Big Ten official talks college sports in Schaumburg

Mark Rudner, senior associate commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, spoke to the Schaumburg Business Association Tuesday about the changes he's seen in the college sports organization during his 39 years there.

Rudner first was hired as assistant communications director in 1979, shortly after graduation from Ohio State University, when the name of the Big Ten Conference was still accurate.

The conference represented only men's athletics at the time. It now includes both men's and women's sports, and 14 instead of 10 universities.

Because the Big Ten Conference has been his only post-college employer, Rudner includes his 15 months at The Agora nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, while still a student in the late '70s to have a second line on his 21st-century LinkedIn profile.