Aaron Kampman shakes hands with Kirk Ferentz during an Athletes in Action luncheon. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

DAVENPORT — Aaron Kampman bulked up when he battled offensive tackles during his decade of professional football.

He topped out at about 290 pounds when he played for the Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars. But now, as he approaches his second fall without football, Kampman enjoys slimming down and staying away from the intense training regimen that defines the NFL’s offseason.

“It’s been real nice,” Kampman said Saturday at the Legends of Iowa Football Camp. “I don’t have to have three protein shakes a day.”

Kampman, a former all-Big Ten defensive end with Iowa, played three games with Jacksonville in 2011 before he was released. He enjoyed a 10-year NFL career and twice earned Pro Bowl bids. In 2006, he notched 15.5 sacks and followed with 12 the next season. Both years he was named second-team all-NFL by the Associated Press. He finished with 58 sacks and started 112 games.

Since retiring, Kampman has relocated to the Iowa City-area with his wife and their four children. He’s unsure about life’s next step, but plans to coach football at Solon this fall.

“I’ve been invited to do that again this fall, so I’m going to pursue that,” Kampman said. “They’ve been gracious to have me on their staff.

“As far as anything full-time, this and that, I haven’t made those decisions yet.”

Kampman now has the time in the offseason to assist with local football camps, like the one at Brady Street Stadium on Saturday. Kampman worked with defensive linemen in grades four through 10. He showed the athletes proper techniques and stances as well as lessons in tenacity.

“(Camp director and former Iowa linebacker) Matt Hughes has always said he would like me to come and do this and that, but I could never come because I was busy or had training camp,” Kampman said. “It’s been nice to do things like this, spend some time with things you normally didn’t get to do when you’re getting ready for an NFL season.”

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None of the violations were considered more than secondary and many were based on inadvertent contact through text messages. The University of Iowa disclosed the violations in response to an open-records request by The Gazette.

From Aug. 10, 2012 through May 15, 2013, the athletics department reported 15 violations to either the Big Ten or the NCAA. Here is a rundown of the violations:

Men’s gymnastics (3) — 1. Assistant coach Ben Ketelsen brought his girlfriend to a recruiting dinner on Oct. 19, 2012, and her meal was paid for by the university. 2. Head coach J.D. Reive sent a text message to a recruit on the day of his evaluation in 2011. It was the only text message recovered on his phone during the school’s audit. 3. Former assistant Spencer Slaton texted a prospect in 2011 to obtain a fax number so the school could fax information for the prospect’s upcoming official visit.

Men’s swimming (2) — 1. Head coach Marc Long inadvertently sent a text message to a prospect’s father while attempting text Michigan State assistant coach Tim Loeffler before a swim meet on Oct. 18, 2012. The text read: “Hey Tim, it’s Marc. We’re on track to arrive at the pool in 1 hr. We’ll keep u updated.” 2. On Oct. 6, 2011, a prospective athlete on his recruiting trip encountered an airport delay and rough cell reception. He texted associate head coach Frannie Malone, who responded with “ok.” The return text was considered impermissible.

Women’s rowing (2): 1. In late July and early August 2012, assistant coach Beth Redfearn made three phone calls to 2014 prospects before communication was allowed with the athletes. 2. Former head coach Steve Pritzker held a varsity practice on Aug. 23, 2012, which was well before the initial start of practice on Sept. 15. Pritzker, who resigned last month, was new to the program.

Men’s track (2): 1. On Sept. 8, 2012, assistant coach Clive Roberts received a text message from a 2013 prospect. Roberts was unaware of the incoming number and responded, “who is this?” That was considered impermissible contact. 2. Assistant coach Joey Woody said he “lost track” of the recruiting quiet period during the 2011-2012 holiday break and made two calls (one is allowed) to the same prospect on Dec. 20 and Dec. 22, 2011. He reported the violations to the school’s compliance office.

Women’s golf (1): Head coach Megan Menzel and assistant coach Laura Cilek each exceeded the number of permitted visits to a prospect by one in the fall of 2012. NCAA rules allow seven total visits/evaluations during a prospect’s career with only three in the athlete’s senior season. Both coaches counted four visits.

Men’s basketball (1): Assistant coach Sherman Dillard called a 2015 prospect on June 16, 2012. Dillard reported the violation and told Iowa officials the athlete was listed among the 2014 prospects. NCAA rules allowed coaches to begin communication with 2014 prospects on that date.

“We believe this was an inadvertent violation and should not recur,” Iowa associate athletics director and former compliance chief Fred Mims wrote to the NCAA’s Chris Strobel on Oct. 22, 2012.

Wrestling (1): Director of operations Luke Eustice sent two text messages to a prospect in October 2011, one was while the prospect was on campus. Coaches are not allowed to text prospects except for men’s basketball.

Football (1): Former assistant coach Erik Campbell brought his girlfriend to a recruiting dinner on Dec. 8, 2012. The school paid for his girlfriend’s dinner.

Baseball (1): Assistant coach Zach Dillon arranged for two prospects to eat breakfast at the Iowa Memorial Union following an unofficial campus visit. The IMU was closed, and Dillon instead took them to the off-campus Hamburg Inn during a recruiting quiet period. The prospects paid for their meal and returned to campus.

Multiple programs (1): The compliance audit from 2010 through December 2012 found the university’s use of a URL address constituted a logo and was not part of a return address in its recruiting envelopes for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. The women’s field hockey and men’s/women’s swimming teams also used larger-than-allowed postcards for recruiting purposes. The former letters and postcards are either in storage for other purposes or destroyed.

Iowa administrative assistant Al Seibert and Coach Fran McCaffery discuss strategy during a media timeout at the Cancun Challenge at the Moon Palace Resort last November.

I never understood why this T-shirt was sold at Carver-Hawkeye Arena last fall. That is, unless the Jayhawks were considered for one of the Big Ten's expansion slots.

Incoming Iowa basketball player Peter Jok meets with assistant coach Kirk Speraw before the Hawkeyes' game against Northern Iowa in Des Moines.

The view of Indiana's Memorial Stadium shortly before kickoff. There were nearly as many fans at Assembly Hall for the Indiana-Iowa men's basketball game four months later.

The famous "Mustards Last Stand" outside of Ryan Field in Evanston, Ill. There are few places with a better name, especially those selling hot dogs.

Frankenstein didn't scare the living daylights out of people on the Navy Pier in late October. Instead he was riding a unicycle and jumping rope.

Iowa's John Lowdermilk (right) is brought down by Central Michigan's Jason Wilson on the final play of their game at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. Central Michigan won, 32-31. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG)

IOWA CITY — John Lowdermilk’s first on-field experience with the Iowa Hawkeyes was not a positive moment for Coach Kirk Ferentz.

Lowdermilk, Iowa’s co-first-team strong safety entering fall camp, grew up in Kensington, Ohio as the son of former Buckeyes center Kirk Lowdermilk. In 2009 he was dressed in scarlet-and-gray at Ohio Stadium when Ohio State beat Iowa 27-24 to claim the Big Ten title in a winner-take-all game. Two years later, he joined the opposite side.

“That was Vandy’s (Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg) first start,” Lowdermilk recalled this spring. “I was actually there rooting for Ohio State against Iowa in a game that went into overtime. I actually rushed the field and everything. It’s weird how things work out.”

This year Lowdermilk gets his only opportunity to play at the renowned “Horseshoe” in Columbus. The Hawkeyes travel to Ohio State on Oct. 19 (2:30 p.m. ABC) in the teams’ only scheduled meeting until at least 2016.

“It’s going to be weird because growing up I was an Ohio State fan and went to a lot of Ohio State games throughout,” said Lowdermilk, a junior. “It definitely will be pretty cool. I’ll have a lot of family there watching. It will be a weird feeling.”

Lowdermilk (6-foot-2, 203 pounds) is listed alongside fellow junior Nico Law at strong safety after spring drills. Lowdermilk played in 11 games last year for Iowa and registered six tackles. He backed up Tanner Miller at free safety and played on a majority of Iowa’s special teams. He likes the move to strong safety.

“I’m definitely getting a better feel of it,” Lowdermilk said. “The game’s slowing down, and I like the physical part of it. You’re a little closer to the line of scrimmage, not as much in pass coverage as the free. I probably like that a little bit more.”

Lowdermilk doesn’t look to his father for advice on playing his position, however. Kirk Lowdermilk played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts. He started every game in his last six seasons, 150 overall. He retired after the 1996 season.

“We talk about it, but he doesn’t really know much about defensive backs,” John Lowdermilk said with a laugh. “He thinks that if you cover a guy, you did a good job. So he talks more about just working hard and spending extra time in the film room and things like that.”

That is advice John Lowdermilk embraces every day. He’s also learning from defensive coordinator Phil Parker, who regained control over the secondary this offseason.

Parker had coached defensive backs from 1999 through 2011 before relinquishing those duties last year. Parker now coaches the secondary and uses video to break down the errors from both last season and this spring. Lowdermilk said he’s picked up a great deal from Parker.

“In spring ball during install we’ll go like how that mistake was made and in cover-2 get your shoulders turned and things like that,” Lowdermilk said. “Just so you don’t make the same mistake twice.

“We really struggled on the back end of the Michigan game. I’d say you’d have to remember it a little bit. You just can’t repeat it and make the same mistakes. We definitely remember it.”

A typical response from a player with a scarlet-and-gray pedigree to remember a bad performance against Michigan. He’ll get his chance to prove himself against both the Wolverines (Nov. 23) — and his heritage — this fall.

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Iowa's Jarrod Uthoff tries to pass around fellow Iowa teammate Darius Stokes during Prime Time League action at the North Liberty Recreation Center last July. (Justin Torner/Freelance)

The summer Prime Time League draft will be held at 6 p.m. June 16, with the women’s Game Time League draft to follow afterward.

PTL action, which will include current and former Iowa men’s basketball players among other athletes, begins at 6 p.m. June 20 at the North Liberty Recreation Center. There will be six teams this year, up from last year’s four, and game nights are Thursdays and Sundays.

LINK TO FULL SCHEDULE

At least three current Iowa players won’t compete in the , at least early on. Both guard Devyn Marble and forward Aaron White are among 29 players trying out for the U.S. national team in July’s World University Games in Russia. Forward Melsahn Basabe has returned home to Glen Cove, N.Y. for part of the summer but may come back to for a few games in July.

The PTL championship is held at 4:30 p.m. July 21.

There are five teams competing in the Game Time League, and they begin play June 19. Game nights are Mondays and Wednesdays. The championship will be held 6 p.m. July 24.

LINK TO GTL SCHEDULE

University of Iowa President Sally Mason addresses members of the media during a question and answer session Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 at the University Capitol Centre in down Iowa City, Iowa . (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa President Sally Mason said Wednesday she was “surprised” when she learned of Ohio State colleague Gordon Gee’s decision to retire at the end of this month.

Gee, 69, came under scrutiny last week when a tape from an Ohio State Athletic Council meeting last December revealed several disparaging comments about Catholics, Southern colleges and former Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema. Gee apologized to his fellow presidents, chancellors and Big Ten officials on Sunday at their spring Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors meeting. He announced his retirement on Tuesday, effective July 1.

“When we saw the comments that were made, Gordon has been apologizing, obviously, to a number of groups,” said Mason, the council’s chairwoman, before Wednesday’s Board of Regents meeting. “He came forward to make the apology to his colleagues in the Big Ten for both the inappropriateness of his comments and also for talking about the conference and the conference commissioner.”

Gee also told his athletic council that the Big Ten had made a mistake by not inviting Missouri and Kansas, admitted the league could have ambitions for other schools in the southeast and needs to become “predatory” in expansion.

When asked if Gee’s Big Ten colleagues share his sentiments toward expansion, Mason replied, “No, not really.”

“It’s unfortunate that these comments, which I believe were made in jest, were just really over the top,” she said.

Mason also used kind words to describe Gee, calling him “at heart a very gracious gentleman.”

“He does fancy himself to be very humorous and funny,” Mason said. “I actually listened to his comments. You can hear the humor in his voice. But he himself said that didn’t excuse some of the inappropriateness of some of the things that he said.

“Gordon is truly one of the icons in higher education today. He’s been a president for a long, long time at many different places. We all looked to him from time to time for wisdom and for guidance. He will be missed.”

Listen to Gee’s comments here:

Iowa's Aaron White pulls down a rebound in front of Michigan State's Adreian Payne during an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

Seven current Big Ten men’s basketball players are among 29 playing vying for a shot to represent the United States at the World University Games, played July 7-16 in Kazan, Russia.

Along with current Iowa players Devyn Marble and Aaron White, five other Big Ten athletics are among the 29 players participating in the training camp from which will take place June 24-30 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Finalists will be announced midway through the camp and the 12-player roster will be released before the team leaves for Russia on July 1.

Big Ten players include Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell and Will Sheehey, Michigan State’s Adreian Payne, Purdue’s A.J. Hammons and Minnesota’s Andre Hollins.

Payne was a second-team all-Big Ten forward last year, while Marble, White and Hollins were tabbed as third-teamers. Sheehey earned the league’s sixth-man award, while Hammons and Ferrell were tabbed to the all-freshman squad.

Other players with local connections include Creighton’s Dough McDermott, who grew up in Ames, and Stanford’s Chasson Randle, who was raised in Rock Island, Ill. Head coach is Davidson’s Bob McKillop, who is assisted by South Carolina’s Frank Martin and Michigan’s John Beilein.

Here’s the list of those trying out:

Eric Atkins   G        6-2        182        2014           Notre Dame  Columbia, Md.

Markel Brown   G        6-3        190        2014           Oklahoma State  Alexandria, La.

Deonte Burton   G        6-1        190        2014           Nevada  Los Angeles, Calif.

Quinn Cook   G        6-1        175        2015           Duke   Washington, D.C.

Bryce Cotton G        6-1        165        2014           Providence Tucson, Ariz.

Spencer Dinwiddie G        6-6        200        2015           Colorado Woodland Hills, Calif.

CJ Fair  F        6-8        215        2014           Syracuse  Baltimore, Md.

Yogi Ferrell  G        6-0        178        2016           Indiana  Indianapolis

Davante Gardner C        6-8        290        2014           Marquette  Suffolk, Va.

Treveon Graham F        6-5        215        2015           Virginia Commonwealth  Washington, D.C.

Jerian Grant G        6-5        202        2014           Notre Dame  Bowie, Md.

PJ Hairston F        6-5        220        2015           North Carolina  Greensboro, N.C.

AJ Hammons C        7-0        280        2016           Purdue  Gary, Ind.

Luke Hancock F        6-6        200        2014           Louisville  Roanoke, Va.

Joe Harris G        6-6        211        2014           Virginia  Chelan, Wash.

Tyler Haws G        6-5        200        2015           BYU  Alpine, Utah

Andre Hollins G        6-1        200        2015           Minnesota   Memphis, Tenn.

Rodney Hood F        6-8        210        2015           Duke   Meridian, Miss.

Josh Huestis F        6-7        230        2014           Stanford  Great Falls, Mont.

Cory Jefferson C        6-9        210        2015           Baylor  Killeen, Texas

Sean Kilpatrick  G        6-4        221        2014           Cincinnati   Yonkers, N.Y.

Alex Kirk   C        7-0        250        2015           New Mexico  Los Alamos, N.M.

Roy Devyn Marble    F        6-6        194        2014           Iowa  Southfield, Mich.

Doug McDermott   F        6-8        225        2014           Creighton  Ames, Iowa

Adreian Payne   F       6-10      240        2014           Michigan State  Dayton, Ohio

Chasson Randle   G        6-1        180        2015           Stanford  Rock Island, Ill.

Will Sheehey    F        6-7        200        2014           Indiana   Stuart, Fla.

Aaron White   C        6-8        218        2015           Iowa   Strongsville, Ohio

Kendall Williams   G        6-4        185        2014           New Mexico   Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Right now, Fox Sports 1 (soon known by the acronym FS1) is Speed Channel. Immediate thoughts have Iowa-Iowa State football following a trucks race. But on Aug. 17, Speed Channel relaunches as FS1. It will be a cable-sports game changer. Very quickly it will become to Fox what ESPN is to ABC, at least in the college football and basketball world.

FS1 is built in a similar vein as NBC Sports Network, which originally was christened “Outdoor Life” and then “Versus” until Comcast and NBC Universal merged in 2011. In early 2012, Versus became NBC Sports Network.

From day one Fox Sports 1 will carry a higher profile than NBC Sports Network or CBS Sports Network. Many of the sporting events the Fox family of networks airs on its regional affiliates (Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports North, etc.), will receive a national boost. FS1 already is available in 90 million homes as Speed Channel. There will be few calls to cable companies in the fall because the channel already is on the lineup.

FS1 will carry Pac-12, Big 12 and Conference USA football and men’s basketball games starting this fall. It airs Texas’ Thanksgiving night football game against Texas Tech (opposing ESPN’s Ole Miss-Mississippi State), and it will televise Oklahoma-Baylor on Nov. 7 against ESPN’s Oregon-Stanford game. The channel’s opening weekend Pac-12 football games include Utah State at Utah (Aug. 29) and Boise State at Washington (Sept. 1). It plans to air at least three football games every Saturday.

FS1 also will broadcast college basketball games on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. In 2014, it picks up Major League Baseball every Saturday plus the playoffs. In 2015 it will air NASCAR Sprint Cup races and the women’s World Cup. It owns men’s World Cup coverage in 2018 and 2022.

The network hired Canada’s top tandem of Dan O’Toole and Jay Onrait and also picked up Charissa Thompson, a former BTN reporter and ESPN personality. It has a lot of momentum right now.

The Big Ten will engage in the most lucrative television negotiation in college sports history for the 2016 football season. The league owns 49 percent of BTN and with Fox owning 51 percent, it’s possible the Big Ten could land an exclusive deal with Fox/FS1. That means cross-platform games for all three networks. Maybe it picks up a few college basketball games, too.

So, the Iowa-Iowa State game this year might seem a little out of place on FS1. But within a few years, fans might clamor for games on that channel.

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Iowa State cheerleader rallies Cyclones fans before the Pinstripe Bowl against Rutgers at Yankee Stadium on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, in Bronx, New York. (SourceMedia Group News/Jim Slosiarek)

New York has become a new haven for wayward Big Ten bowl teams.

The league inked an eight-year agreement with the Pinstripe Bowl beginning with the 2014 season and lasting through the 2021 season. The game takes place at Yankee Stadium, which will feature a Big Ten fixed sign along the first-base line and home plate rotating signage.

“The Big Ten Conference playing college football at Yankee Stadium is something I know my father would be proud to see come to fruition. He had a great passion for college football and spoke glowingly of his involvement with several of the conference’s programs,” said New York Yankees Managing Partner Hal Steinbrenner in a release. “Welcoming a national powerhouse conference like the Big Ten to participate in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl and partner with the New York Yankees for years to come only expands the prestige of our great annual bowl game in New York City.”

Rutgers' Ben Martin kisses the Pinstripe Bowl trophy after beating Iowa State at Yankee Stadium on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, in Bronx, New York. Rutgers won, 27-13. (SourceMedia Group News/Jim Slosiarek)

“Once we saw the success of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, it became obvious – especially with the Big Ten’s growing East Coast footprint – that being in the media capital of the world at one of sports’ most renowned venues was a natural pairing,” said Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany. “By agreeing to an eight-year partnership, it increases the likelihood that most of the Big Ten schools will have the opportunity to participate in the game, while giving our coaches, student-athletes, administrators and fans the opportunity to experience the nation’s biggest metropolis and an iconic setting like Yankee Stadium.”

The Pinstripe Bowl approaches its fourth season and current matches a Big 12 opponent against a Big East foe. In 2014, the Big Ten likely will face an ACC opponent.

According to a news release, the 2012 New Era Pinstripe Bowl, featuring a 38-14 Syracuse victory over West Virginia, recorded a 3.9 household coverage rating. For bowls played prior to New Year’s Day, only the Chick-fil-A Bowl (5.6 HH cvg rtg) and the Alamo Bowl (4.8 HH cvg rtg) recorded better overall ratings. After drawing a 2.5 total rating for the Iowa Stte-Rutgers game in 2011, the Pinstripe Bowl’s 56 percent ratings increase was the second-largest for all bowls on ESPN this past season through Jan. 1, 2013. Only the Armed Forces Bowl (plus-62%) topped the Pinstripe Bowl for largest increase in 2012 vs. 2011.

Two of the three previous Pinstripe Bowls were played in snowstorms. Only the 2011 game between Iowa State and Rutgers boasted a non-inclement game atmosphere.

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta addresses the fans at the New Yorker hotel during the Hawkeye Huddle before Iowa's NIT semifinal match-up against Maryland on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 in New York. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

Another week, another new sport for the Big Ten Conference.

Monday, the league announced world-renowned Johns Hopkins as an affiliate league member for men’s lacrosse beginning with the 2014-15 school year. The Big Ten now will offer men’s and women’s lacrosse, its 27th and 28th sponsored sports. It also will provide league-owned BTN more inventory in markets in which the league hopes to expand its subscriber base.

Lacrosse’s popularity among eastern schools is well-known, as demonstrated by ESPN’s consistent coverage of the sport. The Big Ten will sponsor sports once six league schools offer it.

Big Ten newcomers Rutgers and Maryland already boast national success in lacrosse, and Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State also compete in men’s lacrosse. Johns Hopkins is the most-successful men’s lacrosse program with 44 national titles. Johns Hopkins has been an independent since 1883.

Johns Hopkins will not field a women’s lacrosse team in Big Ten play. The other five schools plus Northwestern, which has won seven national titles in the last nine years, will sponsor women’s lacrosse. Michigan begins women’s play in 2014-15.

The additions bolster the league’s profile, but no public school makes money on the sport. According to numbers provided to The Gazette via the Freedom of Information Act, the five schools combined to spend nearly $9.1 million on lacrosse in fiscal year 2012. Their revenues totaled $4.54 million, but Rutgers reported earnings equaling its expenses, which doesn’t paint a true picture. The school’s ticket revenues totaled $16,150 and direct institutional support was $565,900 for that season.

The numbers show why Iowa is unlikely to add lacrosse or any other sport to its 24-sport arsenal. Lacrosse — and hockey, which the Big Ten sponsors beginning this fall — is not native to Iowa or either of the boys’ or girls’ high school governing bodies.

If Iowa was to add another sport, men’s soccer would make the most sense. A significant number of Iowa high schools play soccer so instate scholarship costs would stay modest. But that’s doubtful to happen, either, Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta told The Gazette last month.

“Men’s soccer would be a geographical good decision but then that would impact either dropping other sports or adding more sports,” Barta said. “You just don’t add one sport and call it good. The resources for that then take away from the resources … I certainly have some teams that are not yet winning championships. So until I have teams all clicking on all cylinders, it doesn’t make sense for me to water down my resources. For the teams I already have, it doesn’t seem fair.”

Iowa spent $1.05 million on women’s soccer in 2012. If Iowa was to spend the same amount for men’s soccer, it likely would need to drop another male sport based on gender equity numbers. Golf, gymnastics and tennis all spent less than $700,000 in 2012.

Now if a donor gave the school millions of dollars to sponsor a new pair of sports, such as men’s and women’s hockey or lacrosse, Barta would listen.

“If you want to create that hypothetical, if someone brought me a check for $110 million and wanted me to add a particular sport, my guess is I could figure out a way to add that sport,” Barta said.

Like all Big Ten schools but Nebraska, Johns Hopkins is a member of the Association of American Universities, a premier research consortium. There’s no word yet as to whether Johns Hopkins will join the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the Big Ten’s academic research wing. The CIC includes the league’s current 12 schools, Rutgers, Maryland and previous member Chicago.

Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany watches as the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Maryland Terrapins in the second half of their NIT semifinal Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

IOWA CITY — Ohio State President Gordon Gee opened his mouth, and the Big Ten is reeling because of it.

Gee disparaged the academic integrity of the Southeastern Conference, referenced former Wisconsin football coach (and Iowa team captain) Bret Bielema as “a thug” and referred to Notre Dame officials as “damn Catholics” in comments to his school’s athletics council last December. An audio recording was released first to the Associated Press and later obtained and aired in full on SI.com.

Damage control immediately was in full effect. Both Gee and the Big Ten offered apologies.

“The remarks made by Ohio State University President Gordon Gee were inappropriate and in no way represent the opinions of the conference,” Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said. “We have great respect for the University of Notre Dame and the SEC, and we are proud of the rich, competitive history we share with each.”

LISTEN TO GEE’S COMMENTS HERE (courtesy SI.com)

Delany personally called leadership at both Notre Dame and the SEC. While Gee’s comments were insensitive and boorish, they likely won’t leave a lasting effect on those slighted. But his words publicly contradicted the league’s one-for-all spirit and weakened Delany’s efforts to build cohesion.

Perhaps most damaging was Gee’s comments about expansion. Gee told the council the “Big Ten needs to be predatory” when adding schools. Then he added, “Very candidly, I think we made a mistake. Because we thought about adding Missouri and Kansas at the time. There was not a great deal of enthusiasm about that. I think we should have done that at the time. So we would have had Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and then moved into that other area. I think, by the way, that that can still happen.”

No college sports association has matched the Big Ten’s locked-arms togetherness. And no other official has dared to publicly question or second-guess Delany when it comes to expansion.

Ohio State President Gordon Gee

The league debuted in 1896 and has lost just one member (Chicago) since 1917, and that school remains embedded in the conference’s academic consortium. Three Big Ten additions since Chicago’s departure — Michigan State in 1953, Penn State in 1993 and Nebraska in 2011 — were celebrated by league officials, alums and fans throughout the league footprint. There was a common fit and a shared identity.

Last fall the Big Ten invited Maryland and Rutgers to increase the league’s visibility in major markets like New York, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. League officials have sought to build a foundation with those schools before they begin play in 2014.

“I think Jim did a great job with Nebraska, with Penn State and with the addition of Rutgers and Maryland of integrating us before the decisions were made,” Michigan State Athletics Director Mark Hollis said. “So we kind of felt like brothers before the relationship started. I think we have some work to do with some of the coaches.

“I think we need to continue to reach out in positive ways to make sure that top-to-bottom those schools feel connected, feel connected to Michigan State. I know their leadership does. They do have different values, and I don’t think that’s necessarily bad.”

Maryland and Rutgers have voices inside Big Ten meetings but are not allowed an official vote until July 1, 2014. They carry academic credentials as members of the Association of American Universities, a collection of research institutions of which all Big Ten schools but Nebraska belong.

The league added Maryland and Rutgers from a protectionist viewpoint. After the ACC picked up Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, Delany and other officials believed they needed to make a move or lose revenue and influence over time.

“I think the thing to look at with the Big Ten Conference is, like (MSU basketball coach) Tom Izzo says in his commercials, we’re comfortable in our own skin,” Hollis said. “We are right now. At the same time we’ll fight tooth and nail to protect our brand and protect our borders.

“While I wouldn’t call it a reactionary mode, I would call it a mode that as we continue to survey the landscape we’ll continue to advise the commissioner. He’s tremendous at this, at what we need to ensure that our revenues are in place to support broad-based programs, our exposure is there, our recruiting ability is there.

“If we feel like there’s a threat due to things that are happening in other areas, we’ll respond, we’ll step up and be proactive. Right now we’re very comfortable in our position.”

Rutgers and Maryland’s Big Ten membership belies the league’s traditional Midwestern roots. Delany wants the league to transition from a regional viewpoint to a national perspective. That only happens in Maryland and Rutgers are successful in the Eastern Corridor.

“If we can build relationships, make friends, be impactful and relevant over time, that’s the goal,” Delany said. “We’re not going to be changing the world, but we are looking forward to do everything we can to build a presence in that place.”

That mindset has worked for the Big Ten since its existence. Schools long have denied their own self-interest in favor of the league. For 20 years they resisted the urge to expand and add a lucrative football championship game. They accepted less money and visibility from ESPN in order to start their own television network. Wisconsin and Iowa conceded their longtime football rivalry to allow the league’s original divisional structure to prosper.

“I think the values of the conference really inure to the leadership and enable us to kind of check our individual interests at the door and make the decisions from a conference perspective,” Indiana Athletics Director Fred Glass said. “My understanding is that’s very unusual of a conference. My expectation is that will continue.

“Anytime you add things it’s harder to have unity and all that. I’m optimistic of unity, and I think our fans will increasingly feel that way, too.”

But unity is difficult when president of a flagship university undermines the conference leadership. With the league’s presidents meeting this weekend in Chicago, you can bet Gee’s comments will receive a dissection. Based on his sentiments, that discussion may take a while.

Jim Zabel

A Celebration of Life service for longtime Iowa athletics and WHO radio broadcaster Jim Zabel will be held at 4 p.m. June 21 at Lutheran Church of Hope, 925 Jordan Creek Pkwy in West Des Moines.  Visitation will precede the funeral service from 2-4 p.m. at the church.

The iconic broadcaster died on May 23 at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 91.

Zabel’s career at Des Moines’ WHO spanned nearly 70 years. He began his career at the prominent radio stadium after graduating with a journalism degree from Iowa in 1944. He called more than 6,000 sporting events, including the Drake Relays for 60 years, and the Iowa state boys and girls basketball tournaments for 52 years.

Zabel made his mark calling Iowa football and men’s basketball games for 49 seasons. He still worked on a WHO radio show on Sunday nights.  Zabel earned the Marconi Award as the Personality of the Year from the National Association of Broadcasters in 1993.

Memorials may be directed to the University of Iowa Foundation, 1 W. Park Road, Iowa City, IA 52242, to be divided between the Jim Zabel Scholarship Fund and Hawkeye Fund, Iowa Athletics.

Zabel is survived by his wife, Jill, his daughter, Jane Paul and husband Jeff, grandchildren Annie Gibson and her husband Brian, and A.J. and Charlie Paul, stepchildren Jennifer Greaux and husband Ken, and Jeff Williams, three great-grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, and his sister, Joan Humm.  He was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Jan, and his daughter, Diane Webster.

Jim Zabel’s greatest calls

Hawkeye Sports Properties Remembers Zabel

NCAA President Mark Emmert answers questions near Executive Committee Chairman Ed Ray during a news conference at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis July 23, 2012. REUTERS/Brent Smith

IOWA CITY — Proposed NCAA recruiting legislation last winter prompted swift, forceful and somewhat contentious responses from Big Ten officials, who feared the changes negatively would affect the future of college football.

The Gazette obtained a series of email exchanges that showed league officials were afraid the adjustments could send recruiting costs skyrocketing and create havoc for football prospects. The information was provided via an open-records request through University of Iowa President Sally Mason, who is the chair of the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors.

As part of its deregulating agenda, the NCAA announced 25 recruiting revisions in January. Three proposals, which eventually were tabled and  suspended, would have granted programs unlimited contact — including through text messaging — with athletes before their junior seasons. Another would have allowed programs to hire non-coach personnel directors for recruiting and a third would have eliminated restrictions on sending printed recruiting materials to recruits.

Less than a week after national signing day, the league’s football coaches and athletics directors issued a statement admitting there are “serious concerns” about the three rule changes and how they would impact the sport and the schools. The statement also questioned if the changes “are in the best interest of high school student-athletes, their families and their coaches.”

Several Big Ten coaches voiced their concerns publicly to the changes, including Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, who said college athletics could become like Major League Baseball where the New York Yankees “start in the inside lane every year. They’ve got the biggest payroll.”

Other Big Ten coaches shared similar concerns. In mid-February, Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer sent a text message to Northwestern counterpart Pat Fitzgerald, writing “that there are already teams that have made plans to have separate scouting depts. [sic]. there has already been nfl scouts that have been told they will be hired to run the dept. (hired for over 200k). I checked with an NFL friend and he confirmed that there was much conversation about this. Appealing to scouts because of no travel. Also, there has been movement to hire Frmr players/coaches with big names to work in that dept. and recruit full time. This will all happen immediately once rule is passed. Thought u should be aware if [sic] this nonsense to share with who u feel can assist.”

Meyer’s text was circulated among Big Ten presidents and officials on Feb. 14. The email also included a scholarship offer of a freshman running back, which prompted Fitzgerald to write “This is what’s wrong with recruiting.”

Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany watches as the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Maryland Terrapins in the second half of their NIT semifinal Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

The legislation ignited an email chain among league presidents, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and NCAA President Mark Emmert. Delany wrote Emmert on Feb. 14 apologizing for not calling him before the league’s Feb. 11 release but hoped the NCAA would delay the rules’ implementation or risk presidents overriding the legislation. Delany wrote that he wanted to maintain the NCAA’s reform deregulation agenda but feared the rules would result in “another level of staffing” for football programs.

Emmert retorted that the proposals were vetted for months by the NCAA’s membership committee with opposition from only Rice University, “who I don’t believe is a mainstream D1 school,” Emmert wrote.

“If now the membership doesn’t want some of these changes, fine by me,” Emmert wrote. “But to be honest, I don’t know how the membership wants to make decisions. The process used to make these changes was as open, representative and democratic and I could imagine — other than the old town hall convention model I suppose.” Emmert also mentioned Big Ten staff worked on the group. Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon chairs the NCAA executive committee.

Delany passed along his exchange with Emmert to six Big Ten presidents. Delany wrote that administrators understand the need for simpler rules, but added “I’m not sure anyone has an appreciation of the compulsions, competitiveness and energy that underlies that pursuit of a 16 year old recruit by an assistant coach at our institutions. This process of pursuing athletic talent nationally and globally is something we have never found even a half way healthy way of managing/regulating. This continues to be the case.”

Simon initially was furious with the league’s about-face on the legislation. In a pointed email, Simon asked why the coaches and athletics directors weren’t engaged “during this lengthy process?” She added, “I find it interesting that I was advised by the conference to vote for these rules being assured that they had been discussed within the conference and we were involved in the committee process.”

She adds, “I must admit after all of our integrity and power coach discussions, I found the press release — the tone, the method and lack of conversation with Mark (Emmert) or me prior to release — very disturbing.”

Delany responded 33 minutes later, saying proposals were vetted among campus officials. But, “These issues somehow did not get vetted on campus during football season or if they did minds were other places. With respect to tone I think the tone was quite responsible and the concerns were narrowly drawn.”

League officials met support nationally. Big Ten associate commissioner of governance, Jennifer Heppel, wrote on Feb. 15 that the other power conferences “are on the same page” regarding the proposals. Within a week, Emmert supported delaying the proposals after initially writing he’d let the override process take place.

“So, despite the cartwheels that we’ve been through in the last 10 days, we have reached the solution we initially requested,” Heppel wrote.

Simon: “Given where we are, this is the right course of action. Mark (Emmert) is doing the right thing upon reflection and nudging.”

On May 2, the Division I board of directors formally suspended the three football proposals. All football recruiting concepts now will be examined by a new NCAA rules working group.

“I think that’s a good thing,” Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta told The Gazette.

I’m biased but, damn, I work with the best sports photographers in the Midwest.

The Gazette staffers Brian Ray, Cliff Jette, Jim Slosiarek and Liz Martin are as talented as anyone out there. They’re mainstays at Iowa sporting events, from games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and Kinnick Stadium to championship-level performances in New York and Miami.

The Gazette photographer Cliff Jette (right) in action at Kinnick Stadium.

Our sports department loves to display their work on our blogs. That’s one of the many pluses of new media, that we can showcase 30-plus photos an hour after a football game. We appreciate all that they do.

Simply, they’re the best and they deserve a bow.

Brian (or B-Ray as he’s known) put together a slideshow of his favorite Iowa football photos over the years. Some of his images include top moments, like Adrian Clayborn’s blocked punt in 2009 at Penn State, or indelible memories, like Drew Tate throwing a pass without his helmet at Michigan. There are shots of Hayden Fry in his final game and Kirk Ferentz with a Gatorade shower.

We still have 90 or so days left until the start of football season so if you’re needing a fix, sit back and enjoy the slideshow.

The Gazette photograhers Brian Ray, Liz Martin and Jim Slosiarek after Iowa's 24-14 win against Georgia Tech in the 2010 Orange Bowl.

Iowa quarterback Drew Tate (5) evades a tackle by Marcus Spears (84) 0f LSU during the third quarter the Capital One Bowl at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday January 1, 2005. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

Beginning with the 2014 season, a four-team national playoff will replace the Bowl Championship Series. The College Football Playoff will consist of four teams playing in semifinal action, and eight more competing in high-caliber bowls. A committee will determine the selections and the slotting.

When considering this new era, it’s easy to wonder what if this new playoff structure was enacted instead of the BCS for the 1998 season? Also, what if six primary bowls always were the norm instead of four (1998-2005) or five (2006-present)?

So looking back through the BCS era, I put together each season’s likely playoff field plus the four other bowls. I used the current rotation (Rose and Sugar will host the 2014 season’s semifinals) and stuck with the current parameters. That means the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, SEC and Pac-12 champions automatically qualify. Also, when the Rose and Sugar are not semifinals, those bowls automatically pick up the current contracted match-ups (Big Ten vs. Pac-12 and SEC vs. Big 12).

On non-semifinal years the Orange Bowl receives the ACC champion, and it faces either the SEC, Big Ten or Notre Dame. Additionally, at least one other conference must be represented (the former Big East counts in this hypothetical).

So here’s how it would work with each season’s BCS rankings as a guideline. But, again, the selection committee will overrule any rankings. Plus, travel and tradition do not count, unlike in past selections. Also don’t weigh that season’s bowl results in making the match-ups. These games are based before the bowls take place. (* means automatic qualifier)

2012

Orange (semifinal): 1. Notre Dame vs. 3. Florida*

Cotton (semifinal): 2. Alabama* vs. 6. Stanford*

Rose: Wisconsin* vs. 4. Oregon

Sugar: 7. Georgia vs. 5. Kansas State*

Peach: 12. Florida State vs. 15. Northern Illinois*

Fiesta: 11. Oklahoma vs. 9. Texas A&M

Breakdown: As Pac-12 champion and winner of their head-to-head match-up, Stanford trumps Oregon. Stanford ultimately is considered a better choice than Kansas State for final slot. Alabama and Florida split to avoid Notre Dame-Stanford rematch. Despite a head-to-head loss, late-charging Texas A&M trumps LSU for Fiesta slot. Committee opts for Oklahoma over SEC teams LSU and South Carolina.

2011

Rose (semifinal): 2. Alabama vs. 5. Oregon*

Sugar (semifinal): 1. LSU* vs. 3. Oklahoma State*

Orange: 15. Clemson* vs. 13. Michigan

Cotton: 6. Arkansas vs. 10. Wisconsin*

Fiesta: 4. Stanford vs. 7. Boise State*

Peach: 8. Kansas State vs. 9. South Carolina

Breakdown: Oregon trumps Stanford with head-to-head win and conference title. Committee splits LSU-Oregon to avoid rematch. Michigan’s strong end of regular season earns bid over 12th-ranked Virginia Tech.

2010

Peach (semifinal): 1. Auburn* vs. 5. Wisconsin*

Fiesta (semifinal): 2. Oregon* vs. 3. TCU*

Rose: 9. Michigan State vs. 4. Stanford

Sugar: 7. Oklahoma* vs. 8. Arkansas

Orange: 11. LSU vs. 13. Virginia Tech*

Cotton: 6. Ohio State vs. 10. Boise State

Breakdown: On basis of conference title and one fewer loss, co-Big Ten champion Wisconsin jumps over at-large Stanford.

2009

Orange (semifinal): 1. Alabama* vs. 3. Cincinnati*

Cotton (semifinal): 2. Texas* vs. 4. TCU

Rose: 7. Oregon* vs. 8. Ohio State*

Sugar: 5. Florida vs. 22. Nebraska

Fiesta: 6. Boise State vs. 10. Iowa

Peach: 9. Georgia Tech* vs. 13. Penn State

Breakdown: TCU and Cincinnati flip spots to provide geographical semifinal. Committee considers Nebraska better than Oklahoma State for Big 12′s Sugar Bowl slot. Penn State jumps LSU and Virginia Tech based on human poll rankings.

2008

Rose (semifinal): 1. Oklahoma* vs. 5. USC*

Sugar (semifinal): 2. Florida* vs. 3. Texas

Orange: 10. Ohio State vs. 19. Virginia Tech*

Cotton: 6. Utah* vs. 7. Texas Tech

Fiesta: 8. Penn State* vs. 11. TCU

Peach: 4. Alabama vs. 9. Boise State

Breakdown: USC edges Alabama for final slot based on USC’s Pac-10 title and Alabama’s convincing loss in SEC title game.

2007

Fiesta (semifinal): 1. Ohio State* vs. 4. Oklahoma*

Peach (semifinal): 2. LSU* vs. 3. Virginia Tech*

Rose: 13. Illinois vs. 7. USC*

Sugar: 5. Georgia vs. 6. Missouri

Orange: 14. Boston College vs. 12. Florida

Cotton: 8. Kansas vs. 9. West Virginia*

Breakdown: A hot mess of a season breaks down rather easily in a four-team playoff. Boston College and Florida fill the ACC’s and SEC’s respective Orange slots, and Illinois takes Big Ten’s Rose bid. The pre-arranged bowl deals push those teams past 10th-ranked Hawaii.

2006

Cotton (semifinal): 1. Ohio State* vs. 5. USC*

Orange (semifinal): 2. Florida* vs. 3. Michigan

Rose: 6. Wisconsin vs. 18. California

Sugar: 4. LSU vs. 10. Oklahoma*

Fiesta: 8. Boise State vs. 9. Auburn

Peach: 6. Louisville* vs. 14. Wake Forest*

Breakdown: USC’s Pac-10 title trumps LSU’s runner-up SEC West finish. No. 11 Notre Dame left out based on criteria (never would happen under any other system).

2005

Rose (semifinal): 1. USC* vs. 3. Penn State*

Sugar (semifinal): 2. Texas* vs. 4. Ohio State

Orange: 8. Miami* vs. 6. Notre Dame

Cotton: 9. Auburn vs. 11. Virginia Tech

Fiesta: 5. Oregon vs. 12. LSU

Peach: 7. Georgia* vs. 11. West Virginia*

Breakdown: Penn State and Ohio State flip to schedule traditional Pac-10/Big Ten match-up of champions. Pretty much a straight-forward postseason alignment except for no SEC team (seriously) in the semifinals.

2004

Fiesta (semifinal): 1. USC* vs. 3. Auburn*

Peach (semifinal): 2. Oklahoma* vs. 5. California

Rose: 13. Michigan* vs. 19. Arizona State

Sugar: 4. Texas vs. 7. Georgia

Orange: 8. Virginia Tech* vs. 12. Iowa

Cotton: 6. Utah* vs. 11. LSU

Breakdown: Committee would overrule late-season poll jump by Texas over California for final semifinal slot. California would face Oklahoma to avoid rematch with USC. Two-loss Iowa and LSU considered stronger at-large teams than one-loss Louisville (No. 10) and Boise State (No. 11).

2003

Cotton (semifinal): 1. Oklahoma* vs. 4. Michigan*

Orange (semifinal): 2. LSU* vs. 3. USC*

Rose: 5. Ohio State vs. 16. Washington State

Sugar: 6. Texas vs. 8. Tennessee

Fiesta: 9. Miami* vs. 10. Kansas State

Peach: 7. Florida State* vs. 12. Georgia

Breakdown: A disaster of a BCS season that resulted in a split title would have a clean-cut semifinal field. SEC East Division champion Georgia edges 13th-ranked Iowa and 11th-ranked Miami (Ohio).

2002

Sugar (semifinal): 1. Miami* vs. 3. Georgia*

Rose (semifinal): 2. Ohio State* vs. 5. Iowa

Peach: 8. Kansas State* vs. 11. Michigan

Cotton: 6. Washington State* vs. 10. Texas

Orange: 14. Florida State* vs. 9. Notre Dame

Fiesta: 4. USC vs. 7. Oklahoma

Breakdown: Iowa outranks USC in both human polls, boasts unbeaten Big Ten season and has one fewer loss. Committee pushes Ohio State-Iowa match-up in Rose Bowl because teams didn’t meet in regular season.

2001

Peach (semifinal): 1. Miami* vs. 3. Colorado*

Fiesta (semifinal): 2. Nebraska vs. 4. Oregon*

Rose: 8. Illinois* vs. 9. Stanford

Sugar: 11. Oklahoma vs. 13. LSU*

Orange: 10. Maryland* vs. 5. Florida

Cotton: 6. Tennessee vs. 7. Texas

Breakdown: Colorado and Oregon flip to avoid Colorado-Nebraska rematch. Stout year for the Big 12, which had four selections.

2000

Cotton (semifinal): 1. Oklahoma* vs. 3. Miami*

Orange (semifinal): 2. Florida State* vs. 4. Washington*

Rose: Purdue* vs. 6. Oregon State

Sugar: 7. Florida* vs. 8. Nebraska

Fiesta: 9. Kansas State vs. 10. Oregon

Peach: 5. Virginia Tech vs. 11. Notre Dame

Breakdown: Miami and Washington flip to avoid Florida State- Miami non-conference rematch. It’s shocking to see the SEC and Big Ten each land just one qualifier.

1999

Rose (semifinal): 2. Virginia Tech* vs. 3. Nebraska*

Sugar (semifinal): 1. Florida State* vs. 4. Alabama*

Orange: Georgia Tech vs. 8. Michigan

Cotton: 5. Tennessee vs. 6. Kansas State

Peach: 9. Michigan State vs. 10. Florida

Fiesta: Stanford* vs. 7. Wisconsin*

Breakdown: There was no year as simple to put together as this one. Even the original Florida State-Virginia Tech match-up fit nicely.

1998

Peach (semifinal): 1. Tennessee* vs. 4. Ohio State

Fiesta (semifinal): 2. Florida State* vs. 3. Kansas State

Rose: 5. UCLA* vs. 9. Wisconsin*

Sugar: 6. Texas A&M* vs. 8. Florida

Orange: 12. Virginia vs. 10. Tulane*

Cotton: 11. Nebraska vs. 7. Arizona

Breakdown: Unbeaten Conference USA champion Tulane knocks out 15th-ranked Big East champion Syracuse. Two at-large teams outrank their conference champions for semifinal field.

Iowa's Travis Meade (61) dumps a bucket of Gatorade on Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz during the closing moments of their Orange Bowl victory over Georgia Tech on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 at Land Shark Stadium in Miami, Fla. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

IOWA CITY — For a sport that modifies its postseason at a glacial pace, college football’s changes will feel like an avalanche next year.

The much-despised Bowl Championship Series, which gave the sport a true No. 1 versus No. 2 match-up and a heck of a lot controversy, will exit after January. In its place comes the College Football Playoff, which will pit the nation’s top four teams in semifinal games within two bowls. The winners then will advance to a title game staged outside the bowl structure.

The College Football Playoff is set for 12 years and comprise six bowls: Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta and Peach. Each bowl will host a semifinal four times, and a traditional high-profile bowl match-up the other eight years All six bowls will appear on ESPN.

Playoff participants will receive $6 million, while the other eight bowl squads will receive $4 million. There is no additional payment for advancing to the title game, and the payout formula to the leagues is nearly determined, executive director Bill Hancock told The Gazette this week.

A committee consisting of 14-20 members will select the four teams participating in the playoff and choose the four other bowl match-ups. But there are more questions than answers right now about the committee.

Bill Hancock, executive director of College Football Playoff

“We don’t feel any rush to either come up with a protocol or certainly the numbers since we’re a year away from having that group have to begin its work,” Hancock said. “The questions are, how many people are on a committee, and obviously then what generally who would they be? Not even specifically who would they be, but generally who would they be?

“The questions are would they be some mix of current administrators, probably athletics directors and other people who know the game well and if it is, then what’s the ratio? Then after that, the questions to be decided, is what’s the protocol? What’s their voting processes, how often do they meet, would they announce rankings during the year? Those are the most significant questions that are still to be answered.”

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told The Gazette and other reporters this month the panel’s reputation and integrity must be beyond reproach. A trained eye test is vital and a committee member “can’t be a Congressman” with provincial bias.

“You need a core group of people who know what they’re watching and a core group of people whose reputation speaks for itself,” Delany said.

“If you don’t have that, you don’t have anything.”

Ohio State Athletics Director Gene Smith publicly nominated Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez as a jurist. Former coaches Tom Osborne and R.C. Slocum also have been mentioned as possible panelists. Each conference likely will have a representative.

Because of the passion involved with the regionally based sport, omitting any team from the playoff field will be controversial. Hancock joked members won’t need witness protection afterward, but media and fans will dissect the choices for nearly a month until the semifinals begin.

“There’s going to be intense scrutiny,” Delany said. “Everybody knows that. It’s probably overstated a little bit.”

“Whoever it is, get that flak jacket ready,” Smith said. “This is not going to be a panacea, guys. We all know, one and two, there might be clarity. But three, four, five and six, it’s going to be the same old debate we always had.”

Here are some other facts about upcoming College Football Playoff:

WHO’S IN: A selection committee will determine the full, 12-team roster of semifinalists (four) and bowl teams (eight), consisting of at least the champions of the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, SEC and Pac-12 conferences and the highest-ranked champion from the other five leagues (American, MAC, Sun Belt, Mountain West, Conference USA). The committee will select the other six teams based on criteria.

The bowls no longer get a choice for at-large teams. Travel parties, geography or television prominence have no bearing on the selection process.

“Television will not have anything to say about that,” Hancock said. “As slots are open, the committee will decide what teams go to those games. Of course that’s a significant change over the BCS. The bowls have agreed to participate with the understanding that their teams will be assigned by the committee.”

The selection committee does have the option to slot match-ups based on regional emphasis. For instance, if Texas is considered an at-large team and the Cotton Bowl has an open slot, the Longhorns might fit better in Dallas than in Miami. Likewise, the committee will try to avoid scheduling rematches.

“I’ve said all along that college football is one of the few sports where every game is important,” Alvarez said. “Every game counts.”

Several Washington defenders converge near Iowa quarterback Matt Rodgers at the 1991 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. (Chris Stewart/The Gazette)

WHO’S PLAYING WHERE: The Rose Bowl will continue its traditional Big Ten-Pac-12 match-up the eight seasons it doesn’t host a semifinal. The Sugar Bowl will host SEC and Big 12 representatives the eight years it doesn’t host a semifinal. The Orange Bowl hosts the ACC champion in its eight non-playoff years. The Orange Bowl also worked out a deal with the SEC (at least three picks), Big Ten (at least three picks) and Notre Dame (maximum of two picks) as the ACC’s opponent the other eight years.

If the champions of those five conferences cannot compete in their contracted bowl because it is hosting a semifinal, they automatically qualify for another available bowl (Cotton, Fiesta, Peach). However if a league champion earns a semifinal spot, only a previous arrangement would guarantee another league team (Big Ten at the Rose or Orange bowls) a major bowl slot.

“Now the teams will be decided just on football for the games that are not semifinals or not contracted,” Hancock said.

But no longer are there restrictions on the number of teams from a conference. Currently only two teams per league are allowed to compete in the BCS.

TIMES/DATES: The Rose and Sugar bowls will air on Jan. 1 (or Jan. 2 if Jan. 1 falls on a Sunday). It doesn’t matter if either hosts a semifinal (years 1, 4, 7, 10) or a traditional bowl match-up. The Rose will stay at 4 p.m., while the Sugar Bowl will start afterward.

“All of them obviously have long traditions,” Hancock said. “It was just something that the conferences negotiated.”

The other bowls will rotate between Dec. 31 and the first time slot on Jan. 1.  Semifinal games outside of the Rose or Sugar bowls will run in the second and third time slot on Dec. 31.

OTHER BOWLS: Hancock said multiple bowls were considered the final three playoff slots after the Rose, Sugar and Orange. The Cotton and Fiesta bowls have steep traditions, and the Peach also is well-known.

“There were others in the hunt, but at the end of the day those three were clearly the choices,” Hancock said.

An industry source told The Gazette it’s likely other bowls likely will air on ABC or ESPN2 concurrently with the first games on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 but not against the late afternoon games on those dates. The Capital One Bowl, for instance, has been played in early afternoon on Jan. 1 every year since 1987.

SPONSORSHIP: “College Football Playoff” will not have a title sponsor, but the bowls and the telecast will remained sponsored.

“ESPN will say, ‘This national championship game brought to you by Company X,’” Hancock said. “As for as a title for the playoff itself, we just think the event is such of an iconic nature that it doesn’t need a title. It’s in the club with The Masters and the Final Four and the Super Bowl that just doesn’t need a title sponsor.”

The semifinals also will be considered bowl games. That means the full bowl experience, including gifts.

PAYOUTS: $6 million to the semifinalists, $4 million to the other bowl teams. The championship qualifiers will not receive extra money. The rest of the revenue is distributed to the conference via a formula yet to be finalized.

SCHEDULE: The semifinal rotation is set through 2026. Here’s the schedule for the first three seasons (times not finalized):

• 2014: Dec. 31 — Peach, Fiesta, Orange; Jan. 1 — Cotton, Rose (semifinal), Sugar (semifinal)
• 2015: Dec. 31 — Peach, Cotton (semifinal), Orange (semifinal); Jan. 1 — Fiesta, Rose, Sugar
• 2016: Dec. 31 — Orange, Peach (semifinal), Fiesta (semifinal); Jan. 2 — Cotton, Rose, Sugar

Iowa wide receiver Keenan Davis hauls in a pass in front of Michigan State cornerback Darqueze Dennard during the second half at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich., on Saturday, October 13, 2012. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

Iowa football will play at least three games this fall on ABC, according to a school news release.

ABC will broadcast a pair of Iowa road games — at Minnesota (Sept. 28) and Ohio State (Oct. 19). Both games are slated to kick off at 2:30 p.m.

Iowa’s last two trips to Minnesota began at 2:30 p.m., and Iowa lost both by a combined four points. Iowa’s last game at Ohio State in 2009 also aired at 2:30 p.m., and the Hawkeyes lost 27-24 in overtime.

The Hawkeyes’ annual Black Friday game (Nov. 29) against Nebraska will air on ABC for the third straight season.Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. Nebraska has won both meetings.

Iowa’s homecoming game against Michigan State (Oct. 5) will start at 11 a.m. The broadcast network has not been determined.

UNI Coach Rick Heller (14) shakes hands with Iowa Coach Jack Dahm following the Corridor Classic Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. UNI, which dropped baseball after that season, won the game 9- 3. Dahm was dismissed as coach on Thursday. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

IOWA CITY — Iowa baseball hasn’t finished atop the Big Ten regular-season standings since 1990, and the Hawkeyes are tied with Northwestern for the lowest winning percentage in league tournament history.

Every Big Ten baseball program but Northwestern boasts a newer stadium than Iowa’s Duane Banks Field. Every Big Ten public-school baseball coach made more money than former coach Jack Dahm in 2012.

Iowa’s baseball tradition is as unforgiving as the recent spring, which kept the program from practicing outside all but five times this season. Just twice since 1996, the Hawkeyes have earned winning seasons. Their revenues were the second-lowest among the Big Ten public schools in 2012, and Iowa’s expenses were third from the bottom, according to public records disclosed to The Gazette through the Freedom of Information Act.

Dahm was released as Iowa’s coach Thursday, and the Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta will conduct a national search for his replacement. While Dahm won less than 44 percent in 10 seasons, there are many reasons for the program’s lack of success, such as facilities.

Baseball fans gather at Duane Banks Stadium in Iowa City to watch the Hawkeyes take on Purdue on Thursday, May 17, 2012. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG)

“From an arms race, from a facilities standpoint, every program has built a brand-new stadium or done major renovations to their stadium except for us and Northwestern,” said Dahm, whose contract was not renewed for next season.

“Iowa’s made a ton of progress with facilities. However the No. 1 thing with baseball/softball is you need to be able to hit at any time. It just hasn’t gotten done here.”

In inclement weather, especially this March and April, the baseball program had nowhere to go. Multiple sports now use the new indoor football facility but football program claims precedence during spring practice. There are four batting cages inside the building, but baseball often was shut out.

“Not many Division I baseball programs don’t have indoor batting cages that they can use at any time,” Dahm said.

Duane Banks Field was built in 1974, and the surface was replaced in 2010. Lights were added in 2002, but most improvements have been cosmetic. Since 2002, seven Big Ten baseball programs have either new or refurbished stadiums costing a minimum of $4 million. Ohio State’s $4.7 million stadium was built in 1996 (and renovated in 2011), and Illinois’ 1988 stadium twice has seen major upgrades.

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta plans to close the gap between Iowa and its Big Ten competitors. In 2015, a $15 million indoor multipurpose facility with FieldTurf will open near the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. The university’s band will use the building in the fall, and both the baseball and softball teams will have access in the winter and spring.

Barta will unveil a strategic plan this fall with plans to build an Olympic sports village on the west campus. It’s likely to have new stadiums for Iowa’s baseball, softball and track teams.

“It’s the chicken and the egg discussion,” Barta said. “We’ll be talking to people about it. But at this point we don’t have the funding for it. So it’s not something that’s imminent in the next couple of years, but it’s something that certainly we’re thinking about over the next 5-10 years.”

But Barta believes the baseball program’s current facilities are good enough to compete among the Big Ten’s best right now.

“I certainly don’t think we’re positioned to be in the College World Series on an annual basis,” Barta said. “But being in the top half of the Big Ten is something that I know we should expect and missing it once in a while might be OK. If we’re in the top half of the Big Ten, and we’re in the tournament every year, it gives us a chance when everything comes together to compete for a championship.”

Until, then Barta wants the new coach to generate interest. Iowa boasts the state’s only Division I baseball program, and said “it’s a good environment” for the sport to succeed.

“We need Duane Banks Field to be alive again,” Barta said. “There’s been some apathy, and that’s all of our responsibility, not just the head coach’s. When you take all of that into account, what we need to be competitive, we certainly want to raise the bar to shoot even higher; that’s where we’re at. I’m very confident we can compete with what we have right now and keep working at adding to that.”

Iowa Coach Jack Dahm (center) high-fives Iowa sophomore Anthony Torres as he steps off the field after an inning during a baseball game against Michigan State at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City on May 12, 2013. (Kaitlyn Bernauer/Gazette-KCRG9)

IOWA CITY — The bottom line for Jack Dahm was the bottom line.

After compiling a 235-302 record over 10 years, Dahm will not return next year as Iowa’s baseball coach. He compiled just two winning seasons in his tenure — 31-23 (2007) and 30-28 (2010) — finished 22-27 this season.

“The bottom line is (athletics director) Gary (Barta) wants everybody to win,” Dahm told The Gazette. “The No. 1 emphasis is winning. He told that to the coaches, we need to win. Iowa baseball did not win enough under my direction, and I think Gary’s making a statement there.”

Dahm reached the Big Ten Tournament just three times in his career and the last trip was in 2010, where the Hawkeyes finished second. On the heels of a 23-27 record in 2012, he received a one-year contract for the 2013 season.

“They were very up front with me last year when I met with (associate athletics director) Fred (Mims) and Gary that they wanted to see some progress,” Dahm said. “That’s why they only did the one-year deal.

“It doesn’t surprise me. I knew a couple of weeks ago, I could tell. I can read people pretty well and I could tell two weeks ago when I met with Gary that it was a done deal.”

Iowa struggled to improve this year, coping with injuries to top players and rarely practicing outside in the rough weather this spring.

Barta met multiple times with Dahm this spring, but said he didn’t make the final decision until Wednesday. He described Dahm as a “first-class ambassador” for baseball, but a change was needed to revive the program.

“We’ve been talking the last couple of years about the need to win more games,” Barta said. “That’s been an ongoing conversation the last couple of years. But looking over the whole body of work over 10 years, needing to be more consistent. Needing to be in the top half of the Big Ten on a more consistent basis.

“I just happened to be watching the Big Ten Network today and the tournament up at Target Field. We’ve been left out the last three years. Just looking at the total body of work over 10 years and where I’d like our program to be, and I just decided it’s time for a change.”

Former Iowa baseball coach Jack Dahm. (Julie Koehn/The Gazette)

IOWA CITY — After leading the Iowa baseball program for the last decade, Jack Dahm is out as coach.

Dahm, whose contract was not renewed, compiled a 235-302 record over a 10-year period. He had two winning seasons in his tenure: 31-23 (2007) and 30-28 (2010).

“Jack has been a first-class ambassador for the University of Iowa the past 10 years,” Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the mentorship and leadership he showed his student-athletes every day.”

Iowa finished eighth in the Big Ten with a 22-27 overall record and was 10-14 in league play. The Hawkeyes qualified for the Big Ten Tournament three times under Dahm and finished second in 2010.

The search for a new head coach will be national and begin immediately, according to a new release.

“Hawkeye baseball has a rich history and tradition,” Barta said in his statement. “We will look for someone who has demonstrated success competitively and academically, and someone who fits the culture at the University of Iowa.”

Last week Barta told The Gazette he wouldn’t speculate about Dahm’s future until after the season. The Hawkeyes finished the year with a three-game sweep of Purdue on Saturday.

“Anytime, any of our programs isn’t in the top half or competing for championships I have concern,” Barta said last week in Chicago.

This is part two of the podcast, which details the best defensive players of the Ferentz era. Part one can be found here.

To listen to this podcast, click on the below icon, download it at iTunes by clicking here or at Stitcher Radio by clicking here.

This is part one of the podcast, which details the best offensive players of the Ferentz era. Part two can be found here.

To listen to this podcast, click on the below icon, download it at iTunes by clicking here or at Stitcher Radio by clicking here.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany watches as the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Maryland Terrapins in the second half of their NIT semifinal Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

The Big Ten’s 2015 football schedule will feature the same match-ups as the 2014 version, but the sites will flip, Big Ten senior associate commissioner Mark Rudner confirmed this week. That means Iowa’s four home league games in 2015 are Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota and Maryland. Iowa will play Wisconsin, Nebraska, Indiana and Northwestern on the road.

It will mark the first time in eight years Illinois will play Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa hasn’t faced Wisconsin in Madison since 2009. And playing Minnesota at home ends a streak where the Gophers played host to the Hawkeyes four times over a five-year period.

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The Big Ten also won’t begin its charge of allowing each football player to play every school in the league at least once in his career until 2016. That’s when the league shifts to a nine-game schedule.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told reporters, including myself, that the league will plans to implement parity-based scheduling for non-divisional games, where the best historical teams will face the others more often. That certainly didn’t happen in 2014-15, when the only crossover games with even modest appeal is Nebraska-Michigan State and Michigan-Northwestern.

That means in 2016, the first year of its probable eye-popping television contract, some of the made-for-TV non-divisional match-ups could include Nebraska-Ohio State, Wisconsin-Michigan, Iowa-Penn State, Northwestern-Michigan State or some variation of those games. Plus you throw in the regular assortment of solid divisional games, the inventory will be rich for the league’s next television partner.

Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder during a practice session at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, March 23, 2013, in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes will face Miami in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship on Sunday. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG)

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In women’s basketball, the league will stick to 16 games even with the addition of Rutgers and Maryland. Each team will play three opponents twice and 10 opponents just once. Iowa women’s coach Lisa Bluder said the league is discussing permanent opponents to help protect rivalries, but it’s unclear which school would be considered Iowa’s geographical rival. Nebraska is the likely choice, but rivalries in women’s basketball are somewhat nebulous.

Bluder said right now Purdue and Ohio State are Iowa’s primary rivals. But that could change based on a game, recruiting battle or coaching match-up. Both Maryland (with Cedar Rapids native Brenda Frese as coach) and Rutgers (with former Iowa coach C. Vivian Stringer) offer intriguing plots when they face Iowa beginning in 2014-15.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz (left) talks with Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald talk before the game at Ryan Field on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010, in Evanston, Ill. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz is making the rounds on the annual I-Club circuit, and his message is a little different this year.

Ferentz never gives a whiff of complacency when speaking publicly, whether it’s coming off an 11-2 Orange Bowl season or an rock-bottom 4-8 campaign. But his message this year is a combination of positivity and a mea culpa to Iowa fans Tuesday night at the Thunder Hills Country Club in Peosta.

Before his speech, Ferentz answered questions about his quarterbacks, the divisional alignment and defense. When I asked him if last year felt differently knowing there was no bowl game in store, Ferentz said, “First of all, winter break took forever. I don’t think it’s typically five weeks, but it was this year. Five seemed like 15. So, a lot of games to watch, and you really didn’t feel like watching them. It was a little bit different that way.”

Ferentz spoke to a filled room for 15 minutes, and about half of which was dedicated to football. He called the Northwestern loss “representative” and how the team has responded this offseason to the 4-8 debacle. Although it would have been easy to spin the almosts — recover an onside kick against Central Michigan, make a fourth-and-3 against Purdue — he never did.

Here’s the football portion of his speech Tuesday night. The I-Club circuit ends this week.

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“Just in a word last year was disappointing. It was disappointing for our fan base, more so disappointing for the players and coaches and everybody that works so hard on a day-to-day basis. We found ourselves, after that last game, in a meeting in the middle of the next week, and we knew we weren’t going to a bowl game. We weren’t going to get the opportunity to go to a state like Florida or Arizona, stay in a real nice hotel and get gifts and all that stuff that goes with bowl games. Most importantly was the chance to be together as a team for another month and really go out and compete against an outstanding team. And that’s what we were facing with back at the end of November.

“It was a little bit like ’07 in that regard but unlike ’07, we were 4-8 last year. There really was no way to sugar-coat things. When you’re 6-6, you can say, ‘A play here, a play there,’ but that really was never the case last year. We were 4-8 and the stark reality is we’ve got a lot of work to do. I think that’s really, kind of what we put our focus on.

“At one point we were 4-2 last year. The first two Big Ten games went well. Certainly a good win against Minnesota at home and a really good win against a tough Michigan State team on the road. And then after that, there really wasn’t much to be pleased about. If you look back at the old axiom about more games being lost than won, I think that really fit our team. If you look at our eight losses, two games were non-compete games where we never really gave ourselves any chance at all to get started to be competitive in those games. They got away from us, certainly early, and they were both against opponents that we’ve had success with in recent years.That’s one category.

Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter (center) runs from Iowa linebacker Christian Kirksey (left) during the second half of their NCAA game at Ryan Field on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Evanston, Ill. Northwestern won, 28-17. (SourceMedia Group News/Jim Slosiarek)

“We had five other games that we lost by three points. In those five games, if you go back and probably take a play here, a play there, and what have you. But I think our most representative loss we had was to Northwestern (28-17). That ballgame was more than double digits, or at least double digits I should say. I think you go back and look at that game, it was two evenly matched teams, at least in my mind, two evenly matched teams. I think you could pick out six, seven, eight plays in there that could have made a difference, would have made a difference, but we didn’t get the job done. To me they’re a team, they went on and won 10 games last year. Their losses were very competitive and simply because they did a good job of their execution and then on the other side of the coin, we didn’t.

“To me that one was probably the most representative. We went on for four wins, they went to 10. Therein lies the difference. That really is the challenge I think that’s in front of our football team as we move forward.

“It’s a little bit interesting. We went through this after the ’07 season. And in 08-09, we came back and had really good years. I think about Bruce Nelson, one of our early walk-on players, a four-year starter for us. He was an honorary captain earlier this year. He said two things that really stuck out to me to our football team. He said the first thing is, ‘This is what I don’t miss,’ he was talking about practice. He said, ‘You know, I don’t miss that hard work, all the tough things that go into it.’ But he says, ‘Really, this is where the work gets done.’ The other thing he says is, ‘When you go through tough times and adversity, you find out who’s who and what’s what. Both internally and externally.’ I think his two points were a lot of wisdom in both of those things.

“What we’ve tried to do is focus on the work that has to be done. But I can’t say enough about the way our guys have responded. The guys have worked hard throughout the winter period, they did a good job over the break. It was an unusually long break and they came back in January ready to go. They continued to work really hard, including spring practice.

“As we stand here right now, the guys are on break. All of our students are on break right now. We finished up, I think, on a real good way this spring. We have a lot questions to be answered, obviously. The quarterback position is paramount, the receiver position, we’ve got room for people to step up. Defensive end. Those are probably the three things on our list right now. But a lot of other areas, too, that are going on. But I think the main thing is, the guys are working hard. Their attitude has been great, and we are growing and making improvements. So that’s where we stand right now. We still have got a very important period coming up right now with the strength and conditioning phase, which will lead us into the preseason, which is obviously critical for anybody.

“I think our points of emphasis aren’t going to change when the team gets back together. The first thing I told the guys was, ‘Hey, the past is the past.’ The second thing is we have to address the correctable things that we were in, very evident in the Northwestern game. Those are the things that we’ve got to get corrected, and we’ve got to get those remedied. The third thing, paramount for everybody, is to improve. I can just tell you I think our guys have done a good job of that thus far. Now the key is to keep our feet on the gas and continue to be improvement-driven.

“One of the great things about coaching in college and high school, our athletes can really improve dramatically. I’ve seen that, certainly in all our sports. I can tell you our two running backs right now, Damon Bullock last year at this time, not only was I wondering would he block, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t based on what I’d seen that spring. He’s a football player now I’ve got great faith and trust in. Last year in the spring we were wondering if (Mark) Weisman would block. We found out he would block. Since then, obviously, we found out he can run the ball, too. Both quality young guys. We’ve got a lot of good stories, I think, that have emerged on the football team already. Hopefully a lot more to come as we move forward.

“That’s where we’re at right now. We’re certainly eager to get the guys back on campus and get started again. That will be soon enough here in a couple of weeks. We’re looking forward to that.”

Action near the 50-yard line during the Nebraska vs. Northwestern game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, in Lincoln, Neb. (SourceMedia Group News/Jim Slosiarek)

CHICAGO — The Big Ten’s next realignment shifts 180 degrees from its last divisional layout, and the league’s athletics directors are happy with the change of direction.

This fall marks the third and final year of the Legends/Leaders experiment, where the Big Ten split into football divisions based on historical competitive balance. The geography was awkward, long-standing rivalries like Iowa-Wisconsin were shelved and the divisional nicknames were panned.

With the league expanded of Maryland and Rutgers in 2014, the league voted to alter its alignment based solely on geography. Six schools are located in the Central time zone, while eight reside in the Eastern time zone. Purdue, which is located just east of the Indiana-Illinois border, joined the West.

It’s a positive step toward preserving rivalries, administrators from both the East and West divisions said last week.

Iowa Athletic director Gary Barta (left) talks with Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez before the Iowa versus Wisconsin game at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, in Iowa City. (Jim Slosiarek/SourceMedia Group News)

“It’s made our fans much happier,” Wisconsin Athletics Director Barry Alvarez said. “You can drive actually to all of our divisional games: Nebraska and Minnesota and Iowa. We protect all of our bordering states. It’s fan-friendly, and I think it was just the opposite divide the last time for us.”

Wisconsin was the league outlier in the Legends/Leaders divisional alignment. Border rivals Iowa, Northwestern, Michigan State and Michigan were placed in the opposite division. The Badgers’ historic rivalry with Minnesota was preserved, but the schools were placed in opposite divisions. Illinois was Wisconsin’s only border opponent located within its division.

With the East-West divide, the Badgers regain its long-standing rivalry with Iowa and face its closest rival, Northwestern, each year. But Wisconsin regularly will miss the Michigan schools. The Badgers will miss the Wolverines for at least five years, and their growing rivalry with Michigan State was nipped in the bud.

But Alvarez’s priority was resuming Wisconsin’s series with Iowa, a protected annual rival under the 11-team setup. The schools are tied 42-42-2 after 86 games, and their campuses are three hours apart.

“I was more concerned losing Iowa than Michigan State,” Alvarez said. “We’ve had great games with Michigan State. But the proximity, a three-hour drive to Iowa City for our fans and their fans was very convenient. That was hard, that was very difficult for us to lose. Even (losing) Northwestern, a two-hour drive, more so than Michigan State. I think about our fans in regards to those games.”

Michigan State was discussed heavily about moving west despite its eastern orientation. The Spartans played two classics against Wisconsin in 2011, including the inaugural Big Ten championship game. The Spartans also wanted a game against Northwestern every-other year.

Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio and Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema pose with the Big Ten Championship trophy during a press conference Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 before the Big Ten Championship football game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

But Michigan State remains a valuable draw for eastern schools Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan and joins the historically more difficult East division. The Spartans regularly will play games at newcomers Rutgers and Maryland, which Athletics Director Mark Hollis sees as a plus.

“Our true rivalries historically — at least in our minds — we’re continuing to play them regularly,” Hollis said. “That’s Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State. Like it or not, you’ve got to win games to win championships. Those are the games everybody bought tickets for, and everybody would pay more to come and see. So that connection’s there. I think we have enough games out West that will continue. I don’t see an issue.

“We started going through, what’s important, what’s the value? As I look at alumni numbers and donor numbers and I’m starting to look out to the two additions and look at where our donors are. And I kind of want to be in that ballpark.”

When the league pushed through Legends/Legends three years ago, Hollis advocated for a division with in-state rival Michigan as well as Northwestern. He called the Michigan series “critical, it has to take place.” He’s still uncomfortable with not playing Northwestern annually, but he sees potential for Michigan State in the new Eastern markets.

“I continue to maintain that Northwestern was a place that we want to go to frequently, and I think you’ll see that play out in the conference schedules over the long term,” Hollis said.

Early in the process administrators discussed Northwestern as a potential candidate for the East division. The Chicago market has value for all Big Ten schools, but that move quickly was shot down.

“In the end, we’re where we wanted to be. We wanted to be on the western side,” Northwestern Athletics Director Jim Phillips said. “We’re in the Central time zone with five other schools. So the six of us and bringing Purdue over from the Eastern time zone made perfect sense. We have great rivalries. We have one with Iowa, we feel like. Wisconsin, we started a nice one with Nebraska, although it’s only been a couple of years. It makes sense for us to be where we’re at. But there wasn’t a ton of discussion.

“It wasn’t as if Northwestern was a school that was thought of as East and we moved it West. When it started we were on the West and we stayed there.”

Near the end, Indiana was heavily discussed for moving west instead of Purdue. The Hoosiers’ campus at Bloomington is located about 20 miles east and 90 miles south of West Lafayette. But when the final decision was made, Indiana’s Fred Glass was for a true East-West divide, both for geography and in culture.

“If you’re going to go geographic split, then you ought to do a geographic split and not tinker with it too much,” he said. “The geography of it is Purdue is in the west, and we’re in the east. I like being in the East (division), actually. We look more east at Indiana, I think, than we look west and probably follow more closely the goings on in Ohio and Michigan more so than in Iowa and certainly Wisconsin and Nebraska.”

It’s a new era for Big Ten football, and splitting based on geography is just beginning. The league will negotiate a major television contract in 2016, when it also rolls out a nine-game schedule. There are new markets to integrate, especially in New York City, where it will have an office. For Hollis, it’s exciting.

“It’s a new horizon,” he said. “It’s funny that the big city in the country has become the new horizon of our conference. It’s created a lot of new opportunities.”

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and athletics director Gary Barta meets with Wisconsin Athletics Director Barry Alvarez before their Big Ten college football game Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

PEOSTA — Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz remains committed to an open competition at quarterback, nearly one month after spring practice concluded.

Ferentz, who talked to The Gazette before speaking Tuesday at an I-Club banquet at Thunder Hills Country Club, said red-shirt sophomore Jake Rudock has a slight advantage over junior Cody Sokol and red-shirt freshman C.J. Beathard. Rudock’s two years with the Iowa program have earned him the edge but no guarantees entering summer workouts.

“I said a month ago that if we were playing tomorrow, it would be Jake,” Ferentz said. “He’s more experienced. I think in fairness to all three guys, we need to let them compete. There’s no need to make a decision right now. To me nobody’s really separated from the pack. We have time available. Why not let them compete and see what happens?”

None of the quarterbacks have taken a snap at Iowa. Both Sokol and Beathard red-shirted last year in their first season at Iowa. Rudock was James Vandenberg’s back-up in 2012 but didn’t see any action.

Ferentz said he’s not delaying any kind of announcement just to placate the players or prevent one from leaving the program.

“This isn’t by design,” he said. “This is how it’s playing out. So if one guy did separate, we’d go ahead and say that. It hasn’t happened. That’s not in a negative way. I’m pleased with a lot of things all three guys are doing. But that being said, all three of them have things they need to work on, too, like every position.”

ON NEW DIVISION

Iowa will compete in the Big Ten West Division beginning in 2014. Iowa’s division will include longtime rivals Minnesota and Wisconsin plus Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern and Purdue. It’s a change from the current Legends Division, which includes Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern.

“First of all, I understand what division we’re in,” Ferentz said. “I like that. It’s a lot easier to remember. But it’s a good thing. It makes perfect sense from the fans’ standpoint, and I think from a competition standpoint.”

Iowa’s series with Wisconsin will resume annually in divisional play after skipping the 2011 and 2012 seasons. When the Big Ten added Nebraska as its 12th team, Iowa and Wisconsin were placed in opposite divisions and scheduled to meet just six times over a 10-year period. Iowa and Wisconsin had played 72 of the previous 74 seasons, and the series is tied 42-42-2.

“The first expansion part, we knew there was no way to make it all perfect,” Ferentz said. “It’s always difficult and a little challenging not to be playing your border states. But there’s no way to make that whole mathematical equation work. At least as we move forward we’re going to have that opportunity, and I think that’s a good thing. Certainly, you’d hate to drive to Rutgers or drive to Maryland every-other year if you’re a fan rather than going to one of our bordering schools.”

ON THE DEFENSE

Iowa’s defense was depleted last year, which bore the results of a 4-8 season. But the unit showed improvement in Iowa’s spring game, and Ferentz said experience is crucial toward returning the defense to respectability.

“We’re a little more veteran than we were,” Ferentz said. “Not totally, but for the most part. We’re not there yet, but we’re making progress. That’s minus (defensive tackle) Louis Trinca-Pasat, who was not playing. But I think there were a lot of guys doing some good things and we’ve got three veteran linebackers, and I think they’re playing like veterans and that helps, too. All three of those guys are four-year guys, which would have been nice if we could have red-shirted them, but we didn’t have that opportunity.”

All three linebackers (Christian Kirksey, Anthony Hitchens, James Morris) are seniors, and they’ll stay at linebacker, Ferentz said.

“James could play a couple of spots, but he’s our middle linebacker,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz also touted the secondary’s improvement this spring under defensive coordinator Phil Parker, who coached the secondary from 1999 through 2011. Parker will lead the secondary as well as coordinate the defense this year.

“Phil from day one has been a tremendous secondary coach,” Ferentz said. “I think the guys certainly have responded to his coaching this spring. I’m not saying anything about the past, either, because I think they all…we have several new guys coaching positions, and I think they respond to all of our guys, Phil included, and that’s a positive.”

To listen to this podcast, click on the below icon, download it at iTunes by clicking here or on Stitcher Radio by clicking here.

Sioux City East's Adam Woodbury collides with West Des Moines Valley's Peter Jok during the second half of their class 4A quarter final game at Wells Fargo Arena on Wednesday, March 7, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. Sioux City East won, 66-60. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG)

Incoming Iowa freshman Peter Jok was one of 40 players named to the Parade All-American team, which was released on Saturday.

Jok, a 6-foot-6 combo guard, led Class 4A in scoring average with a 23.6 points a game at West Des Moines Valley. Jok hit 42 percent from 3-point range and sank 92.6 percent from the free-throw line (126 of 136 attempts). Jok expects to compete for playing time at the wing position this year.

Two other honorees with Iowa ties also made the squad. Bryce Alford, son of former Iowa head coach Steve Alford, and Cullen Neal, son of former Iowa assistant Craig Neal, also were named to the team. Steve Alford now coaches at UCLA, while Craig Neal coaches at New Mexico. Both will coach their sons next fall.

Iowa State also picked up one Parade All-American — 6-foot-1 guard Monte Morris of Beecher, Mich.

The Big Ten features three other Parade All-Americans. They include guard Derrick Walton Jr. (Michigan), guard Zak Irvin (Michigan) and forward Marc Loving (Ohio State).

Iowa State Cyclones defensive end Pierre Aka (91) and teammate defensive end David Irving (87) celebrate with the Cy-Hawk trophy following their 9-6 victory over Iowa Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

IOWA CITY — Iowa sent Iowa State a check for $609,775 earlier this year, the final payment under an old provision in the annual Cy-Hawk series.

In 2008, the non-conference rivals agreed on a 10-year deal where through 2012, the host school paid the visitor 20 percent of gate receipts after taxes. Beginning in 2013 through the contract’s 2017 expiration, the host school — Iowa State entertains Iowa this year at Jack Trice Stadium — will keep all gate revenue.

The schools’ previous arrangement favored Iowa State, which has a smaller stadium and cuts Iowa a check for 20 percent of an average home gate. Iowa sent Iowa State 20 percent from that day’s gate receipts.

Over the last eight years, Iowa’s payments to Iowa State totaled $2,371,074, an average of $592,768 after each home game. For its four most recent appearances at Jack Trice Stadium, Iowa received $1,526,555. That averages to $381,638.

Iowa State won last year’s game 9-6 at Kinnick Stadium. The teams renew their rivalry for the 61st time on Sept. 14.

From left: Iowa's Pat Angerer, Amari Spievey, and Adrian Clayborn take down Wisconsin's John Clay during the second half of their game Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009, in Madison, Wis. Iowa won, 20-10. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The Big Ten’s seemingly perpetual wheel of expansion has decimated the league’s football scheduling process.

The 2011 and 2012 schedules vanished with the addition of Nebraska. Three seasons worth of schedules, two of which were released with great interest last spring, also went up in smoke when the league chose to add Rutgers and Maryland for the 2014 season.

When the league changes, so do the schedules. It happens in every sport. But one tweak in college football is news. Schedules are finalized years in advance. There’s a strategy and symmetry to each one. So starting all over again is a major undertaking, especially in a high-profile league like the Big Ten.

So we’re going to go back in time and show how the Big Ten arrived at its latest 2014 schedule. Before the 2011 season, each of the 11 squads played two rivals annually and the other eight teams six times over an eight-year period. Here’s a breakdown of the Big Ten’s protected rivalries from 1995-2010:

Iowa: Minnesota, Wisconsin

Minnesota: Iowa, Wisconsin

Wisconsin: Iowa, Minnesota

Northwestern: Illinois, Purdue

Illinois: Northwestern, Indiana

Purdue: Northwestern, Purdue

Indiana: Illinois, Purdue

Michigan: Ohio State, Michigan State

Ohio State: Michigan, Penn State

Michigan State: Michigan, Penn State

Penn State: Ohio State, Michigan State

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From 2011 through this year, the 12 football programs (including Nebraska) were scheduled to face six teams every year — five within their division and one protected crossover. The divisions were based on competitive balance, not geography. Here’s a look at permanent Big Ten opponents over that three-year period:

LEGENDS DIVISION

Iowa (Purdue)

Michigan (Ohio State)

Michigan State  (Indiana)

Minnesota (Wisconsin)

Northwestern (Illinois)

Nebraska (Penn State)

LEADERS DIVISION

Illinois (Northwestern)

Indiana (Michigan State)

Ohio State (Michigan)

Penn State (Nebraska)

Purdue (Iowa)

Wisconsin (Minnesota)

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Next year, the league shifts to 14 teams and divides by geography. There’s only one protected cross-divisional rivalry among the divisions: Purdue-Indiana. The schools will play everyone in their division and two crossover games in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, the schools will begin playing a nine-game schedule with three crossover games.

WEST — Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin

EAST — Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers

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Through the changes, the Big Ten schedule has adapted multiple times. A couple of trivial scheduling items for Iowa over the years began in 2011 when the Hawkeyes were slated to open the 2011 Big Ten season Oct. 1 at Wisconsin. When the rivals were split into opposite divisions, Nebraska replaced Iowa and that game served as the Cornhuskers’ Big Ten debut (a 48-17 Wisconsin shellacking). Oddly enough, Iowa now will go at least six years without playing at Madison.

Iowa and Illinois were scrubbed from one another’s schedules for six seasons. The 2009 and 2010 years were a scheduled off-rotation based on the previous six-games-over-eight-years league policy. In 2011 and 2012, Indiana and Penn State were randomly chosen to face Iowa in cross-divisional play. The Hawkeyes were scheduled to meet Wisconsin and Ohio State in 2013 and 2014.

Either Iowa or Minnesota had ended their league season against the other school every year from 1983 through 2010. With Nebraska’s arrival, the league stapled the Cornhuskers and Hawkeyes together as a season-ending celebration. Minnesota was left in the cold.

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Here’s a look at Iowa’s originally scheduled conference games from 2011 through 2016. Only the 2013 schedule stayed true to its original form.

2011: Oct. 1 — at Wisconsin; Oct. 8 — Illinois; Oct. 15 — at Penn State; Oct. 22 — at Purdue; Oct. 29 — Michigan; Nov. 5 — Indiana; Nov. 19 — at Ohio State; Nov. 26 — Minnesota

2012: Sept. 29 — Wisconsin; Oct. 6 — at Illinois; Oct. 13 — Penn State; Oct. 20 Purdue; Oct. 27 — at Michigan; Nov. 3 — at Indiana; Nov. 17 — Ohio State; Nov. 24 — at Minnesota

2013: Sept. 28 — at Minnesota; Oct. 5 — Michigan State; Oct. 19 — at Ohio State; Oct. 26 — Northwestern; Nov. 2 — Wisconsin; Nov. 9 — at Purdue; Nov. 23 — Michigan; Nov. 29 — at Nebraska

2014: Oct. 4 — at Wisconsin; Oct. 18 — Ohio State; Oct. 25 — Purdue; Nov. 1 — at Michigan; Nov. 8 — at Northwestern; Nov. 15 — Minnesota; Nov. 22 — at Michigan State; Nov. 28 — Nebraska

2015: Oct. 3 — Northwestern; Oct. 10 — Michigan State; Oct. 17 — at Purdue; Oct. 24 — at Minnesota; Oct. 31 — Illinois; Nov. 7 — at Pen State; Nov. 21 — Michigan; Nov. 27 — at Nebraska

2016: Oct. 1 — Minnesota; Oct. 8 — at Michigan State; Oct. 15 — Purdue; Oct. 22 — at Northwestern; Oct. 29 — at Illinois; Nov. 5 — Penn State; Nov. 19 — at Michigan; Nov. 25 — Nebraska

Here’s the latest Big Ten schedule for the 2014 season:

Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio walks the sidelines in the second half of Iowa's 19-16 overtime win at Spartan Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012, in East Lansing, Mich. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)

Big Ten expansion has brought rivalry football back to its final weekend.

Each school received a season-ending rivalry assignment for the 2014 league schedule, which was released today by the league office. The schedule was revamped to accommodate newcomers Rutgers and Maryland, who join the Big Ten in 2014. The league also shifted into East and West divisions, and only one non-divisional match-up takes place over the regular season’s final four weeks.

As expected, Michigan-Ohio State reignites their annual rivalry game in Columbus as the season finale. The Big Ten flagship football programs have ended every regular season against one another since 1943.

Indiana-Purdue continues their season-ending tradition of facing off in a Big Ten finale, this time for the second straight year in Bloomington. Only once in the last 95 years have the schools not completed their Big Ten seasons against one another (1931). They’ll do it this time as non-divisional foes, the league’s only non-divisional game (and only protected crossover rivalry) to end the season.

“I hope that keeps up,” Indiana Athletics Director Fred Glass said.

Iowa and Nebraska will face off for the fourth time on Black Friday, their second Friday game in Iowa City. The Cornhuskers have won the first two meetings since joining the Big Ten in 2011.

Penn State and Michigan State will end their seasons against one other for the first time since 2010. They played 18 consecutive seasons and were protected rivals under the 11-team structure. For the final 17 seasons, the schools ended their Big Ten seasons against the other school.

When the league split into Legends and Leaders divisions in 2011, the teams went opposite ways. They did not play in 2011 or 2012 and are not scheduled to meet in 2013.

Athletics directors at both schools said they like the series but wouldn’t consider it a priority to extend it as a permanent season-ending game.

“I think Penn State is a good game for us,” Michigan State Athletics Director Mark Hollis said. “I’m not sure that’s a game carries the tradition of making that a priority in the scheduling process. You’ll see it in some years, and you’ll not see it in some others. I really don’t know because we don’t have the ’15 schedule yet.”

“We haven’t talked about it directly, but that could happen,” Penn State Athletics Director Dave Joyner said. “It may vary some. In the (current) divisions, we were playing Wisconsin in almost every ending game. It wasn’t dictated it was going to happen, but it was going to go on for the next five or six years anyway.”

Wisconsin faced Penn State to end the 2011 and 2012 regular seasons, and the teams were slated to finish against one another through 2016.

The Badgers will face their oldest rival, Minnesota, to conclude their regular season. The teams have played more often than any other two Division I rivals. The last time they concluded their regular seasons against one another was 2007.

Illinois and Northwestern will conclude their 108th meeting at Evanston, while Rutgers and Maryland finish their first year as Big Ten competitors against one another.

Other scheduling news

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta (left) talks with Wisconsin Athletics Director Barry Alvarez before the Iowa versus Wisconsin game at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, in Iowa City. (Jim Slosiarek/SourceMedia Group News)

Rutgers’ Big Ten debut begins Sept. 13 against Penn State. It’s the only Big Ten game through the first four weeks of the regular season.

Maryland’s first Big Ten game is held at Indiana on Sept. 27. The Terrapins’ home league opener is slated against Ohio State on Oct. 4.

Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue and Nebraska all have three-week stretches where they do not have home games. All four are scheduled with two road games and a bye during that span. It’s possible any of them could schedule a non-conference game during their bye to fill a three-week void.

Iowa and Illinois play for the first time since 2008 on Nov. 15 in Champaign. The teams will go eight years — 2007 through 2015 — before facing off in Iowa City.

Even with the geographical shift in divisions, the league kept a a pair of long-played trophy games in rotation for at least one year. Michigan and Minnesota, which have competed since 1909 for the Little Brown Jug, will open the Big Ten slate against one another at Ann Arbor. Illinois and Ohio State, which have played for the Illibuck since 1925, play Nov. 1 in Columbus.

Wisconsin and Michigan will not play one another for at least four consecutive seasons.

Wisconsin also will play at Iowa City for the third consecutive meeting. The Badgers were scheduled to face the Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium in 2010, 2013 and now 2014. The rivals’ last game in Madison was in 2009.

Minnesota shook off its cycle of playing regional draws Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska in the same season by getting Iowa in back-to-back years. The Hawkeyes play at Minnesota on Nov. 8. It marks the fourth time in five seasons (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014) Iowa plays the Gophers in Minneapolis.

Newcomers Maryland and Rutgers earned a rough initiation to the Big Ten. Rutgers’ first five games are against Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Maryland sees perpetual upper-division teams Wisconsin and Iowa as its crossover games.

The 2014 season is the second consecutive season where schools will play 12 games over 14 weeks. The regular 12-game, 13-week rotation begins in 2015.

High-profile/historical games

Sept. 13 — Penn State at Rutgers

Sept. 27 — Maryland at Rutgers; Northwestern at Penn State

Oct. 4 — Ohio State at Maryland; Nebraska at Michigan State; Wisconsin at Northwestern

Oct. 11 — Penn State at Michigan

Oct. 18 — Nebraska at Northwestern

Oct. 25 — Michigan at Michigan State; Ohio State at Penn State

Nov. 1 — Northwestern at Iowa; Illinois at Ohio State

Nov. 8 — Ohio State at Michigan State; Michigan at Northwestern; Iowa at Minnesota

Nov. 15 — Iowa at Illinois; Nebraska at Wisconsin

Nov. 22 — Wisconsin at Iowa

Nov. 28 — Nebraska at Iowa

Nov. 29 — Michigan at Ohio State; Purdue at Indiana; Rutgers at Maryland; Michigan State at Penn State; Minnesota at Wisconsin; Illinois at Northwestern

Non-divisional crossovers

EAST

Indiana: Purdue, at Iowa

Maryland: Iowa, at Wisconsin

Michigan: Minnesota, at Northwestern

Michigan State: Nebraska, at Purdue

Ohio State: Illinois, at Minnesota

Penn State: Northwestern, at Illinois

Rutgers: at Nebraska, Wisconsin

WEST

Illinois: Penn State, at Ohio State

Iowa: Indiana, at Maryland

Minnesota: Ohio State, at Michigan

Nebraska: Rutgers, at Michigan State

Northwestern: Michigan, at Penn State

Purdue: Michigan State, at Indiana

Wisconsin: Maryland, at Rutgers

The Gazette reported on March 6 that Barnes, who is engaged to coach Kirk Ferentz’s daughter Joanne, had been working as an administrative assistant for the football program since January 2012. The Iowa Athletic Department reassigned Barnes on March 7 so he no longer reported through football and submitted a conflict-of-interest management plan April 10. The UI’s Committee on Conflict of Interest in Employment, composed of nine faculty and staff, approved the plan April 19.

Most of the plan is confidential, but it changed Barnes’s supervisor to Steve Roe, Iowa’s director of athletic communications.

The couple are planning to wed on July 6.

After adding Nebraska in 2011 and accepting Maryland and Rutgers as new members in 2014, the Big Ten appears content at the moment to stay at 14 members. It’s possible the rest of the college world might follow suit.

“Dead is a strong word,” Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said when asked if expansion was over. “But I would say integration and consolidation is where we have spent our time since the announcement of Rutgers and Maryland. I told you guys that we were inactive and all of our time was being spent on integration and consolidation and that continues.

“I shouldn’t speak for others, but for us we’ve been focused on making a home in a new region, making new members feel at home in this region and everything we’ll do competitively and in television and in bowl is to bring as quickly as we can a level of comfort.”

The league has realigned in football twice since adding Nebraska. The first go-around was based on competitive balance. The second, which begins in 2014, is focused on geography.

The ripple effect is massive since the Big Ten first announced it would look at expansion in December 2009. Thirteen different members have shifted to the five major conferences. The Big East once was consider a power league, but will have lost seven football members and eight basketball members by 2014.

Big Ten officials continue to monitor the college athletics landscape, but no one said expansion is a front-burner issue right now.

“I think there’s expansion fatigue around the country,” Indiana Athletics Director Fred Glass said. “People like stabilization. They like old rivalries, and they like regionalization. I don’t think any of us are particularly excited about those things changing. But in the modern world, they are.

“If we stay at 14, I’d be a happy camper. But if there’s some people who are interested that the commissioner and the leadership of the conference think makes sense, I think it would be foolish not to be open to that.”

Delany even chided reporters for continually asking about expansion.

“Some people say they’re tired of writing about it but they keep asking questions about it,” Delany said. “So I really don’t know which direction it is.

“From my perspective, we’re inactive and we’re focused on bringing new members into the fold.”