Big Ten names the divisions.....Fail

[FirstTimer]

Leaders and Legends......................

When the Big Ten plays its first conference championship game next season, it'll be the Leaders division against the Legends division.

The conference, expanding to 12 teams in all sports and adding divisions and a championship game in football starting next season, on Monday also unveiled a new logo and 18 football awards, each named after two standout Big Ten performers.


''The Legends, not too hard in that we have 215 College Football Hall of Fame members, we have 15 Heisman Trophy winners,'' Commissioner Jim Delany said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. ''We thought it made perfect sense to recognize the iconic and the legendary through the naming of the division in that regard. ... We've had plenty of leaders in the conference, that's for sure, but the emphasis here is to recognize the mission of using intercollegiate athletics and higher education to build future leaders.''

With Nebraska becoming the conference's 12th team next year, the conference created new divisions that it introduced in September. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin will be in the Leaders Division, with Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern in the Legends Division.

Delany said the conference had considered naming the divisions after coaches, players, commissioners and faculty but it was too difficult to single out just two. It also disdained from going with compass points since geography had been only the third consideration when the conference announced the divisional setup three months ago. In order, the main factors were competitive balance, maintaining rivalries, and then geography.

Asked if Leaders and Legends was too bland, or not unique to the Big Ten, Delany responded, ''All of these things will engender discussion. We want to engage our fans. All I can tell you is that we thought long and hard about what not to do. We thought harder about what to do.''

The logo is a block ''Big Ten'' which includes an homage to the original 10 members with those numerals embedded in the last two letters of the word Big.

The design firm Pentagram came up with the new logo. And, no, the conference never seriously considered putting a 12 in its logo or changing its well-known brand name to include the number of members today.

''There will be people who would want us to be digitally correct with our name and our number, but I think we have 100-percent support of the people who have responsibility for these programs - in fact, it was a presidential directive - that we maintain our name,'' Delany said.

The conference also introduced 18 new football awards which will be presented starting in 2011 with the advent of divisional play and Nebraska joining the fold.

The awards include the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy, presented to the winner of the conference title game, an offensive player of the year award honoring Otto Graham and Eddie George and a defensive trophy which will honor Bronko Nagurski and Charles Woodson. The Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year trophy will also be introduced next season.

 

[EmpireWF]

:facepalm:

 

[Champ]

Stupid.

 

[FirstTimer]

Story with the new logo:
http://content.usatoday.com/communi.../big-ten-divisions-legends-leaders-new-logo/1

The Big Ten Conference unveiled Monday its new logo for a 12-member league beginning with the 2011-2012 school year when Nebraska joins and announced division names for football.

"Like anything new, it'll take time to get used to," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said on the Big Ten Network of the logo, which keeps the Big Ten name and replaces the "I" in BIG with the number 1.

The new logo for the Big Ten, as unveiled by the conference in a news conference Monday.CAPTIONCourtesy of Big Ten
The two football divisions will be Legends and Leaders.

"We decided to look to our history and our future," Delany said of deciding on division title names.

The Leaders division will feature Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin.

The Legends division will have Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern.

The league announced alignments in early September. They will exist in football only.

In addition to playing other division members, each school will play three crossover games against teams from the other division. Guaranteed cross-division matchups are Illinois-Northwestern, Indiana-Michigan State, Ohio State-Michigan, Penn State-Nebraska, Purdue-Iowa and Wisconsin-Minnesota.

Next season the winner of each division will meet in the league's first championship game Dec. 3 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. That will determine the Big Ten champion and the conference's participant in the Rose Bowl or Bowl Championship Series national championship game.

The winner of the league title game will receive the Stagg-Paterno championship trophy, named for the late Amos Alonzo Stagg, who coached one-time league member University of Chicago from 1892 to 1932, and Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

The most valuable player of the game will receive the Grange-Griffin trophy, so named for the late Harold Edward "Red" Grange, who starred at Illinois, and Archie Griffin of Ohio State, the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner.

--Marlen Garcia

 

[FirstTimer]

They should have named the division the

Grange and Griffin divisions.

Leaders and Legends sounds like some Pee Wee football shit.

 

[mgoblue2290]

Have you seen some of the trophy names? This was a failure of epic proportions by the Big Ten.

 

[FirstTimer]

Names of the awards/honors:

The Big Ten's new football trophy names:

Championship Game Trophies

Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy: Honors University of Chicago coach (1892-1932) Amos Alonzo Stagg and current Penn State coach Joe Paterno (1966-), the winningest major-college coach ever.

Grange-Griffin MVP: Honors legendary Illinois RB Harold "Red" Grange (1923-25) and Ohio State RB Archie Griffin (1972-75), the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner).

Postgraduate Awards

Ford-Kinnick Leadership Award: Honors former President Gerald R. Ford, a Michigan graduate and player (1932-34), and Iowa's Nile Kinnick, the 1939 Heisman winner who was killed in a fighter-plane crash in World War II.

Dungy-Thompson Humanitarian Award: Honors Minnesota QB (1973-76), NFL coach and television commentator Tony Dungy and Indiana RB Anthony Thompson (1986-89), an administrator who also serves as a pastor at a Bloomington, Ind., church.

Annual Awards

Graham-George Offensive Player of the Year: Honors Northwestern (1941-43) and NFL QB Otto Graham and Ohio State (1992-95) and NFL RB Eddie George, who won the Heisman in 1995

Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year: Honors Bronko Nagurski, a three-time All-America and all-around athlete at Minnesota (1927-29) and Michigan (1995-97) and NFL CB Charles Woodson, the first primarily defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy in 1997).

Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year: Honors Woody Hayes, the Big Ten leader in conference wins (205) in 28 seasons as head coach (1951-78) at Ohio State, and his protege and former assistant, Bo Schembechler, who was 194-48-5 at Michigan from 1969-89.

Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year: Honors Minnesota (1986-89) and NFL RB Darrell Thompson who led the conference in rushing his first year and Indiana QB and NFL WR Antwaan Randle El, the first player in NCAA Division I to pass for 40 touchdowns and also rush for 40 in a career (1998-2001).

Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year: Honors Nebraska (1979-82) and NFL OC Dave Rimington, who won the 1982 Outland and Lombardi awards, and Ohio State (1994-96) and NFL OT Orlando Pace, who was the Outland and Big Ten offensive player of the year awards in 1996.

Smith-Brown Defensive Lineman of the Year: Honors Michigan State (1964-66) and NFL DE "Bubba" Smith, a two-time All-Big Ten first-team selection, and Penn State (1996-99) and NFL DE Courtney Brown, the Big Ten's defensive player of the year in 1999.

Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year: Honors Purdue (1964-66) and NFL QB Bob Griese, a standout for the Boilermakers who won two Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins, and Purdue (1997-200) and NFL QB Drew Brees, who led Purdue to its first Rose Bowl since 1967 and also guided the New Orleans Saints to the most recent Super Bowl title.

Ameche-Dayne Running Back of the Year: Honors Wisconsin (1951-54) and NFL FB Alan Ameche who won the Heisman Trophy in 1954 and Wisconsin (1996-99) and NFL RB Ron Dayne, who won the Heisman in 1999.

Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year: Honors Ohio State (1968-70) and NFL DB Jack Tatum, a consensus All-America in 1969 and '70 who was among the top five vote-getters in the 1970 Heisman race, and Purdue (1983-86) and NFL DB Rod Woodson, a three-time All-Big Ten selection who twice won Super Bowls and was named to 11 Pro Bowls during his pro career.

Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the year: Honors Illinois (1962-64) and NFL LB Dick Butkus, a two-time consensus All-America who went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears, and Northwestern (1993-96) LB Pat Fitzgerald, the first player to win two Bednarik and Nagurski awards (1995-96) and is now the head coach at his alma mater.

Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year: Honors Wisconsin (1960-62) and NFL all-around athlete Pat Richter, an All-America selection in 1962 who after playing eight years in the NFL also served his alma mater as athletic director, and Michigan (1989-91) and NFL WR Desmond Howard, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1991 and was the MVP of a Super Bowl.

Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year: Honors Penn State (1966-68) and NFL TE Ted Kwalick, a two-time All-America who also was a solid performer for the San Francisco 49ers, and Iowa (1999-2002) and NFL TE Dallas Clark, a former LB who made the move to TE before the 2001 season and ended up winning the Mackey Award as the nation's best at the position in 2002.

Bakken-Andersen Kicker of the Year: Honors Wisconsin (1959-61) and NFL K Jim Bakken, a solid contributor for his hometown Badgers who played 17 seasons as a pro, and Michigan State (1978-81) and NFL K Morten Andersen, an All-Big Ten player who kicked what is still the Big Ten's longest field goal (63 yards) and played in the NFL from 1982-2007.

Eddleman-Fields Punter of the Year: honors Thomas "Dike" Eddleman who was a three-sport star at Illinois (1946-48), starring in football and also being named the Big Ten's MVP in basketball, and Michigan State (2003-2006) and current NFL P Brandon Fields, a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2003, 2004 and 2006 now playing for Miami Dolphins.

 

[FirstTimer]

Have you seen some of the trophy names? This was a failure of epic proportions by the Big Ten.

The trophy names aren't bad. But the division names are fucking awful.

 

[EmpireWF]

Pussies for not being able to choose one name.

 

[FirstTimer]

Pussies for not being able to choose one name.

Agreed they most likely should have gone with one name for each..but that's a "meh" thing.

 

[FirstTimer]

Oh.

And the new logo is fucking terrible too.

 

[Bear Pand]

How about East/West or North/South.

Oh wait they tried to set up divisions in a way they thought would make the most money, instead of just doing it geographically.

I'd be pissed about this if Purdue didn't suck at fb anyway.

 

[mgoblue2290]

The Leader's leader will play the Legend's leader to determine the Big 10 championship...leader.

 

[BigHouseUSA]

Ever since my carefree days of playing in my backyard with a nerf football I've dreamt of playing in the Big Ten Legends conference.

 

[Woy]

Can't wait to order my 2011 Penn State Leaders Division Champions t-shirt.

 

[FirstTimer]

I'm seriously still shocked that they had literally months to come up with this and the best they come up with is "Leaders and Legends".

SMH

 

[Maynard]

really stupid names. some fossil who cant wipe his own ass probably came up with this garbage

 

[mgoblue2290]

Can't wait to order my 2011 Penn State Leaders Division Champions t-shirt.

Leading the Leader's division is not the same as leading the Big 10 though. You're only equal to the Legend Leader who you will play to determine the true leader of the Big 10.

 

[BigHouseUSA]

Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year :laugh:

 

[MRN]

Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year :laugh:

Lmao.

And why the fuck did Juice Williams not get his own award?