In an ever-changing era in college football, Kirk Herbstreit sees the need for change. He has a three-step plan to fix what he called a “really big problem.”
Herbstreit, speaking with Front Office Sports, called for a commissioner for college football as well as collective bargaining with the players. Then, he said the Power Four conferences should break away and form their own league.
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Herbstreit compared the current landscape to the NFL, where Roger Goodell is the commissioner for every team. In college, every conference has its own commissioner, which is where the ESPN analyst said things get murky.
“We’ve got a really big problem in college football,” Herbstreit told David Rumsey at Radio Row ahead of Super Bowl LX. “Imagine if the NFL didn’t have Roger Goodell, but the AFC South had a commissioner, the NFC South had a commissioner, the AFC East had a commissioner – all the way around. And you asked them all to get on the same page, meanwhile they all have their own goals, their own agenda. That’s what we have in college football.
“What Tony Petitti in the Big Ten are looking at, he’s worried about Champaign, Illinois; West Lafayette, [Indiana]; Columbus, Ohio; Ann Arbor, [Michigan]. And then, if you think about the SEC, Greg Sankey, he’s worried about Starkville, Miss. You think he’s worrying about Evanston, Ill.? No. He’s worried about his constituents – his presidents, his ADs, his coaches, his players. And he should be. But we don’t have anybody governing the sport from a national perspective. Until we do, we’re kind of spinning our wheels.”
This story will be updated.
