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Kirk Herbstreit says college football needs commissioner: ‘We need one voice in the sport’
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Kirk Herbstreit isn’t a huge fan of the wave of conference realignment. The ESPN college football analyst now says it’s time for a commissioner to come into play and save the sport.
Speaking on Outside the Lines, Herbstreit addressed his concerns about the future of college football. Primarily, his biggest issues have come with Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC and the potential alliance between the B1G, Pac-12 and ACC.
Bottom line: Herbstreit says it’s bad for the sport.
“We just don’t know where this is leading. There’s a lot of speculation at this point,” Herbstreit said. “To me, it’s just another example — no matter where this leads — we need one voice in this sport. We need a commissioner. We need a Roger Goodell that’s not worried about the SEC or the B1G or the Pac-12 or what’s left of the Big 12 or the ACC. He’s worried about the entire country.
“He’s going to listen to these conference commissioners and then he’s going to make a decision for what’s best in the totality of this sport. Right now, I’m very concerned that it’s fragmented, I’m very concerned that people are picking sides and are going against each other. In the long run, that’s not going to do anything that’s good for the sport as a whole. We gotta learn how to work together, regardless of what’s going on and what personal feelings you may have.”
"We need one voice in the sport, we need a Roger Goodell"@KirkHerbstreit illustrates why CFB needs a commissioner pic.twitter.com/jnaFW2JYpx
— Outside the Lines (@OTLonESPN) August 21, 2021
On Friday, ESPN reported that the B1G was nearing an announcement of an alliance with the Pac-12 and ACC. What all that entails is unclear, but it comes in response to the SEC adding Texas and Oklahoma.
If things continue to change, college football will look much different than it did 10 years ago. Clearly, that’s one thing Herbstreit doesn’t want to see.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB