Big East Commissioner Resigns

John Marinatto "resigned" as commissioner of the Big East Confernece.

Finally.

The man who has pretty much ruined the conference during his tenure that lasted less than three years stepped down after making a complete mockery of the name Big East.

Under Marinatto's "leadership", the Big East's football conference fell apart, losing Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia.  The conference also lost TCU, a team that never actually played a Big East game due to lack of leadership.

In their place, Marinatto invited Temple, Memphis, SMU, UCF, Houston, Boise State, San Diego State and Navy into the league, making the Big East look like a mix between the MAC, WAC and Conference USA.

The Big East had a reputation of being a mediocre football conference, which for the most part was true.  However, they did have some success on the big stage.  West Virginia dominated in this years Orange Bowl, defeating Clemson out of the ACC 70-33.  The Mountaineers also were Fiesta bowl champions in 2007, beating Oklahoma of the Big 12, 48-28 and in 2005 they downed SEC power Georgia 38-35 in the Sugar Bowl.

While as a whole, the conference hasn't had a ton of football success, the possibility to win is certainly there.

What should have happened as I have talked about on the show over the past few years:

1.Reach out to Penn State and re-start their rivalry with PITT and West Virginia.  Joe Paterno wanted a Big East before there was a Big East and that move should have been made years ago.

2. Tell Notre Dame to join the league in football or get out. The Irish participate in all of the Big East's non-football sports, most notably in basketball. An ultimatium should have been made, play football or beat it.  Think about a league with Notre Dame and Penn State playing football and now you have the ability to lure programs to you instead of everyone taking from you.

3. Add Temple and Villanova for football, both programs are located in one of the biggest media markets in the country and could with Penn State could have become a huge in-state rivalry.

4. Ask Delaware if they want to join the league, the Blue Hens are one of the top programs at the old 1AA level, plus their proximity to Philadelphia would make for more rivalry games in the league.

5. Reach back out to the old Big East teams, Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami left the conference thinking the ACC would provide greener pastures - it hasn't happened.

Here is what my Big East Conference would look like:

1. Notre Dame
2. Penn State
3. Miami
4. West Virginia
5. Pittsburgh
6. Syracuse
7. South Florida
8. Rutgers
9. UConn
10. Cincinnati
11. Louisville
12. Temple
13. Villanova
14. Delaware
15. Virginia Tech
16. Boston College

16 teams, two eight team leagues with a conference championship game.  The league would provide rivalry games almost weekly and would be located in pretty much the biggest media markets that college football provides.

That's my dream...is there a job opening for Big East commissioner?

If so, put my name in the mix.