Former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese -- my choice as the smartest man in college athletics -- spoke candidly and with great concern about the football future of the conference in an interview this afternoon on The Fan with Vinnie Richichi and Ron Cook.
The Big Ten Conference is considering expansion, either one or three teams, and at least three members of the Big East -- Pitt, Syracuse and Rutgers -- are candidates. No one doubts any of the three would reject such an opportunity.
``It’s a question of what the Big Ten does,’’ said Tranghese, who stepped down his position last year. ``If the Big Ten takes multiple teams, the Big East is in trouble.’’
As for those people who are suggesting the Big East be proactive and formulate a plan of its own, Tranghese had this response for them:
``I don’t think there’s anything the Big East can do to prevent it. Everyone is on pins and needles waiting to see what the Big Ten will do. It’s a pretty dicey time.’’
Tranghese revealed, perhaps for the first time, that Big East schools leaving the conference would have to pay a $5 million penalty.
``For any school that wants to depart, there is a $5 million fee. That’s not enough to prevent anyone from going. The Big Ten is making an enormous amount of money. Is $5 million significant? Yes. Will a school pay it? Yes. It’s not a deterrent.’’
Tranghese mentioned a possible 27-month waiting period for teams leaving the Big East, which would prove ``awkward,'' for players and coaches on the departing teams. He did not, however, suggest it might be a deterrent.
He also emphatically ruled out the possibility that Notre Dame would join the Big East as a football-playing member. Notre Dame plays in the conference’s basketball league and in other sports.
``It’s never going to happen,’’ Tranghese said. ``Notre Dame is not going to play football in the in the Big East. That conversation was held at the time [they joined the league.] They made it clear they had no interest in football.’’
Tranghese said when it was suggested within the conference to drop Notre Dame from membership the response from the other schools was this:
``We don’t want to throw them out. They’ve been a good member.’’
Tranghese also ruled out the much-talked about possibility of adding teams to the current eight-member football league.
While acknowledging some teams would make the Big East stronger -- he used Southern California as an example -- he said, ``Those teams are not available.
``Just adding teams will not make the Big East stronger.’’
He had some encouragement for Pitt supporters. Asked about the future of Pitt if it is left out of Big Ten expansion and other Big East teams leave, he said, ``I think they (Pitt) will be OK. They have a lot of things going for them. I’m not as worried about Pitt as I am some of the others.’’
On the basketball front, Tranghese said he strongly preferred a 12-team tournament but the conference presidents wanted all 16 teams invited.
![]\/[GoBlue](/data/avatars/m/5/5424.jpg?1643656290){kind=avatar}
