Yahoo Sports Significance of being first black Power Five commish 'definitely not lost' on Kevin Warren
Incoming Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren understands the significance of his hire.
Warren, introduced Tuesday as the Big Ten’s successor to current commissioner Jim Delany, will be the first black Power Five conference commissioner when he takes over for Delany on Jan. 1.
Warren was hired by the Big Ten from the Minnesota Vikings, where he serves as the team’s COO. He’ll start at the Big Ten in September.
“It is definitely not lost on me, the history associated with this,” Warren said. “I have some key pictures on my wall that I look at every single day thanks to my wife. I have a picture of Curt Flood, who was an African American pioneer in baseball and who really stood up for free agency … I have a picture right in front of my desk of Jackie Robinson. I have a picture of Dr. King. I have a picture of the 1966 Texas Western basketball team, the first time five black student athletes won a national title when they beat Kentucky.”
He also noted that he was the first black COO in NFL history.
“There’s been a lot of firsts in my family starting with my mother and father, with me, so I’m comfortable in this skin.” Warren said. “I think what it says is not only about color, what it says — and I just appreciate the opportunity —it’s really about diversity, inclusion and it really is about opportunity. And one of the things I will stand for here is to make sure regardless of your background, regardless of your race, color, creed, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, this will be a place from an inclusive standpoint, that we will embrace everyone and give everyone an opportunity to be the best they can be.”
Warren doesn’t get into specifics on player compensation
When asked about the topic of increased athlete compensation, Warren declined to get into specifics and said he looked forward to sharing his thoughts in the future. A former college athlete himself and the father of two college athletes, he repeatedly emphasized that athletes are students first.
“That’s a big topic I’ve thought about and I’ll say this, at the appropriate time when we can have some time to sit down I would love to share my thoughts with you and talk in the details about it,” Warren said in response to the question. “This is a great time in college athletics and there are many issues, that being one of them, that we need to address. There have been committees put into place to address those issues and I’m looking forward to once I’m here full time and can sit down and talk about it, then I can share my personal thoughts in regards to those issues.”
Delany has been outspoken when it comes to paying players. He famously said in a 2013 court declaration as part of the O’Bannon suit that the Big Ten would not participate in Division I athletics if courts ruled that players should be paid.
Warren credits Mike Slive, Dick Vermeil
The incoming commissioner got emotional when he talked about the impact former SEC commissioner Mike Slive had on him as a mentor. And he also called former NFL coach Dick Vermeil a “second father.”
Warren also relayed a fascinating story about his childhood. He was seriously injured when hit by a car while riding his bike at age 11. He was put into a body cast after the accident and told that his chances of walking again were “not good” and that swimming would be the best form of recovery from the accident.
Warren then wanted his parents to put a pool in the back yard. And when his parents told him they couldn’t afford the pool, Warren said he wanted some of the money his family received in the settlement from the accident to pay for the pool.
“I came up with the novel idea, and that’s probably when I figured out I’d be a good lawyer one day,” Warren said. “I told my parents, I said ‘Didn’t I get a $30,000 settlement from the accident? They said yes. I said I want to pay for the pool in our back yard. So I spent $11,000 to build a pool in our back yard. And I swam in the morning. I swam after school. I swam at night ... We swam and played and worked out so much in that pool that six years after my accident I was able to lace up some red Nike shoes and walk on the court at the Palestra in Philadelphia as a Division I NCAA student-athlete.”
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
More from Yahoo Sports:
