The Big East Needs to Get Its Act Together If It Wants to Save the Conference

In a period of six weeks, the Big East has gone from the best basketball conference in the nation, to losing two of its highest profile members to being snubbed by TCU. 

Now, one year after being a member of the lowly WAC conference, Boise State is supposedly only on the fence when it comes to joining the Big East.

How the mighty have fallen. If former commissioner Dave Gavitt were alive, he would be sick to his stomach seeing the current impotence of the Big East.

The conference's woes don't end with the recent defections. After Pittsburgh and Syracuse bolted for the ACC, neglecting contractual obligations and dismissing any notion of loyalties in college athletics, Rutgers, UConn and West Virginia all made it known that they are willing and wanting to jump ship as soon as possible as well.

So far, the only thing holding those three schools back is that no other conference wants them. Such a snub, however, opens the door for the Big East to salvage the conference and restore some sense of order to college sports.

In order to do so, the conference—led by John Marinatto—must act quickly, something that neither the commissioner nor the schools seem capable of doing.

So far, according to varying reports, the Big East has yet to make up its mind and seems at odds with itself. 

One AP report (the Big East has not officially commented), stated that the Big East is set to offer Navy, Air Force and Boise State football-only membership while offering Central Florida all-sports access.

An ESPN report claimed that Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida had been sent full membership invitations, while Brett McMurphy over at CBS reported Temple may still be in the mix. 

All-in-all, the reports show a conference unsure of its future, confused about its identity and lacking in leadership.

The only thing that the conference seems to have agreed upon is to raise the $5 million exit fee to $10 million, a inconsequential reactionary measure that shows absence of vision on behalf of conference leaders and Marinatto. 

Beyond the troubling particulars—such as how nearly a month has passed with no decisions, how TCU further embarrassed them by leaving for the Big 12 and how they still don't have a plan—is the fact that the teams that the Big East has either—or is set to—offer membership to are a recipe for disaster. 

The Big East at its core is a powerhouse basketball conference dominated by Northeastern schools. The conference has no ties to Florida or Texas, meaning Houston, SMU and Central Florida will show no loyalties to it in return (similar to TCU). In the long run, this sets the Big East up for failure and future defections. 

Worse still is that the additions dilute the product for the fans and complicates athletics for the athletes.

Founding schools such as Georgetown, St. John's, Providence and UConn don't care about Houston, SMU and the like and vice versa. There are no rivalries nor traditions nor history between the schools.

Not only that but with the Big East already fractured along bizarre football and non-football school lines, the conference might as well split or the confusion is only going to grow. Questions such as 'What will the Big East stand for?' 'Who will play whom?' 'Will it be a basketball league or a football one?' will plague the league.

For the athletes, schools will have to travel across the country to far-away places, which not only hurts the students academically (it takes time out of the classroom), it also diminishes the brand name and erodes TV contracts given its predominant audience is located in the Northeast.

If Boise State fades into oblivion (it likely eventually will), then Boise will become an unwanted anomaly. Nobody is going to show up to watch Villanova or G-town crush Central Florida or SMU in basketball and the addition of Navy and Air Force but not Army seems like only a half commitment to the armed forces idea.

Ultimately the Big East needs to focus on what its good at: basketball.

Instead of wasting its time on schools it has no real connection to and ones that would further alienate and divide the conference, the Big East should target schools that fit its profile. 

Memphis should be pursued given its basketball legacy (plus it already has a ongoing series with Georgetown), its close proximity to Louisville and its well-established football team.

Xavier too should be added given its location and deep basketball traditions. With its recent basketball success and desire for a bigger stage, Butler should be courted as should Temple, which would add basketball traditions, has an emerging football program and is central geographically. 

If the Big East does wish to expand its football roots, then adding Houston and Navy are the most logical and least objectionable of the bunch.

Throwing them into the mix with Memphis, Butler and Temple would bolster the league's credentials and assure its mostly Northeastern/Midwestern roots survive. 

However, if the conference were really forward thinking and aggressive, it wouldn't simply strive for picking up the pieces and patching together second-tier schools. A true visionary, the likes of the late Mark Tranghese, would be aggressive and use the unsettled changing landscape as an opportunity. One school which makes perfect sense, would be Kentucky. 

Admittedly a long shot, Kentucky would be an ideal fit for the league. A hated rival of Louisville's and a neighbor (relatively speaking) to Memphis, Kentucky has always been a basketball school. In the brutal SEC, Kentucky football has never really stood a chance, merely surviving until basketball can steal the fans' attention. In the Big East, Kentucky would join the league with pre-established rivalries, find its match(es) on the basketball court and could finally have an opportunity to thrive on the football field. 

Adding Kentucky and Memphis could begin an intense intra-league rivalry for dominance of the Ohio Valley between Kentucky, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis and West Virginia. Doing so would practically ensure West Virginia, UConn and Rutgers would stay in the league and add would add two marquee names to the conference.

Sadly, the Big East lacks such a vision, let alone a capacity to ensure the survival of its own league. John Marinatto is leading the Big East down a one-way street, where it will continue to make desperate offers to mid-major schools only to be embarrassed and disappointed time and again.

If the league does survive in some bastardized hybrid form, it will be a league unfamiliar to the powerhouse league that Dave Gavitt built. For the original founding schools and for college sports in general, the demise of the Big East would be a great shame.