PONTE VEDRA, Fla. (May 28, 2024) – The BIG EAST Conference concluded its annual spring meeting last Thursday after three days of sessions that included the league’s Directors of Athletics, Senior Woman Administrators, head men’s and women’s basketball coaches, leaders from FOX Sports and Madison Square Garden, NCAA executives and conference staff.
Topics discussed at the meeting included current national NCAA legal and governance matters, NIL, transfers, upcoming national television coverage plans, the status of BIG EAST media rights negotiations, sports betting, mental health, DE&I, and a host of men’s and women’s basketball matters. BIG EAST Conference meetings will resume this week with meetings of the conference’s Presidents scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
The meeting came on the threshold of the conference’s upcoming 45th anniversary following its founding on May 31, 1979. As part of its traditional recognition at the meeting of outstanding individual contributions and service, the conference honored Barry Collier and Bill Scholl, Directors of Athletics at Butler and Marquette, respectively, who announced their retirements effective with the conclusion of the current academic year; and UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley, who was named Naismith Werner Ladder Coach of the Year while guiding the Huskies to a second consecutive national title in Phoenix in April. The conference also welcomed to its coaching ranks Cara Consuegra (head women’s coach at Marquette), Darnell Haney (head women’s coach at Georgetown), and Chris Holtmann (head men’s coach at DePaul).
The conference also noted the appointments of Xavier Director of Athletics Greg Christorpher to the NCAA Division I Council and Villanova Director of Athletics Mark Jackson to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee, where he will serve the final two years of Collier’s original five-year term as BIG EAST representative.
Other highlights from the meetings were as follows:
Men’s Basketball — The league will enter the 2024-25 season riding a wave of basketball successes during the 2024 postseason, which culminated with UConn’s sixth men’s basketball national championship. The title was the BIG EAST’s fourth men’s crown in the past eight years. Two other men’s teams, Creighton and Marquette, earned NCAA Tournament bids and advanced to the Sweet 16 round. Seton Hall won the NIT crown, making the BIG EAST the first conference to win both post-season men’s titles in 18 years. The regular season culminated with sellouts in all five sessions of the BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden, the Tournament’s home since 1983. The BIG EAST’s agreement with the Garden was extended in March to 2032, which will guarantee 50 years of BIG EAST Tournament play in The World’s Most Famous Arena.
Women’s Basketball — The BIG EAST sent three women’s teams (UConn, Creighton and Marquette) to the NCAA Tournament, with UConn, the league’s regular-season and conference tournament winner, advancing to the national semifinal game in Cleveland. The BIG EAST Tournament at Mohegan Sun boasted the highest attendance and viewership numbers since realignment.
NCAA Representatives -- NCAA executives who participated in the meeting included Dan Gavitt, Senior Vice President for Basketball, and Kevin Lennon, Vice President for Division I Governance, who engaged with the group on a host of current national topics.
FOX Sports – Representatives from FOX Sports, the league’s television partner, led by Executive Vice President Jordan Bazant, spoke to the men’s and women’s coaching groups about plans for the 2024-25 season, including scheduling and promotional strategies to enhance their already innovative wall-to-wall coverage of BIG EAST men’s and women’s basketball.
Madison Square Garden — Sal Federico, Vice President for Sports Properties, participated in discussions about the success of the BIG EAST Tournament and potential future events at MSG involving BIG EAST schools.
Mental Health – The BIG EAST will continue its annual Student-Athlete Well-Being Forum, a two-day event that addresses mental health and other topics bearing on student-athlete performance and welfare. The 2024 Forum will be conducted June 4-5 at Seton Hall and will include a wide range of mental health experts as speakers.