Big
Ten Realignment May Come Next Week
Conference realignment of schools will be
discussed among Big Ten athletic directors early next week in Chicago,
Gophers football coach Tim Brewster said. Officials representing
the league office and conference schools are expected to meet about how
the Big Ten will position itself into two football divisions with the
arrival of Nebraska as a 12th member in 2011. The gathering
in Chicago will also include the conference’s annual media football
kickoff with all 11 head coaches having news conferences on Monday.
Brewster said he’s firm about one
expectation for scheduling starting in 2011. He wants Wisconsin and
Iowa on Minnesota’s schedule each season, even if all three schools
aren't in the same division.
Is he concerned that annually the Badgers
and Hawkeyes won’t be on the Minnesota schedule? “No, absolutely not,
because that’s vital to our conference,” he told Sports Headliners.
Preserving historic football rivalries is
expected to receive the highest of priorities when commissioner Jim
Delany and others decide who to place where in two six team
divisions. What’s the timeline for a decision?
Brewster said he isn’t sure “but this has
got to get in place because there’s a tremendous amount of time” involved with
scheduling preparation and details. He’s confident Delany will present
a plan at the earliest date once things are in place.
Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi
told Sports Headliners he will be surprised if he leaves
Chicago on Tuesday without knowledge of a working model for realignment.
The model might not be a finished product but certainly a
significant step in that direction.
Maturi said he doesn’t know how the
Big Ten will ultimately group its 12 schools in various sports. It’s
presumed football will have two six-team divisions but basketball, for
example, might have a single 12 team league. The advantage for football
having two divisions is to allow the conference to stage a lucrative and
high profile conference championship game between the two winners.
Brewster will take three players to
Chicago to participate in the media sessions, quarterback Adam Weber,
defensive tackle Brandon Kirksey and safety Kim Royston.
Brewster plans to tell the media he
believes his team, picked by most writers to finish near the bottom of
the conference standings, has a “chance to be much better than most
people think.” Brewster has a lot of confidence in his fourth Gophers
team, a group that is more athletic than in the past.
He has also been impressed with the summer
workouts of his team. “Guys are so much stronger, so much bigger,” he
said.
A more physical, athletic and better
conditioned team can provide a payoff during the season to the messages
the Gophers had on their workout shirts this summer:
“Finish. Compete Forever.”
Brewster’s Gophers have sometimes been
challenged to win games in the fourth quarter. That’s been a reason the
team finished around .500 each of the last two seasons, 7-6 in 2008 and
6-7 in 2009.
“We want to take games into the fourth
quarter and win games in the fourth quarter,” Brewster said.
