I had a thought as to the particular timing of Marinatto's firing and the relative silence of the Big East leadership since.

The new BCS structure for all intents and purposes was essentially worked out months ago in the April meetings in Florida. The June meetings were quite possibly the finalization of some of the details of the final product, but I would guess that those discussions were really hashed out in April (remember that's when they announced the end of AQ) and relayed to presidents in May.

Could Marinatto's failing to keep the BE as a power conference in those April meetings be the cause of his firing in May? I think that's VERY plausible. The other power conference commissioners have been browbeating the Big East since then and maybe that's the reason the conference has essentially been quiet on the subject. Marinatto either couldn't defend the conference's position as a power conference adequately or he simply caved in is my guess. Either way, it was his ineptitude that lead to the Big East's ouster as a power conference.

The silence since then by leadership is probably more likely due to an attitude of trying to go along to get along regarding any sort of revenue distribution above a base share and possible access.

I don't think there was anything he could do after losing Cuse, Pitt and WVU. Had Marinatto and the Big East agreed on the ESPN deal a year ago...the BE may have been in a better situation. Since then...ABC/ESPN and others that have followed suit have been doing everything in their power to oust the Big East from the club...including getting Cuse/Pitt to apply to the ACC and the ACC adding 2 more teams. ESPN will keep blackballing the BE throughout the contract negotiations to lower their value. ESPN had a big roll in the playoff situation, too. They want the Big East to die.

(06-27-2012 11:41 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Could Marinatto's failing to keep the BE as a power conference in those April meetings be the cause of his firing in May?

I am not sure its fair to blame him for all the events that have transpired over the last couple years. Ultimately it is the league's Presidents who make the major decisions and chart direction of the conference. IMO, they hired this guy b/c he was a career administrator who facilitate their every command without question. In doing so they got exactly what they wanted and were able to control the guy's action up until his last day in office. Every President in the conference is too blame.

You want to trash a conference commissioner? Take a look at Jim Delaney. Big Ten wanted to protect the old system. Not so much. Did the Rose Bowl get protected? No. On-campus semifinals? Nope.

Blaming Marinatto for the Big East getting the bum's rush out of the BCS club is like blaming the commander of the Belgian Army for getting overrun by the Germans.

(06-27-2012 12:01 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  

(06-27-2012 11:41 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Could Marinatto's failing to keep the BE as a power conference in those April meetings be the cause of his firing in May?

I am not sure its fair to blame him for all the events that have transpired over the last couple years. Ultimately it is the league's Presidents who make the major decisions and chart direction of the conference. IMO, they hired this guy b/c he was a career administrator who facilitate their every command without question. In doing so they got exactly what they wanted and were able to control the guy's action up until his last day in office. Every President in the conference is too blame.

I agree, although it's not just about the presidents. Was Marinatto a visionary like Larry Scott? Absolutely not. However, Marinatto also wasn't responsible for any of the Big East defections. At the end of the day, Pitt and Syracuse were ALWAYS going to accept an ACC invite if it ever came. The Big East was at risk from the first day that the football league was created because (1) it never had Penn State and (2) its marquee name of Miami had an institutional goal of going to the ACC. Once Miami left, it wouldn't have matter whether Jim Delany or Mike Slive was running the Big East - no commissioner was going to be able to convince any members from defecting to another power conference if they were given that opportunity. The Big East had a structural problem from day one that no commissioner was ever going to solve. Now, the Big East is still the best home *available* for its current members (both football and non-football), so the league itself has value on that front. They just can't expect their members to turn down invites from the other 5 power conferences - that was never going to happen (meaning that Marinatto has been unfairly blamed as the fall guy).

Maybe I came off too strong. I wasn't saying that Marinatto is to blame, but that he was essentially powerless to stop it from happening or even put up a hardy defense. When he left the BCS meetings in April, he basically snuck out and after he relayed his news to the Presidents, they canned him. That's all I am alleging. I didn't say Marinatto caused it, but rather he was ill-equipped through either persona or connection to avoid it. Now the question is, can a good hire help restore the Big East to return to being labeled as a power conference?

The Force was not strong with Marinatto, and or the BE.

(06-27-2012 12:18 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-27-2012 12:01 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  

(06-27-2012 11:41 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Could Marinatto's failing to keep the BE as a power conference in those April meetings be the cause of his firing in May?

I am not sure its fair to blame him for all the events that have transpired over the last couple years. Ultimately it is the league's Presidents who make the major decisions and chart direction of the conference. IMO, they hired this guy b/c he was a career administrator who facilitate their every command without question. In doing so they got exactly what they wanted and were able to control the guy's action up until his last day in office. Every President in the conference is too blame.

I agree, although it's not just about the presidents. Was Marinatto a visionary like Larry Scott? Absolutely not. However, Marinatto also wasn't responsible for any of the Big East defections. At the end of the day, Pitt and Syracuse were ALWAYS going to accept an ACC invite if it ever came. The Big East was at risk from the first day that the football league was created because (1) it never had Penn State and (2) its marquee name of Miami had an institutional goal of going to the ACC. Once Miami left, it wouldn't have matter whether Jim Delany or Mike Slive was running the Big East - no commissioner was going to be able to convince any members from defecting to another power conference if they were given that opportunity. The Big East had a structural problem from day one that no commissioner was ever going to solve. Now, the Big East is still the best home *available* for its current members (both football and non-football), so the league itself has value on that front. They just can't expect their members to turn down invites from the other 5 power conferences - that was never going to happen (meaning that Marinatto has been unfairly blamed as the fall guy).

Though we are new to the Big East, it seems clear that a more publicly charismatic leader that could continually champion the Big East cause in the media would have helped. The one year negative campaign waged by ESPN and the other conference commissioners was never really challenged---though very reasonable objective evidence of Big East value was readily available. Someone in the Big East office really should read a book about public realtions and election strategy. Might it have changed the final outcome--maybe, maybe not---all we really know is maintaining radio silence was a disaster.

(06-27-2012 11:41 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  I had a thought as to the particular timing of Marinatto's firing and the relative silence of the Big East leadership since.

The new BCS structure for all intents and purposes was essentially worked out months ago in the April meetings in Florida. The June meetings were quite possibly the finalization of some of the details of the final product, but I would guess that those discussions were really hashed out in April (remember that's when they announced the end of AQ) and relayed to presidents in May.

Could Marinatto's failing to keep the BE as a power conference in those April meetings be the cause of his firing in May? I think that's VERY plausible. The other power conference commissioners have been browbeating the Big East since then and maybe that's the reason the conference has essentially been quiet on the subject. Marinatto either couldn't defend the conference's position as a power conference adequately or he simply caved in is my guess. Either way, it was his ineptitude that lead to the Big East's ouster as a power conference.

The silence since then by leadership is probably more likely due to an attitude of trying to go along to get along regarding any sort of revenue distribution above a base share and possible access.

All certainly possible as the BCS Conf Commissioners noted that these talks started 6 plus months ago during their Jan meetings...and then were finally rectified during their 2 meetings in Chicago.

Some defending Marinatto today (like Frank) were also the same people that supported Marinatto's decision to push Villanova Football for Big East membership, over that of anyone from CUSA and other conf...so I doubt they will ever admit that they too were wrong.

(06-27-2012 01:10 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(06-27-2012 11:41 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  I had a thought as to the particular timing of Marinatto's firing and the relative silence of the Big East leadership since.

The new BCS structure for all intents and purposes was essentially worked out months ago in the April meetings in Florida. The June meetings were quite possibly the finalization of some of the details of the final product, but I would guess that those discussions were really hashed out in April (remember that's when they announced the end of AQ) and relayed to presidents in May.

Could Marinatto's failing to keep the BE as a power conference in those April meetings be the cause of his firing in May? I think that's VERY plausible. The other power conference commissioners have been browbeating the Big East since then and maybe that's the reason the conference has essentially been quiet on the subject. Marinatto either couldn't defend the conference's position as a power conference adequately or he simply caved in is my guess. Either way, it was his ineptitude that lead to the Big East's ouster as a power conference.

The silence since then by leadership is probably more likely due to an attitude of trying to go along to get along regarding any sort of revenue distribution above a base share and possible access.

All certainly possible as the BCS Conf Commissioners noted that these talks started 6 plus months ago during their Jan meetings...and then were finally rectified during their 2 meetings in Chicago.

Some defending Marinatto today (like Frank) were also the same people that supported Marinatto's decision to push Villanova Football for Big East membership, over that of anyone from CUSA and other conf...so I doubt they will ever admit that they too were wrong.

KL -- you are forgetting that everyone was on board initially with Nova. They viewed it as a compromise candidate that would get football to 8 conference games for everyone and an expansion candidate that the basketball schools wouldn't object to adding. It was only when Nova proposed a crap stadium plan did things start going south. Details matter.


However, if you do an objective root cause analysis much of what has happened to the Big East had very little to do with decision made by the commisioner's office. You may not appreciate this as you are still bitter about being initially passed over by Nova but those are the facts.


BTW, nobody is defending the guy. He was in over his head. Instead we are proposing a root cause analysis about WHY he failed and it really had very little to do with his decisions.

(06-27-2012 01:10 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  All certainly possible as the BCS Conf Commissioners noted that these talks started 6 plus months ago during their Jan meetings...and then were finally rectified during their 2 meetings in Chicago.

Some defending Marinatto today (like Frank) were also the same people that supported Marinatto's decision to push Villanova Football for Big East membership, over that of anyone from CUSA and other conf...so I doubt they will ever admit that they too were wrong.

Que? Even SFHusky (who I pretty much disagree with about virtually everything) would even state (if he's being honest) that I believed that if the Big East should expand, it ought to do it in the manner that it is now, which is to have a national football-only approach with schools like Boise State. This is what I wrote in November 2010 (before TCU was even invited to the Big East and long before Syracuse, Pitt, WVU and technically TCU had left):

http://frankthetank.wordpress.com/2010/1...onference/

A number of the school names have changed because of further realignment, but the general concept is the same.

(06-27-2012 02:27 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-27-2012 01:10 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  All certainly possible as the BCS Conf Commissioners noted that these talks started 6 plus months ago during their Jan meetings...and then were finally rectified during their 2 meetings in Chicago.

Some defending Marinatto today (like Frank) were also the same people that supported Marinatto's decision to push Villanova Football for Big East membership, over that of anyone from CUSA and other conf...so I doubt they will ever admit that they too were wrong.

Que?

Just went off memory and a quick use of the search in this forum...sorry, I don't read your blog...I just respond to posts made in this forum...and over the past 7-14 months...the were numerous examples of you supporting Marinatto and his Villanova football invite over any CUSA team (like Houston, UCF, SMU, etc...) or others that were mentioned.

That's all...didn't mean for you to post some blog or reference anything SF said or wrote.

Since you are a Big Ten fan...its not surprise the angle you take on almost all of your Big East Football posts.

Anyone who had a hand in the BE leadership over the past year should be fired.

(06-27-2012 07:10 PM)BullsBEAST Wrote:  Anyone who had a hand in the BE leadership over the past year should be fired.

Anyone who had a hand in BIG EAST leadership since Gavitt took over the Celtics should be fired.

(06-27-2012 01:30 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  

(06-27-2012 01:10 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(06-27-2012 11:41 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  I had a thought as to the particular timing of Marinatto's firing and the relative silence of the Big East leadership since.

The new BCS structure for all intents and purposes was essentially worked out months ago in the April meetings in Florida. The June meetings were quite possibly the finalization of some of the details of the final product, but I would guess that those discussions were really hashed out in April (remember that's when they announced the end of AQ) and relayed to presidents in May.

Could Marinatto's failing to keep the BE as a power conference in those April meetings be the cause of his firing in May? I think that's VERY plausible. The other power conference commissioners have been browbeating the Big East since then and maybe that's the reason the conference has essentially been quiet on the subject. Marinatto either couldn't defend the conference's position as a power conference adequately or he simply caved in is my guess. Either way, it was his ineptitude that lead to the Big East's ouster as a power conference.

The silence since then by leadership is probably more likely due to an attitude of trying to go along to get along regarding any sort of revenue distribution above a base share and possible access.

All certainly possible as the BCS Conf Commissioners noted that these talks started 6 plus months ago during their Jan meetings...and then were finally rectified during their 2 meetings in Chicago.

Some defending Marinatto today (like Frank) were also the same people that supported Marinatto's decision to push Villanova Football for Big East membership, over that of anyone from CUSA and other conf...so I doubt they will ever admit that they too were wrong.

KL -- you are forgetting that everyone was on board initially with Nova.

Who's everyone?

Certainly not everyone on this board a year ago...and certainly not all Big East Presidents.

IMO something definitely happened with Marinatto to fire him on the spot for cause. Otherwise, the Big East would have simply taken the approach many organizations would have taken and worked out a deal for Meatball to stay in place while the new leadership was retained and then later brought in.

(06-27-2012 07:30 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  IMO something definitely happened with Marinatto to fire him on the spot for cause. Otherwise, the Big East would have simply taken the approach many organizations would have taken and worked out a deal for Meatball to stay in place while the new leadership was retained and then later brought in.

That's fair.

Also...one should look at who represented the Big East's interests at the following meetings:

Athletic Directors and BCS Conf Commissioner Football Playoff meetings in Chicago in back-to-back weeks....the Big East AD that attended and was suppose to SPEAK UP for the Big East Conf: Louisville's AD Tom Jurich, attended those meetings on behalf of the Big East Conf.

At the Presidents meeting in Washington, DC yesterday...guess who represented and was to speak up for Big East interest at that meeting?

If you guessed Univ of Louisville's President James Ramsey, you win!

Bottom line, those 2 representatives did nothing for the Big East during their meeting...and like the interim commish, failed to gain any traction in regards to national media attention.

(06-27-2012 07:44 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(06-27-2012 07:30 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  IMO something definitely happened with Marinatto to fire him on the spot for cause. Otherwise, the Big East would have simply taken the approach many organizations would have taken and worked out a deal for Meatball to stay in place while the new leadership was retained and then later brought in.

That's fair.

Also...one should look at who represented the Big East's interests at the following meetings:

Athletic Directors and BCS Conf Commissioner Football Playoff meetings in Chicago in back-to-back weeks....the Big East AD that attended and was suppose to SPEAK UP for the Big East Conf: Louisville's AD Tom Jurich, attended those meetings on behalf of the Big East Conf.

At the Presidents meeting in Washington, DC yesterday...guess who represented and was to speak up for Big East interest at that meeting?

If you guessed Univ of Louisville's President James Ramsey, you win!

Bottom line, those 2 representatives did nothing for the Big East during their meeting...and like the interim commish, failed to gain any traction in regards to national media attention.

The BIG EAST was likely already "done in" back in December...as good as Jurich is he aint "Superman".

Plus, more then likely @ this point while we will fight for the BIG EAST we will also look out for the best interest of the University of Louisville. I am sure the folks @ UConn, Rutgers, Cincinnati and the University of South Florida feel the same way.

Marinatto was fired because he let the bball onlies in the BE lead him around by his gonads and he failed to recognize football is the big driver not bball...

(06-27-2012 08:57 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Marinatto was fired because he let the bball onlies in the BE lead him around by his gonads and he failed to recognize football is the big driver not bball...

Nah...Marinatto is/was just a product of the "Providence Mentality"...you know...Villanova to move up instead of adding UCF, TCU and when they were available BYU back in 2010 when they first left the MWC as a Football Only.

Instead of listening to his buddies in that "Tiny College" in New England he should have been listening to Ollie Luck, Pitt & the other Football Members...juz say'n.