Confidence Level w/ Ackerman?

[GoldenWarrior11]

I'm curious. What is your confidence level with Val Ackerman, now that she's been on the job for a full year?

How long did it take to make the website up and running? (Wasn't it not fully functional until Fall last year?)

I must say I have not heard a lot from her, and, if I recall, when Providence won the BE tournament she barely said a word while giving out the trophy.

Do we have permanent offices set up yet? Will they be in New York?

I know expansion talks have seemingly been tabled, but, say Dayton makes the Final Four this year. It would behoove the league not to invite Dayton and Saint Louis in that case.

I must say I have had my worries, but I remain confident in her abilities and leadership. She had glowing recommendations last year.

[lolhoya]

Good question. I think it's hard to tell at this point since her work has primarily been behind the scenes getting everything set up. We'll probably have stronger opinions about her in a couple years as more strategic decisions are made.

[NJRedman]

Why do people keep making a big deal out of the website? In the grand scheme of getting a conference up and running that is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the list of things to do.

[ElDonBDon]

I have no clue what to think about Ackerman. It amazes me that we are still living out of some law office on the 17th floor of some random building in Manhattan. I would think finding a permanent home (preferably in NYC) would be of utmost priority. How hard can this be?

But I've never run a major sports conference and it'd be foolish to think that lifting a couple trophies a year is all there is to it.

[SJHooper]

I don't think it should be ignored that she has not been vocal, not been reassuring, and has not displayed anything above average in terms of ability at this point. I know there are many leadership styles, but my idea of the Big East Commissioner would be rooting hard for the league, making themselves very visible in the media, making comments, showing solidarity, advocating for the Big East, etc. The fact that they don't even have a set office yet may be a symptom. I questioned if she had the onions from the beginning to do this and she has done nothing IMO to temper those thoughts.

[butlerguy03]

Very high.

[redmen9194]

Very high on Ack. I think she has done a great job in year one. I have heard her on several programs in NYC over this season and she is smart and savvy and knows the business. Remember, she was hired just a few months before the Fall sports were starting up. So if she decided that the website and permanent offices were less important than getting the sports underway and the basketball schedule and items locked down that's fine by me. Remember, this was the new league - so there was no infrastructure and it all had to be started up. Not having permanent offices during the season was more a burden for her than anyone else I'm sure. Val was a good selection and did a great job with the league. And remember, the commish does not control expansion, the president's do. She can advocate for expansion or not advocate for expansion, but if the presidents don't want it - it's not happening.

[Jet915]

Lukewarm so far. Needs to be more visible. If there is no challenge set up like with the Pac12 next year, I will be heavily disappointed.

[stever20]

Totally agree on being more visible. Look at Aresco with the AAC. He's extremely visible- even just with the basketball- not taking football into account. He'll probably be at MSG tonight quite frankly watching UConn play.

as far as the challenge- most of the time it's done with 2 leagues that the same leagues controls all of the TV. Big East/Pac 12- that's not the case- Fox doesn't own all of Pac 12's tv.

[Michael in Raleigh]

Hi everyone! I haven't posted on this board very much, but I've been a regular reader. Please don't mix me up as being a troll.

I think Ackerman deserves all benefit of the doubt. First, we need to remember she has been on the job for just short of nine months, not for a full year, since the first official day of this conference's new charter was July 1. Granted, nine months is enough time for anyone on a job to be evaluated critically, but it's also important to keep in mind that her job revolves around long-term projects, and not as much around short-term goals. We'll have a much clearer picture of how she's done after two years or so.

Second, I think it's fair to consider her starting point. Aside from schools themselves, everything that the Big East did have which was necessary to run a conference, with the sole exceptions of the schools themselves, the name, and the Madison Square Garden tournament, went not to the newly chartered Big East but to the American. The American inherited the headquarters in Providence, fully-equipped with already-established leasing contracts, technology, furniture, and all infrastructure. It inherited an entire staff with people who had worked there for years. It inherited the associate commissioners. It inherited the payroll system. It inherited the vast majority of exit fees from all the schools that left.

Ackerman and the new conference inherited none of that. When she started on July 1, she was the one and only employee of the conference. Heck, for all we know, it might not have even had a tax ID with the IRS. Remember: the league was originally going to start in 2014-15, not this year. Moving the timeline up a year left a lot of loose ends for Ackerman to tie which likely could have been done by consultants during this school year. Instead, almost all of the startup work was left to Ackerman on top of the day-to-day work of leading a conference that any commissioner would need to do. I also suspect the league probably has had cash flow issues. Consider: the split of the old Big East provided about $10 million in exit fees to this conference, but what do we know about that money? First, that money likely will come in slowly over the course of several years; she certainly didn't have a $10 million in the league's checking account to start out. Second, almost all of that money will go to the schools, anyway, not towards conference operations. The conference has a pretty lucrative conference with Fox, but that money also does not come in overnight. Most it will go towards the school when it does come. So it might take time to build up the funds to hire a full staff. I'm sure the league would love to have more videos, for instance, for youtube and the website, but it requires funding for the equipment and technology professionals to do that.

As for finding an office, I completely understand the Big East's desire to plant its stake in the city of New York. To distinguish itself as a force to be reckoned with, the newly chartered league needs to have a bold presence in the college sports world, and headquartering in New York would do that. But that kind of demand comes at a price. Real estate is as expensive as it gets in New York, and the conference likely needs a lot of space once it gets fully staffed. Just getting staffing in New York will prove challenging. It'll cost more to pay a secretary in New York than one in, say, Providence because it costs so much to live there.

I think Ackerman is the right person for the job. She genuinely seems to want to build the league in Dave Gavitt's image. I'm certain all the infrastructure will come into place in due time as the league's cash flow gets established.

The one thing I would like to see her do is more PR. ESPN has been downright ugly with this new league. Careful observers will notice the jabs they've made at the league, but unfortunately, most of the public doesn't have the time or the mindfulness to do much other than take ESPN's word for it when they say the league isn't good. Ackerman needs to figure out a way to counter those criticisms without sounding whiny. That's not easy to do, but that's what she needs to do be a good leader.