Big Ten VS. SEC

Although there is much to discuss from the past week in sports, I have come across an article that is of particular interest to me and my fellow believers of the notion that the SEC is, without doubt, the most superior conference in the country.

The article I mention is one that ran on yahoosports on Saturday, Feb. 17. In the article, Dan Wetzel addresses a recent release from Jim Delany, commissioner of the Big Ten conference. In his statement, Delany seems to suggest that the SEC has engaged in questionable recruiting methods by allowing student athletes with low grades and test scores to be admitted to SEC universities. I can hardly imagine...
But what gets me is that Delany suggest that the Big Ten conference is above this practice and as a result has not achieved as much as the SEC.

"I wish we had (seven) teams among the top 10 recruiting classes every year, but winning our way requires some discipline and restraint with the recruitment process," Delany wrote.

While we can all agree that the Big Ten consistently fails to achieve as much as the SEC, can we really be sure it is because the SEC, and not the Big Ten, admits student athletes with sub-par grades/test scores.

Interestingly enough, according to the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, the SEC's average football SAT score (941.7) is notably better than the Big Ten (931.2). The national average is 929, a number that the majority of the Big Ten (six teams) scored below. Only three of SEC's teams were under.

To me, it just appears to be another case of envy that Delany can only attribute to unfair recruiting practices..... speaking of unfair recruiting, anyone seen Ron Zook's class... makes you wonder...

But what does all of this have to do with PR?
Well Delany, an attorney, is thought to be one of the most powerful people in the world of college athletics. And his comments were posted in an open letter on the Big Ten Web site for the world to see. What have we been taught about discretion?

It is the belief of many in the PR sphere that a person in his position, with his level of education and knowledge, ought to know better than to make a blanket statement that rubs so many the wrong way. As commissioner of the conference, it is his job to represent every school in the Big Ten and speak on their behalf - not in opposition to a clearly superior conference. By attaching his name to the letter, he implies that every school in the Big Ten shares his sentiments. Although Jim Tressel (see the National Championship game) might agree with Delany, it is not fair to the rest of the conference to make such statements and in the process imply all 11 schools feel the same (sidebar: the Big TEN conference has 11 teams... hmmm..)

Someone in the PR department with the Big Ten ought to screen the commissioner's comments a little closer next time or just insist he refrain altogether.


All the best,

ben