Larry Williams chats with Bob Wolfley

[Sir Lawrence]

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/202758081.html

Marquette athletic director Larry Williams said the new Big East Conference is aiming to have its first commissioner in place within six weeks.

The conference has hired the executive search firm of Russell Reynolds Associates to identify potential candidates.

"They are vetting candidates who have been self-identified or have been nominated by others," Williams said on Friday. "We anticipate interviews will start happening here in a few weeks. Hopefully we have someone identified, if not on the ground, within six weeks.

Williams (left) said all 10 athletic directors of the new Big East met in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday last week during the Final Four. All 10 basketball coaches were present as well because of their participation in annual NABC meetings.

The coaches and ADs all sat together for some portion of those meetings.

Besides the search for a commissioner, Williams mentioned other aspects of the reinvention and rebranding of the new Big East:

♦ Big East Conference offices currently are located in Providence, R.I. Some of that staff will come over to the new Big East. But Williams said the long-term, permanent location of the league office will be another city, perhaps New York.

Other cities – Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. – are possibilities. Chicago will get some consideration. The new commissioner will have a say in where the permanent office is located.

"From a practicality standpoint, we just need it in a location that's easily accessed by airports and trains," Williams said. "New York makes some sense relative to its ease of entry. But it's expensive. So we are thinking do you just have kind of a beach head in New York. But the reality is so much work can get done in New York."

♦ Getting referees in place for the men's basketball season is a high priority.

"We will identify who our assigner will be and then that assigner goes out and tries to secure the commitment of the best referees possible," Williams said.

Williams said one of the talking points between the ADs and coaches was what style of play lends itself to success in the NCAA Tournament and can you build a referee staff that replicates how the game is called in the tournament.

Teams from some of Western conferences have trouble adjusting to games in the tournament against physical teams, while teams in conferences like the Big East or Big Ten that allow more physical play have trouble adjusting to tournament games when the whistle is tight.

♦ The conference schedule in men's basketball likely will be a round robin, giving each team 18 conference games.

And what will be the approach by teams in the new Big East for non-conference scheduling?

"Each program is different in their maturation," Williams said. "We are going to spend a lot of time helping schools identify where they are and how to respond to where they are. So for some schools, just scheduling wins is what they need. There are other programs that need to step out a little bit of their comfort zone and play more challenging programs. There's a continuum there."

As for Marquette's approach to the non-conference schedule, Williams said: "We are fortunate that coach Buzz (Williams) will play anyone, anywhere, anytime. He's fantastic in being real open. Some coaches can be more defensive in that regard."

♦ Williams said discussions between Fox Sports and the new league continue about what regular nights, if any, are the ideal ones to play games.

"It's really kind of fun to work with them because they were successful in building their NFL brand," Williams said. "They will be able to use some of those same elements with us as a new product.

"Our biggest risk now is we are going to tell our story in a different language," Williams said. "So most of the country speaks ESPN. But now we are going to be telling our stories through the Fox language. We are going to need to make aware an entire consuming public that this language is really worth speaking and there is a really good story out there. But I am confident given Fox's expertise and approach to this thing and our commitment to it."

♦ The presidents of the new league have adopted a set of bylaws "just a few days ago, and we are comfortable with those."

Williams said because all the schools share the same goal – that wasn't the case in the old Big East – makes it easier to adjust and refine policies set early on.

"One of the beauties of being 10 really like-minded institutions, chasing the exact same thing, that we can be really nimble," Williams said. "We can make adjustments. That would be a lot more difficult to pass when you've got schools of varying interests and motivations. I think we can get a good majority of the things right coming out of the gate. I know for certain we are not going to get them all right. But the great thing is we can adjust."

[Sir Lawrence]

I know others have mentioned it, but it certainly would not surprise me if LW became the first Commissioner of the new BE.

[keefe]

I know others have mentioned it, but it certainly would not surprise me if LW became the first Commissioner of the new BE.

Why? He has never run anything like a conference and he has a year running a small athletic department. Too big a jump for a guy lacking significant senior executive experience.

[downtown85]

Larry seems like a pro-active kind of guy. This is good for setting up a new league. Pro-active ness is not necessarily good in managing a program and coach that is working pretty well and doesn't need any input from the AD.  I think (hope really) all involved realize this. But kudos to Larry for taking the bull by the horn and making the best of a bad situation (regarding conference re-alignment). This is coming from someone who has never posted a positive thing about LW on this forum before.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Why? He has never run anything like a conference and he has a year running a small athletic department. Too big a jump for a guy lacking significant senior executive experience.

That didn't stop America from .........  nevermind

[Jam Chowder]

That didn't stop America from .........  nevermind

Chicos FTW.

In all seriousness, though, very impressed with Larry based on this info. He seems very aggressive and decisive. Comes across as a capable leader. The more stuff like this I read, the more I am convinced that Larry really gets it.

[BrewCity83]

That didn't stop America from .........  nevermind

Haha awesome!

"The coaches and ADs all sat together for some portion of those meetings."  It's great to hear that Buzz and Larry were able to sit together despite all of their rifting and whatnot.

[Dawson Rental]

Congrats, Bob Wolfley!  If you can't figure out how to cover a team on your own, just follow PaintTouches lead.

[GGGG]

Why? He has never run anything like a conference and he has a year running a small athletic department. Too big a jump for a guy lacking significant senior executive experience.

Actually he was AD at Portland for seven years and worked in the Notre Dame athletic department prior to that.  While at Portland, he was apparently very involved in the activities of the athletic department.  I don't think he would be a terrible choice by any means. 

[keefe]

Actually he was AD at Portland for seven years and worked in the Notre Dame athletic department prior to that.  While at Portland, he was apparently very involved in the activities of the athletic department.  I don't think he would be a terrible choice by any means. 

Marquette is a very small Div I athletic department. Portland is even smaller.

In any start up environment you need people with vertical expertise in a start up environment. Both are crucial. LW has neither.

We did a start up in the late 90's to run clinical trials in Asia. The shareholders were GE Cap, Quintiles, Sun MicroSystems and Harvard University. Unlike most start ups occurring in that era this was very well funded and had stellar minds from business, tech, health care, and medical research. By all accounts there was no way it could fail. But it almost did. In the end, it was a huge win (each player had different exit strategies or end games) but the first year was like being in Dachau. We got the operational delivery right because everyone had their lane in the road but we struggled with issues of corporatizing, rates of return, governance, oversight, cultural ignorance, etc...

The Harvard Endowment/TVO wanted to make money but the MDs and PhDs from Harvard Care Group were only concerned with patient care and establishing working partnerships with huge teaching hospitals in Asia. Sun wanted to establish Solaris as the back end box for the huge data demands of patient record keeping but rebelled when we realized we needed to bring in Microsoft for the middle tier architecture. Quintiles wanted more brick and mortar than GE knew technology had superannuated. And GE had a much higher hurdle rate then anyone else and so we fought initiatives that increased expense and eroded fixed cost leverage.

And I am not going to say anything about personalities and clashes of cultures. There are profound differences between what a Harvard epidemiologist wants compared with how a GE Cap venture shark sees a problem. Then layer in multiple national cultures...A Vietnamese hospital refuses to share data with a Chinese military hospital. An Indian Brahmin Department Chair in Mumbai is enraged because a female Singaporean Chinese CRO didn't demonstrate enough humility when addressing him in her clipped, direct-to-the point, business manner. A Japanese trial site refuses to participate with sites in India and China because Japanese blood is different.   

I have no doubt LW is a great guy - smart, dedicated, aggressive, etc... But he lacks the substantive essential experience in both vertical and environment. I have no idea what goes on within the MU AD but the degree of conjecture suggests an atmosphere of chaos and turmoil. Start ups involving multiple independent shareholders, each with unique perspectives and objectives, require seasoned facilitators who bring exceptional vertical expertise applied with the finesse of a Kissinger. He lacks all of that.

This venture is extremely important strategically to Marquette to leave it in the hands of an untested rookie. Perhaps LW will have his day, someday, but it must not be learning on starting up the reconstituted Big East. I believe it to be a moot point as the reports of friction between GU and MU would preclude someone from either being named to run the conference. The default position would be to bring in an outsider, hopefully one who has set up then run a major conference. And that is the correct course of action.

[GGGG]

<yawn>

[keefe]

<yawn>

Once more you spout off an opinion about which you know nothing. You think LW would make a great choice to run the Big East. You are wrong.

Someday you may have perspective and wisdom that comes from real experience. Until then you only have an opinion based on little to no empiricism.

[GGGG]

Once more you spout off an opinion about which you know nothing. You think LW would make a great choice to run the Big East. You are wrong.

Someday you may have perspective and wisdom that comes from real experience. Until then you only have an opinion based on little to no empiricism.

<yawn>

Seriously, say something relevant for once, and not just use it as an opportunity to spout about your supposed experience. 

[keefe]

<yawn>

Seriously, say something relevant for once, and not just use it as an opportunity to spout about your supposed experience. 

As opposed to you with no real experience. You are one of those guys who look up at the one's running things and say, "I could do that..." Fact is, you have no idea what it entails. You lack the experience, education, and sophistication. And the reality is, your lack of those credentials will preclude you from ever running things.

I will give you this - you may know who the BB coach is of some WI high school. Most of us have a bigger aperture than that.

As for "supposed experience" some of us here have held discussions off line concerning business matters. You have not been included in those conversations for obvious reasons. If we have need of an Internet Bully, though, I would think your name would be one of the first we call.

[brandx]

<yawn>

Seriously, say something relevant for once, and not just use it as an opportunity to spout about your supposed experience. 

C'mon Skink - all the rest of us are impressed 

[barfolomew]

I'm sorry, but it strikes me as kind of shortsighted to place the decision about the location of the Big East offices in the hands of the yet-to-be-determined commissioner. Are you going to relocate if this commish doesn't work out? Just because Fox has put the situation in a time crunch doesn't mean that the league should roll over to get a commish in place quickly. Big East Conference Commissioner will be one of the top four or five jobs in college basketball and anyone not willing to relocate to land it should be looked at warily. In my opinion the offices should be in NYC regardless.

[chapman]

I'm sorry, but it strikes me as kind of shortsighted to place the decision about the location of the Big East offices in the hands of the yet-to-be-determined commissioner. Are you going to relocate if this commish doesn't work out? Just because Fox has put the situation in a time crunch doesn't mean that the league should roll over to get a commish in place quickly. Big East Conference Commissioner will be one of the top four or five jobs in college basketball and anyone not willing to relocate to land it should be looked at warily. In my opinion the offices should be in NYC regardless.

Agree on both points.  Hoping that decision has pretty much been made (and that it's NYC), and LW is just giving the run around.  At least I hope they're not that clueless as to have five cities still in the running and so much n play that a commissioner decides where he wants to work.

[keefe]

I'm sorry, but it strikes me as kind of shortsighted to place the decision about the location of the Big East offices in the hands of the yet-to-be-determined commissioner. Are you going to relocate if this commish doesn't work out? Just because Fox has put the situation in a time crunch doesn't mean that the league should roll over to get a commish in place quickly. Big East Conference Commissioner will be one of the top four or five jobs in college basketball and anyone not willing to relocate to land it should be looked at warily. In my opinion the offices should be in NYC regardless.

I think office location is mentioned as one of the pending executive decisions for the new Commissioner. I don't think this means it will be made for his convenience but, rather, on the basis of sound business metrics. It is a long-range decision. In my opinion, NYC is a the best possible choice. Certainly better than Providence.

[madtownwarrior]

+10000

Too bad there can't be a separate board for Keefe and his useless drivel...

Guess just use the ignore button

<yawn>

[ChicosBailBonds]

Haha awesome!

I'm not sure it doesn't actually bolster Keefe's argument....

[keefe]

C'mon Skink - all the rest of us are impressed 

It wasn't meant to impress. It was meant to illustrate that involvement in a start up requires select skills not requisite in managing an ongoing concern.

Fact is, LW lacks those skills and, among other reasons, would not be a strong candidate for running the new league. Guys like Sultan spout off opinion and get upset when anyone challenges their presumptive knowledge or wisdom. Rather than address issues they shoot the messenger. Ad hominem is another word for intellectual cowardice.

[keefe]

That didn't stop America from .........  nevermind

Chico, we may disagree on many things but we are aligned in that point. America is a lesser place, today.

The world lost Margaret Thatcher this past week. Her greatness, like Ronald Reagan's, was knowing her strengths but, more importantly, recognizing her weaknesses. She also knew the limits of power and understood the realm of possibility. She crafted a vision for her nation and had the courage to see to the implementation of that dream. The UK was a much better place in the wake of her leadership.

Can anyone articulate what road we are on or where we are headed? 

[GGGG]

As opposed to you with no real experience. You are one of those guys who look up at the one's running things and say, "I could do that..." Fact is, you have no idea what it entails. You lack the experience, education, and sophistication. And the reality is, your lack of those credentials will preclude you from ever running things.

I will give you this - you may know who the BB coach is of some WI high school. Most of us have a bigger aperture than that.

As for "supposed experience" some of us here have held discussions off line concerning business matters. You have not been included in those conversations for obvious reasons. If we have need of an Internet Bully, though, I would think your name would be one of the first we call.

You have no clue what my experience or my education is.

And calling me an "internet bully" is just a diversionary tactic.  Tactic of the weak.

[keefe]

You have no clue what my experience or my education is.

And calling me an "internet bully" is just a diversionary tactic.  Tactic of the weak.

I might not know specifics but I know it does not rate. And you are a bully of some stripe. Doesn't matter, in the end. We all live the life we have chosen. I would not have chosen yours.

[GGGG]

I might not know specifics but I know it does not rate. And you are a bully of some stripe. Doesn't matter, in the end. We all live the life we have chosen. I would not have chosen yours.

LOL....I would rather not live the life of an empty braggart seeking attention like you either.