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Football: Q&A with MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher

The Post's Assistant Sports Editor Pete Nakos spoke with Mid-American Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher over the phone to find out more about the importance of nonconference games against the "Power Six" and some history on flying the jolly roger flag.

Q: Obviously Ohio plays at Nippert Stadium on Saturday, and I just wanted to get your thoughts on when the Mid-American Conference goes against the so-called “Power Six.”

Steinbrecher: One, we love competing against Cincinnati. It’s an institution with a lot of history with a number of our schools, and rightfully so. That’s always great competition. For me, all of the nonconference games are important. Certainly, they are part of the parcel of non-autonomous FBS conferences. A lot of comparison points occur. Anytime we’re against a non-autonomous FBS, we want to compete well. 

Q: As a so-called Group of Five conference, do you think that those games may have some more weight? Trying to just show what this conference is about?

Steinbrecher: Just so you know, I don’t spend a lot of time talking about Group of Five. We’re non-autonomous FBS. We’ve let ourselves be easily labeled. We’re one of 10 FBS conferences. Clearly we’re in a peer group and the American is in that immediate peer group. So yeah, I think it’s important that we compete well against any of those teams. With the same token, it’s important we compete well against autonomous institutions. 

Q: How did the whole ‘fly the flag’ movement start?

Steinbrecher: It was something I really started four or five years ago. I was looking for a way to eternally celebrate victories and help us collectively celebrate victories. I had someone on our staff make it. I said, “I want a jolly roger flag with our logo.” As we won nonconference games and bowl games, I’d shoot out an email that included the MAC jolly roger in it to the coach and the (athletic director) and, sometimes, the president. Congratulate them, told them to fly the flag and copy everyone. 

It was just a concept of making our nonconference games. These are important games for us in terms of continuing the growth of visibility and perception of this league. I wanted us to celebrate all that collectively. In the nonconference portion of the year, we need to cheer like crazy for each other. Now we’ll fight like cats and dogs when we get to the conference portion, but until we get there, we need to support each other. 

And then I just said, “Heck with it. I’m going to start talking about it publicly.” 

This summer I gave everyone a flag, and we talked about it at media day. We’ve been talking about it ever since. We’re selling t-shirts and flags. If you’ve noticed, the jolly roger has been flown at every College Gameday on Saturday mornings. That will continue this week in Oregon. 

Q: How do you make sure the jolly roger is flown at every College Gameday?

Steinbrecher: Our staff plans it out. It’s on our marketing plan. We have an array of folks that we reach out. 

Q: How much fun was the fly the flag video?

Steinbrecher: That was a blast. Our staff did a great job of getting the costuming together. One of the benefits in Cleveland — which has the second-largest theatre district outside of New York City — is you have a phenomenal wardrobe closet. 

We had just hired a new staff member in our media relations area with a focus on videography, and he did a super job with the concept and production. 

I think it’s been well received. Again, I hope it’s something we continue to grow depending on our success on the field. 

Q: Any final thoughts?

Steinbrecher: Let’s go fly the flag. 

@Pete_Nakos96

pn997515@ohio.edu

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