Latest Jacobs Column

[ZooCougar]

Spot on. And it comes with this incisive mythbusting moment.



"There is no greater fib than the one that paints the Catholic basketball schools as victims in the Big East saga. Ha. Ha. Ha. LOL. Amen. In the midst of the Big East's getting eight, nine, 10, even 11 bids, DePaul hasn't made an NCAA Tournament since joining the league. St. John's? One NCAA since 2000. Providence? No NCAAs since 2004. Seton Hall? Six years without an NCAA appearance."

http://www.courant.com/sports/other/hc-jacobs-1214-20121213,0,639077.column

 

[whaler11]

The most interesting part was the reminder that it was UConn who helped Rutgers and West Virginia become full members. Thanks a lot jerkoffs - how about returning a favor.

 

[ZooCougar]

The most interesting part was the reminder that it was UConn who helped Rutgers and West Virginia become full members. Thanks a lot jerkoffs - how about returning a favor.

There are alot of interesting blurbs in that column. I think Jeff had been waiting to write that one for a while.

When Boise, SDSU, Navy and whoever else gets other ideas, he'll have that column ready too.

 

[Jericho]

That's what I found interesting. I know those schools have not been powerhouses, but its good to see exact numbers. The truth is that the strength of the conference has generally been the football schools - UConn, Louisville, Pitt, and Syracuse. Georgetown is in there too. A step down you have schools like Marquette and Villanova, who have been solid. But so have West Virginia, Notre Dame, and Cincinnati. This mean the new conference isn't exactly a basketball powerhouse. It's got bigger name tradition, but no so much results. Of course adding Xavier and Butler among others will help boost that.

 

[tzznandrew]

The most interesting part was the reminder that it was UConn who helped Rutgers and West Virginia become full members. Thanks a lot jerkoffs - how about returning a favor.

Honestly, I don't begrudge either of those schools. They jumped off once it was clear the BE was sinking. I felt happy for them--and they tend to have fond feelings for the BE and for UConn. That's not the case with schools like BC, Syracuse, and Pitt--all of whom were founding members, left when the BE was looking good still, and seem to have unreasonable anger towards us.

 

[06029]

Honestly, I don't begrudge either of those schools. They jumped off once it was clear the BE was sinking. I felt happy for them--and they tend to have fond feelings for the BE and for UConn. That's not the case with schools like BC, Syracuse, and Pitt--all of whom were founding members, left when the BE was looking good still, and seem to have unreasonable anger towards us.

Looking good when they left? Not really. The money was never there on the FB side of the BE and the conference should have split as Jacobs points out many times in the past. It should have happened when Miami and VT left but Cuse and Uconn did not let it happen because of the BB side. And so now we have the situation where the BB side is blowing it up.

The Big East was always a BB conference with an exciting little side business called football. That is why offices are in RI. That is why there has not been a commissioner that had any football experience. The senior management was always aligned with BB first. It was nice to have this revenue enhancement until it became more of a headache than the extra money was worth.

Uconn tried to be the middle man broker and keep the beast together because Uconn benefited from the arrangement more than any other school in all sports. It is unfortunate that Uconn is the school that is screwed the worst in all of this.

 

[upstater]

Looking good when they left? Not really. The money was never there on the FB side of the BE and the conference should have split as Jacobs points out many times in the past. It should have happened when Miami and VT left but Cuse and Uconn did not let it happen because of the BB side. And so now we have the situation where the BB side is blowing it up.

The Big East was always a BB conference with an exciting little side business called football. That is why offices are in RI. That is why there has not been a commissioner that had any football experience. The senior management was always aligned with BB first. It was nice to have this revenue enhancement until it became more of a headache than the extra money was worth.

Uconn tried to be the middle man broker and keep the beast together because Uconn benefited from the arrangement more than any other school in all sports. It is unfortunate that Uconn is the school that is screwed the worst in all of this.

I wonder why UConn always tried to keep the BE together. Was it always about self-interest? Or was there also a close relationship with ESPN? It seems it was the football schools, including Rutgers and Pitt, that lead the charge against ESPN 2 years ago, while UConn wanted the league to stick with ESPN (maybe because UConn knew the bball benefits of that, but also because there was some sort of relationship between the two entities).

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The money was there. The 17 team Big East was poised for a HUGE payday, possibly $20MM per school, and the football schools knew this which is why they turned down the ESPN offer in April 2011. Unfortunately, UConn should have locked everyone up right then with a GOR, because all it took was 2 defections to sink the whole ship.

 

[06029]

I wonder why UConn always tried to keep the BE together. Was it always about self-interest? Or was there also a close relationship with ESPN? It seems it was the football schools, including Rutgers and Pitt, that lead the charge against ESPN 2 years ago, while UConn wanted the league to stick with ESPN (maybe because UConn knew the bball benefits of that, but also because there was some sort of relationship between the two entities).

If Uconn was not working to keep it together out of self interest, then they are the only school in the country that was not. I am not saying that Uconn benefiting greatly (and certainly greater than most schools) from the BE is a bad thing and that being the middleman/broker that bridged the two sides more than any other school is/was a bad thing. Acting in your school's best interest is not wrong. ND is the king of that an no one hates them for it (alright, I hate them for it). But it appears that the straddling of the two sides has left Uconn stuck in a bad position, not with the FB schools they want to play with and not with the BB schools they want to play with....for now.

 

[06029]

The money was there. The 17 team Big East was poised for a HUGE payday, possibly $20MM per school, and the football schools knew this which is why they turned down the ESPN offer in April 2011. Unfortunately, UConn should have locked everyone up right then with a GOR, because all it took was 2 defections to sink the whole ship.

If that was the case then why would teams leave for less money? Oh right, ESPN is orchestrating the death of Uconn.

The 17 team hybrid Big East was doomed from the day BB only schools were added to keep "balance". Dead weight that did nothing for the conference. Although I believe the FB started to die when they did not split after Miami and VT, the FB conference was declared brain dead when TCU and UWV bolted. That hurt way more than Pitt and Cuse and really changed the TV outlook. The back fills for those two suck.

 

[upstater]

If Uconn was not working to keep it together out of self interest, then they are the only school in the country that was not. I am not saying that Uconn benefiting greatly (and certainly greater than most schools) from the BE is a bad thing and that being the middleman/broker that bridged the two sides more than any other school is/was a bad thing. Acting in your school's best interest is not wrong. ND is the king of that an no one hates them for it (alright, I hate them for it). But it appears that the straddling of the two sides has left Uconn stuck in a bad position, not with the FB schools they want to play with and not with the BB schools they want to play with....for now.

The point I'm making though is that, when everyone thinks there is more money for the football schools away from ESPN, why is UConn the only football school saying take the ESPN money?

 

[freescooter]

I wonder why UConn always tried to keep the BE together. Was it always about self-interest? Or was there also a close relationship with ESPN? It seems it was the football schools, including Rutgers and Pitt, that lead the charge against ESPN 2 years ago, while UConn wanted the league to stick with ESPN (maybe because UConn knew the bball benefits of that, but also because there was some sort of relationship between the two entities).

A huge problem with the Big East football schools is that several of them, including UConn and Syracuse but also Louisville and Cincinnati, were really basketball schools that played football. So they mostly acted in ways that preserved basketball. Not breaking away in 2003-4 then again not acting in 2008-09 was just an example of what was going on. Same with agreeing to add Marquette and DePaul. Those additions should have been schools which played football. Same with kowtowing to Notre Dame, and even thinking about Villanova.

 

[CL82]

Not a bad column. Humiliated is a bit much, but not bad overall.

 

[noeynox]

Good job by Jeff, but this is all too little to late. Many here proposed a split and were continually shouted down, but that's beside the point as well. Jacobs nailed it, the football school presidents lacked the leadership to do the smart thing way back then. That the basketball schools would be the ones to end the big east was also predicted on this board when Pitt/SU bolted. In time I think we will be okay. For now, we will be in purgatory. For how long who knows. It is going to suck sitting in a half empty football stadium if we are in no man's land for more than two years. What a shame.

The bright spot for me, its hurting less. I'm resigned to the fact that I/We are powerless. That is said to be the first step in recovery.

 

[CL82]

Good job by Jeff, but this is all too little to late. Many here proposed a split and were continually shouted down, but that's beside the point as well. Jacobs nailed it, the football school presidents lacked the leadership to do the smart thing way back then. That the basketball schools would be the ones to end the big east was also predicted on this board when Pitt/SU bolted. In time I think we will be okay. For now, we will be in purgatory. For how long who knows. It is going to suck sitting in a half empty football stadium if we are in no man's land for more than two years. What a shame.

The bright spot for me, its hurting less. I'm resigned to the fact that I/We are powerless. That is said to be the first step in recovery.

I'm getting there. Still stuck in anger though.

 

[freescooter]

I think you're right but the reason the football schools lacked leadership was plain and simply that they weren't committed to football. the exceptions were West Virginia, Rutgers, and Pitt but mostly West Virginia and Rutgers. the rest were at their heart basketball schools. They just happened to play football. hell, UConn's reason to upgrade football was to protect its basketball program. With that attitude, it was going to take a risk on a new league based on football? Please. What we're looking at now is the inevitable result of those decisions to put basketball first.

 

[ZooCougar]

I think you're right but the reason the football schools lacked leadership was plain and simply that they weren't committed to football. the exceptions were West Virginia, Rutgers, and Pitt but mostly West Virginia and Rutgers. the rest were at their heart basketball schools. They just happened to play football. hell, UConn's reason to upgrade football was to protect its basketball program. With that attitude, it was going to take a risk on a new league based on football? Please. What we're looking at now is the inevitable result of those decisions to put basketball first.

Nope. The Big East was not committed to running a Football Conference the right way. If they had, from the get go, it would have changed the course of events drastically. You might have seen the raids going in the other direction.

The Big East had football because it had to, not because it wanted to.