Val Ackerman retiring

[Pakuni]

https://x.com/BIGEAST/status/2046243150847459702?s=20

[The Sultan]

The BE owes her a lot. Big shoes to fill.

[JakeBarnes]

Absolute legend. As stated above--huge shoes to fill.

[MUbiz]

Replacements:

Dan Gavitt?  Jay Wright?

[Tarragona]

I don't understand the many negative replies about her on social media with the announcement.

She was very effective for the most part. A few things were misses, like the length of time it took to move Olympic Sports to ESPN Plus. But there were many hits for her.

[cheebs09]

The BE owes her a lot. Big shoes to fill.

Text book definition of a Home Run hire.

[Pakuni]

I don't understand the many negative replies about her on social media with the announcement.

It's social media.

[The Sultan]

Replacements:

Dan Gavitt?  Jay Wright?

Gavitt might be a choice. Wright is 64 years old with no administrative experience...so no thanks.

[TallTitan34]

Broeker?

[Tarragona]

It's social media.

Right. And it's been reported that 75% of Twitter is bots etc...

I was wondering if there was something else in particular about some of the negativity.

[brewcity77]

I don't understand the many negative replies about her on social media with the announcement.

She was very effective for the most part. A few things were misses, like the length of time it took to move Olympic Sports to ESPN Plus. But there were many hits for her.

The East coast schools (Providence, SHU, SJU) are whiny little crybabies. They're bitter because they deservedly missed NCAA bids and blame her for that.

And I'm guessing if it was Vince Ackerman with the exact same results they wouldn't have nearly the same complaints.

[Uncle Rico]

The East coast schools (Providence, SHU, SJU) are whiny little crybabies. They're bitter because they deservedly missed NCAA bids and blame her for that.

And I'm guessing if it was Vince Ackerman with the exact same results they wouldn't have nearly the same complaints.

Hopefully, a man replaces her

[Jay Bee]

Hopefully, a man replaces her

What is a man?

[GoldenWarrior11]

Rewind ourselves back to late 2012.  It is announced the C7 is seeking to split from the Big East and prioritize basketball with a new conference.  Just several weeks later, Val gets hired.  The league has no office, no name, no bank account, no television deal.  We move league HQ to NYC, miraculously purchase the Big East name and MSG as a tournament site (along with league history) and get a TV deal on a major network all while being paid over double than what the group we separated from ended up getting from ESPN.  Oh, and the leadership group that the football schools stuck with wanted to create a league/brand that showed they were not a Conference USA repackage; so it created the American Conference, used the same colors and created a social media campaign that said it deserved to be P6.  The American had empty conference tournaments in Orlando, Tampa and Dallas; we continue to sell out every single game in the World's Most Famous Arena. 

It cannot be emphasized enough that the change and move away from the football schools (and Mike Aresco) was pivotal to the long-term success and high-level competitiveness for the C7 (and later Butler, Creighton, Xavier and UConn).  Val Ackerman was a significant reason for the vast difference in trajectory between the two leagues. 

[withoutbias]

What is a man?

Not you.

[CountryRoads]

I don't understand the many negative replies about her on social media with the announcement.

She was very effective for the most part. A few things were misses, like the length of time it took to move Olympic Sports to ESPN Plus. But there were many hits for her.

Hopefully, the next commissioner will "fight for the Big East" and make angry calls and write strongly worded letters to the NCAA for omitting an 18-15 Big East team from the tournament.

I do hope the new commissioner doesn't see the value in adding schools like SLU and Dayton. All things considered, Val and the other leadership at the time did the best they could at preserving the Big East brand and navigating through that situation. Pretty big hire coming up.

[Uncle Rico]

What is a man?

Not someone that plays pickleball

[GoldenWarrior11]

I chuckle at the uninformed belief that a conference commissioner has final say in realignment decisions.  Realignment will always be driven by networks with approval by school Presidents/BOTs.

If the Yormark in the Big 12 had his way, UConn would have been added as a full member years ago. 

[MU82]

Here's hoping the Big East does the right thing and not make another DEI hire.

Need only merit hires, such as someone who works for Fox News.

[MUpugnacity]

Here's hoping the Big East does the right thing and not make another DEI hire.

Need only merit hires, such as someone who works for Fox News.

Need to be forward thinking with the hire. Go with an AI chatbot trained exclusively on muscoop data.

[Jay Bee]

Need someone who can bring in Dayton and SLU.

[jfp61]

Need someone who can bring in Dayton and SLU.

the corpse of dave gavitt could bring in those elite schools

[WhiteTrash]

Here's hoping the Big East does the right thing and not make another DEI hire.

Need only merit hires, such as someone who works for Fox News.

Expand your world. There are millions of place on the web to vent your anger. Try google.com to start with and see what you are missing.

[MU82]

Expand your world. There are millions of place on the web to vent your anger. Try google.com to start with and see what you are missing.

[WhiteTrash]

Will do. Maybe I should visit a MU and sports fan web site?

[Skatastrophy]

Hopefully, a man replaces her

Wojo is available, I'm sure

[tower912]

She did good work.  Thanks, Val.

[WhiteTrash]

She did good work.  Thanks, Val.

Absolutely. Here's hoping the school presidents get someone close to her quality.

[Tarragona]

The East coast schools (Providence, SHU, SJU) are whiny little crybabies. They're bitter because they deservedly missed NCAA bids and blame her for that.

And I'm guessing if it was Vince Ackerman with the exact same results they wouldn't have nearly the same complaints.

That's what I thought as well unfortunately.

[burger]

Need someone who can bring in Dayton and SLU.

F Dayton and who cares about St. Louis.....Last thing we need to share $$$ with two schools that are honestly $hit-holes.....

We are the right size....We don't need to get bigger with inferior schools....

Why would we want these $hit holes????

I can think of about 6 schools that do not want to dilute their NCAA credits.  (Marquette, UConn,  St. John's, Xavier, Providence, Seton Hall, Creighton,  and maybe even DePaul).

Let's get more school relevant with the additional $$$ that are available to basketball only schools....

Don't bring in two turds....that would suck off valuable resources....For what....More teams.....Now if this was Notre Dame,  Boston College,  Syracuse, or Gonzaga.....

Start acting like this is not Conference USA.....Is there a conference USA????

Val Ackermann has brought us more $$$.   But she also brought us less relevance by not having FS1 and Fox locked up with this TNT, TBS, Peacock,  ESPN+....B.S.....Must buy 5 services to watch our games.....That is a bunch of crap....Let alone that they all don't even meet minimal streaming requirements.....So the product sucks half the time....

[The Sultan]

F Dayton and who cares about St. Louis.....Last thing we need to share $$$ with two schools that are honestly $hit-holes.....

We are the right size....We don't need to get bigger with inferior schools....

Why would we want these $hit holes????

I can think of about 6 schools that do not want to dilute their NCAA credits.  (Marquette, UConn,  St. John's, Xavier, Providence, Seton Hall, Creighton,  and maybe even DePaul).

Let's get more school relevant with the additional $$$ that are available to basketball only schools....

Don't bring in two turds....that would suck off valuable resources....For what....More teams.....Now if this was Notre Dame,  Boston College,  Syracuse, or Gonzaga.....

Start acting like this is not Conference USA.....Is there a conference USA????

He was kidding.

[MU82]

F Dayton and who cares about St. Louis.....Last thing we need to share $$$ with two schools that are honestly $hit-holes.....

We are the right size....We don't need to get bigger with inferior schools....

Why would we want these $hit holes????

I can think of about 6 schools that do not want to dilute their NCAA credits.  (Marquette, UConn,  St. John's, Xavier, Providence, Seton Hall, Creighton,  and maybe even DePaul).

Let's get more school relevant with the additional $$$ that are available to basketball only schools....

Don't bring in two turds....that would suck off valuable resources....For what....More teams.....Now if this was Notre Dame,  Boston College,  Syracuse, or Gonzaga.....

Start acting like this is not Conference USA.....Is there a conference USA????

Val Ackermann has brought us more $$$.   But she also brought us less relevance by not having FS1 and Fox locked up with this TNT, TBS, Peacock,  ESPN+....B.S.....Must buy 5 services to watch our games.....That is a bunch of crap....Let alone that they all don't even meet minimal streaming requirements.....So the product sucks half the time....

Jeesh. Shoulda saved the "Lighten Up, Francis" gif for you!

[SchnitzelBoy]

If Notre Dame was on the table, I'd be okay with bringing in Dayton and SLU as well because the conference would ditch the round robin. I definitely understand why some fans are opposed to it otherwise.

The Big East should try something with the ACC to boost non-con schedules. Coach K and Pitino are calling for the conferences to merge but I don't really want that. Maybe add 2-3 ACC teams to the schedule each season and rotate? Sure, they have a few turds (BC and the California schools) in their conference but so does the Big East.

This allows for some compelling matchups like Duke vs. UConn as well as classic rivalries (Gtown vs. Cuse) to be reignited. Louisville and Pitt also have plenty of history with Big East programs.

[GoldenWarrior11]

F Dayton and who cares about St. Louis.....Last thing we need to share $$$ with two schools that are honestly $hit-holes.....

We are the right size....We don't need to get bigger with inferior schools....

Why would we want these $hit holes????

I can think of about 6 schools that do not want to dilute their NCAA credits.  (Marquette, UConn,  St. John's, Xavier, Providence, Seton Hall, Creighton,  and maybe even DePaul).

Let's get more school relevant with the additional $$$ that are available to basketball only schools....

Don't bring in two turds....that would suck off valuable resources....For what....More teams.....Now if this was Notre Dame,  Boston College,  Syracuse, or Gonzaga.....

Start acting like this is not Conference USA.....Is there a conference USA????

Val Ackermann has brought us more $$$.  But she also brought us less relevance by not having FS1 and Fox locked up with this TNT, TBS, Peacock,  ESPN+....B.S.....Must buy 5 services to watch our games.....That is a bunch of crap....Let alone that they all don't even meet minimal streaming requirements.....So the product sucks half the time....

Besides the misspellings, vulgar language and inaccurate comparison associations, this is a quality post.   

[wadesworld]

Dodds putting Broeker in his top 3 to replace Val         

[burger]

Besides the misspellings, vulgar language and inaccurate comparison associations, this is a quality post.   

LOL....I am sorry your virgin ears have never heard the word SSS or even F....And honestly you are probably too young to know about how Dayton controlled the conference back in the 90's....What comes around ....Comes around.....And deserve to rot...

Can you say....Play the conference tournament in Dayton like 5 years in a row.....

[Pakuni]

Dodds putting Broeker in his top 3 to replace Val         

Access isn't going to grant itself.

[Pakuni]

https://x.com/MattNorlander/status/2046358933493711256?s=20

[MU82]

https://x.com/MattNorlander/status/2046358933493711256?s=20

Well-done column. Thanks for posting.

[The Sultan]

https://x.com/MattNorlander/status/2046358933493711256?s=20

Remember when she was hired and keefe kept claiming she shopped for the BE office furniture at IKEA?

[The Lens]

Dodds putting Broeker in his top 3 to replace Val         

It's not a crazy thought.  He's one of the longest tenured Big East admins and knows the league inside and out, especially its most valauble asset. A person is his role has likely been sitting on BE committees for two decades dealing with matters of TV, MSG and the NCAA. 

[The Sultan]

It's not a crazy thought.  He's one of the longest tenured Big East admins and knows the league inside and out, especially its most valauble asset. A person is his role has likely been sitting on BE committees for two decades dealing with matters of TV, MSG and the NCAA. 

I could see Broeker serving as an associate commissoner or something similar, but one year as an athletic director is an extremely light resume no matter how many committees he has been on.

[Uncle Rico]

Remember when she was hired and keefe kept claiming she shopped for the BE office furniture at IKEA?

Have to imagine Keefe is eating crow about his assessment of her.  Tough break for him.

[BM1090]

Have to imagine Keefe is eating crow about his assessment of her.  Tough break for him.

Not sure he knows how to do that.

[Uncle Rico]

Not sure he knows how to do that.

I fully believe he could admit he was wrong about a woman being able to do the job.

[jfp61]

It's not a crazy thought.  He's one of the longest tenured Big East admins and knows the league inside and out, especially its most valauble asset. A person is his role has likely been sitting on BE committees for two decades dealing with matters of TV, MSG and the NCAA. 

Broeker for BE Commish, is an insane thought. He was promoted to director of athletics on Jan. 21, 2025. Since that date Marquette basketball has a 20-28 record.

Hire someone from TV, MSG, or the NCAA space. (even though the NCAA is run by schmucks.)

[TallTitan34]

Dodds putting Broeker in his top 3 to replace Val         

I also threw Broeker's name out there early on in this thread. 

Didn't he play a pretty big role in the creation of the new Big East in 2013? 

[brewcity77]

I also threw Broeker's name out there early on in this thread. 

Didn't he play a pretty big role in the creation of the new Big East in 2013? 

That was Larry. Particularly the push for Creighton, which the East Coast schools were against.

[WhiteTrash]

That was Larry. Particularly the push for Creighton, which the East Coast schools were against.

Who's the genius who pushed for DePaul?

[GB Warrior]

Val is an absolute legend. Earned all 72 cents on the dollar.

[brewcity77]

Who's the genius who pushed for DePaul?

We brought them along. It was repayment for them bringing us to the GMC when we were on the verge of folding the program.