Big East Meetings

[BillEsq]

As this topic has devolved to non revs... i give my 2 cents

conference tourneys' only matter in team sports. (track and swimming and the like will still have conference meets)

Yes basketball is the only one that matters... but m soccer would be the next best- most of the teams in the BE are breaking even, and well its soccer people expect tournaments.

My 2 cents on all non-revs and with the league supporting conference tournaments. while acceptable it is bush league. Yes we know the league is basketball first but if it looks like to others that there is no focus on non-revs it hurts the overall status of the league. Go to a ND, Duke or ect. there facilities are mind boggling. If the BE seriously is entertaining picking up scraps from the BCS blow up (ACC) it will need to get its act together in the non revs. One of the big reasons ND was never a real risk to join is the overall lack of commitment to non-revs of the C7 teams-

Personally i don't think it will kill the league for one year or two. At this point i am resigned to believe that somehow the C7 entered into this without doing much preplanning. So until they get things sorted out my guess it will be what it is. (on a side note i never advise clients to make hundred million dollar decisions on the fly. What the BE has right now is screwing up the fall sports in such a away that it makes the league look idiotic. In some sense it might be easier for them to have 10 teams as they won't need to get as many officials and other personnel going in order to operate the league. Its a half ass way to do it but it is what it is.

It is true that the average fan really just follow basketball and if the BE gets 4-6 teams in they should be ok in overall perception with the masses. But they will need to get there acts together overall if they want to impress the other powers that be. After all they are competing with the ACC for MSG not the MAAC. They also put themselves in a potential worse case situation. they get 3 or less teams in the tourney. If this occurs and the league is ridiculed for mismanagement of its non-revs its a PR disaster, and that would reflect on recruiting. Trust me recruits know when they are going into a high class sports complex, and just one good sport does not qualify.

[Xudash]

Just based on what some of us have experienced in the A10, I don't see Olympic Sports conference tournaments as a major issue.

A10 golf has a conference tournament.

A10 tennis has one.

Baseball has one.

Soccer? I believe they have one.

We already know that M and W basketball holds them.

W volleyball also.

I'm not too worried about this source of worry.

[gmoser1210]

You kind of have to have a conference championship for Cross Country, Golf, Swimming & Diving, and Track & Field. They don't have a regular season where there is some kind of conference schedule. The same might be true with tennis -- I really don't know about that one.

The rest of the potential conference tournaments are baseball/softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball. Obviously men's basketball will have a conference tournament, and I'll be surprised if there's no conference tournament for soccer or women's basketball. That just leaves baseball, softball, and volleyball. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. This "new" conference sure does leave a lot of speculation. Gonna be a pretty fun offseason.

[DumpsterFireA10]

As this topic has devolved to non revs... i give my 2 cents

conference tourneys' only matter in team sports. (track and swimming and the like will still have conference meets)

Yes basketball is the only one that matters... but m soccer would be the next best- most of the teams in the BE are breaking even, and well its soccer people expect tournaments.

My 2 cents on all non-revs and with the league supporting conference tournaments. while acceptable it is bush league. Yes we know the league is basketball first but if it looks like to others that there is no focus on non-revs it hurts the overall status of the league. Go to a ND, Duke or ect. there facilities are mind boggling. If the BE seriously is entertaining picking up scraps from the BCS blow up (ACC) it will need to get its act together in the non revs. One of the big reasons ND was never a real risk to join is the overall lack of commitment to non-revs of the C7 teams-

Personally i don't think it will kill the league for one year or two. At this point i am resigned to believe that somehow the C7 entered into this without doing much preplanning. So until they get things sorted out my guess it will be what it is. (on a side note i never advise clients to make hundred million dollar decisions on the fly. What the BE has right now is screwing up the fall sports in such a away that it makes the league look idiotic. In some sense it might be easier for them to have 10 teams as they won't need to get as many officials and other personnel going in order to operate the league. Its a half ass way to do it but it is what it is.

It is true that the average fan really just follow basketball and if the BE gets 4-6 teams in they should be ok in overall perception with the masses. But they will need to get there acts together overall if they want to impress the other powers that be. After all they are competing with the ACC for MSG not the MAAC. They also put themselves in a potential worse case situation. they get 3 or less teams in the tourney. If this occurs and the league is ridiculed for mismanagement of its non-revs its a PR disaster, and that would reflect on recruiting. Trust me recruits know when they are going into a high class sports complex, and just one good sport does not qualify.

Many of us played or are fans of non-revs. They really don't matter in all this. If the Big East sponsored basketball only, would it hurt perception of the league? Probably not. I don't think a 5 star basketball recruit cares how good that school's golf team is.

[BillEsq]

LOL you might be surprised.

Go to one of the campuses of a major sports team. Heck take Louisville it has surrounded its campus with multi million dollar facilities for all of its not revs. While touring the new recruits around it can say that it has all these things and mention several other top 25 rated programs. This shows campus commitment to sports. Its also fun to add to the recruit speech that as a result of all of this success the 40 million dollar sports medicine facility is possible, plus all the other potentially shared work out facilities trainers and etc.

No while they might not take the basketball recruit into the state of the art multi million dollar natatorium, or introduce him to the men's tennis coach. They will escort the recruit past the facilities, mention the over all success of the program, and then tell him that all of these resources are available to the athletic program. Its big time vs. Little time if you want big recruits you need to show big time glitter and gold.

[DumpsterFireA10]

LOL you might be surprised.

Go to one of the campuses of a major sports team. Heck take Louisville it has surrounded its campus with multi million dollar facilities for all of its not revs. While touring the new recruits around it can say that it has all these things and mention several other top 25 rated programs. This shows campus commitment to sports. Its also fun to add to the recruit speech that as a result of all of this success the 40 million dollar sports medicine facility is possible, plus all the other potentially shared work out facilities trainers and etc.

No while they might not take the basketball recruit into the state of the art multi million dollar natatorium, or introduce him to the men's tennis coach. They will escort the recruit past the facilities, mention the over all success of the program, and then tell him that all of these resources are available to the athletic program. Its big time vs. Little time if you want big recruits you need to show big time glitter and gold.

SLU is one of the worst example of mishandling non-revs (well, the whole athletic department for that matter). National power in soccer, only to let coaches go. One of the best baseball facilities in the United States is a mile away, and they may get one game in Busch Stadium. Women's basketball has been a revolving door of coaches. Even the mishandling of the Willie Reed incident goes to the perception that the athletic department has its head firmly tucked somewhere a head shouldn't be tucked.4

Just one more reason that Saint Louis is where they are now.

[BE 7 Conference fan]

Anybody else starting to get worried about the lack of organization?

No commissioner.

No conference tourneys in certain sports.

No conference staff.

Potential problems with locking up MSG long term.

We start business in a little over a month.

[yorost]

Anybody else starting to get worried about the lack of organization? --- Not really. Lack of concrete information does not mean nothing is happening. We simply don't know how well it is organized or not.

No commissioner. --- Jersey Guy said that someone is reportedly in negotiations with the Big East to become commissioner. With a temporary commissioner in place to guide things I have a hard time seeing this as so negative. Why rush out a hire a few weeks early instead of doing due diligence?

No conference tourneys in certain sports. --- This was only a tidbit claiming 'coaches' suggested the idea in the meetings being help by individual AD's to organize sports. That this is out at least shows they are organizing the sports.

No conference staff. --- Not 100% clear where they are on this, but they've said it might take awhile to settle down the office. Fine by me if they go slow transitioning and office in, better than rushing.

Potential problems with locking up MSG long term. --- If the ACC and MSG wants this (ESPN), we either don't default on the contract or we don't. Nothing will stop the rumors when big players are pushing for it to happen.

[DumpsterFireA10]

Much of this consternation is the same thing that's happening with the uninvited schools.

The Big East will get their house in order.

[Jet915]

LOL you might be surprised.

Go to one of the campuses of a major sports team. Heck take Louisville it has surrounded its campus with multi million dollar facilities for all of its not revs. While touring the new recruits around it can say that it has all these things and mention several other top 25 rated programs. This shows campus commitment to sports. Its also fun to add to the recruit speech that as a result of all of this success the 40 million dollar sports medicine facility is possible, plus all the other potentially shared work out facilities trainers and etc.

No while they might not take the basketball recruit into the state of the art multi million dollar natatorium, or introduce him to the men's tennis coach. They will escort the recruit past the facilities, mention the over all success of the program, and then tell him that all of these resources are available to the athletic program. Its big time vs. Little time if you want big recruits you need to show big time glitter and gold.

SLU is one of the worst example of mishandling non-revs (well, the whole athletic department for that matter). National power in soccer, only to let coaches go. One of the best baseball facilities in the United States is a mile away, and they may get one game in Busch Stadium. Women's basketball has been a revolving door of coaches. Even the mishandling of the Willie Reed incident goes to the perception that the athletic department has its head firmly tucked somewhere a head shouldn't be tucked.4

Just one more reason that Saint Louis is where they are now.

Luckily, I think Creighton is the exact opposite right now. The whole athletic department has had great success the last few years. Basketball w/attendance, NCAAs and an All-American. Womens basketball has made the last two NCAAs and beat Syracuse in the first round this year. Women's volleyball has made the last two NCAAs and won a game both times. Men's soccer has made the last two College Cups. Men's baseball has made the last two NCAAs and won a few games (although a fringe bubble team this year, probably not make it). All these teams play in state of the art facilities and a practice facility will be done in 2014. It's a credit to the AD and President and a little luck that the Big East was looking for a member when we are hitting our stride.

As for worrying about the Big East, if we hear nothing after these meetings that end tomorrow, I'd start to be a little worried that they were dragging their feet.