Big East Meetings
May 17, 2003 07:48 PM | General
May 17, 2003
Click HERE for Hoppy's complete WVmetronews.com Saturday Report.
PONTE VEDRA, Fla. -- The athletic directors of two of the three Big East Conference Schools expected to be invited to join the ACC insist their minds are not yet made up and they’re attending the annual Big East Conference meeting here in Ponte Vedra, Fla., with an open mind.
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| Ed Pastilong says the league's athletic directors must do everything they can to preserve the Big East Conference. (WVU Sports Communications photo) |
However, neither Miami AD Paul Dee nor Boston College AD Gene DeFilippo denied that they are interested in a move. Jake Crouthamel, AD of Syracuse University, which is also expected to be invited to the ACC, had not arrived at the meeting by mid afternoon Saturday.
Dee maintains he’s coming to the meeting with an open mind even though a number of reports leading up this conference meeting indicate the Hurricanes have already made their decision to leave the conference and take two other teams with them. “We will take the information we’ve learned here,” Dee said, and then return to Miami to confer with University President Donna Shalala.
Dee says, “We’re on our way to taking a look” (at joining the ACC). He says there is no one issue that will make the decision for Miami. “The list is full of all the things you have to consider,” said Dee.
He said he’s not aware of what specific proposals Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese might make in meetings that begin Sunday morning. “There may be something new, a new wrinkle,” Dee said. “We’ve got to get the best info we can get.”
Both Dee and DeFilippo emphasized that they are still Big East schools. “We are a member of the Big East Conference as we stand here,” Dee said.
If the comments can be taken at face value, that would be good news for Tranghese. It’s not clear what plan he has to keep the three schools from leaving, but the key issues are money, conference growth and whether basketball only schools should be cut lose or shifted to a separate body.
It’s believed that the ACC is offering the new members more money based on higher television revenue, corporate sponsors and a league championship game.
Dee expressed interest in a 12-team conference, like the ACC would be with the addition of three schools. “The future is going to be more toward 12 team conferences … the conferences with 12 teams have been extremely successful,” Dee said.
Twelve-team conferences are permitting by the NCAA to have a championship game. That would raise additional revenue for the conference.
WVU Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong says he’s anxious to actually get everybody in one room and talk about the issues. He says the Big East is a “tremendous conference” and the league has to “do everything we can to preserve it.”
A portion of Hoppy's report was used by permission from WVmetronews.com. Hoppy Kercheval will be covering the Big East meetings through Wednesday.
