Delany says reconsideration of division names possible.

Submitted by wolverine2003 on

The outcry possibly worked!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSljNiAd9hPEc74MM2Sg1BQjyOcg?docId=a39765f6323f40e58981c1e9e5fd9d58

Says they will possibly reconsider division names after first of the year.  I applaud him if he does.  If you screw up, acknowledge it and try to fix it.  Hopefully they will take a mulligan on the logo too.

KSmooth

December 17th, 2010 at 3:33 PM ^

...they should reconsider everything they've done since admitting Nebraska.

The silly names are necessary because of silly divisions that ignore geography in order to maintain an illusory "competitive fairness" that only works if team strength remains constant.  There's just no way you can predict whether or not Penn State won't drop off when JoPa retires, or how Illinois might manage the same transformation that Barry Alvarez pulled off at Wisconsin. (Though I'm doubtful Ron Zook is up to the job.)  One or two of those and the "competitive balance" that is the entire justification for this alignment gets blown up.

The bottom line is that a simple east-west division would have been much more straightforward, easier to market, easier to label, and would have kept a lot more of the great rivalries intact.  This whole thing has been overthought and overdone and too clever by half.  This Legends/Leaders embarassment is just the latest manifestation of Big Ten officials who were way too impressed with themselves after they got Nebraska on board.

UMxWolverines

December 17th, 2010 at 3:51 PM ^

The division names aren't even that bad., but they shouldn't have  mixed teams up in the first place. First put teams in correct East-West divisions, then fix the damn logo!

UMxWolverines

December 17th, 2010 at 4:12 PM ^

Michigan and MSU switch to the Leaders (called that for now). So Wisconsin and Illinois switch to the Legends(for now)! Now there's perfect East-West divisions! edit: or flip wisconsin and iowa and have north-south!

Happyshooter

December 18th, 2010 at 8:41 PM ^

I don't much care for the names, either. As applied, they suggest slightly that Michigan is the past and OSU is the current.

However, the names could have been 'world beaters' and 'best ever' and a lot of folks, me included, would have bitched because the Big10 never had divisions before.

That being said, him saying that he is thinking on it is a sign of weakness and means no matter what the names will be changed. I wonder what is coming up next.

Best idea? Hold a contest and pick some not really pretty girl's entry from Iowa or North Campus Michigan, with her picture on it a lot. That way no one will pile on too hard and the new names will become tradition in three years.