Kirk Herbstreit: 'I don't like where we're headed' in college football

Kirk Herbstreit is reading the writing on the wall for the future of college football. Following the seismic shifts in the sport’s landscape, Herbstreit spoke about being worried about the future with Zach Klein of WSB-TV Atlanta.

“I don’t like where we’re headed right now,” Herbstreit stated. “I don’t like that the SEC, by bringing in Texas and Oklahoma, clearly has infuriated these other conference commissioners. Made them nervous, made them wonder about the future of the sport.” 

Furthermore, Herbstreit created a metaphor about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that continued to illustrate his point.

“Can you imagine Roger Goodell if he was the commissioner of the NFC South and that’s it? Right now we have five Roger Goodells,” said Herbstreit. “Everybody’s worried about their backyard.”

‘We’re going to have to eventually get to one voice.’

Continuing, Herbstreit offers the idea of a centralized commissioner for each league. Evidently, the college football analyst believes it would help with the chaos we’ve seen this summer.

“ I think for us to really make progress, we’re going to have to eventually get to one voice,” Herbstreit said. “These conference commissioners should report to a commissioner, who is in charge of not just the SEC or the Big Ten or the ACC or Big 12, Pac-12 or any of these conferences. They’re in charge of the country, and worried about what’s in the best interest of this sport. 

“Until we get there, we’re going to have things like this. I don’t want to say petty, but it seems to be we’re drawing lines. It feels like right now, people are piling up against the SEC because they’re worried about what happens once Texas and Oklahoma come into that conference.”

The announcement of Texas and Oklahoma’s move to the SEC has had gigantic ramifications already. If Herbstreit’s idea of one commissioner comes to fruition, more change is on the horizon.

ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 formalize alliance

Yesterday, another gigantic stone was overturned when the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 alliance became official. By virtue of a joint press conference with commissioners Jim Phillips, Kevin Warren and George Kliavkoff, the alliance was formalized.

The conferences are aligned on issues of governance, including eligibility, academic reputation and the future of the NCAA, Name-Image-Likeness, social justice, and the college season and postseason. Twenty-seven of the 34 AAU schools are members of the ACC, Big Ten or Pac-12.

“The alliance includes a scheduling component for football and women’s and men’s basketball designed to create new inter-conference games, enhance opportunities for student-athletes, and optimize the college athletics experience for both student-athletes and fans across the country,” the statement said.

“A working group comprised of athletic directors representing the three conferences will oversee the scheduling component of the alliance, including determining the criteria upon which scheduling decisions will be made,” the statement added. “All three leagues and their respective institutions understand that scheduling decisions will be an evolutionary process given current scheduling commitments.”

Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC as the first domino fell, and yesterday more were knocked over. Kirk Herbstreit may not like where college football is headed, but he’s along for the ride.