Quite clear, if it wasn't before, that Marinatto is a Tranghese mouthpiece

[The Funster]

Tranghese's mistake was trying to keep Gavitt's dream alive. It was a noble cause but the football landscape ensured that it could not stay a hybrid league. Looking at the landscape, a more realistic viewpoint for the BE commish to follow would be to broker the best deals for his football and basketball constituents: finding a spot for his football schools and keeping his basketball schools alive and well in the Big East conference. This has been Tranghese's, and by extension, Marinotto's failure. It was never going to happen. Football killed Gavitt's dream and Tranghese killed the remaining footballs schools, IMO.

 

[businesslawyer]

Tranghese's mistake was trying to keep Gavitt's dream alive. It was a noble cause but the football landscape ensured that it could not stay a hybrid league. Looking at the landscape, a more realistic viewpoint for the BE commish to follow would be to broker the best deals for his football and basketball constituents: finding a spot for his football schools and keeping his basketball schools alive and well in the Big East conference. This has been Tranghese's, and by extension, Marinotto's failure. It was never going to happen. Football killed Gavitt's dream and Tranghese killed the remaining footballs schools, IMO.

Some good thoughts. But if you actually apply facts to that, Gavitt talked to the ACC years ago about taking Syracuse and BC for football, and we know Marinatto talked to the Big XII about making sure no one list their path to a BCS bowl in the last few months. Were minor mistakes made along the way -- sure. But the bottom line is other than having taken Penn State as a football member in the early eighties (and the decision not to was not made by the offices but by the Presidents -- specifically Pitt) market forces have dictated almost everything else.

 

[jpm25]

Not that anyone wants to acknowledge that I keep saying this, but I am not saying Marinatto was a good choice or did a good job. In hindsight, I think the Presidents wish they had put more firepower in his chair.

But saying that is totally different than saying that someone else in his chair would have us in a different position today than where we are. And, as I just said to Whisky, each time we waste bandwidth on "he sucks" or "they only care about the basketball schools" (yes -- because the football schools didn't get to vote for the last two presidents) we are discussing something other than what the Big East would actually have to do to put itself in a position where this doesn't happen.

I agree with you. For example, if you were in Marinatto's seat, the same thing would have happened as you were beating your chest about the superiority of the BE relative to the ACC and how we were in a catbird's seat vis-a-vis our upcoming media negotiation and lack of football teams under the NCAA's enforcement thumb.

 

[The Funster]

Some good thoughts. But if you actually apply facts to that, Gavitt talked to the ACC years ago about taking Syracuse and BC for football, and we know Marinatto talked to the Big XII about making sure no one list their path to a BCS bowl in the last few months. Were minor mistakes made along the way -- sure. But the bottom line is other than having taken Penn State as a football member in the early eighties (and the decision not to was not made by the offices but by the Presidents -- specifically Pitt) market forces have dictated almost everything else.

Absolutely, but you underline the point I've made about Tranghese. Gavitt was willing to break up his dream for what he perceived could be in the best interests of two of his constituent schools: Cuse and BC. Tranghese, instead of following that lead, struggled to keep the league together, which, in the end was to the detriment off all.

Gavitt saw the future and was willing to compromise. Either Tranghese misread the future or refused to compromise. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

I like Tranghese, too. I think he's extremely intelligent and a skillful negotiator. I just think he got too stubborn

 

[freescooter]

Not that anyone wants to acknowledge that I keep saying this, but I am not saying Marinatto was a good choice or did a good job. In hindsight, I think the Presidents wish they had put more firepower in his chair.

But saying that is totally different than saying that someone else in his chair would have us in a different position today than where we are. And, as I just said to Whisky, each time we waste bandwidth on "he sucks" or "they only care about the basketball schools" (yes -- because the football schools didn't get to vote for the last two presidents) we are discussing something other than what the Big East would actually have to do to put itself in a position where this doesn't happen.

I didn't say either. I said he did a horrible job, didn't build relationships with the football schools and frankly, he failed at what should have been his #1 responsibility, keeping the conference in existance. I'm not sure someone else could have done a better job of keeping things on track. This league is not one that really makes any sense. Too many different programs with too many issues and too diverse outlooks. For the life of me, I don't know why the football schools accepted him as commissioner, though. It was pretty clear from early on that he didn't have their confidence. I agree that everybody wishes they didn't make that choice in hindsight.

The "not winning" comments by Tranghese, by the way, were a bit disingenous in my view. Every year since 2006 but 2010, the Big East has ended the season with at least 2 and usually 3 teams in the Top 25. all but 1 other time, there has been at least 1 in the Top 10. In an 8 team league, and one that continually takes the media criticism (and the same media who vote for the Top 25)nor any "automatic" Top 25 teams (see Notre Dame) that is a pretty solid performance. Add in winning bowl records, a much better BCS record than other conferences...Would it have helped to have West Virginia play for a national championship? Sure, but that is a pretty high mountain for a team from the northeast, or one from the ACC not named Florida State, to climb. You need to be perfect. I've been saying the Big East needs to win games. Everyone agrees that the big East needs to win games. Our marquee teams schedule foolishly (travel across the country to play USC and be surprised that you got beat), Travel to Boise and lose and seem shocked. Bosie, and to a degree TCU have demonstrated that you don't need to schedule like that to earn respect. You are far better off winning than playing marquee teams. There was no strategey on the part of the league to develop a marquee program. But that is a different issue.

 

[Northbound]

Plenty of blame to go around. The thing that is most troubling to me is that from my viewpoint the conference leaders weren't forward thinking enough to look out into the college althletics landscape and understand the attractiveness that CFB and by default the football heavy conferences have to the rights holders and by default the advertisers. I don't expect any of them to have a cyrstal ball, because nobody could have predicted what just occured, however some basic surveying of the landscape of college althetics would have told the leadership that the BE model, while great in CBB, doesn't really work in today's market. Since the BE is comprised with football and non-football schools it not hard to see..."hmmm, which one doesn't look like the others" and if the BE leadership thought that the market would stay static that's a big mistake. If they believed changes were coming it's a big error that they didn't understand that football would drive that bus, which means the BE hybrid model wouldn't work.

I get the sense that the BE to some degree was bound to the past with the basketball lineage and wasn't able to find a way to evolve attitudinally with the times. The conference's most powerful and public figures were and are all BB guys there's was/is no balance.

Easy to arm chair quarterback hard to be prescient.

 

[whaler11]

I'm not sure someone else could have done a better job of keeping things on track. This league is not one that really makes any sense. Too many different programs with too many issues and too diverse outlooks. For the life of me, I don't know why the football schools accepted him as commissioner, though.

So you get the point. There really wasn't a way to do any better.

The answer to the question is self-evident. The football schools accepted him because it didn't matter who had the job and every last one of them (except for UConn which is painful to admit) wanted their first golden ticket out of the league. If I'm Syracuse or Pittsburgh, I want someone weak in charge; I know I'm in demand and when I leave everyone points at the weak commissioner not me.

I know that there are a handful of Boneyard posters who think they have the negotiation skills to turn water into wine, but they don't. The Big East had so little leverage the first time they 'challenged' ESPN, a FRIGGING TELEVISION NETWORK put them out of business.

*Challenged in quotes because Pittsburgh may have created the illusion of challenging ESPN when in fact they were in bed together the entire time.