John Marinatto wants to talk alignment

[Jihme]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/6868423/big-east-commissioner-john-marinatto-reaches-big-12-dan-beebe-acc-john-swofford

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto says he has been in constant contact with Dan Beebe of the Big 12 and John Swofford of the Atlantic Coast Conference in recent days and has suggested the three meet to discuss conference realignment.

Marinatto didn't reveal details about his conversations with his fellow commissioners but said Tuesday: "I thought it would be important for us to meet face-to-face and take the lead in trying to do things the right way."

Marinatto also has spoken with NCAA president Mark Emmert, but he said Emmert was not planning to hold any meetings with conference commissioners to discuss conference realignment.

In a statement to the AP, Swofford said he is open to Emmert's "involvement in helping us find a process that better serves the greater good of college athletics."

"As it relates to conference realignment, if we can find a more structured way to do business with each other, we need to try to find it," Swofford said. "In my opinion, further exploration would be healthy and beneficial for our profession."

The NCAA president doesn't have the power to stop schools from changing conferences and Marinatto pointed out that Emmert's involvement would likely be limited by potential legal issues such as restriction of trade and antitrust laws.

Beebe's conference, which nearly was wiped out last year when the Pac-10 expanded, is in danger of losing Texas A&M to the Southeastern Conference.

If the Aggies end up in the SEC, the league likely would need to add at least one more member.

There has been rampant speculation the SEC, which has 12 members, could target another school from the Big 12, or from the ACC and Big East for further expansion.

"We can and must be mindful everyone's best interests and be constructive and not destructive," Marinatto said. "But we all realize we are competitive and we have different constituencies to serve."

[GaUSFBull]

I think it's a very good idea to at least meet and talk through this issue, even if they don't end up seeing eye-to-eye about it.

[Held_AccountaBull]

Marinatto should be fired.

[South_Florida_Flip]

Marinatto should be fired.

Why would you say that?

[Held_AccountaBull]

Marinatto should be fired.

Why would you say that?

Because the conference is in prime position with the new TV contract on the horizon and he wants to play the nice guy. Swofford sure wasn't a nice guy about it when he tried to destroy the Big East in 2003. If Marinatto had a pair, he would be talking to the schools directly instead of their commissioners.

[E.T.]

http://www.ecu.edu/undaunted/

ECU is being proactive.

[Held_AccountaBull]

Jurich from Louisville should replace Marinatto. He has great ideas.

[HappyHourHero]

Story from CFT that was posted last night:

Late last night, we noted that Pete Thamel of the New York Times wrote that NCAA president Mark Emmert was in the process of gathering conference commissioners to discuss the “cannibalistic approach†to expansion.

Since that report, Brett McMurphy of CBSSports has noted that Emmert has not proposed any such meeting, but that doesn’t mean some conference commissioners won’t mull over the matter.

The Associated Press writes today that Big East commissioner John Marinatto has taken matters into his own hands and reached out to fellow commissioners John Swofford (ACC) and Dan Beebe (Big 12) to suggest the three meet over the topic of conference realignment.

Interestingly enough, the ACC raided the Big East of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College during the 2003-04 seasons. Good thing Marinatto wasn’t the commish at the time.

But, at this point, the three have something in common: they all could be raided in some shape or form by another conference looking to the expand, with Beebe’s Big 12 in seemingly imminent danger.

Texas A&M has been publicly flirting with the idea of going to the SEC over the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, A&M’s Board of Regents gave president R. Bowen Loftin the green light to pursue any alignment decisions.

The ACC, on the other hand, could stand to lose one or more members of their own. Virginia Tech, Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and North Carolina State have all been mentioned in the rumor mill as possible candidates for the SEC. Word on the street, though, is that there’s a gentleman’s agreement among SEC officials not to invite any possible members who are in-state rivals of SEC members.

That means you, FSU, Clemson and Georgia Tech.

If any teams from either of those two conferences are invited to the SEC, the Big East may not feel the effects right away — at least not unless the proverbial dominoes begin to fall. If that’s the case, Big East football members may be stepping up to the auctioning block, hoping someone makes an offer.

Either way, there are three BCS conferences who appear to have the upper hand on expansion, although a certain Texas Tech president might have something to say about that, and three who appear to be fortifying their defenses.

“I thought it would be important for us to meet face-to-face and take the lead in trying to do things the right way,†Marinatto said.

Important, indeed. Not to over-speculate, but at some point down the road, we could see a mix of these three conferences meshed into two.

Combine the 3 conferences, come out with 2 super conference. Done.

[Jihme]

the biggest first step to combining the conferences is the big wigs deciding who becomes the head guy in the two conferences.  same talks with any M&A transaction.  I bet Marianatto remains a commissioner when/if the BE expands.  Maybe the ACC and BE will absorb the Big 12.

[Jihme]

http://www.ecu.edu/undaunted/

ECU is being proactive.

very cool site!