Can B1G build consensus from others, and from within, for reform goals?

2:54 PM ET

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The word “holistic” got thrown around so much during this week’s Big Ten Joint Group Meetings that it felt like the conference was running a new-age medicinal clinic on the side.

That’s the buzzword league administrators have used for months in describing how they want to tackle recruiting reform. It’s one reason why you didn’t hear a huge Big Ten outcry during the satellite-camp debate. Conference leaders would rather examine recruiting from top to bottom than howl over a single issue.

“We can hunker down now that we’ve got the camp thing settled down a little bit,” Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst said. “We can talk about it all holistically, comprehensively. It will be fun.”

The Big Ten wants some recruiting reforms while realizing not all 14 member schools will be affected equally. Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports

For sure, there are many recruiting topics that are of far more importance and interest to the Big Ten than satellite camps. Allowing for earlier official visits is a critical piece, particularly for schools like those in the West Division that are located far away from talent hotbeds (and whose local weather can be iffy in the fall). Big Ten leaders want to dissect the entire recruiting calendar and, possibly, draw up a new one.

In theory, making major changes such as these should be easier with the new NCAA governance structure, which allows Power 5 conferences to write many of their own rules. The trick, however, remains in pulling together a consensus on how to script those rules – not just between leagues but oftentimes within the same conference.

While the Big Ten generally is a harmonious group that rarely displays the kind of backbiting seen in other leagues …

continue reading in source espn.go.com