NCAA met with Dye for a third time last week to try to resolve inconsistencies between what he said in his second interview with the NCAA in 2011, and what he said in an affidavit that Dye wrote on behalf of Carol City High and former UM assistant coach Aubrey Hill, who has been charged with unethical conduct by the NCAA.

The NCAA could decide to accuse Dye of an unethical conduct violation, which could result in him being suspended or ruled ineligible. The NCAA has not told Dye or his attorneys when it will make a decision.

There was precious little the NCAA could do to look worse in the Miami case but they managed to find a way, and this marks the fourth or fifth time somebody has wondered that before the NCAA topped itself again. For the next act, NCAA Associate Vice President of Media Relations Petro da Oosterbaan will be arrested for manatee flipper trafficking or something. 

In other news occurring in a wretched hive of scum and villainy, the Miami Heat buried the Indiana Pacers last night to advance to the NBA Finals. Diehard Heat fans and Justin Bieber are relieved.

This Vine sums up my disdain for the Heat better than anything I could say, and it would be all the sweeter this morning had the Heat been eliminated. It's still a wonderful mockery of the Great Enemies (LeBron and flopping); may the Spurs sweep in the Finals.

 SPACE AGE HOOSIERS. Indiana has some cause to feel good about itself: after winning the Bloomington regional in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, the Hoosiers have advanced to the super regionals. Should they win a three game series against Florida State, they would be the first Big Ten school to reach the College World Series since 1984; as it is, they are the first to reach the super regional stage since 2007.

Indiana's football program had been hyping up some big announcement for the last few weeks, promising that it would be revealed on June 3rd. Yesterday, the secret was revealed:

The chrome is pretty cool, though if Oregon's helmets are any indication they're incredibly expensive for the consumer. The five or so different helmet variations must be players or fans to vote on. Anyway, good for a moribund program finding something to get excited about; when they lose in the fall, they'll lose with style.

 LINKS AHOY. Mike Adams is expected to make a full recovery from his stabbing... Stories from the past: the time the Big Ten almost kicked out Illinois, a Michigan writer being hanged in effigy, and the invention of the high five... What went so badly on Da'Shawn Hand's visit to Columbus? We didn't deliver Michael Jackson?...Neil Armstrong's Central Ohio accent may have affected the moon landing speech... the dismal own goal that allowed the USMNT to beat Germany... being confident is better for pundits than being right... you're a terrible guest, Roose Bolton.

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