John Marinatto

[Michael in Raleigh]

Hey HLOHers,

I have wondered what ever happened to you guys' old commish. I have not read one thing about him since he stepped down back in 2012. No interviews, nothing. Providence fans, does he work in some capacity for your school?

Also, I'm curious what you guys thought of him. The AAC schools seem to have nothing good to say about him. Same with the four who joined the ACC a few years ago as well as WVU. But I'm not trying to bash the guy. Sports writers seem to see he was a great guy, and I take their word for it. But what did you all think of the job he did? Did he defend the interests of the non-football schools? Was he too pro-football? What should he have done differently? Was his forced resignation unfair?

For that matter, what did you all think of Mike Aresco during his short tenure as your commissioner?

Hope all is well...

[EMT]

Marinatto was the 3rd consecutive PC guy to run the BE and you could say it was his turn. His whole career was based on being a good soldier and being next in line. PC was a very small time operation that had two of the most dynamic personalities in their sports... Dave Gavitt and Lou Lamoriello. Dave leaves for the BE and Lou leaves for the NJ Devils. Lou hired Pitino.

Marinatto couldn't get anything done at PC but also had no administration support. When PC fired him, he immediately landed in the BE office. He should never have been named BE commissioner but it was his turn. When Tranghese left, they should have hired a football guy. The legacy PC hire was getting stale.

Despite all of this, I think the teams that left the BE would have left the BE regardless of who the commissioner was at the time. Marinatto was an easy scapegoat because he wasn't a charismatic leader.

[GoldenWarrior11]

If you listen to Tranghese, the league was on a collision course with Armageddon as soon as Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech left. It planted the seeds for an eventual split down the road, and led to Syracuse and Pittsburgh both leaving in 2011. This issue wasn't about Marinatto being able to keep everyone together, it was the notion that the even football/non-football set-up was guaranteed to create conflict and disagreement. The other big factor with the league's eventual split was that - after the additions of Cincinnati, Louisville, USF, DePaul and Marquette - there were really no quality programs to add to keep the league afloat (in terms of a football/non-football split).

For many years, the rumors were that East Carolina, Memphis and UCF were "on-deck" for membership. ECU had awful basketball. Memphis had terrible football. UCF had USF against its inclusion, and had awful basketball. Temple would have been acceptable as a football-only member (Villanova wouldn't have wanted Temple as a full-member). Marshall would have been an awful replacement for West Virginia. UMass would have been fine for basketball, but they would't have been added for football since it. With regards to Butler, Creighton and Xavier, Butler and Xavier would not have been added, since Cincinnati already occupied that area, and Butler was just started it's run under Stevens. At the end of the day, they were no realistic East Coast adds that pleased both sides, hence why no members were added to protect the league moving forward.

In hindsight, if the hybrid model were to work for at least one more contract, Memphis would have been perfect. They would have used their new found affiliation to help boost football, and their basketball program, even when down with Pastner and Smith, still gets the attendance and strong basketball tradition. Since that would have elevated the Big East's football grouping to nine members, they still would have needed an additional three members to reach twelve for the conference championship mandate at the time (which has since been amended). Without needing approval for their membership, the football schools could have added Army, Navy and Temple as football-only additions to get to twelve total football teams. The following 20-team conference for the Big East around 2010/2011 could have postponed the inevitability of break up until around 2025.

Full-Members
Cincinnati
Connectictut
Louisville
Memphis
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Syracuse
South Florida
West Virginia

Non-Football Members (C8)
DePaul
Georgetown
Marquette
Notre Dame
Providence
Seton Hall
St. Johns
Villanova

Football-Only Members
Army
Navy
Temple

This also would have prevented the additions of Boise State, San Diego State, Houston and SMU for football purposes, and kept the East Coast identity for the Big East. FWIW, the C8 would not have received as much from Fox as they would have from the proposed ESPN deal, so - it's actually better from a money perspective this didn't happen. From a prestige standpoint, however, the opportunity to continue playing Syracuse, UConn, Louisville, Pittsburgh and West Virginia would have been pretty cool. However, I am more than happy with where we all are today. No more football drama...

[Dwon]

Hmm.Also Rutgers got poached from the BE.more recently than vt, Miami, wvu did. There has been LOTS of poaching going on before the development of the AAC.

[Michael in Raleigh]

What ever became of Marinatto? Why do you think he hasn't ever come forward to tell "his side?"

What about Aresco? Were any of you guys happy about his hire or skeptical about it? Who pushed for his hiring more: the football schools or the non-football schools?

[GoldenWarrior11]

The C8, from my understanding, really did not like Marinatto, and felt left out of the entire expansion process (look no further than all of the additions at the time). While the final vote was 12-4 on rejecting the ESPN deal (which later led to Syracuse/Pittsburgh leaving), I believe it was actually Georgetown that led the charge on that front. While he officially resigned, it was led to assume he was asked to go by the Presidents. It's funny because one of the top candidates the Big East looked at after Marinatto (and placing Aresco) was Tim Pernetti, former AD at Rutgers. Aresco was hired for his TV background, which was ironic considering the AAC got one of the most undervalued and lowest paying TV deals after everything settled down.

Under Marinatto, the Big East turned down a $1.4 billion offer from ESPN. Under Aresco, the AAC accepted a $126 million offer from ESPN. The unfortunate thing is that it really didn't matter who the commissioner of the Big East/AAC was - it was destined to get a weak TV contract because of the new and revamped membership it had acquired.

Personally, I am not a fan of Aresco. I really think his belief that media markets would help elevate the value of the conference (Tulane especially) was very, very wrong. Media markets don't matter if fans within those areas don't even attend or pay attention to games. It was essentially the addition of Tulane that drove the C7 out of the conference and to reorganize the Big East in its own image. That was on Aresco, 100%, as he recommended to the Presidents who would provide the most value to the conference. Like I said, he was very, very wrong.

[EMT]

What ever became of Marinatto? Why do you think he hasn't ever come forward to tell "his side?"

What about Aresco? Were any of you guys happy about his hire or skeptical about it? Who pushed for his hiring more: the football schools or the non-football schools?

What would be "his side" and why do you think it would be interesting?

[Hoya Hoya Hoya]

The C8, from my understanding, really did not like Marinatto, and felt left out of the entire expansion process (look no further than all of the additions at the time). While the final vote was 12-4 on rejecting the ESPN deal (which later led to Syracuse/Pittsburgh leaving), I believe it was actually Georgetown that led the charge on that front. While he officially resigned, it was led to assume he was asked to go by the Presidents. It's funny because one of the top candidates the Big East looked at after Marinatto (and placing Aresco) was Tim Pernetti, former AD at Rutgers. Aresco was hired for his TV background, which was ironic considering the AAC got one of the most undervalued and lowest paying TV deals after everything settled down.

Under Marinatto, the Big East turned down a $1.4 billion offer from ESPN. Under Aresco, the AAC accepted a $126 million offer from ESPN. The unfortunate thing is that it really didn't matter who the commissioner of the Big East/AAC was - it was destined to get a weak TV contract because of the new and revamped membership it had acquired.

Personally, I am not a fan of Aresco. I really think his belief that media markets would help elevate the value of the conference (Tulane especially) was very, very wrong. Media markets don't matter if fans within those areas don't even attend or pay attention to games. It was essentially the addition of Tulane that drove the C7 out of the conference and to reorganize the Big East in its own image. That was on Aresco, 100%, as he recommended to the Presidents who would provide the most value to the conference. Like I said, he was very, very wrong.

Couldn't even imagine having to play Tulane every year. Disgusting.

[ChelseaFriar]

I can’t comment on his business dealings, but have heard he was a great guy around the PC campus. The athletes loved him and many stayed in touch with him after leaving PC.