Big East Leadership Is Trying Commit Conference Suicide.

[Hoophound]

Under no circumstances would the Big East let every little detail of their expansion plans leak out unless they wanted the expansion to fail. Two weeks ago I said that the Big East should be working secretly to expand. Several on the board said it didn't matter, they were wrong. You can't conduct expansion in open view from the Big East's position. ESPN, B12 and ACC all want the conference dead. By operating openly and in broad daylight, you make it much, much easier to foil the expansion. Further, you make it much easier for Louisville and WVU to negotiate an exit because everyone knows they are telling the truth when they say "hurry, take us before we expand".

The leadership would have to be beyond naive to operate this way. It makes no sense at all.

 

[businesslawyer]

Why would you assume the leaks are coming from the conference offices?

 

[uchusky32]

Who do you think is leakng? The football or basketball schools? The Big East is just not built for the needs of today. When you have basketball schools whose interests have nothing to do with football, combined with Notre Dame who plays football but not in the Big East, combined with the rest of us you end up with 3 different factions that have different priorities. I just don't see how this can work for the long term. Bottom line the football schools need to be in a conference with other footballs schools without the basketball only schools. And Notre Dame needs to be forced to make a decision. Right now they are playing both sides.

 

[Stinger92860]

[The leadership would have to be beyond naive to operate this way. It makes no sense at all.[/quote]

I challenge your assertion that the leadership may be naive. How dare you make up such lies!! The reality is they are incompetent......

 

[SAMCRO]

The leadership would have to be beyond naive to operate this way. It makes no sense at all.

To call BE leadership (this includes school Presidents) naive is an insult to naive people.

 

[mattp]

i wish we'd add some teams already. i don't know if they've formally extended any invitations or not, but by not adding anyone yet it almost seems like they're just waiting to die.

 

[SubbaBub]

I submit that the number of constituencies interested in keeping this conference alive is very small and is probably surpassed by the number of.posts in this thread.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

[CTEagle]

It is quite obvious, the current BE leadership is not interested in participating in BCS football. It has been that way for a while. They will be very content to become just a basketball conference again.

 

[ctchamps]

The people leaking the information are the people most interested in seeing things fail for the BE because that failure results in their ability to get into their desired position.

The most invested universities wanting failure are Cuse, Pitt, TCU, WV and Ville. TCU is a non issue. They have no time limit restriction. Since Cuse and Pitt, were not in on the meetings, the only way they leak info is if they have a mole in the meetings.

Ville is still trying to play both sides. They are not sure they want failure because they still don't know where they stand with the B12. They still may need a surviving BE conference My feeling is the leaks are coming from WV. They probably have been in contact with the B12 for more than two weeks, perhaps for as long as a month, and they are only getting an invite if they can get to the B12 next year. So they are showing the BE's hand to sabotage any action. That sabotage benefits WV more than any other BE player because it increases the odds of BE instability which increases the odds the BE collapses negating the 27 month requirement.

People are focusing their blame on incompetence. This is much more strategic than incompetence.

 

[Hoophound]

Why would you assume the leaks are coming from the conference offices?

Valid point, but if Marinatto is authorized to explore expansion, I would argue he need not even tell the member presidents every detail of his activities if he wants to make this work. If he is authorized to conduct expansion activities, he needs to do so with some autonomy.

 

[ctchamps]

Valid point, but if Marinatto is authorized to explore expansion, I would argue he need not even tell the member presidents every detail of his activities if he wants to make this work. If he is authorized to conduct expansion activities, he needs to do so with some autonomy.

The presidents voted he is their liason with contacting other universities, but that is his only role. The presidents voted they were to make all decisions, and they would vote on the final approval of the invited members. So if Marinatto does not keep the presidents abreast of his activity he would be failing his responsibility.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Authority from this conference doesn't necessarily mean much. almost exactly eleven months ago the conference unanimously agreed (all then sixteen members) to expand to ten in football. This expansion (with TCU as #9) however was really only approved if #10 was Nova.

 

[HuskyFan16]

To call BE leadership (this includes school Presidents) naive is an insult to naive people.

Isn't the phrase "Big East Leadership" an oxymoron in and of itself?

 

[Druken Friar]

I keep reading about the commissioner should do this or that. He works for all the schools in the conference. He can't add anybody without the president's of the schools voting on it. He also can't hide where he is going or every move he makes.

What Pitt and Syracuse did is amazing in that they kept it a secret. The only way that happens is if people move fast. Most groups have trouble doing just that, they argue and contemplate. Our own president was recently quoted as saying these decsions need to be taken in a measured way, “I am not concerned about any particular schools leaving since our masterplans are bold, and will carry us effectively into the competitive long-term of college athletics. We are working in a careful, considered way, and all will be well.”

 

[ctchamps]

I keep reading about the commissioner should do this or that. He works for all the schools in the conference. He can't add anybody without the president's of the schools voting on it. He also can't hide where he is going or every move he makes.

What Pitt and Syracuse did is amazing in that they kept it a secret. The only way that happens is if people move fast. Most groups have trouble doing just that, they argue and contemplate. Our own president was recently quoted as saying these decsions need to be taken in a measured way, “I am not concerned about any particular schools leaving since our masterplans are bold, and will carry us effectively into the competitive long-term of college athletics. We are working in a careful, considered way, and all will be well.”

I'm impressed that you can read a lot of the emotional anger being expressed and still retain restraint from emotional engagement. I'm also impressed with the number of UConn fans who have not taken their emotional upset regarding these matters and foisted them on you.

Suffice it to say there are several camps when it comes to the blame game. I'm in the camp that believes every party that was in the BE, and still is in the BE, is responsible for today's events. I'm not in the camp that says x party was the only reason, primary reason or major reason. That's oversimplified imo, and allows us to sugar coat involvements by the side we support and scape goat the side we do not like.

 

[Hoophound]

I have to admit, if the expansion happens, I was wrong. I stand by my sentiment that we shouldn't know what is going on. They should be operating in secrecy.

 

[IthacaMatt]

The people leaking the information are the people most interested in seeing things fail for the BE because that failure results in their ability to get into their desired position.

The most invested universities wanting failure are Cuse, Pitt, TCU, WV and Ville. TCU is a non issue. They have no time limit restriction. Since Cuse and Pitt, were not in on the meetings, the only way they leak info is if they have a mole in the meetings.

Ville is still trying to play both sides. They are not sure they want failure because they still don't know where they stand with the B12. They still may need a surviving BE conference My feeling is the leaks are coming from WV. They probably have been in contact with the B12 for more than two weeks, perhaps for as long as a month, and they are only getting an invite if they can get to the B12 next year. So they are showing the BE's hand to sabotage any action. That sabotage benefits WV more than any other BE player because it increases the odds of BE instability which increases the odds the BE collapses negating the 27 month requirement.

People are focusing their blame on incompetence. This is much more strategic than incompetence.

I kind of doubt that Pitt and SU still have access to the inside information about conference expansion plans, so I don't think they are your leakers. Same with TCU. WVU and Oliver Luck have been talking to everyone who will listen. Same with Louisville, but at least they've kept it private for the most part. I think the leaks are coming from Providence, in an attempt to try to show their other members that they are doing SOMETHING. But this has been an "epic fail" all around.