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September 14, 2012

Tranghese = Kreskin

Filed under: Big East,Conference — Chas @ 7:35 am

At one point I had some measure of respect for Mike Tranghese. No, not as Big East Commissioner. As a shrewd political manipulator. He held the Big East together in 2003 because he terrified the football schools that if they broke away, he wouldn’t be their commissioner and they would lose his personal relationship with all the other BCS commissioners and thus get frozen out of the BCS. For the basketball side, he kept them in line when they were convinced they could survive without the football side.

Then he retired and as the Big East has been raided and re-tooled and jury-rigged to stay together, Tranghese has to keep talking about how he knew all of this was going to happen. That he could see it all coming a mile away. Now he’s saying the same thing about Notre Dame’s departure.

Tranghese said he wasn’t surprised, saying that he told the rest of the league for quite a while that if the Irish could find a conference home, they would leave. The only schools that might be bothered by Notre Dame’s departure are the Big East’s non-football schools, “who enjoyed that rivalry.”

The man has amazing vision, right? Of course, he did nothing about it. Just like he did nothing about Pitt, Syracuse and WVU. At best it means he set his friend John Marinatto up for complete failure.

The likely reality. Tranghese is completely full of crap. He just keeps trying to keep his own image in shape so he can land that next “consulting” gig. I’m sure ECU is trying to reach him right now.





Did anybody watch the interview with the new commissioner of the Big East Mike Aresco last night during the Rutgers-USF game?

Apparently he has developed a nervous tick since taking that job, and was obviously blinking away with various facial spasms everytime one of the announcers posed a question regarding the current state of the Big East with the departures of Syracuse, Pitt and now ND on the horizon.

I loved that he refused to answer any of those pointed questions but fell back reliably on the old argument that the Big East remains the strongest basketball conference in the nation. EXACTLY. And that is the essence of the underlying problems with this conference, a bunch of basketball playing universities attempting to dictate the direction of their conference while buried heads in the sand neglecting the golden goose of college atheltic finances FOOTBALL.

No matter how bad Pitt is playing football right now, at least we have the comfort of knowing that we are out of that dysfunctional conference, finally, come next season.

Comment by Dr. Tom 09.14.12 @ 10:08 am

Chas, I agree. If you think about it, the Big East had the very best TV markets in the eastern seaboard from Boston to Miami. They had Big East basketball, in Madison Square Garden and owned the metropolitan New York City market. With all that going for them, they blew it. They had the markets, but they didn’t treat their football schools well enough to keep them. When they expanded, after they lost Boston College, Miami, and Va Tech, they added basketball schools to placate the Seaton Hall/Providence/St. Johns basketball group. Football was driving the TV contracts and the Big East leadership worried about keeping their basketball schools happy. The ACC cares about the basketball side of things, but they realized from the get go, that the TV money is gererated with football. Now with Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, they strengthen their basketball and Notre Dame will help secure more football exposure and tv money. The ACC made all the right moves. They will have the best basketball conference and a place as a big time conference for football in the future years.

Comment by Justinian 09.14.12 @ 10:12 am

Thanks, Chas, I was waiting for Tranghese to weigh in on ND’s departure. Didn’t take him long.

Comment by Tonyinhouston 09.14.12 @ 10:13 am

As much as I hated the way football was treated as the proverbial “red-headed step child” in the Big East; I think Tranghese had little choice but to march to the tune of the basketball-only schools since they wielded the majority of the power in the Big East due to their numbers. He may even have been able to hold them in check somewhat–which his successor was totally unable to do. At least that’s how I see it.

Comment by pitt1972 09.14.12 @ 10:15 am

New commish has to talk BB. ND was not a FB member however
they played BE schools such as Uconn to compensate. The nation cant wait to watch Temple play Memphis in FB.

Can’t wait until Pitt moves to a real conference and by the way
That conference will be the best conference for hoops. Note
Calhoun picked a perfect time to bail out!!

Comment by JR 09.14.12 @ 10:38 am

Listening to the FAN this morning (Friday)asking for calls to discuss Pitt Football…eerie silence follows. Hope it’s like that Saturday at the stadium. We need to send a message to Nordy that SP must go.

Comment by Dan 72 09.14.12 @ 11:13 am

If you think back a bit the thought that Pitt would end up in the ACC is amazing. I had some exposure to what was going on when the “U” and VT where leaving the Big East and the Pitt admin was furious. Fast forward a few years and both teams are back on the schedule and Pitt is becoming a full member of the ACC?
Either Pitt is very forgiving or like everything else the $$$ is king.

PS I love the move.

Comment by Jimbo 09.14.12 @ 12:27 pm

Agree Jimbo. I thought Cochran’s head was going to pop off after the Miami/Va Tech/BC raid.

Nice to have a seat at the table, regardless of how we got here.

Comment by pittbluegold 09.14.12 @ 12:34 pm

Actually, facial ticks aside, I thought Aresco did exactly what he should be doing…Always emphasize the positive…Always be a salesman for your conference…He did this in response to one negative question after another. I don’t recall Tranghese being anything but reactive and defensive. I also think that ESPN has called off the dogs a bit in their BE bashing, because I think they want that contract. Aresco actually talked about the “great atmosphere” at the game last night. That stadium was half empty. If ESPN was still on the attack, they would have pointed that out to him. Truth is, the BE is not done being raided, but its almost over. I think the Big 12 will increase membership to the level of its name, but that is two BE teams at most. I don’t see the ACC or SEC changing their conference size for a long, long time. After the Big 12 expands, the BE will have nowhere to go but up. I’m glad we are moving to the ACC, but I would also like to the see the BE thrive and survive. I think Aresco is far more capable of making that happen than Tranghese.

Comment by HbgFrank 09.14.12 @ 12:47 pm

@pittbluegold, well, a seat at the table is ALL we’ll have if our football squad doesn’t start playing with some dedicated intent, because most of the conference members already at the table will be glad eat our lunch for us if we keep laying an egg on the field of play like we have the last two weeks.

Comment by Dr. Tom 09.14.12 @ 12:52 pm

I don’t want Pitt’s seat in the ACC to be at the children’s table in the basement.

Comment by TX Panther 09.14.12 @ 12:57 pm

Anyone see that the Penguins put in a bid to host the ACC tournament in the Consol Center? Maybe 2014 or 2015.

link to post-gazette.com

Comment by KeyboardKev 09.14.12 @ 1:01 pm

He should talk basketball, what else positive does he have to talk about.

Comment by Justinian 09.14.12 @ 2:24 pm

@ Dr Tom
@ TX Panther

I agree, that is why we need better leadership. And I’m talking about those who sit above the head football coach.

Comment by pittbluegold 09.14.12 @ 3:23 pm

The empty seats at Heinz Field shall henceforth be known as “Pedersons Club”.

It is an embarrassment to college football.

Comment by SFPitt 09.15.12 @ 11:58 am

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