Big Ten Meetings: Four Things You Should Know About

(With help from ESPN's Big Ten blog)

1. Recruiting Regulations

The Big Ten put out a press release yesterday, detailing which of the new recruiting rules they are taking a stand against.

Park Ridge, Ill. - The Big Ten Football Coaches and Athletic Directors met today in Park Ridge for a regularly scheduled meeting and subsequently issued the following statement with regard to pending NCAA DI legislation impacting college football:

We reviewed the 26 Rules Working Group proposals acted upon by the NCAA Board of Directors in January, some of which will become effective as early as July 1, 2013. While we applaud the work that has been done to date, we are very concerned that the timeline proposed for implementation of the proposals does not allow sufficient time for the Football Recruiting Subcommittee of the NCAA Leadership Council to thoughtfully consider the impact of the proposals.

We are specifically concerned with the following three proposals and ask that they be tabled along with Proposal 13-2:

Proposal 11-2: Athletics Personnel - Limitations on the Number and Duties of Coaches - Elimination of Recruiting Coordination Functions

Proposal 13-3: Recruiting - Deregulation of Modes and Numerical Limitations on Communication

Proposal 13-5-A: Recruiting - Elimination of Printed Recruiting Materials and Video/Audio Legislation

We have serious concerns whether these proposals, as currently written, are in the best interest of high school student-athletes, their families and their coaches. We are also concerned about the adverse effect they would have on college coaches, administrators and university resources.

We look forward to working with the NCAA toward improving the game, the recruiting process and the overall college football experience for all student-athletes.

In layman's terms, the Big Ten decided that they didn't like new NCAA rules allowing more coaches/personnel to be on the road recruiting players at once, how much coaches could contact recruits and how much mail they couldsend recruits. They hope to get the NCAA to rescind the passage of these new regulations for the sake of student-athletes and their families. Here's hoping that they do.

More analysis from Land-Grant Holy Land

2. Conference Scheduling

It seems that the eight-game conference schedule will be completely out the door once Maryland and Rutgers make their way into the conference. Coaches are now in favor of going to a nine- or ten-game schedule starting in 2016. Going to ten games means that schools would only be able to schedule two out-of-conference games each season, cutting down on the opportunity to see marquee games outside of the Big Ten. Nine games would leave the door open for some competition outside the conference slate, especially with the playoff starting in 2014, but it would be hard to tell how many schools would take a bit at that. Both scenarios, however, make the thought of a 13-game season become more and more realistic.

3. Geographic Divisional Alignment

The new thought on divisional alignment in the Big Ten is one based on geography, going with a East/West format based on time zones. As ESPN's Big Ten blog points out, though, there would be eight teams in the Eastern Time Zone division and six in the Central Time Zone division come 2014, so one of the teams (i.e. a Purdue or a Michigan State) would have to even things up by moving west. Seeing how the Legends and Leaders were come up with by using competitive balance in 2010, even though no one wants to admit to it, and it hasn't been quite the success that the conference was looking for, a geographic split is the smartest and most logical choice for new alignment.

4. November Night Games

Finally, in a "not your grandfather's Big Ten" moment, Jim Delany gave his blessing to schools who wanted to schedule primetime games during the month of November. It appears that Penn State, Nebraska and Ohio State were the strongest proponents behind the idea. The Big Ten does not have a policy on November night games, but they haven't been played frequently in the conference's past due to weather conditions of cities in the northeast and midwest during the month. But Delany said that if two teams were to want to schedule a night game in November of 2013, there would be nothing standing in their way from the conference office.

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