Tranghese still at it, blaming the Big East's woes on everyone but himself

[Carl Spackler]

I've been avoiding reading the actual blog post in the original post from CBS I think. I knew it would make me bananas, but I just read it. .

I was wrong, though - it was 3 out of the first 4 BCS national champion games, not 4 of 5.

The Big EAst put teams in 3 of the first four BCS national championship games between 1998-2002, with Miami winning the national title in 2002.

The record of the top 4 Big EAst football teams b/w 1991-2002 was among the best in teh country comparably to any other top teams in any other conference, and two of them would leave by 2003, and a third - Syracuse was supposed to.

Oregon, funded by the CEO of Nike, a program on the west coast, 3,000 miles away came in to NYC and spent unprecedented dollars on a long term program of advertising college football. Oregon football? Manhattan? Times Square? Madision Square Garden?

THey were very clear that they wanted to be a national brand and went straight to the heart of the media capital of the world.

Tranghese intereviewed by the New York Times. Oregon advertising football in the heart of big east country.


Reaction to Oregon's encroachment into what is ostensibly Big East turf was tepid.

Mike Tranghese, the Big East commissioner, was troubled by the Oregon advertisement but couldn't put his finger on why.
''Is it wrong? No. But is it right? I don't jump and say yes,'' he said. ''I don't even like the idea of our schools being able to sell jerseys that have kids' names on them.''
Yesterday was media day for Big East football. Considering that the Big East has the defending national champion, Miami, it was pretty low-key. The Atlantic Coast Conference, the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten hold two- and three-day extravaganzas complete with golf outings. Big East media day, at Giants Stadium, lasted three hours. Period.

To that extent, Oregon's two-year billboard campaign [in Manhattan/Times Square] may have tapped into a vein.

The Ducks may have stimulated an interest that Big East football, with some ingenuity, can exploit.

University {of Oregon} officials say they are merely trying to overcome what they call an East Coast media bias that results in their team's being overlooked. 'If you're not located in a media center,'' a university {of Oregon} official said yesterday, ''you go to the center.''
Having said that, Keenan Howry (OF OREGON) does not belong on a billboard in Times Square heralding a TV deal.
Oregon in Times Square.
Welcome to the college football season.

- NY Times - July 2002
The top 3 winningest football programs b/w 1992-2002, one with a national title to boot were packed up and walking out the door with this kind of leadership. Miami, VTech were, Syracuse was supposed to go, but Boston College wiggled out instead.

The next time that Mike Tranghese, says to anyone, let alone a major media outlet, that the problem with Big East football is that the programs did not win enough, somebody should break his f*kcing nose.

He couldn't put his finger on why Oregon, advertising their college football program in Times Square, 3,000 miles away from their home - was wrong. While the Big EAst is fielding the national champion in NCAA football, and has put a team in the BCS national championship game in the past 3 years.

ducking idiot.

THe big east deserved to fall apart because of that. THey deserved to fall apart, every season that went by, that the failed to recognize that football drives the bus.

That problem began to get fixed in 2009, and is finally fixed by 2012.

I feel pretty strongly about this. The people in power at places like Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia....also did too.

The people at UConn, at the time, in charge - didn't really mind too much.

 

[Nostical]

The people at UConn, at the time, in charge - didn't really mind too much.

The new sheriff in town certainly does.

 

[ZooCougar]

Tranghese and the Providence gang had really bad strategy. They probably didnt even have one. Bad leaders sit around and expect everything to continue on just fine, but the never do.

Yeah, I know that the Big East didn't have a great hand, but we did have a pretty good one 10-11 years ago. The Big East just rested while everyone else had a plan to improve their positions. People can hate Swofford all they like, but Tranghese and Marinatto are losers, and Swofford is not.

The Presidents are totally to blame for accepting this incompetent work. Maybe we need a commish that isn't part of the Providence mafia.

 

[ZooCougar]

You are absolutely 100% correct.

When you're the leader of your conference for 19 years and you fail to see that football would hold such an important place, you can have the persona of Mother Theresa but you have failed as a leader.

Presidents came and went through his 19 year tenure. Obviously he did not possess the requisite leadership skills to herd the presidential cats. That is on him.

Also how richly ironic is his whining about movement of teams, when his last gig was getting paid big bucks to get Memphis to the Big East.

"Memphis AD R.C. Johnson said Tranghese has one purpose: to get the Tigers into a BCS conference.
"His role is to help us and advise us," Johnson told the newspaper. "He asked me: 'What's my charge?' I said, 'There are six BCS conferences. Just get us in one.'"

So besides trying to revise history, he's also a hypocrit.

But his little pet, Mr. Marinatto still will protect his beloved Providence, so no worries for us, none at all.

 

[businesslawyer]

Florida State? yup one of those former independants that was looking for a home and found it in the ACC in 1992. I really don't know how close, if at all, they were ever to the Big East. I don't know everything.

As for Miami, I agree with BL, mostly - not at all about recruiting, but about fans and viewership. Recruiting BL? really? was that a typo. We're talkign about the U. South florida. They could recruit within a three hour radius of campus only, and consistently have one of the most talented teams in teh country.

Miami wanted to join the Big East - for two reasons, they felt that the strength of the basketball league, and the rest of the sports would be better for the overall health of their athletic department (and it did allow Miami to grow their athletic department) and more importantly, Miami had, and still does have, a large percentage of alumni and donors that live in the northeast, NYC area.

Always follow the money. Virginia Tech and Temple were begging to get into the league for all sports for years. Much like East Carolina does now.

The Big east, has clearly, in the past demonstrated an understanding of what market share and broadcasting revenue is all about, they've just had basketball over football priority wise b/w 1991-2009.

Not recruiting football players -- recruiting students. Miami needed a presence in the Northeast in football to recruit the students it needed for its university to grow as an institution.

 

[husky8273]

In William Rhoden's article in today's NYT, Tranghese touts himself as the advocate to admit Penn State to Big East that was ignored.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/s...ot-embracing-football.html?ref=ncaabasketball

 

[Carl Spackler]

Should have never gone to vote on Penn State unless the commissioner of the league, was sure it would pass. That was on Gavitt. But Tranghese was there.

The people that wanted Penn State in, and Toner was one of them, were totally blindsided by that whole situation.

Funny how just under two decades of work and the track record that goes with it completely goes against everything you just said to the media Mike.

Anytime anyone hears Mike Tranghese talk about how he understood the importance of football in the athletic world....

Just realize that when Miami, VTech and BC left, they were REPLACED by Louisville, Cincinatti, and USF. Two historic basketball schools, and a program that hadn't played football at all prior to 1997.

THe league then EXPANDED......by adding Depaul and Marquette. Last football games played respectively in 1939 and 1960.

And this asshat is still in the NY Times talking to the media, and now he's talking about how he's understood that football is the financial power that the league should have recognized all along.

As said, I wish the guy would never speak in the media again.

 

[freescooter]

Either Mike tranghese never saw that the world was changing, or was never able to convince his members...I'm not sure which, but this piece, I think is a huge indictment of the Big East leadership. Unfortunate that the league didn't break up in 1991 instead of trying to add football too, I think.

 

[tzznandrew]

Either Mike tranghese never saw that the world was changing, or was never able to convince his members...I'm not sure which, but this piece, I think is a huge indictment of the Big East leadership. Unfortunate that the league didn't break up in 1991 instead of trying to add football too, I think.

For a UConn fan, though, they needed the league to stay together long enough for an upgrade.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Either Mike tranghese never saw that the world was changing, or was never able to convince his members...I'm not sure which, but this piece, I think is a huge indictment of the Big East leadership. Unfortunate that the league didn't break up in 1991 instead of trying to add football too, I think.

Not for us. We are lucky that the league didn't split in the early 1990s, and we are very lucky that the moves made to strengtheng the big east in the latter half of the 1990s involved extending football invites to upgrade to UConn and to Villanova.

Was it good for everybody else? Ummm...just look where we are now as a conferenc.e

Was it good for us? What the big east did/ has done? Hell yes. We've been loyal all along too, ironically, not because of understanding what the big east has trully provided for UConn, but because of our basketball interests.

And that's what needs to be understood, is that we made our own bed, a long, long time ago, by dumping our 50+ year athletic history and traditions and bolting for the big east, because of basketball.

Just like all these schools are dumping their own traditions now, all over the country, aroudn football, we did it ourselves around basketball 32 years ago. Karma has come back ten fold, and we've lost nearly every single 1-A football rivalry. But ti's ok. We will be just fine, because fans want to see UConn, for UConn.......doesn't matter who we play....fans will come because we are UConn. (don't get me wrong, big time football opponents bring all kinds of attention, but a fan base is not built on casual fans that come for the big time opponents.)

The big east, and all it's faults, and basketball, and Jim Calhoun's basketball program, is the entirely to thank for the fact that we are among the big boys now, as a major state university, and with great potential to really continue to grow, rather than in some quagmire of mess, much like has happened to Temple, and/or the profile/level of competition our former allied state universities are currently at.

among the many others along the eastern seaboard, that are currently struggling with the dying experiment that was 1-AA cost containment football.

The big east is to thank for it. I'm thankful. I"m also more than ever ready to look forward rather than back.