Flying The Flag: Interview with MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher

By Simon Carroll

Simon Carroll sits down with MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher to discuss the upcoming season, the future of college football and the Mid-American Conference’s place within it.

"Expect The Unexpected"

Cast your minds back to the 2014 NFL Draft, if you will. Khalil Mack, the Buffalo edge rusher, was selected fifth overall by the (then) Oakland Raiders, the highest ever draft pick in the Bulls’ history. Playing at a MAC school, many casual UK NFL fans will be forgiven for not knowing who he was or the college he heralded from. They would soon find out, the five-time All Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler making 630 tackles and 107 sacks in his pro career to date. But for some of us, this would have been completely predictable…

Back in 2013, this football-obsessed (then) barman happened to tune in to ESPN late one November Tuesday night after a shift. On offer, a compelling matchup: The Miami (OH) RedHawks hosting the Buffalo Bulls in a Mid-American Conference game. Mack would run riot in this contest, racking up 8 tackles, 3 sacks and 3 forced fumbles as the Bulls ran out 44-7 winners. The only conference to schedule midweek games since the early 2000’s, if you wanted to watch live football on a Tuesday or Wednesday you would be watching the MAC.

This unique window, along with other initiatives, has allowed this Great Lakes conference to earn a cult following the last two decades, further spurred on by its unpredictable nature and competitiveness amongst its members. As college football has evolved the MAC has found its niche, allowing it not just to survive but thrive in the current climate. Against a rapidly-changing backdrop, I asked Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher what we could expect from his conference in 2025:

“Probably what’s become commonplace for us and that’s to expect the unexpected! We always have a robust in-conference season and it’s fun to watch the teams work their way through that; I’m optimistic about the non-conference part of the season but we’ll have to see. We’re kicking off in two weeks and I’m anxious to see how our teams compete. Given the churn in rosters it’s not as easy nowadays to know what you have – I’m excited to see how we line up on the field.”

Tradition vs Evolution

2025 represents the 80th anniversary of the MAC. Commissioner Steinbrecher has been at the helm for the last sixteen of those years, the longest-tenured commissioner in the FBS. The conference tenure alone is impressive, considering the recent demise of the Big East and Pac-12. Go lower down the food chain and the task becomes harder; conference realignment threatens the existence of each affiliation in the Group of Five, with poaching of programs seemingly a yearly occurrence. A commissioner for the past 31 years, Steinbrecher has leant on his experience to keep the MAC evolving and unique whilst simultaneously maintaining tradition. The result? One of the most stable conferences in college football:

“I think what you do is you need to lean into the values of your organisation. So for instance, when contemplating membership, you gotta ask yourself ‘why do you wanna add people?’ And it comes down to two reasons. Firstly, for survival; you need 8 football-playing schools to be an FBS conference. We’re not in that situation, so the other reason is to strengthen the conference. And there’s a lot of ways to define that. It could mean adding rivals which helps increase ticket sales. It might be welcoming a program that helps with your next TV contract. It could be a school that’s really good on the field that translates into higher rankings for the institutions or the conference, and maybe give you a better shot of that non-autonomous team for the CFP playoffs coming out of the MAC – and all the revenue implications as a result. So there’s a whole lot of different ways to look at that.”

In terms of affiliation, the MAC has been the home for the same twelve schools for nearly a quarter of a century. That remarkable consistency changed on July 1st when UMass entered the conference and will further alter next offseason when Northern Illinois departs for the Mountain West. This modest realignment doesn’t impact the conference’s blueprint in the way we’ve seen elsewhere in college football, something Steinbrecher admits has its benefits. That being said, nothing is necessarily off the table, and each opportunity will be considered by its own merits:

“In our case, we’ve not been totally prescriptive with what or who we want. But we’ve laid out all these different areas; academics, profile of the school etc. Geography is important to us – it doesn’t mean we wouldn’t stretch the boundaries in the right situation, but we are mindful of the repercussions. Every dollar you’re not spending travelling is a dollar we can put back into the student athletes in an array of different ways. History, tradition, there are countless factors when you’re considering the evolution of a conference.”

Midweek #MACtion

American sports are not afraid of change, something that can come as a shock to fans from different countries and cultures. Over here, adaptation to structures or rules in sport is met with alarm and suspicion; in the States, it’s welcomed as progress. This evolution usually centres around money, and despite its stability the MAC is not impervious to such change. Football is a lot different now to when Steinbrecher took the job back in 2009, for better or for worse. Remaining pragmatic amongst such rapid development allows his conference to be ready for what’s to come:

“I think we’ve been on a long, slow progression where the conference identity has become more and more important, and more of a zero-sum game. It’s not that the conferences don’t collaborate and co-operate with each other, but it’s certainly less than it was. It used to be a socialistic enterprise, but other things take precedent now; brand value, performance on the field and revenue. And that’s not a value judgement on that, it’s just the way things have progressed. If you just look at the most recent iteration of the playoff revenue sharing formula, it used to be that all the autonomous schools would all get the same, the non-autonomous programs would each receive the same. Now that remains the same for us, but there’s now bifurcation for the autonomous conferences which is a new development. And it’s one we need to keep our eyes on.”

Five years into his tenure, Steinbrecher signed a 13-year TV deal with ESPN that gave the MAC the financial foundations for long-term survival and success. At the heart of the deal was maintaining the midweek ‘#MACtion’ games that have become synonymous with the conference, a unique selling point that gave value to the broadcasters and the schools in equal measure. That deal expires in two seasons, and I was intrigued to know if the commissioner was confident he could land a similar package:

“We certainly hope we’ll see growth in our new TV deal, and we’re coming up to the time when we need to start digging into that. Considering recent deals I won’t even begin to speculate what that looks like! Clearly the midweek games have become a bit of a signature for us, giving us a window that frankly means we’re the only college football show in the world. That exposure has really helped us change from a regional conference to a national brand, which is what I consider us now. The idea of ‘MACtion’ has really taken off, people have bought into it, and we value that – and it’s a consideration we need to give in negotiations going forward. Then you ask if you want to adjust that midweek formula. Do we want to continue it, do more of it, or even less of it? And does that increase our value to the likes of ESPN or even other carriers?”

Shaping The Future Of College Football

The expansion to a 12-team College Football Playoff last season has been widely accepted as a huge success. Rather than rest on their laurels, the nine FBS conferences have considered a myriad of suggested changes to the system, and certain high profile parties have predictably dominated the discussion. Steinbrecher considers the robust conversation as healthy and necessary rather than self-serving:

“We are a part of the conversation in the CFP room, we do have a voice and it is valued. Clearly on issues around format, the Big Ten & SEC are given a very loud voice around it. But they also help create a very good conversation around it too, so we should see where it goes. The questions right now are do we expand beyond 12 participants in the playoffs, and how do we populate that field? We currently have the top five conference champions getting automatic spots, which I find it hard to envision changing. But then we have one conference talking about pre-assigning spots, which I kind of view as a ‘backward facing’ format. But it’s a conversation to be a part of, and their input and direction is valued. If we stay the same, what help do we provide to the selection committee to help determine the at-large selections? Can we fine-tune or add metrics to give them the tools to make these big decisions? And then, we also have to consider how rigid we want the committee to be in terms of rules they need to follow. How we select the field and the philosophy around it is an evolving discussion.”

The line between Power 4 and Group of 5 conferences has always abundantly been clear, even as a divide in strength within the former group grows. The commissioner understandably prefers the terms ‘autonomous and non-autonomous conferences’ to distinguish between two, and it’s clear he sees little value in bemoaning any disparity. The MAC wins by controlling the controllables:

“For as long as I can remember, there’s always been a resource gap. And to be honest, I’m not sure it matters if the gap is $1 million or $10m. I don’t spend tons of time worrying about it. What I’m more focused on is our peer grouping, comparing ourselves to the other non-autonomous conferences, and are we all in the same ball park? And whilst there is some stratification there, yeah: we are. That’s important.”

Staying Competitive

Commissioner Steinbrecher’s conviction when it comes to measuring the MAC up against the other conferences at their level is more important now than it ever has been. Even amidst the threat of tweaks and changes to the format, the likelihood is that the top five-ranked conference winners in the FBS will have a guaranteed playoff spot for some time. That means that, in a worst-case scenario, the Group of Five will always have one champion in the postseason bracket each year. Last year the Mountain West earned that spot, with Boise State rewarded with the #4 seed after an outstanding season. One week before football on Saturday returns, we are no more wiser as to who this year’s Boise State will be.

Why not a program from the MAC? In the last two years alone, MAC schools have knocked off Notre Dame, Mississippi State, Boston College, Iowa State, Cincinnati and Georgia Tech. Each time they beat a Power 4 school, they ‘fly the flag’, a Jolly Roger version of their conference logo. That’s an impressive resume of upsets, although if you ask Steinbrecher it’s an established standard for his conference:

“Those are important games for us, and we do need to show well in them. History will tell you that we are gonna knock off some big names each year. And we know we’re swimming in a big pond in that regard, one guaranteed spot for a team from one of our five conferences. But we’re not just here to make up the numbers. We can compete and win some of those games, and our expectations are that we will. We’ve had two teams feature in New Year’s Six bowl games, and our goal is to get a MAC school in the playoffs. If it was anything short of that, I’m not sure we’re doing our jobs right.”

One threat to the conference’s success is the transfer portal, and the poaching of talent by bigger programs. Steinbrecher suggests he and the coaches are getting more sophisticated with highlighting the consequences of not playing elsewhere and the benefits of staying home. He has the evidence to back it up too; if you’re too young to remember the Khalil Macks and Eric Fishers (#1 overall pick, CMU, 2013) of this world, just take a look at the last two drafts. Harold Fannin (Bowling Green) and Darius Alexander (Toledo) are two examples of MAC talent making it to the NFL. Quinyon Mitchell (Toledo), a first round pick in 2024, already has a Super Bowl ring:

“Oh I think our track record clearly shows that we can send talent to the next level. We’re really four years into this era of almost no rules when it comes to the transfer portal. There’s multiple ways to look at it, and I’ll start from an academic perspective; I’m concerned that in three, four years we’ll start to see data that shows a falloff in academic and educational outcomes of our student athletes because of multiple transfers. I hope that’s not the case, but it should be a priority that we’re mindful of that. But the free-flowing nature of the new environment means yeah: we do lose some student athletes. Interestingly, we were losing some of those kids before anyway. In actual fact though, what we are seeing is more kids staying or coming back to us than we did before. It works both ways. It’s hard to put a value judgement around that.”

Student Wellbeing: A Point Of Pride

Jon Steinbrecher’s concerns for a transfer portal student’s education exemplifies his priorities as a commissioner. During his sixteen years in charge, the commissioner has led efforts to implement mental health services for MAC student-athletes, launched the first conference-wide diversity and inclusion program, created a conference-wide internship program, and focused on the overall well-being of student-athletes and conference staff. Innovations such as ‘Midweek MACtion’ and running the first independent esports conference are fantastic. But it’s maintaining the welfare of the students that represent their institutions on the football field that truly separates the Mid-American Conference from its peers:

“I think we have it as a point of pride that student wellbeing is the first thing I think of. We’re a part of The Academy, and we’re expected to offer these kind of facilities. The neat thing about intercollegiate athletics in the United States is that link to our education system. It’s really unique in the world in doing that. And they help elevate each other; it brings educational value to the participants themselves, an amplification of their education. But it has value beyond that to the community, to the rest of the institution, and it brings a level of energy and dynamism to disparate groups that allow them to come together in support of a common cause. We need to continue to value and cherish that, lean into it and remember that student-athlete wellbeing is at the heart of that.”

The MAC, despite its strong geographical footprint and stable membership, sometimes gets dismissed as a collection of misfits. In truth, it’s the purest form of football at the FBS level; a conference that prioritises its members and the young adults that compete in their colors on Saturdays. It delivers a compelling product without compromising its future or the standards they rigorously uphold. And it has, under Steinbrecher’s leadership, navigated choppy waters with a deftness that other conferences could only dream of. #MACtion was just the start, turning the dial on their midweek fixtures all the way up to eleven. How this conference continues to innovate and maintain its position in the future will be interesting to watch from afar.

And if you’re in it just for the football, then you win as well. This is a conference that has had five different champions the past five years – believe me, try predicting the winner of the MAC and you’ll look foolish (apologies NIU, 2021). Last season seven of the twelve members went to a bowl game. And for those as obsessed as myself, it gives you football on a Tuesday night in November. What more can you ask for!

The MAC’s 2025 season gets underway with non-conference play in Week 1, as five of their schools kick off on Thursday night (28th). Could Ohio shock Rutgers, Buffalo beat Minnesota, or Miami (OH) win in Wisconsin? As their commissioner advises: expect the unexpected.

Mock Draft

SIMON CARROLL

HEAD OF CFB/NFL DRAFT CONTENT

PREVIOUSLY THE FOUNDER OF NFL DRAFT UK, SIMON HAS BEEN COVERING COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE NFL DRAFT SINCE 2009. BASED IN MANCHESTER, SIMON IS ALSO CO-CREATOR & WEEKLY GUEST OF THE COLLAPSING POCKET PODCAST, AND COVERS THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS FOR SB NATION.

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