BIG EAST Concludes Successful Annual Meeting
The BIG EAST Conference concluded its Annual Summer Meeting with plans to build upon the many successes of the first five years of its current 10-school alignment and to address plans for the 2018-19 academic year and beyond. The meetings were held in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
Commissioner Val Ackerman led a group that included the BIG EAST’s Directors of Athletics, Senior Woman Administrators, Men’s and Women’s Head Basketball Coaches and senior conference staff.
Guests included a contingent of senior executives from FOX Sports, the conference’s television partner; the NCAA; the NABC; and Madison Square Garden, long-time home of the BIG EAST men’s basketball tournament.
The administrators and coaching groups met separately and together to plan ways to maintain and expand the BIG EAST’s basketball successes. In men’s basketball, the BIG EAST had six of its 10 teams receive NCAA Tournament invitations this past March. For the first five seasons of the current alignment, the BIG EAST has received 28 NCAA invitations. Villanova won the 2018 national championship, its second in the last three years. In women’s basketball, the BIG EAST earned a five-year high four NCAA Tournament berths in 2018, with each team also winning its NCAA First Round game.
The group received a report from Dan Gavitt, NCAA Senior Vice President for Basketball, on the report issued by the Commission on College Basketball on April 25. BIG EAST representatives are chairing three of the eight working groups formed to implement the Commission’s recommendations: Ackerman will serve as chair of the NBA-issues Working Group; Georgetown President John J. DeGioia is Chair of Student-Athlete Support/Degree Completion Working Group; and Xavier Athletics Director Greg Christopher is Chair of Enforcement/Infractions Working Group. Jim Haney, Executive Director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, also addressed the group about the Commission’s report and other matters.
The group from FOX Sports, led by Executive Vice President Larry Jones, discussed the unique presentation of BIG EAST basketball on various FOX outlets, including continuing plans for enhanced access game production. During the past season, FOX telecasted a men’s and a women’s game with the head coaches mic’d live throughout the contests and with limited commentary from the announcers. The Conference’s arrangement with FOX Sports provides for wall-to-wall coverage of BIG EAST men’s basketball on the FOX broadcast network, FS1, FS2, FSN, CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network. Women’s basketball airs on FSI, FS2, FSN, CBS Sports Network and the BIG EAST Digital Network. FOX Sports broadcasters Bill Raftery, Steve Lavin and Jim Jackson were in attendance at the meeting.
Joel Fisher, Executive Vice President of Marquee Events and Operations at Madison Square Garden, addressed the athletics directors and coaches about the continuing success of the BIG EAST Tournament at MSG, which celebrated its 36th anniversary at the World’s Most Famous Arena this past March. Three of the five sessions in the 2018 Tournament were sellouts.
Other basketball matters discussed included transfers, future scheduling, the BIG EAST officiating alliance with the Atlantic Coast Conference and seven other conferences, and future plans for the conference’s women’s basketball tournament at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Lynn Holzman, NCAA Vice President of Women’s Basketball, was also on hand and offered updates on the NCAA women’s basketball tournament and the overall strategic direction of the sport.
The Athletics Directors also reviewed the BIG EAST’s involvement with esports. The BIG EAST partnered with ESL, the world’s largest independent esports company, in a pilot program in 2017-18 and conducted its first BIG EAST Esports Invitational in April. Various matters relating to student-athlete welfare were also on the agenda.
On the academic side, it was noted that 66 conference teams received NCAA Public Recognition Awards. To receive the award, teams must post scores in the top 10 percent of their sport, based on their most recent Academic Progress Rates (APR). The BIG EAST ranked third nationally among conferences in percentage of recognized teams with 41.8 percent, behind only the Ivy League and Patriot League.