http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n...=153666850

CEO of the Celtics, Olympic coach, High Profile College Coach, Founder of the Big East and my uncle Dan's college roommate.

As a youngster, I realize the Big East was formed out of the old ECAC and that conferences constantly change in college athletics, but I am especially sad about the demise of the Big East.

Formed mostly as a collection of small East Coast Catholic schools, a few state schools (Pitt, WV) and a private school (Syracuse), Big East basketball was THE LEAGUE. And the close proximity of all the schools to each other made the rivalries so great. And the Big East tournament, THE BIG DOG of all tournaments. At the freakin' Garden. The ACC tournament is good but it was always Tobacco Road-centric and held in nobody towns like Greenboro. The Big East tournament was always on the biggest stage. I always wanted to attend all four days of the Big East tournament when I was younger (and I'd still love to do Semifinal Friday or Championship Saturday night).

And Big East football in the 90s never got the credit it deserved. Syracuse, Miami, VA Tech, WV, BC were all solid to excellent football programs. I will never forget the days of Donovan McNabb at Syracuse and their classic, end-of-season for the Big East championship matchups against Miami (for better and worse) and VT. Both at the Carrier Dome and the Orange Bowl. Syracuse might never return to their previous glory, but for a while, Coach P had an awesome program up there and, dare I say, an NFL factory.

D-1 college athletics is being destroyed due to football TV revenue. Big East basketball is just the latest casualty. This sucks.