PONTE VEDRA, Fla. (May 26, 2023) – The BIG EAST Conference concluded its annual spring meeting Thursday after four days of sessions that included the league’s directors of athletics, senior woman administrators, head men’s and women’s basketball coaches, leaders from FOX Sports and Madison Square Garden, NCAA executives and conference staff.
Topics discussed at the meeting included NCAA governance, NIL, transfers, upcoming national television coverage plans, DE&I, sports betting, future media rights planning and a host of men’s and women’s basketball matters.
The BIG EAST is celebrating a decade of achievement in its current configuration. As part of its traditional recognition at the meeting of outstanding individual contributions and service, the Conference paid tribute to Hall of Famer Jay Wright, former head men’s basketball coach at Villanova University, who led the Wildcats to NCAA national titles in 2016 and 2018; Kathy Meehan, Senior Deputy Athletics Director/SWA at St. John’s University, who is retiring after a 52-year association with the Red Storm as a student and administrator; and Larry Jones, FOX Sports Executive Vice President, who negotiated the conference’s current national television agreement.
“This year's meetings allowed us to reflect on the successes of the past decade, take stock of fast-moving currents in the college sports world, and identify priorities as we plan for next year and beyond," said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman. "We believe our basketball primacy, broad national television reach, the stature of our coaches, the appeal of our conference tournaments, our unified strategic outlook and overall brand strength create tailwinds for us as we look to serve our stakeholders and secure our future stability and standing. Our future is very bright."
Other highlights from the meetings were as follows:
Men’s Basketball — The league will enter the 2023-24 season riding a wave of basketball successes during the 2023 postseason, which culminated with the University of Connecticut’s fifth men’s basketball national championship. The title was the BIG EAST’s third men’s crown in the past seven years. Four other men’s teams earned NCAA Tournament bids: Providence; Marquette, the BIG EAST regular season and tournament champion, which advanced to the second round; Xavier, which reached the Sweet 16; and Creighton, which played in the Elite Eight. The BIG EAST's cumulative tournament win-loss record was 12-4, a ten-year high. The regular season culminated with sellouts in all five sessions of the BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden, the Tournament’s home since 1983.
Women’s Basketball — The BIG EAST sent five women’s teams to the NCAA Tournament, the league's highest number of bids since 2013. UConn, the league’s regular-season and tournament winner, and Villanova reached the Sweet 16 round, while Creighton, Marquette and St. John’s also qualified. The BIG EAST Tournament at Mohegan Sun boasted the highest attendance and viewership numbers since realignment.
NCAA Representatives -- NCAA executives who participated in the meeting included Dan Gavitt, Senior Vice President for Basketball; Kevin Lennon, Vice President for Division I Governance; Mark Hicks, Managing Director of Enforcement, who provided an update on sports betting and related monitoring strategies; and Lydia Bell (Director of Research and Policy) and Susan Peal (Director of Law, Policy and Governance), who presented an update on the transfer portal and student-athlete transfer trends.
FOX Sports – Representatives from FOX Sports, the league’s television partner, led by Executive Vice Presidents Jordan Bazant and Jones, spoke to the men’s and women’s coaching groups about plans for the 2023-24 season, including scheduling and promotional strategies to enhance their already innovative wall-to-wall coverage of BIG EAST men’s and women’s basketball. Ratings for men’s and women’s basketball on the FOX family of networks this past year were up 10% and 107%, respectively.
Madison Square Garden — Joel Fisher, Executive Vice President for Marquee Events, participated in discussions about the success of the BIG EAST Tournament and potential future events involving BIG EAST schools at The World’s Most Famous Arena.
DE&I -- Ashland Johnson, the founder of The Inclusion Playbook, briefed administrators following a six-month review on recommendations to enhance the conference’s efforts to support diversity, equity and inclusion work on member school campuses.
Mental Health – All meeting attendees noted mental health challenges among both student-athletes and school personnel. The BIG EAST will continue its annual Student-Athlete Well-Being Forum, a two-day event that addresses mental health and other topics bearing on student-athlete performance and welfare. The 2023 Forum will be conducted June 15-16 at Xavier University and will include mental health experts and DE&I professionals as speakers.
Student-Athlete Development Initiatives – The BIG EAST will continue its Freshmen Fundamentals and Transition Game programs for men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes, respectively, both to be held in September in New York City.