On Wednesday, Aug. 29, Northwestern e-mailed an injury report to the media for their Week 1 game at Purdue, the first of nine conference games for the Wildcats. Purdue did not release an injury report for the game, nor did the majority of other Big Ten and FBS teams for their Week 1 games, including Florida State prior to their Week 1 game vs. Virginia Tech, the first of eight conference games for the Seminoles.
No conference or NCAA rule requires Purdue, Florida State or any other FBS team to release an injury report; Northwestern does so voluntarily. If there was an FBS commissioner, all schools might play by the same rules, on and off the field.
If there was an FBS commissioner, would in-game officiating be managed by one governing body (i.e. commissioner’s office) instead of individual conferences? What about off-the-field discipline? Would the commissioner’s office handle recruiting violations, oversee student-athlete welfare and investigate matters such as the Ohio State case?
Maybe.
But, first, does college football even need a commissioner? And perhaps more importantly, do FBS head coaches want a commissioner?
Nick Saban does, as do Jimbo Fisher, David Shaw and others.
“I think we need somebody,” Saban said in 2016, “whether it’s just the five major conferences, who can be unbiased in how decisions are getting made about what can and can’t be done, and have the best interest of college football.
“You don't think we need a commissioner and a set of rules to make things even?” Fisher said last year. “We're the only sport in America that doesn't have the same set of rules for everybody that plays. Everybody goes to their own neighborhood and makes their own little rules.”
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I asked 12 more coaches if they’ve given any thought to a college football commissioner. And if so, do they want a commissioner?
“No, I haven't given thought to that,” said Bill Snyder.
“No, I have given no thought into that. It hasn't even crossed my mind until you just asked my question,” a chuckling Charlie Strong said.
Of the 12 coaches, Snyder and Strong were among five who’ve never considered the necessity or potential role of commissioner. Five others have given it some thought, and two have given it a lot of thought.
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell sits alongside Snyder and Strong in the no-thought group:
“Our thoughts have been on trying to get ready for this opener vs. Louisiana Tech and trying to get our team the best prepared that we possibly can. It goes back to controlling the things that we can control. Right now the things that we can control is trying to get ready to play this first game.”
As is Georgia State head coach Shawn Elliott:
“I'm trying to win a ballgame. We’ve got some other people around here that need to start thinking about that. Some athletic directors and things of that nature.”
And Baylor's Matt Rhule:
“My experiences have been so good with the two commissioners I’ve worked with that I've never really thought about anything beyond that.”
Eastern Michigan’s Chris Creighton, Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury, Ohio’s Frank Solich and Buffalo’s Lance Leipold are in the not-much-thought bucket. Solich was the only coach of the 12 who doesn’t believe a commissioner is vital right now, though he understands that issues at other schools could prompt talk of a commissioner.
“If the culture of your program is such that you care for your coaches and you care for your players, you have a chance of getting through [issues],” Solich said. “But in saying that, anything can be an offshoot that arises that can happen to anybody.
“I don't see that there's an immediate need for that kind of oversight right now. There may be a lot of people that differ on that opinion. That’s my thought on it right now. Obviously, ADs, presidents need to really step up at their universities, know what's going on. If that's the case, that's pretty good oversight there.”
“It's a really good question,” Creighton said. “…I like the idea of having a number of people who care about the game being involved in making decisions for what's best.”
“I do think it standardizes . . . fairness and everybody going after the same things,” said Kingsbury, who specifically focused on oversight for Power Five conferences. “That’s all I think anybody in the Power Five wants is equal opportunity based on conference. I think [a commissioner] could be a positive to make it a level playing field across the Power Five.”
“I've heard it a mentioned a few times, but I really have not given it a lot of thought. We're trying to just focus on what we can do to be the best we can right now,” Leipold said. “Whatever can be best for everyone in college football across the board . . . I guess I'm always in favor. As much as it’s level for everyone to have the same opportunity to have success in their situation, in their conference, I'm probably for.”
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For what it’s worth, two years ago, Creighton, Leipold and Solich’s conference commissioner, Jon Steinbrecher, said an FBS commissioner wouldn’t work and compared the model to a dictatorship.
“We don't operate in the world of a dictatorship," Steinbrecher told ESPN. "At the FBS, you have 10 conferences, each with its own hierarchy. We all interact with each other. It's unrealistic to think a model with one person at the top could work."
Big 12 commissioner, Bob Bowlsby, agreed with Steinbrecher, saying, “The idea of having a commissioner over football is probably imposing a structure over college sports that is better in place for professional sports."
TCU's Gary Patterson had no opinion on a potential commissioner’s role in regulating officiating and off-the-field issues, but he’s in favor of building stronger unity within the Power Five for the purpose of leveraging more lucrative media deals.
“I think if we were all one governing body, we’d be stronger,” he said. “If you just did the Power Five, and you were all as one, I think we’d have a stronger view. Our TV market, we’d be more powerful. As anything when you're all as one, you have a chance to be stronger because you have a bigger voice.”
Two AAC coaches, Sonny Dykes (SMU), and Randy Edsall (UConn ), had the most extensive thoughts of any of the 12 coaches. Both are in favor of additional and consistent oversight.
“I think that's the one thing that makes college football a little bit unique,” Dykes said. “You have these different conferences that operate in kind of their own little world, in their own little autonomy.”
“Everybody has their own agenda within their own conferences in terms of what they wanna do, how they’re policed,” Edsall said.
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While all conferences (and member institutions) are subjected to NCAA rules, Edsall is right; each conference (and each member institution) has different rules. From scheduling to discipline for off-the-field issues to media deals, each conference does things differently. In the Power Five, for example, the ACC and SEC both play eight-game conference schedules, while the Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 have nine-game conference schedules. (All Group of Five conferences play eight conference games.)
Is it fair? Of course not.
Are the ACC and SEC breaking the rules? You can't break a rule that doesn't exist.
“The SEC, what they do is really smart when it comes to scheduling,” said Dykes, who’s coached in five FBS conferences, including three as a head coach. “…The SEC has made a very concerted effort to give their teams the best opportunity to get into the national championship game. They’ve obviously had really good teams as well, but they've also been pretty creative and ahead of everybody else when it comes to doing that.
“I think the idea was from other conferences — I certainly heard this when I've coached in other conferences — was, ‘We're gonna force the SEC to go to a nine-game schedule and we're gonna force them to do this with their out-of-conference scheduling’. You’re not gonna force the SEC to do anything. They're the one who's made pretty good decisions when it comes to [getting] their teams into the College Football Playoff.”
“This thing has gotten so big and so complex that we've outgrown the model that’s been in place for how many years. And to me if it doesnt change, sooner or later it’s gonna implode,” said Edsall. “What’s happened is — the old saying, “Money is the root of all evil,” — all of a sudden, it's more . . . about the money than it is about the health, safety and welfare and what's best for student-athletes.”
Including Turner Gill at transitional FBS member Liberty, there are 130 FBS head coaches. This is the opinion of 12 of them, or only 9.2 percent, across four of the 10 conferences. In no way is this a fair representation of the opinions of all FBS head coaches, their programs, athletic departments, schools and conferences.
It is, however, interesting that five of 12 head coaches have given no thought to a potential FBS commissioner, and one coach, 40-year veteran in Frank Solich, sees no need for a commissioner.
