http://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-jacobs-bc-uconn-column-20111012,0,5187779.columnGene DeFilippo's comments in an expansive Boston Globe piece surely will do more to help UConn's cause to gain eventual entry into the ACC than to hurt it.
The Boston College athletic director already did his damage to UConn by opposing its inclusion, a point he seemed only too happy to confirm Sunday as a victor in his one-man New England turf war.
Jeff Jacobs
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Mergers, Acquisitions and Takeovers Yet when DeFilippo was finished talking, one couldn't help wondering if he had so overstepped his bounds that he ultimately could pay with his own job, if not any further position of relevance within the ACC.
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On Tuesday morning it was clear either A. DeFilippo saved the ACC from the evils of geographic rivalry, something that must be news to North Carolina and Duke, or B. He exposed himself as the BCS poster boy for vindictiveness, pettiness, retribution and insecurity. By late Tuesday afternoon, after he had sent a letter of apology to ACC presidents, it was clear DeFilippo chose B.
"While I harbor some ill feelings toward UConn regarding the lawsuit, depositions and derogatory comments from UConn officials when we announced our decision to join the ACC, it was inappropriate to express personal feelings that might have been construed as the position of BC or the ACC," DeFilippo said.
On Tuesday morning, it also was clear either A. DeFilippo stood as one of the great whistle-blowers in major college athletics or B. He had de-filipped his lid. By late Tuesday afternoon, after he had apologized for saying ESPN told the league to add Pittsburgh and Syracuse, it was clear DeFilippo again chose B.
DeFilippo said he "spoke inappropriately and erroneously regarding ESPN's role in conference expansion."
How do you miss so badly on such a big and important topic? Isn't this a serious indictment of his judgment? Or is he backing down from the truth to save his job? The real powers in the ACC are not pleased with DeFilippo for agitating the giant four-lettered beast of Bristol and they shouldn't be for rubbing UConn's face in his temporary triumph.
Dannel Malloy, who would become governor of Connecticut, received his undergraduate and law degrees from Boston College. He is the one who publicly confirmed that the state's flagship university is seeking entry into the ACC and is the one governor who has offered observations on the process. As part of his "First Five" program, Malloy also afforded millions in incentives with ESPN in exchange for the promise to create new jobs in the state.
Call it coincidence if you want. Yet with so many folks in Connecticut wondering this week who has hurt UConn athletics worse — BC directly or ESPN indirectly — it also is a reminder that this is a very small world with some very big business.
On Tuesday, Malloy told The Courant he held conversations with Boston College weeks ago. He said it remains his "hunch" that if the ACC lands the school it badly wants, Notre Dame, UConn will be added as No. 16. And if not, the ACC won't expand again for two to four years.
"What is important is no further damage be done to the relationship [with BC]," Malloy said. "That time and energy go into making what should happen possible."
DeFilippo's quote, "We didn't want [UConn] in. It was a matter of turf. We wanted to be the New England team," is getting the big play in Connecticut. Yet it is his quote, "ESPN is the one who told us what to do," that gained national attention. Those words have given weight to a popular theory that ESPN prompted the Big East's demise by encouraging Pittsburgh and Syracuse to go to the ACC as retaliation for a TV deal that was rejected.
After the conference turned down a nine-year $1.4 billion deal with ESPN in May, commissioner John Marinatto talked in early August how new network deals with conferences had changed the rules and how an empowered Big East could now afford to sift through bids by ESPN, Fox, NBC.
Those words turned out to be fool's gold. Within weeks the conference as a football entity was shredded. Syracuse, Pitt, TCU — gone. And while the mad scramble is on to build the Big East up to 12 teams, the Big East is in a much worse position for a fat TV contract. And who knows what will happen to the automatic qualifying bid — the real selling point — when the BCS contract expires after the 2013 season. With the addition of Pitt and Syracuse, meanwhile, the ACC will have the 12-year deal it signed last year sweetened by ESPN.
The shock is not that ESPN, which denied DeFilippo's assertions, would exert some influence, it's that one of the BCS athletic directors would boldly announce his school is doing what ESPN tells him to. It introduces questions about collusion and business practices.
"It would be unproductive and irresponsible to speculate about violations of law based on the minimal information publicly reported," Attorney General George Jepsen said.
"Let's not be Pollyanna about this," Gov. Malloy said. "Collegiate sports is big business. Having said that, there wasn't a whole lot of detail by DeFilippo given about it. … I'm not buying into the assumptions."
For good reason: A few hours later, word came down from Chestnut Hill.
Whoops. Sorry. My bad.
Have you ever heard of the Rashomon effect? It's where observers produce different but plausible accounts of an event. Well-placed sources who have talked to officials around the ACC have come away with varying accounts of how much damage DeFilippo did to UConn. Some say serious damage. Others say it was fringe. Still others say they know he's full of baloney.
Heck, the entire premise of the Globe piece was an unresolved argument over whether basketball or football was the major force in the ACC expansion plan. There are lots of schools in this, lots of academicians, lots of sports people, lots of varying opinions. The 12-person ACC expansion committee, of which DeFilippo is a member, researched possibilities. It's a long process. If it was close between UConn and Pitt, could DeFilippo have tilted the balance against UConn? Absolutely. But I have a hard time believing that UConn was clearly the No. 2 choice behind Syracuse, and that BC was so powerful it stopped UConn's entry. Only DeFilippo's ego is big enough to believe that one.
Even after weeks of consideration, 'm still not comfortable coming up with one reason BC doesn't want UConn in the ACC. According to multiple sources, Father William Leahy, BC president, voiced concerns to UConn President Susan Herbst about the APR standing of the three-time national champion men's basketball program and nothing about geography. Yet DeFilippo publicly talked about controlling New England, a truly absurd notion.
Neither BC nor UConn holds sway over all of New England. BC and UConn would be much bigger together as on-field rivals than apart as off-field enemies. Is there long-standing animus over the lawsuit Richard Blumenthal filed and over Jim Calhoun's comments that he'd never play BC again? Yes, but c'mon. Even my own arguments with Calhoun don't last seven years. Let's get over it.
If the ACC never does expand, if UConn dawdles on in the Big East, Gene DiFilippo will have the last laugh. But when they do look at expansion again the powers in the ACC would be wise to look through the eyes of someone else. Although by this point, they probably already know this.