NEWPORT, R.I. — When a university or conference, especially one that has fallen on hard times like a Bowery Street beggar, is looking for new leadership, few phrases excite the masses more than this: We are going to conduct a national search to find the best candidate — a man of vision, passion, intelligence, leadership and the ability to communicate.
We are going to think outside of the box, consider every option, speak to as many people as we need to.
The Big East is in the final stage of such a search. It needs a new commissioner, one who can hold together this Brady Bunch-like family.
There are basketball schools and football schools in this league. There are schools in the East steeped in the tradition and culture of the Big East and schools in the West that need a GPS to find the league office in Providence.
The league is one month away — Sept. 1 — from opening negotiations with ESPN on a new TV deal. If the two sides can’t reach an agreement after 60 days — and they probably won’t — then the league goes to free agency. Sources say Comcast/NBC is very interested, Fox is interested. CBS might be interested in a piece of the package. ESPN is interested in all things college.
Joe Bailey, the interim commissioner, said Tuesday the league will have a new commissioner in place by the end of August. He said the league’s search firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, has trimmed a list of 200 national candidates to five. Sources said the new commish could be a university president or a marketing guru or a sports executive outside of football.
One thing seems likely — the league is inclined to go outside to find its savior, which would make sense except for what one conference honcho said. “The senior administration in the Big East is as good as any conference in the nation.’’
Bailey said something fascinating: “The first step any incoming chief executive should try to figure out is who their successor should be.’’
Therein lies the Catch 22. The last chief executive of the Big East, a decent man named John Marinatto, failed in spectacular fashion. So anyone under his watch is perceived as being tainted. Yet there are some very good people who served the league under Marinatto and still serve.
One strong candidate of them is Nick Carparelli Jr., the senior associate commissioner for football and marketing.
After the formal interviews ended yesterday, Carparelli was huddled in a corner with interim commissioner Joe Bailey and Tom Odjakjian, the brilliant associate commissioner for television and men’s basketball scheduling, brainstorming ways to secure a major bowl tie-in for the league.
No one would confirm if Carparelli is one of the five men left standing. Yet there he was, guaranteeing the future of the league is bright, banging away at the league’s competitiveness and optimistically speculating about the new TV deal. He certainly seemed to have all the qualities the league is looking for. And if the league selection committee is going to hold the failings of the last administration against him, then it also must consider the huge success the league enjoyed when Carparelli was Mike Tranghese’s football consigliere.
If the Big East is intent on going outside the box then it should consider this rectangle: Promote Carparelli to commissioner and make Odjakjian his right hand man. It would be an impressive two-headed monster — Carparelli’s football expertise combined with Odjakjian’s TV knowledge.
Both have been with the league long enough that the basketball schools shouldn’t be scared off by a “football hire.’’ Odjakjian was rushing back from Newport to Providence to oversee a basketball scheduling meeting. The Big East is at its final crossroads. The journey doesn’t have to go forward with a “national” hire.