https://www.tampabay.com/ap/sports/...ner-ap_sportsd67d7fac9d91464ca254a062af0beff2
Kevin Warren keeps a picture in his office of Curt Flood. There's another of Jackie Robinson, one of Texas Western's barrier-bulldozing 1966 NCAA championship basketball team and Dr. Martin Luther King's letter from "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
Warren understood the significance of the moment Tuesday as he became the first black commissioner of a Power Five conference. The Big Ten hired the Minnesota Vikings executive to replace Jim Delany, bringing on a former college basketball player and sports agent with a law degree from Notre Dame to lead one of the most lucrative leagues in the country.
"It's really about diversity, inclusion and it really is about opportunity," Warren said. "One of the things I will stand for here is to make sure regardless of your background — regardless of your race, color, creed, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation — this will be a place from an exclusive standpoint that we will embrace everyone and give everyone an opportunity to be the best they can be."
He will start Sept. 16 and work alongside Delany, who will step down Jan. 1 from the job he has held since 1989. The 71-year-old Delany announced his decision to step away earlier this year. At the time, he planned to stay on until June 30, 2020.
Kevin Warren keeps a picture in his office of Curt Flood. There's another of Jackie Robinson, one of Texas Western's barrier-bulldozing 1966 NCAA championship basketball team and Dr. Martin Luther King's letter from "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
Warren understood the significance of the moment Tuesday as he became the first black commissioner of a Power Five conference. The Big Ten hired the Minnesota Vikings executive to replace Jim Delany, bringing on a former college basketball player and sports agent with a law degree from Notre Dame to lead one of the most lucrative leagues in the country.
"It's really about diversity, inclusion and it really is about opportunity," Warren said. "One of the things I will stand for here is to make sure regardless of your background — regardless of your race, color, creed, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation — this will be a place from an exclusive standpoint that we will embrace everyone and give everyone an opportunity to be the best they can be."
He will start Sept. 16 and work alongside Delany, who will step down Jan. 1 from the job he has held since 1989. The 71-year-old Delany announced his decision to step away earlier this year. At the time, he planned to stay on until June 30, 2020.
