In a statement released on BTN.com, the Big Ten announced that it “unanimously decided” to reach out to “a diverse group of thought leaders to obtain feedback” on a number of issues, including freshmen ineligibility – which the conference is calling “a year of readiness.”
The “year of readiness” could be established for all sports, or only select sports (read: football and men’s basketball). Other issues the conference plans to discuss include “student-athlete time demands, playing seasons, initial eligibility requirements,” and other things that could impact the academic pursuits of student-athletes.
The Big Ten says it wants input from all of its member institutions:
Knowing that matters of such impact would never be adopted unilaterally by a single conference or institution, it is important to the conference to devise a strategy and timeline that would encourage, and allow the conference to obtain, input from all.
While Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said these discussions are all about promoting an “education first” mission, he says the Big Ten won’t pursue these ventures alone.
“While we are comfortable generating multiple ideas about an education first approach to intercollegiate athletics in the twenty-first century, we won’t go it alone on any of these matters,” Delany said. “We look forward to working with our colleagues in the NCAA Division I governance structure, and to exploring a broad exchange of ideas from both inside and outside of intercollegiate athletics.”
In its statement, the Big Ten acknowledged that it hopes to generate discussion about these issues leading up to the 2016 NCAA National Convention.
We’ll see if anything concrete comes from these discussions.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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