The Big Ten won’t be issuing any preseason All-Big Ten teams, or picking teams to win divisions, or even naming preseason offensive and defensive players of the year. No, the Big Ten won’t do anything silly like that, having voted to do away with such frivolities this May. Why? Well, as the Toledo Blade explains, expectations just aren’t what the Big Ten’s coaches want.
There Is No Preseason All-Big Ten Team, Because The Conference’s Coaches Fear Expectations
Presumably, the coaches came to the conclusion that the league-wide acknowledgement of preseason prognostications can do more harm than good. A coach whose team is picked to win the conference will, at best, achieve expectations. Conversely, a poor preseason forecast can tarnish the perception of a team, one that has yet to even participate in its first practice.Hey, Transparent Attempt To Diminish Pressures And Keep Jobs, party of 12? Let’s talk.
Look, in a vacuum, we all know that these preseason lists are meaningless and stupid: at best, they get diehards fired up about their teams, and at worst, they just look bad for the coaches and players who select them. But rejecting the entire idea, ostensibly because they can do more bad than good, is like shunning the sun rising, ostensibly because skin cancer is worse than sunlight.
This doesn’t help players, of course: they might actually get jacked up about being expected to do things, and can certainly benefit from the added scrutiny when it comes time to be examined for the NFL Draft and the possibility of a paying job. These are the sorts of laurels that eventually help players get hired and paid.
And they’re the sorts of pressures that help coaches get fired. Removing them helps coaches who won’t have to explain why six All-Big Ten selections could only help a team to a 5-7 record, or why a team expected to finish fifth in the conference ended up ninth. (Hint: it’s because you coach Purdue/Indiana/Minnesota.)
This is about coaches hoping that the lack of formal preseason expectations will somehow trick boosters into thinking that underachieving isn’t as bad. Good luck with that.
The Big Ten does have a "players to watch" list. Given the bloodlessness of the rest of the Big Ten ethos, I was a bit surprised that John Smith or Jack Jones didn't take up the entire list. (I would also have believed Joe Bauserman earning every vote.)
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