Dana O'Neil joins in on the fun

[yorost]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... basketball

There is no staff, no schedule, no cool logo or website -- mostly because there is no commissioner.

Schedules are largely made, why change the logo we fought to keep, and a website is announced to launch on the 1st. I know it's fun to bash us, but it could at least be a little more up to date. I suppose she might be talking about the basketball schedule, but how many conferences have released their basketball schedule?

Which is more than we can say for the current crew in charge, the nine Revs and Prez, who apparently have been cryogenically frozen since March. Although we really shouldn't be surprised.

More like tight lipped. They might not be perfect, but treating the situation like nothing is happening is clearly false.

[BillEsq]

couldn't agree more with your assessment Yorost... fall schedules are mostly out and a commissioner would have little effect on them that is AD's work, website is announced on July 1st the day of the official grand opening, likely with a new logo... seriously who in sports cares about logos other than Chris Chase.


Well these presidents have been bizarrely tight lipped from the beginning, and while i personally think they should get a commissioner and get out of the athletic league business the fact that they have said nothing is highly surprising. Besides what are they going to say?


I will say the one thing that is bad is that it does look like the BE moved forward on this without a plan. The thought that they would be so far along without a commissioner in line still shocks me. Actually at this point their whole business plan shocks me. While its possible that everything is humming along quite smoothly behind the tight lipped shield it does make for an easy media target.

[Dew]

Who does she work for? Consider the source. I'm sick and tired of the BS from ESPN.

[Bluejay]

While she goes a bit overboard here, I do think she has a valid point. We are going to hear more and more of this (and not just from ESPN types) in the next few days/weeks. The fact of the matter is that these media types are expected to produce content for their employers and we are making it increasingly difficult for them to do so. They can't go to the commish with questions/story ideas, because we don't have one. They can't go to conference staff for info or quotes because we don't have any staff hired. They have apparently tried individual coaches, hence the little comments included in some recent stories noting that coaches haven't been told diddly and are getting frustrated.

I'm sure the natural response by some here would be, "who cares; screw the media." I think that is misguided here because we ultimately want the coverage. What I am concerned about is that these college presidents seem to be unaware that the stories that appear in the preview magazines are generally written this time of year (the earliest of these mags usually hits the newstand at the end of July/beginning of August). If one of the mags wants to do a nice story on our new conference, they have no one to interview to get quotes. If they want to do a welcome to the the new commissioner piece, they can't do so because we may not have a commish hired in time. The general previews about our individual teams are probably safe as coaches and SIDs can supply that content, but the introductory page about the conference as a whole may be tough to complete or will be pretty generic in nature. It is not beyond the realm of possibility to think that some of these mags may just scratch any special articles they had about us and replace them with a story about another conference (perhaps even the AAC...).

At some point, perception does start to become reality. For a league that desperately wants to avoid the mid major label, we certainly aren't acting like a power conference when it comes to media access and media assistance. In a Papal Conclave, silence and a lack of access is perfectly acceptable. In the world of big money college athletics, it is not smart at all. We are giving ammunition to our critics and have the potential of alienating our friends. It is time to get our poop in a group...

[BEwannabe]

At some point, perception does start to become reality. For a league that desperately wants to avoid the mid major label, we certainly aren't acting like a power conference when it comes to media access and media assistance.

Only a conference run by priests would you get this result. It's big business and they're running it like a lemonade stand, sorry but it's true and people (future staff) are watching. Trying to get the best people with this roll out will be difficult. What's the first thing most people do when making a career changing decision? They seek advice from their friends,family and experts in their field. I would imagine the advice is very mixed, could be a great job but know what you're getting in to.

[yorost]

@BlueJay: I don't think anyone disagrees that there is fair criticism to be laid or that Dana O'Neil has some points. Going overboard is the problem, not something to be brushed away. She has a criticism to make and, apparently, uses it as an excuse to level criticism without worry to accuracy or fairness. She comes out bashing and immediately goes into stating falsehoods as evidence. It marks her as uninformed to those of us paying attention to the situation. Critically fair pieces are great, in my book, this is just a negative piece not too worried about accuracy.

Look at Katz, he hasn't been blasted (that I can recall) for his pieces on us recently, but he has been critical of the conference and presidents in them. I don't know how well informed he is, but at least he seems to be following the story.

We don't know what's going on. Both you and BEwannabe have a point if you're right, but since we know so little you could both be wrong, too. It was completely out of the blue that we found out the head of officials was hired, I don't think we had any idea they were pursuing that. We're in the dark, the media looks largely in the dark, AD's for some reason seem to be in the dark on a lot of things... it is what it is. For the most part, we just don't know what is or is not getting done.

...and when you spend an entire piece giving it to the conference for failing just to finish it up with...

The saving grace in all this is that the product will be good despite the fumbles and bumbles to the finish line.

...why did she just spend all that time portraying the situation as a disaster? If it's going to be ok, the issues can't be as important as some are making it out to be.

I like how she tossed in, for good measure, a pot shot at the 'East' being stupid because of Omaha.

[Bluejay]

@yorost -

I am not justifying O'neil when she goes overboard (although, in the spirit of full disclosure, I do have to admit that she is my favorite ESPN hoops writer). I am just saying that I am not surprised. As frustration grows by media types, the level of snark is going to grow exponentially as well. My frustration, along with coaches, ADs and the media is that this is taking so long. My concern is that the reason it is taking so long is that certain schools may be attempting to take steps to limit the commish's power or to otherwise maintain control themselves, not because we are taking some sort of super-duper steps to make make sure beyond a doubt that we are hiring the right person. If that is going on, we may have a very difficult time finding anybody that wants the gig. And yes, that makes us look bad. And yes, I believe the delays are on the verge of costing us media exposure and alienating people that could otherwise be pretty sympathetic to our plight.

You stated that the column ended with the following:

The saving grace in all this is that the product will be good despite the fumbles and bumbles to the finish line.

You must have a different version of the story than the one I read. The link I clicked ended with this little shot:

Nap time is over. It's time for the Revs and Prez to stop making the Big East a joke.

With that quote at least, I think she's right.

[yorost]

Um, sorry it wasn't literally the last line?

[redmen9194]

I know I have posted this before but I'll do it again. In six months we have:
1.) Expanded with three excellent additions.
2.) Secured the Big East Brand.
3.) Negotiating keeping the NCAA Tourny credits of the Catholic 7 group for the conference.
4.) Set our deal with MSG to run to 2026.
5.) Finalized Fall sports schedules.
6.) Set tournament sites for Volleyball, Lacrosse, Men's Hoops, Mens and Womens' Tennis (maybe others as well).
7.) Secured the most lucrative TV contract in history for a non-football league that exceeds some football contracts as well.

Now, do we need a commish? Sure. Would it be nice to have one already? Of course. But the presidents have not been doing nothing and actually got quite a bit accomplished in a very short period of time. All the big things we needed are done. People are freaking out about no basketball schedules yet, but that has always been the case in the Big East. In June, the conference would announce repeat opponents and the home and away games - but no actual dates or times. That is because schools like St. John's, Georgetown, etc., play in pro arenas. The Big East always had to wait for the Garden, Verizon, etc., to set the NBA and NHL schedules first. That is not done until the end of the summer. A commish would not change that. Let's hire a good person to run the league - we don't have to rush into hiring someone so ESPN will stop saying bad things about us. I mean, O'Neil refers to "nine priests and a university president" in her comments. Last I checked there were only seven university leaders in the conference that were priests. Butler, Georgetown and Seton Hall are not run by priests. So they can't even get easy facts straight.

[Jet915]

While I do agree that we should have a commissioner by now, I think that these reporters are frustrated that they aren't getting any info from these tight lipped PRIVATE presidents.