Jim Delany never will be a contestant on “Top Chef,” but the Big Ten commissioner frequently has used a cooking analogy when asked about the prospects of Big Ten expansion.”A back-burner issue,” he has called it. Not anymore. According to a league official, the Big Ten will release a statement Tuesday saying the matter has moved to the front burner.
The first sign of change came from former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, who told Wisconsinâ??s athletic board on Friday that Delany “is going to take this year to really be more aggressive about it. I just think everybody feels [expansion] is the direction to go, coaches and administrators.”