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Questions for ... Jim Delany

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One of the most powerful figures in college sports isn't interested in leaving his job as Big Ten commissioner to run the NCAA. On the job since 1989, the former North Carolina basketball player still has work to do in the Big Ten, from fine-tuning the conference's television network to figuring out what to do with its men's basketball tournament. Sports editor JIM ROSSOW tracked down Delany this week to discuss Illinois' struggles in football, Iowa's chances of making the BCS title game and the commissioner's future.

You're the Big Ten commissioner. Certainly you know who's starting at quarterback this week for the Illini.

Ha, ha, ha. No concept, no idea. I bet you it's between no more than two players. I'm not in the loop.

Illinois hasn't been able to sustain football success. An inkling as to why?

I don't have a great answer for that. In many ways, they have a lot of things that you would think you would need: a commitment by the institution, great facilities, a good university that's centrally located. They've had some great years. John Mackovic had great years, coach (Ron) Turner had some great years, coach (Ron) Zook has had some great years. I don't know if there are an awful lot of people fishing in the same Midwestern pond. Iowa has had great years and then down periods. If you think about the people that did sustain it, there aren't a lot of them. Even Ohio State in (Jim) Tressel's early years, they were down. Oklahoma, Texas, Southern Cal – even the great programs have not had unbroken success. I don't know if you look at Illinois without looking at the context of parity and programs being up and down. Southern Cal before Pete (Carroll) got there – they're out of it.

Ron Guenther is catching some flak.

First of all, if they look at the body of work, in my opinion, Ron Guenther is in the top couple athletic directors in the country. Whether you want to look at the integrity issues, the resource issue, the building issue. The athletic director does not block, nor does he tackle, nor does he coach. All he does is provide resources. Coach Mackovic was a good football coach, Coach Turner was a good football coach and Coach Zook is, well, the jury is out. Everybody says great recruiter. That's Step 1. Step 2 is pulling a team together, and obviously there's a lot of disappointment this year for everyone as a fan of Illinois. I'm a fan of all our schools. We were very hopeful this would be a great year for Illinois, so it's a surprise that it hasn't been. That's hard on the Illinois fan base, the Big Ten fan base, hard on Ron Guenther, hard on Richard Herman, Stan Ikenberry, Jim Delany. It's really hard on Coach Zook and the players. Hey, if you could purchase it in a little bottle, it'd be pretty valuable.

Your new bowl deals resulted in five games in January.

We thought we had a great slate of games the last cycle, but the goal is always to improve it. Improve the financial side, the opponent side, the television, the location. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. You never want to slip back. With three games on New Year's Day in Florida against quality opponents and all those games leading into the Rose Bowl, that was our goal going in. I think it's our best slate. Change is inevitable. You have to take advantage of the opportunities when they're there. We haven't announced it yet, but we're hopefully confident we can get a deal done in Detroit with the Little Caesars Bowl.

There's the Rose Bowl and then the BCS title game in the Rose Bowl. What are the odds a Big Ten team gets in both?

The chances of getting a team in the Rose Bowl are very good. If not our champion if they move up, a team that is eligible to replace them. Iowa is ranked sixth. I think Florida at this time last year was ranked 10 or nine, so they're in the mix. Kirk is a pretty sly coach. I'm sure he's not thinking about the end of the year.

Are you sick of hearing about the Big Ten's record in bowl games last season (1-6)?

Excuse me? Our connection must not be great. Last year's record? That's probably why I didn't hear the question. Yeah, it was bad record, a very bad record. We want to reverse it. We're playing great teams, we're playing up a lot, we're playing in people's backyards. But you compliment the opponents. We're not changing who we play. We might change how we play and get better. But it happens. We've been out of the mix a little bit in terms of dominating postseason football. We need to get better at it.

How about a pep talk to the coaches?

I don't give pep talks. They know that we're fully committed in every way we can be in doing it the right way, whether it's facilities or television or bowls. We're not football coaches. Ron Guenther is not a football coach, nor is Stan Ikenberry. That's why coaches are hired. It's high risk, high reward. No matter who the coach is, there's a lot that's expected. There's a lot of pressure, there's a lot of publicness to what they do. While people are always pointing toward what they make – they do make a lot – well, they also do what they do in a very public way. When they don't do well, they take a lot of heat. That's part of the bargain.

Your take on the Big Ten and the first BCS ranking.

It's the first ranking. I think it's a lot more valid than the polls that occurred on Sept. 1. It's a pretty good reflection of where people are at. I don't quibble. Each week there's somebody whining about the polls, but I don't whine about them one way or the other. I think they've got our teams about right. I don't rank teams, but it seems rational to me.

For Iowa to creep into the Top 2, it seems they have some hurdles to jump.

Not really. If people just lose there are no hurdles. When they lose and you win, you move up. Their hurdles are the teams they play the final six weeks. History will tell you not many people run the table. And if you do run the table, you have a shot at playing in the big game, whether it's the Rose Bowl game or a New Year's Day game or the national championship game. I love the inspection of the polls and the interest it creates and the controversy it creates. Each week you have a slate of games that are going to fascinate football fans around the country, and, to me, that's meaningful.

Are you a sounding board for a program hiring a new coach?

It depends. Some athletic directors and presidents will ask my opinion and some don't. My background is not in hiring football coaches. I love the game, but I don't know who the rising stars are. That's why they hire search firms and talk to each other. I have an opinion but I probably would be wrong more than I would be right.

Would you be interested in running the NCAA?

Me? Put it this way, I think I have the best job in college sports.

I see your name mentioned in connection to the job.

I've been around a long time. Sometimes you read it and it's nice and sometimes it's not so nice. It depends what you're talking about. To be honest with you, and I have felt this way for a long time, it's been a unique privilege to work for Big Ten institutions, with athletic directors, with presidents, with coaches. I continue to get a great deal of satisfaction out of that because whether it's the bowl situation or the network situation, the cohesiveness of our group is just outstanding. You're able to do things. Leading the NCAA is a challenge because it's a very multi-layered constituent organization. So my job is easier probably and better in many ways.

How are the ratings for the Big Ten Network?

They're good. I got an update on those a couple weeks ago. Compared to '08 and '07 they continue to grow. We had really huge ratings with the Michigan-Michigan State football game. Our ESPN numbers have been good, our ABC numbers are about where they were last year, ESPN2 is up, Big Ten Network is up. Things are going good.

Big Ten basketball media day is next week.

There are a lot of positive vibes about the returning players and programs. I think we're on a pretty good trajectory. We have a lot of young players, returning players, great coaches. I'll be at a memorial service for Dr. (Myles) Brand, so I don't think I'll be there. It's the first media day I've missed, but I have things I have to do.

When do you accept bids for the Big Ten basketball tournament?

We'll probably go through this year, get three years behind us, then determine if it's something we want to continue, something we want to do bids on, whether or not it's something we take a different approach on. I think we need to get beyond last year (when) the economy was in the dump and the response by the fans was not good. Chicago was great, Indy won the bid, Indy had an odd year last year. Hopefully things will get back to normal and we'll see where we are, then talk to the ADs and coaches and see what they're thinking. Indianapolis is a great venue, as is Chicago. We'll have to see. We need at least one more year of data.

I can't let you go without asking if there's a 12th team you're looking at.

Every year you ask me, 'Who is the 12th team?' Every year I tell you we don't bring in teams. They're institutions. We look at this every five or six years. It's a back-burner issue. Certainly we needed to focus in on the network and the bowl stuff going on. In many ways, things have calmed down. There are some positives about expansion, but we're also doing exceptionally well. We've already had our two discussions with Notre Dame – I don't think that's in the cards. They made it clear where they'd like to be. There are a lot of other great universities. The question is I know what we could do for an institution. We have to be concerned with what the institution could do for the group. I'm a back-burner, status-quo guy.

Will expansion happen before you leave this post?

I don't know. Are you trying to get rid of me? First, you've got me going to the NCAA, now you talk about me leaving my post. Good soldiers don't leave their posts. I'm very happy in my post. I hope you're happy with what we're seeing in my post, too.

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