Michael Tranghese announced yesterday that he's going to step down as the Big East commissioner last summer. That's too bad.
The man has taken a lot of heat for his football conference not being strong enough, There have been talks of how the Big East should lose it's BCS bid and how we wouldn't even be the best "mid-major" football conference, yet we're 3-0 in BCS Bowls since the league expansion in 2005.
Besides, the man has used exceptional marketing skills to put the conference in the spotlight, like the Big Easts' television contract with ESPN. Sure, we're not going to beat the ratings of the SEC and the Big Ten, our two biggest competitors in our market. So Tranghese took it to a new direction such as playing Thursday and Friday night games, sometimes even Wednesday games. He basically created a new time slot for college football and it's proven to be relatively successful.
He not only brought in some of the best that college football "mid-majors" had to offer during the league expansion in 2005, but he also brought in completely new markets to the league. He somewhat restored the stronghold that the Big East had in South Florida with Miami, by bringing in USF, and he's set the bar higher for everyone, making a better league than what it was.
That's right, I said it.
The Big East is better than what it was. Sure, we may not have the perennial powers like Miami and Virginia Tech anymore, yet, we're more competitive than ever. In the past few years, West Virginia, Louisville, South Florida, Cincinnati, Rutgers, and UConn have competed for the league title. That's ironic considering that after BC, Virginia Tech and Miami left, the most tradition rich programs left in the league were Pitt and Syracuse.
But yes, I'm arguing that the league is more competitive. It's all thanks to Tranghese.
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