Durzblog

According to a couple news reports (most notably the Charleston Daily Mail Oct 31, click) a new Big East commissioner -- only the third in the league's 30-year history -- should be named before the end of the year. The search, guided by a committee of six Big East university presidents, has been very quiet with any details surrounding Mike Tranghese's successor.

The search is being led by Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and Georgetown President John DeGioia. One football and one hoops, seems fair to me...

Tranghese, 64, took over in 1990 from Big East founder Dave Gavitt, who ran the league from its seven-team inception in 1979. Gavitt is a legend and although Mike T takes loads of heat -- he has done a great job with what circumstances have provided him. The new commissioner will lead the league through a very important crossroads period and perhaps even a conference restructuring after the TV deal expires in 2013. Some see a potential split as the reason Tranghese is stepping down, a basketball guy through and through, he would not want that to happen on his watch.

Published reports have linked several candidates, nobody who is going to wow the sports world, but some very solid choices do exist -- among them:

• former Big 12 Conference Commissioner Kevin Weiberg, who left that conference in June 2007 to become a vice president with the Big Ten's TV network
• From the Big East staff, senior associate commissioner John Marinatto
  
• BE associate commissioner (television, men's basketball scheduling) -- Tom Odjakjian, a former ESPN administrator
• BE associate commissioner Nick Carparelli (football)
  
• former Big East administrator Chris Plonsky, an associate AD at Texas
  
• Tim Pernetti, an ex-Rutgers football player who is a vice president at CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV)
• Central Florida AD Keith Tribble, a former Orange Bowl chief
  

Whoever takes the job will run the best basketball league in the land, but a conference that still needs to build on its football reputation. As they say, football drives college athletics.

With the gripes about scheduling, the annoyance of ND's blatantly self serving policies, the lack of NCAA bids for a 16 team super conglomerate in hoops -- there seems to be quite a bit of interest from football schools to split up and go it on their own and even a bit from some basketball coaches. Some roadblocks are out the for sure; 2013 TV deal, weak pool of candidates for a 9th football and a general reluctance from those who love BE basketball (Calhoun, Boeheim...), who gets the name, who gets the garden?? Issues persist, breaking up is hard to do. Must it be done?

I think yes, call me a traitor -- But i think that forcibly laying down for Notre Dame all these years and a general disregard for the interest of the football side has pressed loyalty too far -- the schools have different interests at heart. The days of Seton Hall and St John's carrying any significant interest in the NYC market have gone -- I contend that markets really don't play that much of a roll in the NCAA athletics anyways (did BC help the ACC win the Boston market?, look at the SEC -- if your product is good, the coutry will watch). A loss of Villanova (recent top 25 staple) and Georgetown (recent FF run) is going to hurt in hoops quality, no doubt, but it does not outweigh the cost of staying together. Providence, Seton Hall and SJU all run their basketball programs at A-10 quality levels as it is, ND's mere presence in the league screams bush league to the rest of the world, and Depaul and Marquette we hardly know ya...

If the split happened, who would be the best candidate to join these 8, lets look first how does the football league stand on its own for both major sports?

• Cincinnati (strong tradition in hoops. fball program is strong at the moment -- top 25, should remain solid in a great state for football)
  
• Connecticut (two time national champ in the last 10 years in hoops. young and solid fball program)
  
• Louisville (great hoops tradition and coach, current top 10 consistently. fball is up and down with a great fanbase and very good facilities)
  
• Pittsburgh (top 15 fixture over a 10 year period in hoops, traditional fball power that appears to be coming back, currently top 25)
  
• Rutgers (miserable hoops tradition, recruiting is up under FH -- we will see on results. football program has found their rise to greatness a bit bumpy, still have a good coach and have garnered some NYC interest in CFB)
  
• West Virginia (top 25ish hoops over the last 5 years and with Huggy in charge -- they should stay that way. Fball team is the league's representative to big time football and has done quite well in their BCS outings)
  
• South Florida (terrible basketball and that won't quickly change, however a talented fball program in the midst of the hottest recruiting hotbed in the land, will battle for BCS bids consistently before long)
  
• Syracuse (recent national champion and multiple FF participant under JB, football program has great tradition, but is in shambles -- somebody has to the lose the games I guess. new coach will arrive next year, that is good news)

the basketball strength will still remain, five of the eight are current top 35 programs. three of the eight reside in the pre-season top 5. Aside from that, Cinci is average and getting better and you have the potential for Rutgers to have some competitive teams in the future and USF can play the roll of whipping boy. The football is the same obviously, you have WVU and then 6 teams who are anywhere from 20-50 and then the Orange. Its currently the fifth or sixth best league (even though the Big 11 is over hyped they are still better up top) and is just a smaller version of the ACC, that happens to play better in the bowls for whatever reason. So the trick would be to add one team that can strengthen one or the other -- scheduling would become a dream and the competition on both sides would have the TV dollars stay right where they are or lessen just a little -- now they are less people in line to get a piece of the pie. If that's what you're into...

the best candidates from non BCS leagues, in order of my preference
(this is going the realistic route, I am not going to say lets get Maryland, Penn State, Notre Dame and have Umass, Nova or G-town upgrade and all of that -- if that ever happens -- awesome. I won't be holding my breath however, I'd like to think that all of the "raiding is over" and I have seen how impossible it is to have people buy into an upgrade -- and lastly I will be staying away from the military -- they can draw people to football games but in general its not a fit. I will add that I hope any restructuring is done in an honest and upfront manner, especially with regard to the hoops schools and any conference that the BE might poach a team from)

• Memphis, aside from their somewhat sleazy basketball coach (we let Pitino in) and average to below average academics, this University does offer quite a bit. Coach Cal has built a winner and along with Uconn, Ville, Pitt, Cuse you are looking at a nasty league and plus the bonus of built in rivals Louisville and Cinci from the C-USA days. Facilities are top notch for hoops. The football team is average, but competitive coming off of a five bowls in six year run that ended in 2007. The Tigers play in an old but large Liberty Bowl, that could also be added as a bowl tie-in. Plus if the basketball schools decide to keep the Garden, the Fedex Forum offers a nice tournament venue, perhaps on a rotating basis...
• Central Florida, possible sleeping giant in Orlando. Would also help the BE bowl arrangements, they have great new facilities of their own and would be a great rival of USF. Does the league want so much in FL, especially considering their lack of basketball strength?
  
• ECU, might it be nice to have a presence in the Carolinas, you bet. But at what cost..They are a good football program, will that continue when Holtz leaves? No guarantee there, poor hoops and the academic profile are all minuses.

My Proposed All Sports League

• Cincinnati
• Connecticut
• Louisville
• Memphis
  
• Pittsburgh
  
• Rutgers
  
• West Virginia
  
• South Florida
  
• Syracuse

that would leave: Villanova, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Notre Dame, Marquette, DePaul, Providence, St John's to potentially add a couple of schools to form a league that might be considered a mid major (technically -- since they are not BCS), but would still be very good in basketball. They could pick from a group of Fordham, St Louis, Dayton, St Bonaventure, St Joseph's, LaSalle, Xavier or any other non catholic A-10 team they would like. Point being this is not a death sentence for the basketball schools...

Proposed New non-Fball League (10 teams, 18 game schedule)

• DePaul
• Georgetown
• Marquette
• Notre Dame
• Providence
• St John's
• Seton Hall
• St Joseph's
• Villanova
• Xavier

let me know your thoughts..

-BD