Rick Pitino Continues Mouthing Off About Boston College's ACC Championship Count
by Brian Favat on Oct 20, 2011 8:01 AM EDT
in Conference Expansion
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PrintLouisville basketball coach Rick Pitino had some choice words for Syracuse and Pittsburgh regarding each school's "48-hour decision" for leaving the Big East for the ACC. But he also seems fixated on putting Boston College on notice for the school's lack of ACC titles.
"Boston College has one of the premier ADs in the country, in my opinion. I worked with the man at Kentucky. So you can get $2 million more by joining the ACC? Boston College, which probably has an endowment close to a $1 billion, is going to worry about $ 2 million more? How about they only had one championship since joining the ACC in 2005. To me, I would rather win 30-40 championships and be very successful then have $2 million in my pocket. I learned that a long time ago with the Boston Celtics. I had a lot of money in my pocket, but I wasn't happy."
Here we go again with ACC title narrative. I mean, how irrational is this argument? Only on Planet Pitino does the number of conference championships a school wins validate whether a conference change was successful or not. On Planet Pitino, in said alternate universe, Boston College decided to move to the MAC back in 2004 and cleaned up on basketball and Olympic sports titles. Clearly this was the right move in Pitino's mind.
To be clear, just because Notre Dame, Louisville and Connecticut have been cleaning up wrt Big East non-revenue conference titles doesn't mean that the Big East is the best conference for these schools. Rather, it means that the level of competition is that much worse. I can't think of a non-revenue sport which the Big East is more competitive than the ACC. Baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, tennis ... all (much) more competitive in the ACC.
For whatever reason, Boston College university spokesman Jack Dunn dignified Pitino's comments with a statement:
"The primary considerations behind Boston College's decision to join the ACC were academics, conference stability and financial security. ... The financial benefit is also considerably higher than the figure suggested by Coach Pitino."
The only thing I would add to Dunn's statement is more competitive athletics.
In other Pitino news, he also made this embarrassing analogy about ACC expansion, just over a year after publicly revealing in court that he cheated on his wife of 27 years by having sex with Karen Sypher. Maybe you should spend more time working on your ACC expansion analogies and less time worrying about Boston College's non-revenue conference title count.
Someone will be sure to remind Pitino about these comments after Louisville moves to the Big 12 and fails to win 30-40 conference titles six years in, yes?
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Just comes down to the level of competition
I mean, how irrational is this argument? Only on Planet Pitino does the number of conference championships a school wins validate whether a conference change was successful or not. On Planet Pitino, in said alternate universe, Boston College decided to move to the MAC back in 2004 and cleaned up on basketball and Olympic sports titles. Clearly this was the right move in Pitino’s mind.
Agree. This is the perfect response.
by Eagle in Brighton on Oct 20, 2011 8:11 AM EDT reply actions
Yes, this
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Oct 20, 2011 8:39 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Rick Pitino clearly in a position to comment on Boston College’s conference move because he knows GDF and once coached the Celtics.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Oct 20, 2011 8:38 AM EDT via mobile reply actions 1 recs
National Championships since 2005
Boston College 2
Louisville 0
Perhaps the UofL should have stayed in Conference USA so they could win all those National Championships they haven’t won in the Big East. #PitinoLogic
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Oct 20, 2011 8:51 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Aren’t like half of UConn’s conference championships in women’s basketball anyway?
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Oct 20, 2011 9:17 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
You got to get over yourself BC Interruption
You have this sick obsession over Uconn Athletics and it is not healthy. Why can’t you just move on from 2004 and say this is a new day, new Governor, new Attorney General , New school president, etc… what happened in 2004 was almost 8 years ago. Are you really that upset that schools including Pitt were trying to protect their interest and investment in football. The same that other schools are doing now. Just get over it. Remember sticks and stone….
by uconneros on Oct 20, 2011 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
How is UConn not relevant to this conversation? Here’s Pitino on how dumb UConn is for wanting to leave because, get this … they are winning conference titles in the Big East!
“With that being said, how can you want to leave? Why would you want to leave? My biggest mistake I made in my life is when I left Camelot [Kentucky]” to lead the Boston Celtics in 1997. “They’re leaving Camelot. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.”
[snip]
“Did you ever think that it ever crossed the mind of John Wooden to go into the Atlantic Coast Conference because they were bigger than the Pac-10 when he was winning 11 championships? Pitino asked. "Do you ever think it crossed his mind? No, when you’re great winner, those things don’t cross your mind.
“The only thing that crosses your mind is the ability to win a championship and carry on the great tradition you’ve built. And then you’re going to tell me that Connecticut, which can win a BCS in football, is going to take the opportunity to try and win against Miami and those other people?”
Editor, BC Interruption
Director's Cup Standings
The Director’s Cup is awarded to the school that essentially has the most competitive athletic department overall. Higher finishes for each sports team result in higher points overall.
By this measure, and based on last year’s final standings, the ACC is unquestionably superior to the Big East.
Short summary:
ACC has five schools in the top 20 (four of which are top 10), and the bottom seven are between 45 – 75.
Big East has one in the top 20, seven in the top 65, three from 85-100, five from 110-160, and … Seton Hall.
ACC:
5 — Duke
6 — North Carolina
7 — Virginia
9 — Florida State
17 — Maryland
45 — Virginia Tech
47 — Clemson
51 — Miami
59 — Georgia Tech
64 — Boston College
67 — NC State
74 — Wake Forest
Big East:
18 — Notre Dame
34 — Louisville
40 — West Virginia
44 — Connecticut
50 — Villanova
55 — Georgetown
61 — Syracuse
86 — South Florida
94 — St. John’s
96 — Marquette
113 — Providence
123 — Pittsburgh
140 — DePaul
150 — Cincinnati
158 — Rutgers
238 — Seton Hall
Assumption is the mother of all @#%-ups.
Rick Pitino cannot be bothered with actual facts or numbers.
You see, the Big East is UConn’s Camelot.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Oct 20, 2011 10:33 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Again...
Really Editor of BC Interruption this article is about Pitino and Uconn was mentioned. Heck, Pitino has been slamming everyone thinking of leaving and his school might be doing just that soon. Stop obsessing over Uconn. You are sounding desperate.
by uconneros on Oct 20, 2011 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Sorry, you have this backwards
The UConn vs. Boston College narrative is shoved down our throats almost daily from your current school president, current state governance, head basketball coach, head football coach, the Courant, the Boston Globe and any national writer dumb enough to be sympathetic to the Huskies’ plight.
It’s the UConn camp that continues to bring up their supposed “adversarial” relationship with Boston College.
If all those UConn actors would just swallow their pride, stop playing the victim (and smearing BC in the process) and worked with the Big East to rebuild the conference, this blog would have nothing to say about the University of Connecticut.
UConn keeps bringing all this up. Not BC.
Editor, BC Interruption
A women's basketball school
Seriously, it’s as if a day can’t go by where a UConn official isn’t running his or her mouth about realignment and “woe is me, UConn.” Enough.
“They’ve been in our league (17) years, so how long are we going to date before we just decide this ain’t working. And I’m not happy about it. That’s not the opinion of the University of Connecticut, the Big East Conference, (UConn’s) president, (UConn’s) AD. That’s just Geno Auriemma’s opinion: I’m pissed about it.”
[snip]
“If Notre Dame had come in as a football and basketball school when they came in, we wouldn’t have a problem,” Auriemma said. “Miami wouldn’t have left, Virginia Tech wouldn’t have left, Boston College wouldn’t have left. We probably wouldn’t have any of these issues, would we? We’ve got one school that holds the future of our league in the palm of their hand and they’re not really that concerned about it.”
Editor, BC Interruption
It will be fun to see the decline and fall of Geno
…as Big East women’s basketball loses not only Syracuse and Pittsburgh (two middle of the pack teams), but also Louisville (when it heads to the Big 12). Maybe his gals can continue to bully Providence and Seton Hall by ridiculous scores, but eventually the program’s allure will be diminished.
Looks like West Virginia over Louisville, but result is the same.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Oct 24, 2011 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions
If Pitino hadn’t already lost all credibility, he flushed the rest down the toilet with this statement, “Boston College has one of the premier ADs in the country”.
Walk off!
by chicagofire1871 on Oct 20, 2011 11:44 AM EDT reply actions
Academics
I am asking a serious question…not trolling. Brian, in your opinion can the Boston College, Notre Dame, Stamford, etc. compete in the 21st century of college football? Been watching the decline of storied programs, an although this is much different than the Ivy League’s self imposed demise, there was a time that the Ivy was relevant, then at least competitive. My opinion is that football factories hold an unfair advantage to recruiting. As you know, I am a uconn alum, but not a troll, so I will put my two cents in. Uconn is and always will be a basketball school, the current and future BE will always be a strong BB conference, the non-football schools are stories basketball schools, so in my opinion, athletics at uconn will be fine. Football on the other hand will probably decline into a mid major football conference, which is in fact what the BE has evolved into. So with that said, this whole BCvs. Uconn banter, is just really nonsense. I do think it would be in the best interest of the fans to play each other. Love to see this happen again.
I don’t see the same decline of storied programs at top tier academic schools. I think those schools in the top-tier have been fairly consistent over the last 25+ years.
Taking the top 15 I-A schools per USN&WR, they seem to break down as follows:
Strong: Notre Dame, USC, Michigan
Middling: Boston College, Stanford (possibly in the bottom tier if not for the last few seasons), Cal, UCLA, Virginia, North Carolina
Historically Terrible: Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, Rice, Wake Forest
The above is extremely arbitrary but does factor in all-time winning pct. I think the only programs that have recently moved bands are Stanford and North Carolina (from terrible to middling). I think you can win while maintaining high academic standards. It just takes overcoming a terrible coach (Spaz for BC, Neuheisel at UCLA) or an institutional resistance to field successful football programs (Duke).
The football factories do have some recruiting advantage over the above schools (with exception of the top three), but I think if you are smart about it — through either a solid coaching hire or a department-level commitment to winning football — those advantages aren’t insurmountable. Look at Stanford’s turnaround as a recent example. I think Luck’s recruiting class was ranked in the 40s and they have been a Top 5 program last two seasons.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Oct 24, 2011 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions
Scheduling
Also, while I see some benefit to BC vs. UConn (but more benefit to UConn than BC), you have to consider that when the ACC moves to a nine-game football schedule, BC is still going to want to schedule:
1) Notre Dame, USC or other BCS AQ reach game
2) Mid-tier program from the MAC (UMass, other) or Conference USA
3) I-AA opponent
It doesn’t make a ton of sense in my mind for BC to drop Notre Dame or a winnable game against the MAC / C-USA for UConn, if you assume the I-AA game isn’t going anywhere (fairly safe assumption). Unless you play the game annually at Foxboro — which becomes more difficult when UMass starts playing there — both of our stadiums aren’t big enough to make up for the difference in revenue created when Notre Dame or USC comes to campus.
I also don’t think UConn fans realize that Boston College has much more history on the gridiron with Syracuse. The two schools have a long-term football series through 2021 where the thought was the game would be played over the final weekend of the regular season along with Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, South Carolina-Clemson, etc. BC has only played Holy Cross more than Cuse in football.
My two cents.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Oct 24, 2011 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions
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