Interesting comments about many things.
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Barstool and Mike Tranghese: A Combination that Makes Superfans Shudder
Barstool Goes one on one with Mike Tranghese. (Real Interview)
By Jamie Chisholm (chisholm@barstoolsports.com)
Barstool and Mike Tranghese: A Combination that Makes Superfans Shudder
Over the past twenty-five years there are maybe a handful of people who have had as significant an impact on the modern college sports landscape as Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese. Since the Big East's founding in 1979, Tranghese has worked for the conference, initially as the right-hand man to his mentor and the Big East's first Commissioner, Dave Gavitt. Since 1990 when Gavitt stepped down, Tranghese has called the shots from the league's Providence headquarters. The intervening fifteen years have been nothing short of tumultuous. Along with every other conference in the America, the Big East has always been a never-ceasing work-in-progress but the recent controversy involving Boston College's decision to leave the Big East for the ACC has made Tranghese a household name. BC, Miami and Virginia Tech's departures led Tranghese to invite five new schools, Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and South Florida, to join a reshaped Big East.
Tranghese and Barstool spoke recently about the impact of the BCS, the chances of Notre Dame becoming the conference's ninth football member, the NCAA Tournament prospects of the Big East's 16-teams, and Big East teams scheduling nonconference games against BC. A full transcript of the interview (space limitations prohibit us from printing the entire interview) can be found at
http://www.barstoolsports.com/writer/Jamie_Chisholm/3/ .
Jamie Chisholm: You just signed a contract extension through 2010. After all the craziness with BC and the ACC, did you ever consider just walking away from the Big East and college sports?
Mike Tranghese: No…The only time I was prepared to walk away was when at one point during the whole shifting of teams it appeared that our conference was not going to stay together, and the football schools were going to form their own league and basketball schools were going to form their own league. And at that point in time, I told our presidents that under that set of circumstances, I would fulfill my contract but someone was going to have manage the final years of the contract from a neutral position, because if I had said "Oh, I'm going to go work for this entity instead of this entity," I would have had real ethical problems.
JC: With the emergence of big-time college football- the BCS bids, conference championship games, million dollar bowl purses- has some of that ruined what you and Dave [Gavitt] envisioned when you founded the Big East in 1979?
MT: Well, what Dave created in 1979, it was a different time, it was pretty simplistic and the times have changed. You just can't do things in 2005 the way they were done in 1979. They were pretty easy in 1979- you had some schools and the only thing those schools had in common was the desire to play major college basketball. But even from the day the Big East was formed in 1979, obviously schools like Boston College and Syracuse were playing major college football. And I don't think any of us were naïve enough to think that at some point football would not become a big issue. And that really occurred in 1990 when the Big Ten invited Penn State- it really sent shock waves around the country…All of a sudden Pitt, Syracuse and BC were left standing there alone.
JC: Does that raise concerns with only eight teams in the conference in terms of football for the long term football future of the conference?
MT: I don’t think the numbers are important. They only thing they mean is that you can't have a playoff. And I don't think you have to have a football playoff to be viable, all you have to do is look at the Big Ten and Pac-10. I think down the road, though, if the right school became available, obviously we would give strong consideration to it. I think they [Big East football schools] would like to add a ninth team under the right circumstances because it balances out the schedule.
JC: Is there a ninth team in mind? Notre Dame always seems to be mentioned as that "dream team."
MT: I think everybody mentions Notre Dame but the reality of the Notre Dame situation is they have been, will be and probably will for our lifetime continue to be an independent. It's what they want to be. They want to play a national schedule. They have the wherewithal to have their own television deal. And they have the ability because of their following to be attractive to bowls. Notre Dame has never..there was never any talk of them joining us in football. But it's interesting- in my job the most often asked question I get is about Notre Dame.
JC: In terms of Big East football, two teams stand out for me- UConn and South Florida. UConn because of their record of success in so many other sports and South Florida because of the location, the Florida talent pipeline. How critical are those two programs for Big East football?
MT: Well, first of all, when Connecticut came onboard, I think one of the reasons, it was a vote by our previous members, Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech were all involved in that vote, I think they all recognized the potential that Connecticut had, looking at how successful their other programs are. They've got facilities, they've got a community. Because they do things rights, there is no doubt in my mind that Connecticut can became a good football program. I think USF is probably more of a chance for us, one that I had to really push our membership to make…I talked to bowl people, talked to football coaches, talked to a lot of people in Florida and all I kept hearing, time and time again, was how much potential they had because of their geographic location…They're a really young football team and I think their upside is just enormous.
JC: Is that a critical part of the Big East to have presence, especially a football presence, in Florida?
MT: No, it isn't so much to have a football presence in Florida. I think it was to have a football team that we think can really be very, very good…The priority was to get someone who fit with our schools institutionally and someone who had an upside regarding the football team. We thought of everybody that was available that South Florida had the biggest upside.
JC: There were a lot of questions regarding Big East football but you've assembled arguably the best college basketball conference in America, the deepest one certainly. If right now you had to handicap it, how many teams make the NCAA's this year?
MT: Everyone has been handicapping but we haven't even played the games yet. But you know, there is a lot of concern on the part of our coaches that the NCAA committee wouldn't take all the [Big East] teams that are worthy of being taken. I don't share that concern. I think whether you have a Big East of sixteen, an ACC of twelve, the Big Ten at eleven, I think the committee's chore is to take the best 34 at-large teams and I don't think there is any limit as to how many teams we could get. We just have to go out and win games to get a lot of people who are qualified to be invited and I think that will happen.
JC: UConn, Louisville and Villanova are kind of the "Big 3" teams that are mentioned nationally. Are there any teams from the conference that you look at as being under the radar?
MT: I think...Georgetown has a chance to be very good. They're still a very young team but I think John [Thompson III, head coach] is a really good coach. They're also beginning to recruit the kind of kids back when John [Thompson, former head coach] Sr. was there…I think another good team that people are sort of dismissing… is Notre Dame…I think both Georgetown and Notre Dame have a chance. I don't think a lot of people are looking towards them as being NCAA tournament teams.
JC: You're obviously a big college basketball fan. Do you enjoy going to the Big East basketball games or has it become work and a little mundane?
MT: No, I enjoy going to basketball games because no matter where the games are, I sort of have figured out a way where I can go and hide. What I won't do is go sit in the stands because everyone wants to talk and I'm from the Dave Gavitt school- I want to go and watch. I know where to go and where not to go…It's still the fun part of the job, watching football and basketball games.
JC: Is there any tension at all between those eight Big East football members and those eight Big East schools that don't participate in football?
MT: No, I don't think we've ever had tension. I think that sometimes people have had different agendas and I think these two groups probably have different agendas but I think we've crafted a real openness…That's one of the things that our office is trying to do- is to make certain that that there's an open process so if there is a problem, let's get the problem out front.
JC: When you look back at everything surrounding BC's decision to join the ACC was there anything that could have been done to keep them in the Big East or was that a move that was a done deal long before the media got wind of it?
MT: First of all…neither BC nor Miami came to me and informed me that they were seriously considering this nor did the ACC. When I found out about it, which was in April [2003], which is eight days after Syracuse had won the National Championship in men's basketball and Connecticut had won their fourth straight National Championship in women's basketball, that's when I found out about it and I sort of found out about it in a bizarre sort of way. I'm not a mind-reader but my gut tells me, my very strong gut and my very strong opinion, tells me that it was a done deal. The i's hadn't been dotted and the t's hadn't been crossed but emotionally I think the people involved had already made up their minds and the ACC had also.
JC: How do you feel about BC playing Big East teams in nonconference matchups?
MT: I've told Gene DiFilippo [Boston College Athletic Director] and I've told our schools that if they want to play, play, and if they don't want to play, don't play. One of the Boston papers wrote how I was encouraging our schools not to play BC- nothing is further from the truth. Who our schools play is really up to them. I don't discourage or encourage.
