More Big East representatives commented on the conference re-alignment saga today, with both Syacuse head coach Jim Boeheim and Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti joining Mike Francesa on WFAN. The views expressed by each were quite similar and are outlined below.
-This type of shakeup has been coming for year, so it was bound to happen at some point.
-What it all comes down to is football and TV deals.
-The time came when every school had to look out for themselves first.
-Notre Dame's insistence on staying independent in football is one of the main reasons the Big East is disintegrating.
While both shared these ideas, Boeheim had more poignant comments regarding the move to the ACC.
If we were leaving the old Big East, I’d probably be upset. But what we have now in the Big East isn’t what we used to have. It’s completely different. Am I still sad about it? Yeah. I mean, 30 some years in a league, you bet.
On Notre Dame, Boeheim said,
Obviously, it was unstable, and a couple of people criticizing this are people that could have saved the Big East. If Notre Dame wanted to save the Big East, they could have joined in 2004 and we wouldn’t be having these discussions today. But they didn't want to.
I would not be surprised if Jay Wright did an interview with Francesa in the coming weeks, as they are good buddies.
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