John Marinatto's Grand Solution Was Navy And Syracuse Fans Feel Better About Themselves

by Sean Keeley on Sep 20, 2011 7:29 PM EDT

Syracuse Orange fans have felt conflicted the last couple days.

A lot of pundits and talking heads want to paint the Orange as a bunch of soulless, greedy mercenaries without a care for those we hurt in our wake. That's simply not true. At least not for most of us.

Believe me, we feel bad about all of this. Who wanted the Big East to work more than us? A founding member(!), as Dana O'Neil must remind you every nine seconds.

The truth is, we just didn't think John Marinatto had a plan. We didn't trust that, at the end of the day, he could make the right decision and steer the conference in the direction it needed to go in order to survive. We assumed the worst, that he would hitch his wagon to some desperate quick-fix solution that solved nothing long-term and only serve to drive home the perception that the Big East is living in the past and unable to truly move towards the future.

In unrelated news, John Marinatto almost invited Navy to the Big East as a football-only member.

Before the sudden news broke last weekend that Pittsburgh and Syracuse were leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big East was in the final stages of acquiring Navy as a football-only member.

No official invitation was extended by the league, but both parties had extensive discussions about Navy joining the league in football only and it very well could have happened in the next couple of weeks, college football industry sources told CBSSports.com.

Whatever lingering doubts Syracuse fans had about whether or not we shouldn't have left the conference are now gone. Thank you, John. You are who we thought you were.

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Comments

Kind of sucks

That all of us SU fans have had to turn into I-told-you-so dicks about all of this, but honestly, Marinatto hasn’t really given us much of a choice (and neither is the constant hand-slapping of ESPN). I was pissed off and confused when BC, VT and Miami left, but now I get it. The Big East is a blind man walking in traffic. Adding a couple service academies and the fifth-best team in North Carolina isn’t going to do anything for you as a BCS conference.

Farewell, Big East. A shame you had to die at the hands of an idiot.

Find me on the Twitters: @JohnCassillo

by JohnCassillo on Sep 20, 2011 7:40 PM EDT reply actions

This

Die-hard Mets fan and blogger: http://www.thekingsofqueens.wordpress.com

by ljmilman on Sep 20, 2011 8:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Marinatto was the wrong man at the wrong historical moment

And it probably didn’t help that he bears a similar resemblance to Danny Devito’s Penguin in Batman Returns.

by lemonysnicket9 on Sep 20, 2011 8:13 PM EDT reply actions

a rebuttle from John Marinatto

" But ya gotta admit, I played this conference like a harp from hell"

by The-Captain on Sep 20, 2011 8:16 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

That's a Rec

Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.

If you've got time, buy my book "How To Grow An Orange", visit SeanKeeley.com and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

by Sean Keeley on Sep 20, 2011 10:04 PM EDT up reply actions

People who pay attention to the Big East

knew Marinara was a poor leader all along. But I’m sure Dana and the WWL of sports will find some stupid angle to fill up the interwebs.

SU 97

by nleary66 on Sep 20, 2011 8:18 PM EDT reply actions

Marinara?

Can we get Mr. Pesto to lead our next conference?

by adselver15 on Sep 20, 2011 11:02 PM EDT up reply actions

I would say that man should just

go and eat more doughnuts, but Marinara is just easy.

SU 97

by nleary66 on Sep 20, 2011 11:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Kind of a non-sequitar

Not sure how to spell that. Oh well.

Anyway, ESPN 980 (DC sports radio) had a story on this afternoon suggesting that SU and Pitt had submitted applications to the ACC for the past three years. Not sure I buy that but has anybody else heard this?

"That's no moon..."
"Now you will wittness the fire-power of this fully armed and operational Death Orange..."

by Benny The Red on Sep 20, 2011 8:27 PM EDT reply actions

Replace the a with an i

Also, I had not heard that.

by Mike I. on Sep 20, 2011 9:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Actually, that's a "U".

Four years of Latin education ought to come in handy more often than this…

by Seadog on Sep 21, 2011 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd be careful with that one

980 is also the same radio station that reported that Sean Miller was the new bball coach at UMD and was going to be introduced the following day. Notice, they didn’t report that he MAY be the new coach, or was IN TALKS to be the new coach, they said he WAS the new coach. Their reporting is iffy at best.

That being said, after trolling through some of the other BE fball school blogs (in a good way), it certainly appears that this divide has been eating up the conference for awhile.

by wittcap79 on Sep 20, 2011 9:31 PM EDT up reply actions

No way

that could have been kept quiet three years running

Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.

If you've got time, buy my book "How To Grow An Orange", visit SeanKeeley.com and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

by Sean Keeley on Sep 20, 2011 10:05 PM EDT up reply actions

ha

It’s somehow grotesquely poetic that Marinatto invited the Navy to finish the job on a ship he already sank.

by Derek on Sep 20, 2011 9:26 PM EDT reply actions

he's on goofballs...GOOFBALLs

Marinatto is a dolt. The writing was on the wall and this was his brilliant solution…Navy. We had more than enough teams that could beat Notre Dame on a regular basis.

"Zone with manaman principles!"

by FrankFairways on Sep 20, 2011 9:34 PM EDT reply actions

This is a poor rationalization

I have heard this argument so much over the past few days/weeks and having a few free minutes thought I would sign up/in to make a rebuttal to this highly erroneous argument.

First off, being from the city of Syracuse, I am a life long fan and do enjoy reading this blog on occassion. My personal opinions on the move are neither here nor there.

What seems to be misunderstood by folks here and…well, people in general, is that sometimes our choices in life are quite limited. Another way of saying it is that people generally lack an understanding of tragedy. For those that paid attention in English class and remember something of the Greek classics, what often happens is that through no fault of the character’s own, he suffers a horrific fate. Nowadays people seem to have no conception of tragedy and when something bad happens, it MUST be someone’s fault. It makes us feel better and restores a sense of moral order to the universe. For a more modern take on it, think about South Park’s recent character “Captain Hindsight.” He actually saves nothing, but he is quite popular in so far as he alleviates our angst or anger at terrible events by directing such emotions at one or several individuals. Everything should have been known, all possible contingencies prepared for, etc. I am not blaming the fine Syracuse fans here, for this is endemic to Americans in general. The economy is not so great, so it must be someone’s fault; perhaps a politician or a bank. The war didn’t go well, so, who got us into this? Didn’t they know? Of course they did not. No one know the future. And no one controls the economy. It’s just tragedy. No one’s fault – just cruel, mindless fate.

This brings us to the current situation and this desire to pin this conference’s demise on one person’s shoulders. I have no idea what this blog’s author or these commentators think, but what on earth could this guy have done? The Big 12 possessed Texas, OU, and Nebraska, and look what is happening to it! This argument is beyond absurd. Would UCF or Houston really have saved the Big East? Please. “Why didn’t he get on the phone with ND and PSU and get them in the league?” What planet do you live on?

Guys, please just accept the fact that given the development of football revenues the Big East was simply doomed, fated for a sad end. Pinning the blame on one person is merely a cheap rationalization aimed at avoiding this unfortunate fact and trying to make you feel a little better about a (possibly) morally questionable move by our beloved Orange.

by satinyc on Sep 20, 2011 9:54 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs

I hear what you're saying...

…but very few instances of tragedy (short of a tsunami killing thousands of people) aren’t at least somewhat related to the actions of people. It’s usually not ONE GUY who is responsible (so maybe we are piling on Marinatto a little, when the blame should be shared), but I disagree with the overall philosophy of what you’re getting at. The war? The economy? Man made problems, not abstract tragedies that are the result of cruel twists of fate. Same with the Big East.

"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998

by kotite4ever on Sep 20, 2011 10:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Long-winded

but pretty well-reasoned.

by Rocklionheart on Sep 20, 2011 11:06 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree 99%

The 1% is that he could not come up with some “vision” for the conference that involved all the current members.

Football schools… stop your bitchin’ about DePaul. If you can’t beat Iowa St. or Boston College at home, worry about yourselves.

Basketball schools… we are going to 12 football schools. We need the exposure of a conference game..even though most years it will be a yawner. Sooner or later, we’ll hit on a good one. Look at Cincy-Pitt a few years ago.

Yeah… we’ll be different from other conferences. But we already are!

What’s going to make us work is that we have many markets and our own network on the horizon. The BTN made gold with crap football and boring basketball. If we make bronze, that’s a raise. And we have twice the hoops inventory. You can’t tell me East Carolina v West Virginia is worse than Indiana v Minnesota.

I need everyone to buy in. I need you to assign the Big East network your school’s media rights for 10 years. If this works, and it will, we’ll have the resources to take advantage of our markets.

Dictated, but not read.

by ezcuse on Sep 20, 2011 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Down to 97%

Look at yesterday’s news about “commitments” and “taking people at their word.” Look at what the ACC did last week—-raised their exit fee to $20M. Actions speak louder than words.

At this stage, Marinatto has to pull a “you are either in or out, decide now” approach. What is there to lose? As of today, they should be demanding a $12.5M exit fee in order to stay. Again, nobody has anywhere to go.

Maybe the Big XII takes a few teams. But can Cincy, Lville, USF, WVU, and TCU guarantee that they will be one of those teams. And will the Big XII automatically take the two that refuse to sign? That’s just taking another conference’s rejects.

Today is the day that Marinatto has power. If he doesn’t use it to lock in the current conference members, then he is as weak as said.

Dictated, but not read.

by ezcuse on Sep 21, 2011 10:33 AM EDT up reply actions

"Paid attention in English class and remember the Greek classics"

I am confused, yet intrigued. “And no one controls the economy. It’s just tragedy. No one’s fault – just cruel, mindless fate.” Staring to lose me but…I’m still in. “Pinning the blame on one person is merely a cheap rationalization aimed at avoiding this unfortunate fact and trying to make you feel a little better about a (possibly) morally questionable move by our beloved Orange.” OK, I’m in sports blog purgatory.

SU 97

by nleary66 on Sep 20, 2011 10:28 PM EDT reply actions

Marinetto

The consensus of opinion by those in the know was that the powers that be in Providence shifted from visionary under Gavitt, capable under Traghese and inept under Marinatto. This comes from coaches, ADs, sportswriters and people who had business dealings with the conference. The “tragedy” was that the league served 3 masters: the football schools, the basketball only schools and the all powerful Notre Dame, who dictated terms to the BE, rather than the BE dictate terms to them. It was an untenable construction that was doomed. It was the only BCS conference that was set up in such an unusual way and it ultimately lead to it’s failure to surprise. The LACK OF LEADERSHIP under Marinatto contributed to the demise of the conference as we know it. When you’re the captain of the ship, the CEO of the enterprise and the boat sinks or the business model fails – YOU failed. He failed the BE and it’s members. There was zero innovation under him in any meaningful way. Is this a tragedy? No, it’s a business that failed. Losing Pitt and Syracuse was like a company losing their 2 big sales teams who got a better deal on their commissions and a more stable work enviornment at a competitor. It happens everyday. Marinatto failed big time.
Is what Syracuse and Pitt did by leaving “morally questionable”? Nope. It was BUSINESS.

by Rawred44 on Sep 20, 2011 10:31 PM EDT reply actions

Actually

Gavitt did not have the vision to recognize Penn State’s importance to the region. 100,000 people go to those games. How many Seton Hall games does it take for 100,000 people to pass through their gates? Meanwhile, PSU charges 5 times what Seton Hall (facts are not true, but might be). Let’s not pretend that football only recently became the breadwinner. If the Big East had PSU, the Big East would be sitting pretty right now.

Meanwhile, Tranghese was far from capable. I bet Temple is looking pretty good right now. Where was the desire to poach Maryland? If you are not eating, you are going to be eaten. And he allowed us to be eaten by the ACC. While he figured out a way to stop the leak, the dam burst over the weekend. Only on someone else’s watch.

I am not persuaded that Marinatto is substantially less competent than those guys. Their decisions put him in a position where he had no real solution. If he had a real solution available, and failed to take advantage of it, only then would be the disaster he is made out to be.

(BTW, telling Pitt and Syracuse that they have to stay is appropriate. Let Pitt and Syracuse offer something to get out of it first. And, until you have replacements, keep them (us!) twisting in the wind)

Dictated, but not read.

by ezcuse on Sep 20, 2011 11:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Just don’t be mad when I chant MAAC or CUSA when we beat everyone at the Dome this year!

by actioncuse on Sep 21, 2011 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Navy? Great googly moogly.

The Big East should invite North Carolina Central next.

Of course, Rutgers would have to take them off their out-of-conference schedule.

by DanteAmore on Sep 21, 2011 12:22 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

No, it’s obvious they should invite North Carolina – Greensboro. Then the Big East tournament and the ACC Tournament could switch places!

Never argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

by wildcatlh on Sep 21, 2011 1:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Blow it up

Now that were gone does anyone else kinda sorta hope that the Big East actually does implode and cease to exist? If it somehow does survive does that weaken our case for leaving? (I mean, who wouldn’t want to be in a power conference with Army, Navy, Air Force, UCF, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincy, USF, UCF and ECU?)

by dacj501 on Sep 21, 2011 8:14 AM EDT reply actions

Military academies, UCF, Eastern Carolina

Is exactly why Syracuse and Pitt left, and UConn and Rutgers are scrambling to get out. I have nothing against any of those institutions, especially the military academies. But, athletically, they’re not up to par with what the Big East has been and should be. But this is Marrinato’s grand plan for the BEast. Replacing two top programs with four mediocre ones has been his solution ever since the first ACC raid, and that’s just not gonna get it done.

"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes

by FeloniousPhunk on Sep 21, 2011 9:51 AM EDT reply actions