Val Ackerman on the future of college athletics & conference realignment

[John]

My recollection is the Old Big Rast needed all three FSB schools to stay together to remain a conference. .UConn was the obvious choice but , going to the the C7 screwed our football team.
The Big East / AAC treasury was primarily
Built by the football.schools , exit fees
plus the majority of NCAA basketball money
UConn, Cuse , Pitt , Cinncy , , Louisville. ND , and West VA were all usually good .
OMG that was the best BB conference ever
If the NBE is worth $7million a team how much is that conference worth

it was a very entertaining time to be a UConn SPORTS fan.

 

[freescooter]

It carries its weight. It also has no other place to go.

It carried its weight in the 1980s and 90s. And it hasn’t been relevant on a national level since 2007. Never really in the New Big East. Since then it has been just another mouth to feed. I agree that DePaul is awful and really someone should work an arrangement to just get them out. Best for the league. Best for them to actually be competitive for the first time in 20 years. I think the Horizon would be good. The NBE can pay their entry fee and pay them the minimum Big East payment reducing to 0 over 5 years.

As for Georgetown, I say give us a workable plan to become a serious program over 5 years. If you can’t or won’t do it, we will give you the same deal as DePaul got to join the MAAC or the A10.

This league cannot be taken seriously when 20% of the members stink.

 

[Kolumbo]

It carried its weight in the 1980s and 90s. And it hasn’t been relevant on a national level since 2007. Never really in the New Big East. Since then it has been just another mouth to feed. I agree that DePaul is awful and really someone should work an arrangement to just get them out. Best for the league. Best for them to actually be competitive for the first time in 20 years. I think the Horizon would be good. The NBE can pay their entry fee and pay them the minimum Big East payment reducing to 0 over 5 years.

As for Georgetown, I say give us a workable plan to become a serious program over 5 years. If you can’t or won’t do it, we will give you the same deal as DePaul got to join the MAAC or the A10.

This league cannot be taken seriously when 20% of the members stink.

Georgetown and DePaul are the largest Catholic U's in large markets. Even if they are excommunicado, they would need to be replaced and the pickings are slim.

Georgetown really is the biggest failure. If Cooley can't turn it around, and I do think Cooley has a chance, then I have no idea. Georgetown has history, location, prestige.

DePaul with Chris Holtmann - who knows. Even if he pulls off a miracle there he'll be gone sooner than later.

 

[CL82]

Georgetown and DePaul are the largest Catholic U's in large markets. Even if they are excommunicado, they would need to be replaced and the pickings are slim.

Georgetown really is the biggest failure. If Cooley can't turn it around, and I do think Cooley has a chance, then I have no idea. Georgetown has history, location, prestige.

DePaul with Chris Holtmann - who knows. Even if he pulls off a miracle there he'll be gone sooner than later.

Cooley's claim to fame was that he was able to take Providence out of the basement so that they can compete for a shot at going to the NCAA's every few years. That's hardly lighting the world on fire. I always felt as if he was an odd choice and that Georgetown overpaid. Apparently they've been bad enough, long enough, that the promise of being mediocre seemed inviting.

 

[Kolumbo]

Cooley's claim to fame was that he was able to take Providence out of the basement so that they can compete for a shot at going to the NCAA's every few years. That's hardly lighting the world on fire. I always felt as if he was an odd choice and that Georgetown overpaid. Apparently they've been bad enough, long enough, that the promise of being mediocre seemed inviting.

That's an odd take. Cooley did a great job at PC and he was beloved until he stuck a sword in their backs. I mean, taking PC out of the basement and bringing them to the NCAA's is commendable. He should be able to do at least that at Georgetown which would be a huge lift for the program, and the conference.

 

[Vowelguy]

If this is true then it further credits that the leak was an intentional sabotage to a bball first podcaster by likely a bball first donor. Especially with the way it was worded to stir the pot ...imminent. When it was anything but....

We should assume that any leaks going forward that don't come from a more credible source like Dodd etc is an attempt to sabotage UConn bball leaving the BEAST.

You should ALWAYS assume that everyone is being strategic, and that any information, leaks have an agenda attached to them. Sometimes they're true, but you should always consider "who might benefit from this info being false?"

This has always been true, but moreso in the internet/24-hours news days. It's media consumption 101.

 

[CL82]

That's an odd take. Cooley did a great job at PC and he was beloved until he stuck a sword in their backs. I mean, taking PC out of the basement and bringing them to the NCAA's is commendable. He should be able to do at least that at Georgetown which would be a huge lift for the program, and the conference.

You are right! I mean, who doesn't remember all of the Providence national championships, I mean final fours, I mean elite eights, umm Sweet 16's? Round of 32? Uh... you know what I stand by what I said.

 

[freescooter]

Cooley's claim to fame was that he was able to take Providence out of the basement so that they can compete for a shot at going to the NCAA's every few years. That's hardly lighting the world on fire. I always felt as if he was an odd choice and that Georgetown overpaid. Apparently they've been bad enough, long enough, that the promise of being mediocre seemed inviting.

I agree that it was a strange hire. He was a hero in Providence because he was a local guy, not because he was the second coming of Dave Gavitt. But then, I think it would be great if Georgetown was mediocre. They haven’t reached that stage for 10 years. An 11 team league cannot carry 25% of its membership as a joke. It absolutely hurt last year. The Johnnies crying that they missed a bid despite winning 6 in a row, but failed to admit that 4 of the 6 were against 2 of the worst D1 teams in major college basketball. Nobody takes those wins seriously. They only take it seriously if you lose to one.

DePaul is in a major market but the stink. They averaged around 3500/game last year and I suspect that number. They play in a 10,500 seat arena. They don’t exactly fill the place. Nobody cares. If they dropped basketball entirely I doubt anyone but the players and coaches would even notice.

 

[Kolumbo]

I agree that it was a strange hire. He was a hero in Providence because he was a local guy, not because he was the second coming of Dave Gavitt. But then, I think it would be great if Georgetown was mediocre. They haven’t reached that stage for 10 years. An 11 team league cannot carry 25% of its membership as a joke. It absolutely hurt last year. The Johnnies crying that they missed a bid despite winning 6 in a row, but failed to admit that 4 of the 6 were against 2 of the worst D1 teams in major college basketball. Nobody takes those wins seriously. They only take it seriously if you lose to one.

DePaul is in a major market but the stink. They averaged around 3500/game last year and I suspect that number. They play in a 10,500 seat arena. They don’t exactly fill the place. Nobody cares. If they dropped basketball entirely I doubt anyone but the players and coaches would even notice.

I'm not sure I agree about DePaul. It has some history and if they compete, I think they have more than enough fan interest to fill Wintrust. If worse comes to worst, just sell $2 Millers. It's a great basketball arena in downtown Chicago. At least one home game will sell out, although it falls on January First

DePaul's success tied to Holtmann's roster construction

CHICAGO -- When Chris Holtmann took the DePaul job in March, he knew the challenge ahead. The challenge, though, in getting the Blue Demons back to where they once were is…

247sports.com

 

[baggerbob]

I agree that it was a strange hire. He was a hero in Providence because he was a local guy, not because he was the second coming of Dave Gavitt. But then, I think it would be great if Georgetown was mediocre. They haven’t reached that stage for 10 years. An 11 team league cannot carry 25% of its membership as a joke. It absolutely hurt last year. The Johnnies crying that they missed a bid despite winning 6 in a row, but failed to admit that 4 of the 6 were against 2 of the worst D1 teams in major college basketball. Nobody takes those wins seriously. They only take it seriously if you lose to one.

DePaul is in a major market but the stink. They averaged around 3500/game last year and I suspect that number. They play in a 10,500 seat arena. They don’t exactly fill the place. Nobody cares. If they dropped basketball entirely I doubt anyone but the players and coaches would even notice.

They joined in 2005 and have been bad since they joined, haven't made an NCAA tournament since 2004.

 

[freescooter]

I'm not sure I agree about DePaul. It has some history and if they compete, I think they have more than enough fan interest to fill Wintrust. If worse comes to worst, just sell $2 Millers. It's a great basketball arena in downtown Chicago. At least one home game will sell out, although it falls on January First

DePaul's success tied to Holtmann's roster construction

CHICAGO -- When Chris Holtmann took the DePaul job in March, he knew the challenge ahead. The challenge, though, in getting the Blue Demons back to where they once were is…

247sports.com

Stop defending the indefensible. DePaul hasn’t been even slightly below average for decades. Last year they drew a whole 3400 for the defending National Champs. Doubt they will do much better this year.

 

[DFW HOYA]

As for Georgetown, I say give us a workable plan to become a serious program over 5 years. If you can’t or won’t do it, we will give you the same deal as DePaul got to join the MAAC or the A10.

I wasn't kidding that Georgetown has logistically nowhere to go. It's not a good fit for a lot of conferences because of the number of teams it fields (30) and that men's basketball is so overweight in the budget (57% of opex) that it puts strain on all the other teams to adequately compete. That, and a nonscholarship football program averaging 3,600 a game is not a calling card.

A-10? Two teams are already in DC, neither of whom would ever support Georgetown joining.
MAAC? Georgetown's enrollment is too large for that conference's setup.
Patriot? American is already in DC (see A-10 support, above) and two other schools are within an hour of DC.
CAA? Wouldn't take Georgetown as an all-sports member because of football's underfunding.
MEAC? Not an HBCU, and Howard is already in town.
Ivy? "Don't call us, we'll call you."

Thankfully, no one is voting them out, not even the Providence contingent. There is a risk, however, if Cooley does not turn things around, that the next coach will have a much smaller budget with which to compete.

 

[KryHavok]

I wasn't kidding that Georgetown has logistically nowhere to go. It's not a good fit for a lot of conferences because of the number of teams it fields (30) and that men's basketball is so overweight in the budget (57% of opex) that it puts strain on all the other teams to adequately compete. That, and a nonscholarship football program averaging 3,600 a game is not a calling card.

I say this as a fan of Patrick Ewing (and to a lesser extent Alonzo Mourning), I hope Georgetown can turn things around. It would great for them and the Big East.

 

[Patman]

Georgetown can change things, AFAIK they want to put in the investment but I don't know anything first or second hand, I do live in the DC metro. I think their problem is inertia. DePaul is an entirely different matter.

I've never been in DC with a truly good Georgetown team at the same time but I suspect if they got good the dc chatter would improve in a way the other schools won't.

 

[freescooter]

Georgetown can change things, AFAIK they want to put in the investment but I don't know anything first or second hand, I do live in the DC metro. I think their problem is inertia. DePaul is an entirely different matter.

I've never been in DC with a truly good Georgetown team at the same time but I suspect if they got good the dc chatter would improve in a way the other schools won't.

I honestly think, and have heard from alums I know who are more recent grads, that Georgetown cares about athletics, but not that much. They see themselves as the Catholic Ivy even if the real Ivies don’t see them that way. LOL. They really don’t want to be embarrassed in athletics, but they don’t need to be NCAA Champs to be happy either. The occasional bid would be fine. It is much more of a Ivy Patriot League world view. Maybe it is partly that if you graduated from Georgetown over the last 15-20 years, you really haven’t experienced much more than that. And basketball is no longer “a thing” on campus. I’ve always thought a long history of bad teams can really hurt because when students don’t care, that Carrie’s over to when they are alumni. They simply have other connections to the school. And you can’t rebuild that with 1 good season.

 

[Fishy]

I'm not sure I agree about DePaul. It has some history and if they compete, I think they have more than enough fan interest to fill Wintrust. If worse comes to worst, just sell $2 Millers. It's a great basketball arena in downtown Chicago. At least one home game will sell out, although it falls on January First

DePaul's success tied to Holtmann's roster construction

CHICAGO -- When Chris Holtmann took the DePaul job in March, he knew the challenge ahead. The challenge, though, in getting the Blue Demons back to where they once were is…

247sports.com

I don’t worry about Georgetown - Cooley will get their act together. He had a very strong recruiting class in 2024 and despite being an absolute oaf, he can coach.

DePaul is absolute garbage. No fans, no interest, no nothing. That rebuild is gonna be harder than the Big Dig. I expect nothing.

 

[Patman]

I honestly think, and have heard from alums I know who are more recent grads, that Georgetown cares about athletics, but not that much. They see themselves as the Catholic Ivy even if the real Ivies don’t see them that way. LOL. They really don’t want to be embarrassed in athletics, but they don’t need to be NCAA Champs to be happy either. The occasional bid would be fine. It is much more of a Ivy Patriot League world view. Maybe it is partly that if you graduated from Georgetown over the last 15-20 years, you really haven’t experienced much more than that. And basketball is no longer “a thing” on campus. I’ve always thought a long history of bad teams can really hurt because when students don’t care, that Carrie’s over to when they are alumni. They simply have other connections to the school. And you can’t rebuild that with 1 good season.

well then, may as well consider the program dead.

I do sense from the locals and part of the black community that they'd like Georgetown to be their flagship for basketball. There's just a lot of talent around where I live on the PG side of life.

Georgetown will never be seen as an ivy probably because its too close to DC in the practical sense. Not that Columbia isn't in NYC and Harvard is basically in Boston but it lacks that "in the airs" nature of other places.

 

[UConnJim]

I don’t worry about Georgetown - Cooley will get their act together. He had a very strong recruiting class in 2024 and despite being an absolute oaf, he can coach.

DePaul is absolute garbage. No fans, no interest, no nothing. That rebuild is gonna be harder than the Big Dig. I expect nothing.

I think DePaul has a chance to turn it around. They hired an experienced HC in Chris Holtman who won at Butler and at Ohio St. Was Big South COY in 2013, Big East COY in 2017, and Big 10 COY in 2018. Has made 7 NCAA Tournaments and is 7-7. He completely flipped the DePaul roster so it's hard to say how the team will work out this year.

 

[Hskies4Ever]

Especially rich considering they implored us to move up and to move up our timeline in upgrading FB.

The C7 certainly did not ask UConn to move up their timeline... that would be all our former friends playing in the ACC and Big 12.

 

[Hskies4Ever]

The C7 wanted nothing to with anything football. They only wanted to be associated with like minded schools. They thought football was a source of instability.

If you go on Twitter there are UConn and Big East fans that actually believe that dropping football in 2012 to join a bunch of stupid little catholic schools was the way to go and that actually would have been seriously considered.

Were? There are still plenty of fans that would rather see our athletic department flounder than leave the Big East.

 

[freescooter]

Were? There are still plenty of fans that would rather see our athletic department flounder than leave the Big East.

This is absolutely true.

 

[ZooCougar]

Were? There are still plenty of fans that would rather see our athletic department flounder than leave the Big East.

I didn’t say were.

You did.

 

[Fishy]

I think DePaul has a chance to turn it around. They hired an experienced HC in Chris Holtman who won at Butler and at Ohio St. Was Big South COY in 2013, Big East COY in 2017, and Big 10 COY in 2018. Has made 7 NCAA Tournaments and is 7-7. He completely flipped the DePaul roster so it's hard to say how the team will work out this year.

They have a chance, of course.

But they have been so bad for so long that I am not willing to give them much benefit of the doubt.

You need more than just a coach to win and I don’t think DePaul has any of the institutional stuff figured out.

 

[CL82]

If you go on Twitter there are UConn and Big East fans that actually believe that dropping football in 2012 to join a bunch of stupid little catholic schools was the way to go and that actually would have been seriously considered.

It always fascinates me that some people believe our conference affiliation, rather than our coach, is the biggest factor in UConn's men's basketball most recent revival.

 

[ZooCougar]

It always fascinates me that some people believe our conference affiliation, rather than our coach, is the biggest factor in UConn's men's basketball most recent revival.

It's probably a mix of the two. But mostly its Hurley.

The idea of still being in the AAC is horrific. But the Big East isn't so great that we shouldn't be looking elsewhere. Also having just a mildly successfully football team is extremely healthy for an Athletic Department with our profile.

The complaint is: "We'll never be Ohio State or Georgia". Well duh, I am sure we can be better than Rutgers though.