Aug 17, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles plays catch on the sideline before the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

Bears prez offers tepid support of lame-duck GM

Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren understands he walks a fine line retaining Ryan Poles as head of football operations to hire a second head coach.

That’s because Poles’ current contract wouldn’t align with the replacement selected for Matt Eberflus, potentially laying the groundwork for a power struggle. But Warren framed those hypotheticals as tomorrow’s problems on Tuesday while noting Poles would be asked to collaborate during the hiring process.

“I think we made it clear, I made it clear in early December and as Ryan talked about today, he is our point person on the search. He’s our general manager. He’s head of football operations,” said Warren. “I am confident that if we do our job from a process standpoint, which we will, and sit down and be open and honest that people will look at this as a great opportunity and from a hypothetical standpoint, I am confident with the group that we have right now and Ryan leading our charge.”

Poles said he ultimately will make the decision and handle interviews of coaching candidates this month. He denied what he senses is a widely held opinion that he and Warren don’t work well together, saying that “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

And Warren insisted the Bears are committed to Poles, who was retained in November when Eberflus was fired and replaced by interim coach Thomas Brown. Poles is starting the final year on his current contract and his fingerprints are everywhere on the roster.

“When we say long term, a year is a lifetime. I know that’s important,” Warren said of the time left on Poles’ deal. “I know 2025 is important, not only from a football standpoint, from a stadium standpoint, from an operation standpoint. Again, I trust Ryan. I trust the process that he has put together. I’m confident it will yield positive results.

“We will hire a world-class coach, whether it’s Thomas Brown or someone who currently does not work in our organization. We will get this right, and I’m looking forward to it. I am so excited about being able to start these interviews, I haven’t been able to sleep these last couple of nights.”

Chicago finished last in the NFC North, with three division rivals headed to the playoffs, and last won the division in 2018. The Bears are 15-36 since the start of the 2022 season and last appeared in the playoffs in 2020 with an 8-8 record under Matt Nagy.

Nagy is the only Bears coach to win more than eight games in a season since Lovie Smith in 2012.

–Field Level Media

Dec 3, 2022; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA;  Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren presents the championship trophy to Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh following their 43-22 victory against Purdue in the Big Ten Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Reports: Bears considering Big Ten head Kevin Warren for team president

The Chicago Bears are strongly considering making Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren their next team president, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The Bears are seeking to replace longtime president and CEO Ted Phillips, 65, who previously announced he would retire at the end of the season.

ESPN said Warren, 59, is one of the “final candidates” for the position and has interviewed in person for the job.

The Bears have been tight-lipped about the hiring process.

“We have not set a timeline for announcing Ted Phillips’ successor,” the Bears said in a statement Thursday, per ESPN. “Our search team has cast a wide net, spoken to many outstanding candidates and looks forward to introducing our next President and CEO at the process’s conclusion.”

The Big Ten hired Warren in 2020, and his accomplishments include signing a media-rights deal reportedly worth more than $7 billion and setting the stage to bring UCLA and Southern California into the conference.

Warren was a practicing attorney in Kansas City when the St. Louis Rams hired him to a legal/front-office position in 1997. He moved up in the organization and in 2000 was named vice president of football administration.

In 2001, he was hired by the Detroit Lions in a senior-level front-office role; then, in 2003, he returned to the law profession and helped Zygi Wilf and partners to buy the Minnesota Vikings. When the deal was done, he became the team’s executive price president of legal affairs and chief administrative officer, later promoted to chief operating officer.

Part of his experience with the Vikings that could appeal to the Bears was his participation in the planning of U.S. Bank Stadium, which opened on July 22, 2016. The Bears could decide to leave old Soldier Field in Chicago and build a stadium on 326 acres in suburban Arlington Heights.

–Field Level Media

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren walks across the endzone prior to the Big Ten Championship football game between Ohio State and Northwestern at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020.

Big Ten Championship Ohio State Northwestern

Big Ten plans on rotating championship game location

The Big Ten is expecting to rotate the location of its football championship game when its current contract with Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium expires after this season, commissioner Kevin Warren told NJ Advance Media at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday.

The conference will do the same thing for its men’s basketball tournament.

“We’re going to sit down and figure out the best way to rotate it, probably take out a request for proposal for basketball and football,” Warren told NJ Advance Media. “I’m open to any location our fans will travel to and enjoy in our footprint, anywhere from Nebraska to New Jersey.”

The Big Ten Championship Game was first held in 2011 and has been held exclusively at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Big Ten men’s basketball tournament has been held in Indianapolis and Chicago for every year since starting in 1998 except for 2016 and 2017. In 2017, the tournament was held at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. and at NYC’s Madison Square Garden in 2017.

–Field Level Media

Jul 22, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA;  Big 10 commissioner Kevin Warren speaks to the media during Big 10 media days at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Big Ten names Barry Alvarez adviser of football

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said his league is keeping a close eye on possible expansion developments involving the Southeastern Conference.

In his opening remarks at the conference media days on Thursday, Warren also announced the league was hiring former Wisconsin athletic director and head coach Barry Alvarez to oversee football operations.

Alvarez would play a key role in any counter move from the Big Ten if Oklahoma and Texas apply to join the SEC, as has been reported.

“That’s why I’m so thankful Barry Alvarez in joining us,” Warren said. “These are all the kind of things, just collectively, that we as a conference will be able to think through, talk through. We are constantly evaluating what’s best for the conference.”

The Big Ten is allowing individual institutions to oversee COVID-19 protocols with each school submitting a proposal in early August.

“We are right where we wanted to be in that it will be a decentralized process,” Warren said, adding that the league will attempt to pressure-test university proposals. “We will have that done prior to our first game 37 days away from today.”

As a byproduct of COVID-19 planning sessions, flexibility in scheduling has been discussed, Warren said, adding he is on recurring calls with commissioners from the Power Five conferences with development ideas on the table.

The Big Ten and Warren took sharp criticism for delaying the start of football season and implementing a shortened schedule.

“I don’t have any regrets. Quite naturally, we look back at our lives and we all have things we might have done differently,” Warren said. “But if I had it to do all over last year, I would make the same decisions that we made. You’ve heard me say it today: Making sure we keep our student-athletes at the center of all of our decisions. … If we put them at the epicenter of those decisions, we’re going to be OK.

“It was a very, very complicated time in our lives. When you add it all up, the biggest thing I learned is the importance of being grateful but also having a sense of grace, not only with ourselves but others.”

–Field Level Media

Sep 7, 2019; University Park, PA, USA; A general view of the Big Ten logo prior to the game between the Buffalo Bulls  and the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Powers Warren, son of Big Ten commissioner, transfers to Michigan St.

Former Mississippi State tight end Powers Warren, son of Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, is transferring to Michigan State, he announced Sunday on Twitter.

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound player entered the transfer portal in November.

Warren, from Minnetonka, Minn., took his redshirt freshman year at Mississippi State in 2017 and appeared in six games over the next two seasons. He didn’t get into a game in 2020. He had no career catches with the Bulldogs.

MLive.com reported Warren is walking on with the Spartans, adding he already has enrolled at Michigan State for the summer term, which begins Monday.

–Field Level Media

Mar 12, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA;  Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren talks with the media about todays cancellation of the Mens Big Ten Tournament. The Big Ten Conference announced today that it will be cancelling the remainder of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, effective immediately in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

Big Ten chief quashes talk of revisiting fall sports

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren released an open letter Wednesday, saying that the postponement of the fall sports season, including football, is final and will not be revisited.

The letter comes amid backlash from every corner of the Big Ten — players, parents of players, fans and even some coaches. The conference has been accused of a lack of transparency surrounding its decision on Aug. 11 to postpone the entire fall sports slate due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the letter addressed to the Big Ten community, Warren said the vote of the Big Ten presidents and chancellors was “overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports and will not be revisited.”

“The decision was thorough and deliberative, and based on sound feedback, guidance and advice from medical experts,” Warren wrote in his first public comments since the controversial announcement last week.

“We understand the disappointment and questions surrounding the timing of our decision to postpone fall sports, especially in light of releasing a football schedule only six days prior to that decision,” Warren wrote. “From the beginning, we consistently communicated our commitment to cautiously proceed one day at a time with the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes at the center of our decision-making process.”

Since the announcement, Nebraska has openly considered playing football outside of the conference, parents of Iowa players penned an open letter to Warren and the Big Ten, and a petition started by Ohio State QB Justin Fields had garnered nearly 285,000 signatures. Not to mention the decision dominated the airwaves across the country.

Even Penn State coach James Franklin said he was bothered with the way the Big Ten came to the decision, calling it “gut-wrenching.”

The Big Ten has commissioned a task force to plan a return to action for fall sports.

“In evaluating winter/spring models, we will explore many factors including the number of football games that can reasonably be played from a health perspective in a full calendar year while maintaining a premier competitive experience for our student-athletes culminating in a Big Ten Championship,” Warren wrote. “The Big Ten Conference will continue to collect feedback from student-athletes, families, and other constituents and remains in active discussions with its television partners regarding all future plans.”

–Field Level Media