Big East Conference Expansion Ideas and Discussion

[GoldenWarrior11]

Dayton AND Saint Louis won today. BIG congrats to them.

It will be interesting if VCU wins. IMO, they need to advance to the Sweet 16 (or farther) to try and pull ahead of (what I perceive) Dayton for #12. I think the institutional fit is too much to overlook.

Ehhh, unless one of them goes to the Final Four or better, I don't think what they do this year will accelerate anyone from getting an invite for next year IMO.

I agree, I don't think we are going to see anything within the next year, or so (minimum). But, it certainly can't hurt their chances.

[notkirkcameron]

I honestly have never understood why Richmond has been considered. They have a small (by Big East standards) arena (7,200), with little basketball prestige. They have been to just 9 NCAA Tournaments, with just 3 in the past 15 years. They have never advanced past the Sweet 16. The only positive is that they are a private university, and their endowment (over $2 billion) is really high - but until they pump that back into their athletics program, it won't matter.

I think the only people who think Richmond should be considered are Richmond fans.

[stever20]

I honestly have never understood why Richmond has been considered. They have a small (by Big East standards) arena (7,200), with little basketball prestige. They have been to just 9 NCAA Tournaments, with just 3 in the past 15 years. They have never advanced past the Sweet 16. The only positive is that they are a private university, and their endowment (over $2 billion) is really high - but until they pump that back into their athletics program, it won't matter.

you forgot their biggest drawback at current time- they are very insignifigant in their own city. Until(if) VCU receeds, don't think Big East would seriously look at Richmond. Fox would totally balk at us adding the Spiders and ignoring VCU.

[Bostonspider]

I think the only people who think Richmond should be considered are Richmond fans.

And apparently Georgetown President John J. DeGioia and Villanova President Peter M. Donohue...

[Bill Marsh]

I think the only people who think Richmond should be considered are Richmond fans.

And apparently Georgetown President John J. DeGioia and Villanova President Peter M. Donohue...

I know that was the case a year ago. I wonder if that's still the case now.

One of the great unknowns is how St. John's feels about things. They are one of the big boys at the table. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the things keeping expansion decisions on hold is a wait for St. John's to hire its new president. That should occur within the next few months. Deadline for applications was January 30 and they announced in February that they had selected the candidates they were interested in for interviews. I expect that the new president will be on board July 1. It will be interesting to see if things move forward after s/he comes on board to establish the St. John's position on expansion.

[BillikensWin]

I think the only people who think Richmond should be considered are Richmond fans.

And apparently Georgetown President John J. DeGioia and Villanova President Peter M. Donohue...

I know that was the case a year ago. I wonder if that's still the case now.

One of the great unknowns is how St. John's feels about things. They are one of the big boys at the table. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the things keeping expansion decisions on hold is a wait for St. John's to hire its new president. That should occur within the next few months. Deadline for applications was January 30 and they announced in February that they had selected the candidates they were interested in for interviews. I expect that the new president will be on board July 1. It will be interesting to see if things move forward after s/he comes on board to establish the St. John's position on expansion.

St. John's has been pretty quiet in the whole process.

[Bill Marsh]

And apparently Georgetown President John J. DeGioia and Villanova President Peter M. Donohue...

I know that was the case a year ago. I wonder if that's still the case now.

One of the great unknowns is how St. John's feels about things. They are one of the big boys at the table. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the things keeping expansion decisions on hold is a wait for St. John's to hire its new president. That should occur within the next few months. Deadline for applications was January 30 and they announced in February that they had selected the candidates they were interested in for interviews. I expect that the new president will be on board July 1. It will be interesting to see if things move forward after s/he comes on board to establish the St. John's position on expansion.

St. John's has been pretty quiet in the whole process.

Exactly. That should change within the next few months. They went from a beleaguered president on the way out to an interim. They're about to bring in a new leader with a vision for the university for the next decade. At St. John's that vision has to include basketball.

[notkirkcameron]

Worth pointing out that Saint Louis just named its new university president. I suspect one of the reasons SLU was left out of the initial Big East was, aside from the reasons already discussed in this thread, because nine of the other ten university presidents, were presidents of catholic universities, and four (MU, X, Creighton, GTown) were presidents of Jesuit universities. Given their positions in their respective schools, they were likely very familiar with SLU's former president, Fr. Lawrence Biondi, (whose Herbie Hancock so gracefully adorns my JD).

Biondi did a lot of great things for SLU over his 26-year tenure (including doubling the size of the campus), but he also made a lot of enemies, and had a bit of a megalomaniacal bent. Given SLU's relatively modest basketball pedigree, I have to imagine the prospect of working with Biondi made it even easier for those presidents to say to the rest of the Big East, "You know what, let's stick at 10 for a while."

The new president is Dr. Fred Pestello, the current President of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, which is a Jesuit school. Dr. Pestello is Catholic, but he's also the first permanent lay president in SLU's nearly 200-year history.

[BillikensWin]

Worth pointing out that Saint Louis just named its new university president. I suspect one of the reasons SLU was left out of the initial Big East was, aside from the reasons already discussed in this thread, because nine of the other ten university presidents, were presidents of catholic universities, and four (MU, X, Creighton, GTown) were presidents of Jesuit universities. Given their positions in their respective schools, they were likely very familiar with SLU's former president, Fr. Lawrence Biondi, (whose Herbie Hancock so gracefully adorns my JD).

Biondi did a lot of great things for SLU over his 26-year tenure (including doubling the size of the campus), but he also made a lot of enemies, and had a bit of a megalomaniacal bent. Given SLU's relatively modest basketball pedigree, I have to imagine the prospect of working with Biondi made it even easier for those presidents to say to the rest of the Big East, "You know what, let's stick at 10 for a while."

The new president is the current President of Le Moyne in Syracuse, which is a Jesuit school, but he's also the first permanent lay president in SLU's nearly 200-year history.

Mine too. Surprising that SLU went outside the cloth for the first time ever.

#firsttimeforeverything

[cm5yz6]

Exactly. That should change within the next few months. They went from a beleaguered president on the way out to an interim. They're about to bring in a new leader with a vision for the university for the next decade. At St. John's that vision has to include basketball.

I think we are significantly overestimating the priority/importance of basketball with a university president (let alone a new one). I seriously doubt that a candidates views or knowledge of basketball will be any more than a passing, off hand thought in the interview process.