Conference realignment of schools will be discussed among Big Ten athletic directors early next week in Chicago, Gophers football coach Tim Brewster said. Officials representing the league office and conference schools are expected to meet about how the Big Ten will position itself into two football divisions with the arrival of Nebraska as a 12th member in 2011. The gathering in Chicago will also include the conference’s annual media football kickoff with all 11 head coaches having news conferences on Monday.
Brewster said he’s firm about one expectation for scheduling starting in 2011. He wants Wisconsin and Iowa on Minnesota’s schedule each season, even if all three schools aren’t in the same division.
Is he concerned that annually the Badgers and Hawkeyes won’t be on the Minnesota schedule? “No, absolutely not, because that’s vital to our conference,” he told Sports Headliners.
Preserving historic football rivalries is expected to receive the highest of priorities when commissioner Jim Delany and others decide who to place where in two six team divisions. What’s the timeline for a decision?
Brewster said he isn’t sure “but this has got to get in place because there’s a tremendous amount of time” involved with scheduling preparation and details. He’s confident Delany will present a plan at the earliest date once things are in place.
Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he will be surprised if he leaves Chicago on Tuesday without knowledge of a working model for realignment. The model might not be a finished product but certainly a significant step in that direction.
Maturi said he doesn’t know how the Big Ten will ultimately group its 12 schools in various sports. It’s presumed football will have two six-team divisions but basketball, for example, might have a single 12 team league. The advantage for football having two divisions is to allow the conference to stage a lucrative and high profile conference championship game between the two winners.
Brewster will take three players to Chicago to participate in the media sessions, quarterback Adam Weber, defensive tackle Brandon Kirksey and safety Kim Royston.
Brewster plans to tell the media he believes his team, picked by most writers to finish near the bottom of the conference standings, has a “chance to be much better than most people think.” Brewster has a lot of confidence in his fourth Gophers team, a group that is more athletic than in the past.
He has also been impressed with the summer workouts of his team. “Guys are so much stronger, so much bigger,” he said.
A more physical, athletic and better conditioned team can provide a payoff during the season to the messages the Gophers had on their workout shirts this summer: “Finish. Compete Forever.”
Brewster’s Gophers have sometimes been challenged to win games in the fourth quarter. That’s been a reason the team finished around .500 each of the last two seasons, 7-6 in 2008 and 6-7 in 2009.
“We want to take games into the fourth quarter and win games in the fourth quarter,” Brewster said.