John Marinatto OUT as BE Commish

And Second Tier?  Everyone in the ACC is second tier to Duke and UNC.  You obviously no jack sh!t about the ACC.  There's a reason no program has been able to establish themselves as a clear #3 there, let alone even approach top 2.  Geez.  Think a little.

What?  Who cares? Go away you dope.

Everyone except a few schools are second tier to Duke and UNC IN THE COUNTRY, so what?  Maryland is a top 10 job in the country.  Period.

It was never and is never leaving the ACC.  Ask anyone.  That suggestion is completely and utterly ludicrous.  Period.  There is no one who would ever think that Maryland would leave the ACC for the Big East.  There is a reason the Big East has poached smaller conferences and not existing BCS conferences every time it has expanded and it has nothing to do with John Marinatto or Mike Tranghese or whoever.  That is my point.

Heck Marinatto got Temple to come in despite obvious objections by Villanova.  That in itself was a pretty good coup.  But again, the A-10 and MAC football are not the ACC.

What?  Who cares? Go away you dope.

Let the record reflect, the above was Fordham's entire response until called out...


Fordham, do you realize, that every post you make contains no fact backing up your opinions, and basically all it is backed with is an egotistical arrogant attitude that you hope other people will buy into to legitimize your baseless opinions?

On the other hand, I support my opinions with facts to support them.  Try it sometime.  You may find that is buys you some much needed credibility.

Fordham, do you realize, that every post you make contains no fact backing up your opinions, and basically all it is backed with is an egotistical arrogant attitude that you hope other people will buy into to legitimize your baseless opinions?

On the other hand, I support my opinions with facts to support them.  Try it sometime.  You may find that is buys you some much needed credibility.

I never have any facts.  Never.  Ask anyone here.  Never.  I remember when Marillac and pmg both said Ben Howland's firing was a fait accompli.  I told them he was not going anywhere.  So certain I stated it time and time again.  So then of course Ben Howland got fired by UCLA I was proven to be wrong.

I looked to you for direction and guidance and intellectual integrity.  And so far you have straightened me out.  I am forever in your debt. 

Quote from: fordham96

What?  Who cares? Go away you dope.

Let the record reflect, the above was Fordham's entire response until called out...


Fordham, do you realize, that every post you make contains no fact backing up your opinions, and basically all it is backed with is an egotistical arrogant attitude that you hope other people will buy into to legitimize your baseless opinions?

On the other hand, I support my opinions with facts to support them.  Try it sometime.  You may find that is buys you some much needed credibility.

I called the BE offices they said they will accept my nomination of you as the next commissioner just assuming you will invite Maryland to be a part of the Big East.

So please I get a big bonus if that happens.

You really are a piece of work.  I never said Maryland WOULD have left.  I said they were a second tier school in their conference who deserved some prodding/convincing to see if they would have been responsive to it.  Unless you are about to tell me you were an insider in Maryland's athletic department and university executive board 5 years ago, I don't see how you can tell me there was no way they'd leave.  The ACC was aggressive and it paid off.  If the Big East had made the first moves and attacked programs which were second tier in their conferences, like Missouri and Maryland (used as examples of potential programs to attack, not definites who would have left, figured you were intelligent enough to realize that from my first post), it COULD have paid off.  Would it have?  Who knows.  But pre-emptive strikes may have saved us from losing WV/Cuse/Pitt.

Why do you keep refusing to answer my questions with facts?  All you do is spew new/different opinion from yourself, acting like you are some authority on anything.  You prove with each post how far from an authority on anything you are.

I don't know anyone, and have not heard from anyone, that Maryland is one of the top 10 jobs in the country.  Any ACC job that is not Duke or UNC is an uphill battle, so it is impossible, from my perspective, to name any other ACC job as top 10 in the nation.  What Maryland has going for it is its connection$ to Under Armour, great facilities, and proximity to a Metro area.

But it's not a no doubt Top 10 job.  And Sean Miller DIDN'T leave for Maryland.  They got a good coach in Mark Turgeon, but it's not like they attracted some super stud to Maryland.

And to pre-empt you:

Duke, UNC, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA are all undoubtedly ahead of Maryland.  I can't imagine you'd even argue with that.

After that, I'd put the following jobs either ahead of, or on par with, the Maryland job:

Michigan, Michigan St., Indiana, Georgetown, St. John's, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona.

Then you have jobs like Syracuse and UConn, which maybe are, but until another coach is successful there, I am hesitant.  Then you have jobs, which, for various reasons, you could argue are as good as Maryland's, including:  NC State, Notre Dame, Memphis, Louisville, Wisconsin, Illinois, Stanford etc. etc.

Basically I've named about 20 jobs, and I am pretty sure others can throw in some more as I don't want to continue wasting time on this.  To consider Maryland "a top 10 basketball job.  period" is ridiculous.

Interesting topic.

Lot's of great programs there. You forgot 1 though. Iona

Funny timing of this topic as we were out do dinner with some friends friday night and my friends husband played tennis at Boston College awhile ago and he was joking about how miserable the move was for them as fans. I don't think any move shocks me anymore

I wouldn't have minded some road trips down to Maryland. College Park is a lot of fun

regarding your UCLA beef with PMG and Marillac, there's an old saying you may have heard of:

A broken clock is right twice a day.

MJ -- I knew I was forgetting one of the big ones!

Bigeastboards redux.

I think your original comment was a pretty good one Fordham.  If you're going to blame Marinatto it should be for something concrete he could have done to prevent this mess.   Because it's definately true that this ship was put in motion long before him based on the competing interests of the basketball-only schools and the football schools.   It was an unbalanced conference when he took over, no question.

Here's what he could have done differently: he could have been proactive in branding the conference and assigning it's media rights.   Pitt and Syracuse left because the ACC could gurantee them substantially more revenue, plain and simple.   If Marinatto had expanded the Big East's pot, maybe he could have prevented that. 

And one way to do that would have been to take the risk of forming a conference network.  That's partly how this whole game of musical chairs started, when the BIG 10 started pulling in huge revenue for their member schools through the Big 10 network.   

Marinatto didn't have the quality football programs to make the network worth as much as the Big 10's; but what he did posses (and the BE still has), is a footprint in the major media markets along the east coast.   The Big 10 might have successful programs, but Madison, WI and Bloomington, IN have less people than Staten Island alone.   When it first started the B10 had to fight tooth and nail to get cable providers on the east and west coast to pick up that channel and pay for it.
 If Marinatto had taken the risk and formed his own network, or packaged Big East basketball and football and sold it as block to YES or SNY, and then NESN in Boston/CT area, and MASN in the DC area, the Philly cable network etc... he probably would have been able to increase the size of the pie.

As it is, the BE got stuck with a second-rate ESPN deal.   ESPN takes a profit off the top, and the BE is typically relegated to horrible football slots midweek or on ESPNU on saturday afternoons.  If they had their own network the schools would take all the profits and have much more flexibility in scheduling game times.

It's not guranteed, but that's something he could have done.   Make a BE network, or package the games as a network and sell them to various cable channels; either way the channel/network would've been picked up by the east coast cable companies immediately.   Now who knows how the details would work out, because initially they'd still have to complete their ESPN contract, or buy themselves out of it...... but it's something he could have done.
And it's not that far out of the box because clearly that's how most entities are making money off their rights, be it the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Texas, or the Big10. 

Nothing like a good old fashin arument to get people going...

Can anyone say Tale of the Tape..?

Since Tha Kid has clear experience in both conference I am installing him as the early 4 - 1 favorite.

I called the BE offices they said they will accept my nomination of you as the next commissioner just assuming you will invite Maryland to be a part of the Big East.

So please I get a big bonus if that happens.


I was watching the Yankee game the other day because of roto baseball implications. I try not to watch many Yankee games because I hate the Yankees but because of Roto sometimes I will tune in from time to time. So I am watching the Orioles game the other day and all of a sudden my ears start to bleed. I change the channel and it stops. I tune back in and as soon as Michael Kay starts speaking my ears start bleeding. What does this have to do with this thread? Well every time I read a Fordham post my eyes start to bleed. At first I thought this might be some sort of coincidence. But lo and behold I am watching the Knicks game yesterday and every time Mike Breen started to speak my ears started to bleed. I finally figured it out. Remember that Seinfeld episode where Kramer becomes allergic to the chic from entertainment tonight's voice? Well I think I am allergic to dweebs from Fordham. The real shame is that I have nothing against Mike Breen but Fordham and Mike Kay are such tools that  Breen has become infected as well. Does anyone remember if Kramer ever found a cure because though I can avoid Fordham posts and Yankee games I actually like the Knicks.

I called the BE offices they said they will accept my nomination of you as the next commissioner just assuming you will invite Maryland to be a part of the Big East.

So please I get a big bonus if that happens.


I was watching the Yankee game the other day because of roto baseball implications. I try not to watch many Yankee games because I hate the Yankees but because of Roto sometimes I will tune in from time to time. So I am watching the Orioles game the other day and all of a sudden my ears start to bleed. I change the channel and it stops. I tune back in and as soon as Michael Kay starts speaking my ears start bleeding. What does this have to do with this thread? Well every time I read a Fordham post my eyes start to bleed. At first I thought this might be some sort of coincidence. But lo and behold I am watching the Knicks game yesterday and every time Mike Breen started to speak my ears started to bleed. I finally figured it out. Remember that Seinfeld episode where Kramer becomes allergic to the chic from entertainment tonight's voice? Well I think I am allergic to dweebs from Fordham. The real shame is that I have nothing against Mike Breen but Fordham and Mike Kay are such tools that  Breen has become infected as well. Does anyone remember if Kramer ever found a cure because though I can avoid Fordham posts and Yankee games I actually like the Knicks.

The show never revealed the cure, wasju.  Actually, Kramer had a seizure when he heard ET's Mary Hart's voice, which ironically was based on a real condition some poor woman suffered whenever she heard Mary Hart's voice.  Don't know if the condition applies to post, though.   

The show never revealed the cure, wasju.  Actually, Kramer had a seizure when he heard ET's Mary Hart's voice, which ironically was based on a real condition some poor woman suffered whenever she heard Mary Hart's voice.  Don't know if the condition applies to post, though.   

I found chanting serenity now helped during the Knick game.

Quote from: ras on May 07, 2012, 12:18:05 PM

He should have been proactive. That said, I think he did a good job w the new schools added. Boise state is excellent in football and Memphis and Temple are very good in BB. The Texas schools will give the BE teams greater access to the talent rich Texas area and the addition of Houston and SMU to the BE will be mutually beneficial. People forget that the BE was left for dead. I hate these conference reallignments. They are motivated by nothing but money and breaks up many great rivalries. It also hurts the geographic distributions of the conferences. Whoever takes over will have his hands full trying to prevent further raids of BE teams. IE Louisville to big 12

Boise is never going to play a down in the BE, mark my words.     The new football playoff system eliminates Automatic Qualifying Conferences.   That was their whole motive for coming to the Big East.     I don't know the contractual details, but I would bet good money they don't join the Big East.

The chunk of money Boise gets from next BE TV contract way more then they ever seen. I'm not sure there is another conference interested in them enough to get them to piss out on deal. BE football in good markets and I think can be big time. 

Here are some facts..

The Big East (according to many reports) last year turned down a $110 million per year tv deal from ESPN.  The money would have allegedly been split 75/25 between the football and basketball schools.   At the time we had 9 football teams in the big east, and were promised a 10th would come to even out the schedule, either Villanova moving up to FBS or more expansion.  So at best the football schools would have gotten $8.2 mil from that deal.

The ACC signed a deal two years ago for $155 mil per season, with an average payout per school of $12.9mil, and even with the additions of Syracuse and Pitt -- assuming the deal isn't renegotiated and that the new schools get a full share right away (which they probably don't).. at worst that's $11 mil per year.

Why would Maryland even consider taking $3 mil less per year to switch conferences?   They wouldn't.
I understand your point Kid, that you're not saying they would.. just that the BE should be proactive and approach schools who may be unhappy in their conference.   But Fordham is right that it's basically a non-starter.   There's 0% chance they would want in, except for some divine intervention by God -- like Notre Dame deciding to join the conference for Football.   
We CAN offer more than Memphis Boise Temple etc are getting... and that's why they're considering it.   But for money alone Maryland would want nothing to do with the Big East.

Sorry to get involved, but those are the facts. 

Quote from: desco80 on May 07, 2012, 02:29:40 PM

Quote from: ras on May 07, 2012, 12:18:05 PM

He should have been proactive. That said, I think he did a good job w the new schools added. Boise state is excellent in football and Memphis and Temple are very good in BB. The Texas schools will give the BE teams greater access to the talent rich Texas area and the addition of Houston and SMU to the BE will be mutually beneficial. People forget that the BE was left for dead. I hate these conference reallignments. They are motivated by nothing but money and breaks up many great rivalries. It also hurts the geographic distributions of the conferences. Whoever takes over will have his hands full trying to prevent further raids of BE teams. IE Louisville to big 12

Boise is never going to play a down in the BE, mark my words.     The new football playoff system eliminates Automatic Qualifying Conferences.   That was their whole motive for coming to the Big East.     I don't know the contractual details, but I would bet good money they don't join the Big East.

The chunk of money Boise gets from next BE TV contract way more then they ever seen. I'm not sure there is another conference interested in them enough to get them to piss out on deal. BE football in good markets and I think can be big time.

That is true.   Even if the BE's next contract isn't as great as it would have been with Syracuse/Pitt/WVU ... it's probably still a lot more than Boise would get in the MWC or anywhere else.    Problem is they need to find a home for all their other sports now, and it looks like the wac might fold.   
But it's true... they might still want to stay if the price is right.   

Desco80 - I appreciate a factual argument.  I was referring to being proactive more 3-5 years ago, and you'd have to think with schools like Maryland, Missouri, SMU, and Houston, Big East gets a better deal, but the money point is a great one.  Not sure the BE would have given a school Maryland a sweetheart deal to come, either, since they are not that big-time a football program.  That's definitely a good reason why Maryland would not leave, as money trumps "second tier" every day of the week. Thanks.

would maryland potentially joining the big east ( under a " the kid merger ) have made a potentially more lucrative tv contract offer for the big east ?

Thought provoking article about future of BE and basketball only schools. Thamel is a skilled, well informed writer.

“@PeteThamelNYT: Should the Big East hoops schools leave? Mike Tranghese told me they "ought to take a real hard look." http://t.co/5rc1s1X3”