Huge news. She did a phenomenal job in her role and arguably helped save the Big East from evolving into obscurity post-2012.

(04-20-2026 10:50 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Huge news. She did a phenomenal job in her role and arguably helped save the Big East from evolving into obscurity post-2012.

the question I would have is how much of it is her, and how much of it is Stu Jackson who started with the league in July of 2014 and left in 2023.

(04-20-2026 11:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 10:50 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Huge news. She did a phenomenal job in her role and arguably helped save the Big East from evolving into obscurity post-2012.

the question I would have is how much of it is her, and how much of it is Stu Jackson who started with the league in July of 2014 and left in 2023.

Well, I would argue this. Stu wasn't there in 2013. When Val was hired, there was no league office, no conference name, no bylaws, no television contract and no bank account. Under her leadership, the C7 successfully invited Butler, Creighton and Xavier (who all have become great members), got a new TV deal with Fox, got paid significantly more than what they each earned under the old BE TV deal (a few hundred thousand annually to a few million annually), kept the Big East name and history and secured MSG as its tournament host site. That all occurred before Jackson was ever hired.

The schools, programs, coaches and athletes secured their placement in the college basketball hierarchy by their performance on the court. Villanova winning that game against UNC was one of the biggest wins in memory because it was not just Nova's win; it validated the the decision by the basketball schools to separate from football and showed that they could not just compete but win at the highest levels of college basketball.

I shutter to think what could have happened in an alternate reality if the C7 do not split from football and remained behind in the hybrid model. Or, conversely, if the C7 ended up with Aresco instead of Val. Yikes.

(04-20-2026 11:19 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 11:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 10:50 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Huge news. She did a phenomenal job in her role and arguably helped save the Big East from evolving into obscurity post-2012.

the question I would have is how much of it is her, and how much of it is Stu Jackson who started with the league in July of 2014 and left in 2023.

Well, I would argue this. Stu wasn't there in 2013. When Val was hired, there was no league office, no conference name, no bylaws, no television contract and no bank account. Under her leadership, the C7 successfully invited Butler, Creighton and Xavier (who all have become great members), got a new TV deal with Fox, got paid significantly more than what they each earned under the old BE TV deal (a few hundred thousand annually to a few million annually), kept the Big East name and history and secured MSG as its tournament host site. That all occurred before Jackson was ever hired.

The schools, programs, coaches and athletes secured their placement in the college basketball hierarchy by their performance on the court. Villanova winning that game against UNC was one of the biggest wins in memory because it was not just Nova's win; it validated the the decision by the basketball schools to separate from football and showed that they could not just compete but win at the highest levels of college basketball.

I shutter to think what could have happened in an alternate reality if the C7 do not split from football and remained behind in the hybrid model. Or, conversely, if the C7 ended up with Aresco instead of Val. Yikes.

Ackerman was named commish June 26,2013. After a lot of the stuff had gotten done honestly. TV contract, conference name, the 3 new schools, etc.

Jackson helped out a lot with the scheduling which was frankly a hot mess the 2013-14 season.

VA did a strong job. She will be missed.

(04-20-2026 12:40 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 11:19 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 11:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 10:50 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Huge news. She did a phenomenal job in her role and arguably helped save the Big East from evolving into obscurity post-2012.

the question I would have is how much of it is her, and how much of it is Stu Jackson who started with the league in July of 2014 and left in 2023.

Well, I would argue this. Stu wasn't there in 2013. When Val was hired, there was no league office, no conference name, no bylaws, no television contract and no bank account. Under her leadership, the C7 successfully invited Butler, Creighton and Xavier (who all have become great members), got a new TV deal with Fox, got paid significantly more than what they each earned under the old BE TV deal (a few hundred thousand annually to a few million annually), kept the Big East name and history and secured MSG as its tournament host site. That all occurred before Jackson was ever hired.

The schools, programs, coaches and athletes secured their placement in the college basketball hierarchy by their performance on the court. Villanova winning that game against UNC was one of the biggest wins in memory because it was not just Nova's win; it validated the the decision by the basketball schools to separate from football and showed that they could not just compete but win at the highest levels of college basketball.

I shutter to think what could have happened in an alternate reality if the C7 do not split from football and remained behind in the hybrid model. Or, conversely, if the C7 ended up with Aresco instead of Val. Yikes.

Ackerman was named commish June 26,2013. After a lot of the stuff had gotten done honestly. TV contract, conference name, the 3 new schools, etc.

Jackson helped out a lot with the scheduling which was frankly a hot mess the 2013-14 season.

Accurate, but they still did not have offices, staff and the athletic directors, at the time, were overseeing each sport's schedules. Dan Beebe (former B12 Commissioner) was actually the consultant that was helping assist in matters in the league's infancy, prior to Val being hired. Val also oversaw our second television contract and successfully helped bring back UConn.

Not discounting Stu by any stretch, but Val's recognition and contributions should be highlighted.

(04-20-2026 02:16 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 12:40 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 11:19 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 11:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 10:50 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Huge news. She did a phenomenal job in her role and arguably helped save the Big East from evolving into obscurity post-2012.

the question I would have is how much of it is her, and how much of it is Stu Jackson who started with the league in July of 2014 and left in 2023.

Well, I would argue this. Stu wasn't there in 2013. When Val was hired, there was no league office, no conference name, no bylaws, no television contract and no bank account. Under her leadership, the C7 successfully invited Butler, Creighton and Xavier (who all have become great members), got a new TV deal with Fox, got paid significantly more than what they each earned under the old BE TV deal (a few hundred thousand annually to a few million annually), kept the Big East name and history and secured MSG as its tournament host site. That all occurred before Jackson was ever hired.

The schools, programs, coaches and athletes secured their placement in the college basketball hierarchy by their performance on the court. Villanova winning that game against UNC was one of the biggest wins in memory because it was not just Nova's win; it validated the the decision by the basketball schools to separate from football and showed that they could not just compete but win at the highest levels of college basketball.

I shutter to think what could have happened in an alternate reality if the C7 do not split from football and remained behind in the hybrid model. Or, conversely, if the C7 ended up with Aresco instead of Val. Yikes.

Ackerman was named commish June 26,2013. After a lot of the stuff had gotten done honestly. TV contract, conference name, the 3 new schools, etc.

Jackson helped out a lot with the scheduling which was frankly a hot mess the 2013-14 season.

Accurate, but they still did not have offices, staff and the athletic directors, at the time, were overseeing each sport's schedules. Dan Beebe (former B12 Commissioner) was actually the consultant that was helping assist in matters in the league's infancy, prior to Val being hired. Val also oversaw our second television contract and successfully helped bring back UConn.

Not discounting Stu by any stretch, but Val's recognition and contributions should be highlighted.

I agree with you but also think Stu deserves a ton of credit as well. Especially noting that 2014 was a disastorous season of course with only 4 teams in with 1 as AQ only and a 2nd as last team in the tourney.

1 part for sure for Val and maybe the biggest thing IMO was the Gavitt Games. Those were announced roughly 2 months prior to Stu being hired.

(04-20-2026 03:06 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 02:16 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 12:40 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 11:19 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 11:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  the question I would have is how much of it is her, and how much of it is Stu Jackson who started with the league in July of 2014 and left in 2023.

Well, I would argue this. Stu wasn't there in 2013. When Val was hired, there was no league office, no conference name, no bylaws, no television contract and no bank account. Under her leadership, the C7 successfully invited Butler, Creighton and Xavier (who all have become great members), got a new TV deal with Fox, got paid significantly more than what they each earned under the old BE TV deal (a few hundred thousand annually to a few million annually), kept the Big East name and history and secured MSG as its tournament host site. That all occurred before Jackson was ever hired.

The schools, programs, coaches and athletes secured their placement in the college basketball hierarchy by their performance on the court. Villanova winning that game against UNC was one of the biggest wins in memory because it was not just Nova's win; it validated the the decision by the basketball schools to separate from football and showed that they could not just compete but win at the highest levels of college basketball.

I shutter to think what could have happened in an alternate reality if the C7 do not split from football and remained behind in the hybrid model. Or, conversely, if the C7 ended up with Aresco instead of Val. Yikes.

Ackerman was named commish June 26,2013. After a lot of the stuff had gotten done honestly. TV contract, conference name, the 3 new schools, etc.

Jackson helped out a lot with the scheduling which was frankly a hot mess the 2013-14 season.

Accurate, but they still did not have offices, staff and the athletic directors, at the time, were overseeing each sport's schedules. Dan Beebe (former B12 Commissioner) was actually the consultant that was helping assist in matters in the league's infancy, prior to Val being hired. Val also oversaw our second television contract and successfully helped bring back UConn.

Not discounting Stu by any stretch, but Val's recognition and contributions should be highlighted.

I agree with you but also think Stu deserves a ton of credit as well. Especially noting that 2014 was a disastorous season of course with only 4 teams in with 1 as AQ only and a 2nd as last team in the tourney.

1 part for sure for Val and maybe the biggest thing IMO was the Gavitt Games. Those were announced roughly 2 months prior to Stu being hired.

I would also toss in the Big 12 Battle games as well.

Thank you Val for recreating a legendary conference from the ground-up again when everyone left it for dead. Absolutely everyone back then thought and hoped the Big East 2.0 experiment with an up-start Fox Sport 1/2 networks, and lacking big-time football was doomed for failure. It was expected to disappear from existence really quickly. I remember attending the 2014, 2015 Big East Tournament for all-sessions and how it struggled to fill up MSG like they old days.

The football leagues attacked the BET conference tournament by hosting in Barclays (ACC) and by hosting a week before at MSG (B1G) only for both to fail and retreat back to their respective regions. They tried to break up the BIGEAST / MSG contract only to fail also.

But the Big East rose back again and it has produced 4 National Champions since then. By any metric - That is IMPRESSIVE.

She deserves her retirement and I hope the next executive can maintain/improve the quality of the league long-term

(04-20-2026 11:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-20-2026 10:50 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Huge news. She did a phenomenal job in her role and arguably helped save the Big East from evolving into obscurity post-2012.

the question I would have is how much of it is her, and how much of it is Stu Jackson who started with the league in July of 2014 and left in 2023.

Didn't she make that hire?

She is paid to make great hires. and that's one! So she deserves all the credit

who will emerge as candidates to replace her?

2014 - Round of 32: Creighton, Villanova
2015 - Sweet 16: Xavier
2016 - National Champs: Villanova
2017 - Elite 8: Xavier
2018 - National Champs: Villanova
2019 - Sweet 16: Villanova
2020 - Conference Tri-Champs: Creighton, Seton Hall, Villanova
2021 - Sweet 16: Creighton, Villanova
2022 - Final Four: Villanova
2023 - National Champs: UConn
2024 - National Champs: UConn
2025 - Round of 32: Creighton, St. John’s, UConn
2026 - National Runner Up: UConn

(04-20-2026 05:26 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  who will emerge as candidates to replace her?

Well, the Big East has several former staff members already as commissioners in lower-ranked conferences.

But that is the old way. New way is hiring a TV executive to ensure positive media relations and an experienced voice in negotiations. Will be telling if it is someone with Fox TV experience.

(04-20-2026 11:56 PM)Bill Marsh Wrote:  2014 - Sweet 16: Creighton, Villanova
2015 - Sweet 16: Xavier
2016 - National Champs: Villanova
2017 - Elite 8: Xavier
2018 - National Champs: Villanova
2019 - Sweet 16: Villanova
2020 - Conference Tri-Champs: Creighton, Seton Hall, Villanova
2021 - Sweet 16: Creighton, Villanova
2022 - Final Four: Villanova
2023 - National Champs: UConn
2024 - National Champs: UConn
2025 - Round of 32: Creighton, St. John’s, UConn
2026 - National Runner Up: UConn

all true except for 2014 was round of 32.

A lot of fans and some reporters on X are pushing (not speculating) Jay Wright. As entertaining and cool as that would be, I don't see Coach Wright leaving retirement any time soon.

(04-21-2026 10:43 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  A lot of fans and some reporters on X are pushing (not speculating) Jay Wright. As entertaining and cool as that would be, I don't see Coach Wright leaving retirement any time soon.

As admirerd as Jay might be, does he have any of the skills or background experience or desire to deal with the challenges the BE and college basketball and football faces and will continue to face? As it is, he retired so he didn’t have to deal with the portal or nil, etc.

Billy Donovan is leaving the Bulls. Is it time for another commish connected to Providence?

replacement-

(08-01-2026 02:52 PM)stever20 Wrote:  replacement-

Not sure what to think of this. High profile baseball guy with experience in setting up a network. No colllege basketball background but did go to G-Town. Guess we will find out. Cross your fingers and toes.