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Kevin (Tim “Asshat” Racadb) Warren (ex-B1G Commissioner)

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MINNESOTA VIKINGS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER KEVIN WARREN EXPECTED TO BE NAMED NEW BIG TEN COMMISSIONER, PER REPORTS
Dan Hope on June 3, 2019 at 10:03 pm @dan_hope
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Minnesota Vikings

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Minnesota Vikings chief operating officer Kevin Warren is expected to succeed Jim Delany as the Big Ten's new commissioner, according to multiple reports.

670 The Score's Mully and Haugh were the first to report that the Big Ten is expected to hire Warren, and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, ESPN's Adam Schefter, Yahoo's Pat Forde and The Athletic's Matt Fortuna have all reported the same.

The Big Ten is set to officially introduce its new commissioner in a press conference Tuesday at noon that will be televised on BTN.

Warren has been the Vikings' COO since Feb. 12, 2015, and is the highest-ranking African-American executive working on the business side of an NFL team. He is also an attorney of counsel for the international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

He would become the first African-American commissioner of a Power 5 collegiate conference.

Delany, who has been the Big Ten's commissioner since 1989, announced in March that he would retire at the end of his current contract, which expires on June 30, 2020.

Warren has spent the last 14 seasons with the Vikings, working his way up the organizational ladder. Before joining the Vikings, he worked with for the international law firm Greenberg Traurig, where he represented Vikings owner Zygi Wilf in his bid to purchase the team. He previously worked for the NFL's Detroit Lions and St. Louis Rams.

Warren started his career in sports law at Bond, Schoeneck & King, where he worked alongside former SEC commissioner Mike Slive to represent universities charged with NCAA violations. He later launched his own sports and entertainment agency, Kevin Warren & Associates, before moving into NFL front-office work.

Warren earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Grand Canyon University, where he was also a star basketball player, in 1986. He earned his MBA from Arizona State in 1988 and graduated from the Notre Dame Law School in 1990.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/the-...be-named-new-big-ten-commissioner-per-reports
 
KEVIN WARREN BRINGS NFL BACKGROUND, VARIED EXPERIENCE TO BIG TEN AS LEAGUE'S NEW COMMISSIONER

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When Jim Delany announced in March that he would end his tenure as Big Ten commissioner when his contract expires next summer, many people believed that his replacement would be someone who already has experience within the conference, such as Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips.

Instead, the Big Ten went outside the conference to find Kevin Warren, the chief operating officer of the Minnesota Vikings, who was introduced as the league’s sixth commissioneron Tuesday.

Warren’s selection came as a surprise, as he was not known to be a candidate for the job until reports that he would replace Delany surfaced Monday night, but he comes to the Big Ten with about three decades of professional experience in various roles within the sports and legal industries and with high regards from his peers.

Let’s get to know the Big Ten’s new commissioner by taking a closer look at his biography, qualifications and background.

NFL TRAILBLAZER
When Warren was promoted to chief operating officer of the Vikings on Feb. 12, 2015, he became the first African-American COO in NFL history and the highest-ranking African-American executive working on the business side of an NFL organization.

Now, Warren is set to become the first African-American commissioner of a Power 5 collegiate conference. He follows Keith Gill, who was named the new commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference in March, to become the second black commissioner of any Football Bowl Subdivision conference.



In his role as the Vikings’ COO, Warren has overseen all business aspects of the Vikings as well as their facilities, including U.S. Bank Stadium. He has also served on the NFL Committee on Workplace Diversity, which is committed to enhancing and promoting diversity at every level of the NFL, since 2013.

Warren has been with the Vikings since 2005, when he was hired by new Vikings owner Zygi Wilf as executive vice president of legal affairs and chief administrative officer. Warren joined the Vikings after representing the Wilf family in its bid to purchase the team while working for the international law firm Greenberg Traurig.

Warren previously worked for the Detroit Lions as senior vice president of business operations and general counsel (2001-03) and the St. Louis Rams as vice president of player programs/football legal counsel (1997-2000) and vice president of football administration (2000-01).

LEGAL BACKGROUND
Warren earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the Notre Dame Law School in 1990, and began his legal career working at Bond, Schoeneck & King, a law firm in Overland Park, Kansas. While there, Warren worked alongside Mike Slive – who went on to become the commissioner of the SEC – and prominent attorney Mike Glazier to represent universities that were charged with NCAA violations.

In 1992, Warren started his own sports and entertainment agency, Kevin Warren & Associates, where he represented multiple NFL players including Chris Zorich – who also went on to graduate from the Notre Dame Law School – and Hall of Fame offensive lineman Will Shields.

Even since moving into NFL front-office work, Warren has continued to work in the legal profession. He is currently an attorney of counsel for the international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, and is licensed to practice law in Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota and Washington, D.C.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/the-...rience-to-big-ten-as-leagues-new-commissioner
 
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ScriptOhio said:
Warren earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the Notre Dame Law School in 1990, and began his legal career working at Bond, Schoeneck & King, a law firm in Overland Park, Kansas. While there, Warren worked alongside Mike Slive – who went on to become the commissioner of the SEC – and prominent attorney Mike Glazier to represent universities that were charged with NCAA violations.
Click to expand...

So it sounds like he is familiar with how to put the foil on when the times is right.
 
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GENE SMITH CONFIDENT BIG TEN'S FUTURE IS IN GOOD HANDS WITH NEW COMMISSIONER KEVIN WARREN

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The Big Ten has named its next commissioner, and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith believes the conference made the right choice.

Smith has known Kevin Warren since he was the athletic director at Arizona State (2000-05) – where Warren earned his master’s degree from – and Smith is confident that Warren will prove to be a great fit for the job.

“Kevin and his wife Greta, they’re just great human beings,” Smith told Eleven Warriors on Wednesday. “He really has some great experiences in his background, loves athletics. So I think he’s going to do a good job for us. Holds the same values we hold in the Big Ten, and we’re faced with a lot of things coming at us. But he’s a really smart guy.”

While the search process for the new commissioner was led by the Big Ten’s university presidents, including Ohio State’s Michael Drake, Smith was invited to Washington, D.C. in April along with representatives from each of the Big Ten’s other 13 schools – including athletic director, faculty representatives and senior woman administrators – to help the presidents define what they should be looking for in the league’s sixth commissioner.

From there, the university presidents ultimately decided that Warren – who has spent the last 14 years working with the Minnesota Vikings and has been their chief operating officer since 2015 – was the candidate who best fit the profile they were looking for.

In the months between Jim Delany announcing he would retire in 2020 and Tuesday’s announcement that Warren would succeed him, much of the speculation around who would be the Big Ten’s next commissioner centered on candidates with conference ties or with backgrounds in television.

Some people even speculated that Smith could be a candidate for the job, but he quickly dismissed that notion on Wednesday.

“Oh God no,” said Smith, who had a contract extension through 2022 approved by the Board of Trustees last week. “I got some things I want to do (at Ohio State). I got a few things I need to complete. And there’s a vision that I created a long time ago. We’re far along, accomplished a lot, but I don’t want to leave this one undone. Arizona State, I thought I left undone. Iowa State, I felt good about. Eastern Michigan, I felt good about. But I don’t want to leave this undone relative to the vision that I have.”

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...good-hands-with-new-commissioner-kevin-warren
 
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KEVIN WARREN HAS A LONG LIST OF ITEMS TO TAKE CARE OF AS THE NEW BIG TEN COMMISSIONER

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One of the most interesting and surprising facts that I've learned in the past week comes courtesy of Bill Rabinowitz:



That is, in fact, amazing. It's also a bit misleading; the first Big Ten commissioner was appointed in 1922, with John Griffith taking the job and serving until 1944. Still, Popes don't have that kind of consistent longevity. Monarchs of England take their inspiration from them. The five commissioners of the Big Ten have averaged tenures of 19 years, two of them have straight up died in the position, and Jim Delany will officially step down on January 1st, 2020, after having served for 30 years in that role.

All of which means that Kevin Warren has roughly seven months to solidify his position. He must spend that time watching, learning, and making allies both in the college ranks and out to make sure that not only does the Big Ten get an advantageous position in terms of athletics, but can also maintain its financial dominance over the college sports world.

It's a tall order. Jim Delany had his shortcomings, sure, but he was a savvy negotiator that was able to generate record revenues for the conference while also building an at the time one of a kind cable sports network. I wanted to make a Barbasol or Ro-Tel joke here, but the BTN has real sports media clout (if not the ratings).

So what are the next steps for Kevin Warren, an experienced guy with an extensive background in the law? I'm glad you asked, because frankly I'm every bit the investigative reporter that Dan or Colin or Taylor or even Kevin freaking Harrish might be. In the course of investigating this topic, I stumbled across the personal notes of Kevin Warren, obtained following his introduction as the next Big Ten commissioner. It is valuable insight into the plans of the man who will lead the 14 teams of the increasingly inaccurately named Big Ten conference that spans 11 different states.

Let's take a look.

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One of the biggest items that Kevin Warren needs to take care of quickly is to win over the various athletic directors and university presidents of the Big Ten. Luckily he's already got probably the most powerful one in his corner:

“When you can bring in your nontraditional candidate that has a background like Kevin’s, particularly when you’re following a legend, you got to find someone that’s got those unique skill set that helps them transcend that a little bit,” Smith said. “He played college basketball, and he has a son that’s playing college football, so he’s got kind of that perspective as well, but bringing that perspective from the NFL will help, and his business background.”

People have sometimes thrown Gene Smith's name around for commissioner, and while he's always shrugged that off, given his similar success as Ohio State's AD his opinion on this matters. Now Warren just needs to get the rest of the conference on board.

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One of the criticisms that one could make about Jim Delany is that he was slow to advocate for the Big Ten as the college football playoff system evolved into being. While he aggressively expanded the Big Ten to include the likes of Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland, that was less of a strategic move in terms of revenue sports and more of a financial move to help prop up BTN. It worked, but at the same time the Big Ten has been left out of the playoff each of the last two seasons.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/coll...-take-care-of-as-the-new-big-ten-commissioner
 
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Incoming Big Ten commish already being discussed as NFL’s replacement for Roger Goodell

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Kevin Warren doesn’t even have his name officially on the door as the incoming Big Ten Commissioner and yet there’s already talk surfacing about Jim Delany’s successor taking over for another successful, if controversial, commissioner. Namely, that would be Roger Goodell in a return to the league where Warren recently departed as Chief Operating Officer for the Minnesota Vikings.

Per The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan, several influential figures in NFL circles have long thought Warren has the chops and resume to assume the top gig a little over five years in the pro version of the game after spending time getting his feet wet leading at the collegiate level:

Those with close ties to the NFL view him as a future commissioner and expect the Big Ten to be only a steppingstone, not a final stop. The incumbent NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, has had the post since 2006, and his current deal runs through March 2024. While Goodell has not said this is his last contract, most assume that’s the case (a spokesman, Joe Lockhart, said so in December 2017, though Goodell has repeatedly rejected that he has made any decision on that score).

Warren, 55, is “one of those handful of people that are in the NFL right now that could very well be considered as a future commissioner,” said Marc Ganis, a sports consultant with close ties to Goodell. “Whether it’s the NFL or another league, he is a meaningful candidate.”

Big Ten fans (and probably Delany himself) have to both cringe and be excited over the fact that their new leader is held in such high esteem by America’s biggest sport that one of the oldest and most respected conferences in the game would be considered a “steppingstone.” Only time will tell but we’re sure a story of this magnitude is bound to be discussed at least a little bit with conference media days kicking off in the middle of July.

Entire article: https://collegefootballtalk.nbcspor...cussed-as-nfls-replacement-for-roger-goodell/
 
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https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/welcome-commissioner-warren/

Kevin Warren officially begins his duties as the sixth commissioner of the Big Ten Conference today, Jan. 2. He is the first African American Commissioner to lead an Autonomy Five conference and most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League where he worked since 2005. He was the highest ranking African American executive working on the business side for a team in the NFL and was the first African American COO in NFL history.

Warren worked in the NFL for 21 seasons including 15 with the Vikings, where he directed the team’s focus on creating departmental synergy and collaboration, increasing financial profitability for the franchise, improving communication, developing leadership initiatives, implementing a platform focusing on a positive community impact through the new Minnesota Vikings Foundation, launching a women’s initiative program, creating an elevated fan experience, and building a world-class franchise focused on the tenets of hard work, ethics, financial profitability, community service and a “best-in-class” mentality.

In September of 2013, Warren’s reputation and NFL experience were recognized when he was named a member of the NFL Committee on Workplace Diversity, which is committed to enhancing and promoting diversity at every level of the NFL. In February of 2017, during Super Bowl LI festivities in Houston, Warren was honored with the Texas Southern University Pioneer Award, recognizing Kevin’s ground-breaking role as an NFL executive and his commitment to championing diversity. Warren was also honored as a member of the Sports Business Journal 2019 Champions class.

Prior to joining the Vikings, Warren worked for the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig (2003-2005) playing a critical leadership role with the Wilf Ownership Group deal team during the acquisition of the Minnesota Vikings. Additionally, he spent two seasons (2001-2003) with the Detroit Lions as Senior Vice President of Business Operations & General Counsel and four seasons (1997-2001) with the St. Louis Rams as Vice President of Football Administration, and Vice President of Player Programs and Legal Counsel. Warren was an integral part of the Rams organization when the team won Super Bowl XXXIV over the Tennessee Titans in January of 2000.

As a freshman on the University of Pennsylvania basketball team, Warren was a member of the Quakers’ Ivy League championship team in 1982. A native of Tempe, Ariz., he completed his college education at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, earning his undergraduate degree. Warren scored 1,118 points during his career and earned GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors as a senior along with NAIA Academic All-America honors and NAIA District 7 Basketball Team honors as both a junior and senior. In March 2012, Warren was inducted into the GCU Athletics Hall of Fame, the 16th individual inducted and only the fifth basketball player to earn the prestigious honor in the University’s history. In November of 2019, Warren was inducted into the 42nd annual W.P. Carey School of Business Alumni Hall of Fame at Arizona State University. Warren earned his Bachelor’s in Business Administration from GCU in 1986, his MBA from Arizona State University in 1988, and his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Law in 1990. Warren is a licensed attorney with the State Bar of Kansas, Michigan, and the District of Columbia.
 
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