The week of Big East memories winds down as the final conference tournament of the current group ends with the traditional Saturday night title game. It’s been an interesting week with Catholic 7 schools talking about its new future and others still bitter about how things got the way they did. Cincinnati Coach Mick Cronin is our “Coach of the Week” for letting it rip. Cronin has let it be known for months that the realignment process stinks for his team and pointed at those who have been two-faced the most, presidents and athletic leaders: “Nobody cares about student-athletes. All anybody cares about is money. Everybody in the NCAA, in college administration, they talk about academics and student-athletes. If people cared about student-athletes, West Virginia wouldn’t be in the Big 12 with ten teams flying 800 miles to their closest road game. That’s really conducive to studying.” But Cronin continued to nail it when he added: “The problem is that there’s not enough money for women’s sports and Olympic sports…the economy has trickled down. The states give less money to universities. Universities give less money to athletics. So everybody’s just, well, let’s change leagues because we can solve our money problems.” Bravo Mick. Take a bow. Problem is no one will make a big deal about Cronin’s key point. The business of college sports is awful. The model doesn’t work. Aside from football and men’s basketball, few teams make a profit for athletic departments. There are a few exceptions. But for the most, most women’s teams and Olympic sports lose money and lots of it. So the money grab by schools changing leagues is to make as much as possible for football and basketball and ease the blow of the bleeding other sports cause. Take Cronin’s point about West Virginia basketball and their travels in their new league, the Big 12. Even the Mountaineers have asked the league office to ease their pain and create a more balanced schedule in relation to travelfor football and basketball. But put aside football and basketball. Baseball does not make a profit for the school. Their March 5th home game against Eastern Kentucky drew an announced crowd of 200. Now the new Big 12 schedule will send the team on the road for series at Manhattan, Kansas and Waco, Texas and Austin, Texas and Stillwater, Oklahoma. Home attendance will not make up for the travel costs of a team and its coaches and support staff to hit the road for a four day trip. How about the WVU women’s tennis team who will play three straight Big 12 matches on the road over an eight day period in April? This is not a West Virginia problem. It’s a college sports problem. Too many teams who will never make money playing in conferences that only increase their financial losses. Solution? Sure, allow your profitable sports to play in whatever league they want to so they can maximize their revenue potential. That’s why West Virginia in the Big 12 in football and basketball makes sense. Other sports? Play in geographical leagues that make fiscal sense. For example, UCF plays in Conference USA(at least for a few more months). The softball team will play road series at Houston, Tulsa, Memphis and East Carolina and then go back to Tulsa for the conference tournament. Do you know how many games they will play against teams in the state of Florida? 8. There are a dozen teams in Florida that play D1 softball, How do you reduce your expenses on sports that don’t make money? How about forming leagues in your backyard? If UCF won the Florida Athletic Conference title do their fans feel less excited because it’s not the CUSA title? If West Virginia’s baseball team captured the North Athletic Conference championship are fans screaming in anger? Some conferences can afford to play at the same level they currently are in non-revenue sports, but it simply makes no sense. If you had a choice to lose $2 million on non-football and basketball teams or reduce your losses by 50% by playing in regional conferences, what business model suggest to keep losing more? Amen to Mick Cronin for speaking the truth to what a key reason of realignment is all about. Of course if Mick’s team was to get a call from the ACC tomorrow, would be feel the same?… Speaking of Big East and realignment, love Pete Thamel’s story on Georgetown’s ego as the Catholic 7 move on to become the new Big East. Nothing like starting a new league being disliked by many. But the new Big East will still be a great hoops league. But what if all this happened in August and into football season? Point is the breakup of the Big East happened during the peak of the basketball season and not during football season. Despite the quality of the basketball league, football remains king in college athletics. And despite the television money for the new Big East, the soon-to-be-named new league plays football and will also have a decent basketball league. In September, UCF will host South Carolina in football, likely in prime time in front of almost 50,000 fans and on a national network. Georgetown may have a football game against Wagner, in front of 2,000. Don’t forget, this realignment era is about football. Always has been and always will be… Notes: Love the leaders of the BCS giving all bowl committees a chance to bid for football playoff semifinals. I bet the bowl in Birmingham is finishing up its bid right now…Dwight Howard returned to Orlando for the first time since his trade to the Lakers. Howard was ripped by many and fans then poured it on when he interacted with few angry people before and during the game. He was criticized for being childish, immature and obnoxious for yelling back at fans screaming at him. Want to make sure I get this right, so Dwight is a bad guy […]
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