Kevin Warren surfaced as a candidate for the Bears’ president and CEO role recently, and the Big Ten commissioner is expected to make the jump back to the NFL.
The Bears plan to hire Warren, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). The Bears have since announced the hire. Warren will succeed longtime Bears president Ted Phillips, who announced intentions to retire before this past season. Warren has an extensive history in the NFL, including with two NFC North franchises (the Lions and Vikings), but has been the Big Ten commissioner since 2019. The new hire will start work April 17, Pete Thamel of ESPN.com tweets.
This will be the first Bears change in this position in the 21st century. Phillips had served in this role since 1999 but indicated in September he was leaving the team after 40 years in various roles. Warren will come in from the college ranks, but he has more than 20 years of experience in the NFL.
Warren, 59, became the first Black commissioner of the Big Ten and helmed the conference during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to numerous schedule and format adjustments for all sports over multiple years. The conference waffled on its 2020 football schedule, initially postponing the season to the spring. Warren then backtracked, leading to the league starting its season Oct. 24 — well after the southern power conferences began their respective campaigns. The Pac-12 joined the Big Ten in beginning its season late that fall. The Big Ten during this period also reached agreements on additions of USC and UCLA, which represent two of the most shocking realignment dominoes to fall in history.
Prior to accepting the Bears position, Warren remained on his original contract as Big Ten commish. He will join a Bears team that recently clinched the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 1947. The Bears launched a rebuild effort last year, hiring Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus to lead that effort. Poles gutted Chicago’s veteran-laden defense, with trades involving Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn playing a role in the team finishing 3-14 and securing the top pick.
Warren has been mentioned as a possible Roger Goodell successor down the road, per Mark Maske of the Washington Post, with Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio indicating the same while including Broncos co-owner and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as another rumored option (Twitter links). Having Warren, who in Minnesota became the first Black COO in NFL history, back in the NFL could allow for an easier commissioner transition at some point.
Ahead of his Big Ten commitment, Warren spent nearly 15 years with the Vikings. He finished his Minnesota run working as the team’s COO. He spent three years with the Lions in the early 2000s and began his NFL career with the Rams in the late ’90s.
Warren’s first move will be to try to convince the Chargers and Rams to move to the NFC North. “Hey, if I could do it in the Big Ten…”
Grear hire!
Question the move
Under the new structure, Poles reports directly to McCaskey and not the team president. Looks like Warren’s main job will be to facilitate the Arlington Heights stadium and relocation.
I thought Ted Phillips was still doing that. Even thought he retired.
I think he just wanted to retire. The stadium thing is gonna take a number of years.
Bears announced that Poles will be reporting to Warren.
Well, that’s new. Poles did not report to Ted Phillips this past season.
likely because Ted planned to retire before the season so Georgie boy stepped in for continuity.
Bye Felicia
Signed,
fans of the B10
The conference grew in prominence and profit under his leadership. But he’s a black guy, so naturally someone’s gonna have problems with him. Dusty got similar treatment with the Cubs.
The Big Ten has always been a prominent league because of its membership. Kevin Warren never got proper credit for lining up its new TV contracts with NBC and CBS.
Incidentally, anything baseball does in employment matters has zero to do with college sports or the NFL.
Looks like we’ll need another tracker for potential Goodell successors.
Not a big fan of Warren, but I’m not sure he’ll have that kind on job security with the Bears.
As bad as Phillips has been, He’s got to be a big improvement. If not, I guess I won’t be surprised much.
Georgie Georgie Georgie, what are you doing now? I know Phillips did nothing but oversee the lease and construction of the most hideous stadium in the NFL plus the contract with Chicago. I would have thought you would have wanted someone to move the organization forward to Arlington. But now it looks like you’ll be staying in that horrible park district field. How long before you and gramma are gone?
What a clueless comment
Give me a historic outdoor stadium over a domed monstrosity any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
you know Warren helped oversee the stadium build up in Minnesota, right? This guy should help make the plan for the move to Arlington more clear moving forward.
Nice check the box hire