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Brian Reddy: Beyond the Box Score – The Eagles and the Big East
I have been a fan of the Eagles since I first heard Take It Easy as a kid. They have consistently put out chart topping hits and sounded amazing live despite an evolving band makeup over the past 50+ years. What has impressed me is that they have consistently made moves that either improved or kept consistent their quality. This is no small task.
The band started out as a four-member group which came from being the backing band to Linda Ronstadt and played a country/soft rock style. After their first two albums, they wanted a stronger rock sound and brought guitarist Don Felder into the band, lifting them to greater heights. The next change came a year later with their first departure, Bernie Leadon. He was replaced by guitar legend Joe Walsh, leading to their highest selling album of original material and their top song of the same name, Hotel California. After the accompanying tour, bassist and occasional vocalist (Take It to the Limit) Randy Meisner got tired of the road, and was replaced by Timothy B Schmit, and the band didn’t miss a beat with the chart-topping The Long Run album.
After a 14-year hiatus, the band reformed, but Don Felder was not pleased with the Henley/Frey leadership, and was fired from the band in 2001, replaced unofficially by touring guitar specialist Steuart Smith. The band put out their final album in 2007, another number one release (Long Road Out of Eden). They continued to tour until the death of founder Glenn Frey in 2016. This appeared to be the end of the band, but instead they have continued to tour, adding Frey’s son Deacon, and one of country music’s top singer/songwriter/guitarist Vince Gill. Every one of these changes has been a success and has been accepted by their legion of fans.
Why do I write all of this on a basketball website? Realignment, of course.
The Big East has followed a similar history with additions and subtractions, and one re-addition. I am going to focus on the basketball additions here, since football is no longer a Big East sport. From the beginning, Dave Gavitt showed his shrewdness and foresight in the composition of the league. One of his first moves in this was convincing the other schools that Connecticut was a school worthy of inclusion despite their nondescript history in basketball. The first addition was technically Villanova a year later, but they only delayed due to a commitment to their conference at the time, the Eastern Athletic Association (the Eastern 8, or current day Atlantic 10). Next came Pittsburgh after a couple of successful seasons in the Eastern 8. The next change came because of the creation of the Big East football conference with the addition of Miami (and four schools as football-only members, though three would eventually become full members). Rutgers and West Virginia did so first, joining along with Notre Dame in 1995, followed by Virginia Tech in 2000.
The first defections occurred beginning in 2003, as Miami, Virginia Tech, followed by Boston College left to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Big East responded by adding two-sport successful programs in Louisville and Cincinnati, along with basketball schools Marquette and DePaul (South Florida also joined at this time). This basically led to an uneasy alliance between the basketball only and football schools. It came to a head with the last Big East television contract negotiations with ESPN. The offer for the football schools was slightly less than what the ACC was getting at the time. Georgetown and Pittsburgh, leaders on the negotiating committee, recommended that the members reject the contract and test the open market. Georgetown was against it because it only provided for a minimal increase in the payment for the non-football schools. Pittsburgh’s reasons were supposedly based on value too, but it later came out that they (and Syracuse) were negotiating to join the ACC (and presumably ESPN) at the same time. Despite attempts to salvage the arrangement, the split became inevitable at this point, and Louisville (ACC), Rutgers (Big Ten), and West Virginia (Big 12) all left for football reasons, as did Notre Dame in a more complicated situation.
With the choices to replace these schools being football-centric, the basketball schools had seen enough and decided to break away. In a series of brilliant moves, they basically traded NCAA units and exit fees from the departing members for the Big East name and the MSG location for the Big East Tournament, then added Xavier, Butler, and Creighton. The final addition (so far) has been the return of Connecticut from the AAC in 2020.
The key to all of this is that the Big East, from a basketball perspective, has always made the right moves. The most questionable choices could be DePaul and Butler, but they made sense at the time. I find it incomprehensible that DePaul, a school with a rich basketball tradition in a city that produces numerous top-level players every year, has not made the NCAA tournament in 20 years. I still believe they are the right coach away from turning the program around, but every unsuccessful year tests my confidence in this happening. Butler does not have the basketball resources of their brethren, but they were coming off consecutive appearances in the national championship and came to the Big East with the top young coach in the country (for a couple of months anyway). I would have preferred Dayton to Butler then and now, but clearly understand the rationale, and Butler has had their share of success in the Big East. I also understand people questioned the readmission of Connecticut, believing they would leave at the first available opportunity. The facts are that Connecticut has worked out very well for basketball and they have no imminent options to leave.
With their TV contract coming up for renegotiation, the Big East is once again facing the question of expansion. The problem as I see it is the only sure-fire addition is Gonzaga. Some people will question travel, but other conferences have shown that is immaterial if the money is right. Rumors are that the Big 12 has reached out to Gonzaga, with Utah the closest school to them, and most schools are 1500-3000 miles away. In their current conference, most schools are 800-1500 miles away. Beyond Gonzaga, the best options are probably Dayton, Virginia Commonwealth, Saint Louis, Saint Mary’s, and San Francisco (and Drake?). None of them inspire much confidence, and Saint Mary’s and San Francisco make the list only as potential travel partners with Gonzaga. My personal perspective would be to remain at eleven unless Gonzaga is interested. If the TV networks push for further expansion for additional content, Dayton would be at the top of my list. They are the only school other than Gonzaga that operates at a comparable level to the Big East schools. The Big East has a long and successful history of adjusting to membership changes, but they may be at the point of diminishing returns.
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