To the ACC: What did SU have to lose?
Typical for me, when I heard the big news of Syracuse's move to the ACC, I immediately rationalized it. Big East football struck an iceberg when Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College fled to the ACC, and, Doug Marrone's impressive fiddling on the deck notwithstanding, SU's program was slowly going down with the ship. Like it or not, even in Syracuse, football money makes the athletic budget. Like it or not, it's a more popular sport that gets higher TV ratings and thus higher TV contracts. Like it or not, college sports conferences are gradually cobbling together into four major mega-conferences. For the sake of its athletic budget's bottom line, SU had to get into one of those conferences. And because of the momentum started when Miami and BC left in 2004, the Big East was losing its credentials as a major football conference. We had to go.
The good news, for us basketball lovers, is we went to a great basketball conference. Given a choice between the ACC and the Big Ten (another possible destination), give me ACC hoops any year. Yes, ACC has been a bit down recently, but that will always be basketball country. Duke and UNC in the dome? Sign me up! And if UConn joins, all the better. I'm sure we can schedule a regular home-and-home series with Georgetown.
The Big East has been a great basketball conference, but nothing lasts forever. I LOVE the giant basketball conference the Big East has. It's been great. I love the conference regular season. And the Big East tournament for the last ten years or so will go down as one of the most exciting stretches of conference tournament basketball ever. Attending the Big East tournament is one of the most fun experiences I've ever had at a live sporting event. It's so special. I hope (against hope, when you think about it, unless the Big East totally shuts down) that the ACC tournament could rotate into the Garden every few years. That place...that city was made for post-season college basketball.
Rationally, I'm on board. SU has to join or fall behind. And as a glass is half-full guy, my heart came around quickly. ACC basketball! If you counted up who was in the "Best Basketball Conference" the most over the last 30 years, ACC and Big East must be right at the top.
So that's what I've been telling people around town when I'm asked about it.
But...
I've been thinking... That, above, is a rational explanation for SU's move based on a few assumptions about college sports and about the world. A stronger conference means more money. More money is good for the program and the school. A stronger conference means more prestige. Prestige is also good for basketball and football. The move to the ACC will make SU more successful than it would be in the Big East.
It occurred to me that I was using a double standard. I realized that the rationale I was applying to SU's decision didn't apply to me. I don't place money, prestige, and success at the top of my list of desires for a fulfilling life. So shouldn't I apply my own beliefs to my football team? Loyalty? Integrity? Honor? Faith? I want to be about those things. Yet I just want my football team to be about success and money.
The interesting thing is it appears Syracuse's Chancellor Nancy Cantor, in some ways, is trying to build a university that is about more than just churning out max-earning 22-year-olds. I spent my summer working with SU's Near Westside Initiative, a program founded by SU to develop one of Syracuse's poorest neighborhoods and one of the many ways the University is investing in the city beyond the confines of campus. Cantor has also directed the admissions department to accept a more diverse student body at the expense of selectivity. By traditional measures of a University, this would decrease SU's rankings and thus diminish the value of its degree. Cantor argues a more diverse student body would enhance the university in many other ways. It's a
fascinating and incredibly radical argument. On the other hand, her insanely political quote in Gene Wojciechowski's column today, that the move to the ACC would benefit SU's "Olympic sports," implies there's not much more to this than money
So for the rest of this post let's just stop and think...
What if SU made decisions, not based on money, but based rather on another, more noble set of values?
(Before we get to my imaginings, I should point out one underlying difference in this alternate universe that would lead SU to choose not to go to the ACC. Back in 2004 and '05, Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel was winding down his career at SU. As I understand it, SU might have had an opportunity to jump conferences then, but stuck with the Big East, the conference Crouthamel helped found. In June 2005, Crouthamel left. Daryl Gross took his place, and Gross's fingerprints are all over this move. (It's also worth noting that Cantor began at SU in 2004.) In this alternate universe, Crouthamel is succeeded not by Gross, but by his imaginary son, Jake Crouthamel, Jr.)
September 19, 2011
Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel Jr. holds a press conference to announce that Syracuse will NOT join the ACC. His remarks will be quoted in the coming years whenever a sports writer discusses Syracuse's sports program:
"Over the past few weeks we have been in negotiation with the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC offered us a spot in their fine conference. As you have probably heard, the University of Pittsburgh will be joining the ACC. However, the Chancellor and I, after consulting with members of our University's athletic and academic community, decided to reject the offer. Seven years ago, my father announced that Syracuse would stay loyal to the conference we helped found despite the departure of other universities. Today, I am proud to say this university will continue to live up to the loyalty we demonstrated then.
"But it's not just about my father. We have a contractual membership in the Big East to live up to. More than that, we have a relationship with the Big East that goes back over thirty years. We have history here. Our success is to the Big East's benefit. The Big East's success is to our benefit. Should we sell that now for a bag of gold coins? Is that all that matters? Syracuse University says no. Loyalty matters. Integrity matters. Your word matters. History, I think, matters. The Big East has been and will continue to be a great football conference. We've just created one of the best lacrosse conferences in the country. And it will continue to be THE BEST basketball conference - heck, a least we'll score more points with that boring Pitt team gone!
"So we're going to stay. We're going to play basketball in the Garden. We're going to send a team to the BCS, if the BCS will still have us. And, as long as I'm athletic director, we're going to continue to have our young men and women compete in the Big East conference!"
[Note: wow, that's even crazier as I re-read it than it was in my head. Oh well. Let's keep going. Faster paced now...]
October 2011
Syracuse fans' opinions on Crouthamel's stand remain mixed, but the more cynical fans start to come around as the media mostly takes Crouthamel's side. Sports Illustrated runs a story profiling SU called, "The School That Stayed." ESPN College Gameday also runs a favorable profile of Crouthamel.
September 2012
ESPN College Gameday comes to Syracuse for the Big East regular season opener, talking up Big East football as the plucky underdog playing with the big boys. By this point the narrative is sealed into college athletics lore - Syracuse is the University, and the Big East is the conference that stayed true to tradition while other schools were out chasing money.
April 2013
2-seed Syracuse loses the college basketball national championship to North Carolina in a double overtime thriller. En route to the championship game, SU knocked off Pitt and Boston College, a coincidence that doesn't go unnoticed by the media and fans. Nationally, college basketball fans overwhelmingly support the Orange throughout their run.
April 2014
Jim Boeheim retires. Assistant Coach Mike Hopkins take his place.
November 2014
Doug Marrone leads the Orange to the Big East conference title, the first time Syracuse finishes alone at the top since 1998. Unfortunately, the Big East's automatic bid in the BCS was removed in the renewed contract the previous winter, so Syracuse settles for the Champs Sports Bowl. They wax ACC's 4th best team, Virginia Tech, 49-24.
December 2014
#10 Syracuse upsets #1 Duke at the dome in an emotional ACC-Big East challenge game. Dion Waiters becomes an internet hero after he punches Duke's star forward after the Duke player body slammed Waiters' teammate who was going up for a fast break dunk.
April 2016
After a disappointing regular season (other than another upset win over Pitt in the ACC-Big East challenge), the 8-seed Orange make the Final Four, once again becoming the nation's darlings after they upset 1-seed UNC in the 2nd round. The week of the Final Four, Otto the Orange appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated standing on a pile of stuffed-toy mascots from the ACC. SU loses to the eventual national champion, Butler but dominates the "One Shining Moment" video.
May 2016
SU beats Duke 20-2 for their fourth-straight lacrosse national championship. They are the first lacrosse team to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated since I don't know when... a long time. A year later to the day, Sports Illustrated eliminates its print version.
May 2019
After missing the NCAA tournament for three straight seasons, Mike Hopkins is fired and replaced by former Ohio State, Xavier, and Butler coach Thad Matta, who had taken a year off from coaching. In his first remarks after being hired, Thad says, "I'm excited to come coach in a real basketball conference!" A reporter asks him if he's going to play more 2-3 zone than he did at Ohio State. "It's in my contract," he deadpans.
December 2019
Before the annual ACC-Big East challenge game - this year against UConn who took the spot in the ACC SU turned down - Matta acknowledges, "We have three goals every season here at Syracuse. 1.)Win the ACC-Big East Challenge Game. 2.) Win the national championship, 3.) Win the Big East Championship...in that order."
January 2020
For the first time ever, college football has a playoff system and Big East champ Syracuse squeezes in as an 8-seed. 1-seed Nebraska is favored by more than two touchdowns, but, with Jim Brown and Donovan McNabb watching on the sidelines, the Doug Marrone-coached Syracuse pulls off the miracle win in the Cotton Bowl.
January 2026
Doug Marrone gets Syracuse back to the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. Again an 8-seed (the Big East, at this point, has never gotten a seed higher than a 6), the Orange face undefeated Florida State. The year before, Florida State came into the dome and beat Syracuse 48-7. Vegas brings the line down from 24 to as low as 18 as money pours in on Syracuse's side, though the professional betters hammer the Seminoles.
The game is sloppy, but the fourth quarter finish is among the most exciting ever as Syracuse scores 21 points to come from behind and win. SportsCenter opens with Crouthamel's legendary 2011 speech over highlights of the game. SU ends up losing in the finals. It would be Marrone's only appearance in the championship game during his legendary 36-year stint as coach of the Orange.
April 2045
Syracuse wins its third national championship in eleven years under head coach Gerry McNamara. 101-year-old Jim Boeheim stands on the podium with the team as they receive the trophy. Three weeks later he passes away. According to legend, his last words are, "Keep the perimeter active!"
September 2111
Football is abolished by law due to mounting injuries and deaths on the playing field. Anyway, basketball, lacrosse, and soccer have long ago surpassed football as the most popular American sports. (The MLB went out of business in 2027.) Everyone agrees that the Big East is the best athletic conference in the country, and Syracuse is probably the best sports school, although an argument could be made for Butler.
The good news, for us basketball lovers, is we went to a great basketball conference. Given a choice between the ACC and the Big Ten (another possible destination), give me ACC hoops any year. Yes, ACC has been a bit down recently, but that will always be basketball country. Duke and UNC in the dome? Sign me up! And if UConn joins, all the better. I'm sure we can schedule a regular home-and-home series with Georgetown.
The Big East has been a great basketball conference, but nothing lasts forever. I LOVE the giant basketball conference the Big East has. It's been great. I love the conference regular season. And the Big East tournament for the last ten years or so will go down as one of the most exciting stretches of conference tournament basketball ever. Attending the Big East tournament is one of the most fun experiences I've ever had at a live sporting event. It's so special. I hope (against hope, when you think about it, unless the Big East totally shuts down) that the ACC tournament could rotate into the Garden every few years. That place...that city was made for post-season college basketball.
Rationally, I'm on board. SU has to join or fall behind. And as a glass is half-full guy, my heart came around quickly. ACC basketball! If you counted up who was in the "Best Basketball Conference" the most over the last 30 years, ACC and Big East must be right at the top.
So that's what I've been telling people around town when I'm asked about it.
But...
I've been thinking... That, above, is a rational explanation for SU's move based on a few assumptions about college sports and about the world. A stronger conference means more money. More money is good for the program and the school. A stronger conference means more prestige. Prestige is also good for basketball and football. The move to the ACC will make SU more successful than it would be in the Big East.
It occurred to me that I was using a double standard. I realized that the rationale I was applying to SU's decision didn't apply to me. I don't place money, prestige, and success at the top of my list of desires for a fulfilling life. So shouldn't I apply my own beliefs to my football team? Loyalty? Integrity? Honor? Faith? I want to be about those things. Yet I just want my football team to be about success and money.
The interesting thing is it appears Syracuse's Chancellor Nancy Cantor, in some ways, is trying to build a university that is about more than just churning out max-earning 22-year-olds. I spent my summer working with SU's Near Westside Initiative, a program founded by SU to develop one of Syracuse's poorest neighborhoods and one of the many ways the University is investing in the city beyond the confines of campus. Cantor has also directed the admissions department to accept a more diverse student body at the expense of selectivity. By traditional measures of a University, this would decrease SU's rankings and thus diminish the value of its degree. Cantor argues a more diverse student body would enhance the university in many other ways. It's a
fascinating and incredibly radical argument. On the other hand, her insanely political quote in Gene Wojciechowski's column today, that the move to the ACC would benefit SU's "Olympic sports," implies there's not much more to this than moneySo for the rest of this post let's just stop and think...
What if SU made decisions, not based on money, but based rather on another, more noble set of values?
(Before we get to my imaginings, I should point out one underlying difference in this alternate universe that would lead SU to choose not to go to the ACC. Back in 2004 and '05, Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel was winding down his career at SU. As I understand it, SU might have had an opportunity to jump conferences then, but stuck with the Big East, the conference Crouthamel helped found. In June 2005, Crouthamel left. Daryl Gross took his place, and Gross's fingerprints are all over this move. (It's also worth noting that Cantor began at SU in 2004.) In this alternate universe, Crouthamel is succeeded not by Gross, but by his imaginary son, Jake Crouthamel, Jr.)
September 19, 2011
Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel Jr. holds a press conference to announce that Syracuse will NOT join the ACC. His remarks will be quoted in the coming years whenever a sports writer discusses Syracuse's sports program:
"Over the past few weeks we have been in negotiation with the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC offered us a spot in their fine conference. As you have probably heard, the University of Pittsburgh will be joining the ACC. However, the Chancellor and I, after consulting with members of our University's athletic and academic community, decided to reject the offer. Seven years ago, my father announced that Syracuse would stay loyal to the conference we helped found despite the departure of other universities. Today, I am proud to say this university will continue to live up to the loyalty we demonstrated then.
"But it's not just about my father. We have a contractual membership in the Big East to live up to. More than that, we have a relationship with the Big East that goes back over thirty years. We have history here. Our success is to the Big East's benefit. The Big East's success is to our benefit. Should we sell that now for a bag of gold coins? Is that all that matters? Syracuse University says no. Loyalty matters. Integrity matters. Your word matters. History, I think, matters. The Big East has been and will continue to be a great football conference. We've just created one of the best lacrosse conferences in the country. And it will continue to be THE BEST basketball conference - heck, a least we'll score more points with that boring Pitt team gone!
"So we're going to stay. We're going to play basketball in the Garden. We're going to send a team to the BCS, if the BCS will still have us. And, as long as I'm athletic director, we're going to continue to have our young men and women compete in the Big East conference!"
[Note: wow, that's even crazier as I re-read it than it was in my head. Oh well. Let's keep going. Faster paced now...]
October 2011
Syracuse fans' opinions on Crouthamel's stand remain mixed, but the more cynical fans start to come around as the media mostly takes Crouthamel's side. Sports Illustrated runs a story profiling SU called, "The School That Stayed." ESPN College Gameday also runs a favorable profile of Crouthamel.
September 2012
ESPN College Gameday comes to Syracuse for the Big East regular season opener, talking up Big East football as the plucky underdog playing with the big boys. By this point the narrative is sealed into college athletics lore - Syracuse is the University, and the Big East is the conference that stayed true to tradition while other schools were out chasing money.
April 2013
2-seed Syracuse loses the college basketball national championship to North Carolina in a double overtime thriller. En route to the championship game, SU knocked off Pitt and Boston College, a coincidence that doesn't go unnoticed by the media and fans. Nationally, college basketball fans overwhelmingly support the Orange throughout their run.
April 2014
Jim Boeheim retires. Assistant Coach Mike Hopkins take his place.
November 2014
Doug Marrone leads the Orange to the Big East conference title, the first time Syracuse finishes alone at the top since 1998. Unfortunately, the Big East's automatic bid in the BCS was removed in the renewed contract the previous winter, so Syracuse settles for the Champs Sports Bowl. They wax ACC's 4th best team, Virginia Tech, 49-24.
December 2014
#10 Syracuse upsets #1 Duke at the dome in an emotional ACC-Big East challenge game. Dion Waiters becomes an internet hero after he punches Duke's star forward after the Duke player body slammed Waiters' teammate who was going up for a fast break dunk.
April 2016
After a disappointing regular season (other than another upset win over Pitt in the ACC-Big East challenge), the 8-seed Orange make the Final Four, once again becoming the nation's darlings after they upset 1-seed UNC in the 2nd round. The week of the Final Four, Otto the Orange appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated standing on a pile of stuffed-toy mascots from the ACC. SU loses to the eventual national champion, Butler but dominates the "One Shining Moment" video.
May 2016
SU beats Duke 20-2 for their fourth-straight lacrosse national championship. They are the first lacrosse team to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated since I don't know when... a long time. A year later to the day, Sports Illustrated eliminates its print version.
May 2019
After missing the NCAA tournament for three straight seasons, Mike Hopkins is fired and replaced by former Ohio State, Xavier, and Butler coach Thad Matta, who had taken a year off from coaching. In his first remarks after being hired, Thad says, "I'm excited to come coach in a real basketball conference!" A reporter asks him if he's going to play more 2-3 zone than he did at Ohio State. "It's in my contract," he deadpans.
December 2019
Before the annual ACC-Big East challenge game - this year against UConn who took the spot in the ACC SU turned down - Matta acknowledges, "We have three goals every season here at Syracuse. 1.)Win the ACC-Big East Challenge Game. 2.) Win the national championship, 3.) Win the Big East Championship...in that order."
January 2020
For the first time ever, college football has a playoff system and Big East champ Syracuse squeezes in as an 8-seed. 1-seed Nebraska is favored by more than two touchdowns, but, with Jim Brown and Donovan McNabb watching on the sidelines, the Doug Marrone-coached Syracuse pulls off the miracle win in the Cotton Bowl.
January 2026
Doug Marrone gets Syracuse back to the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. Again an 8-seed (the Big East, at this point, has never gotten a seed higher than a 6), the Orange face undefeated Florida State. The year before, Florida State came into the dome and beat Syracuse 48-7. Vegas brings the line down from 24 to as low as 18 as money pours in on Syracuse's side, though the professional betters hammer the Seminoles.
The game is sloppy, but the fourth quarter finish is among the most exciting ever as Syracuse scores 21 points to come from behind and win. SportsCenter opens with Crouthamel's legendary 2011 speech over highlights of the game. SU ends up losing in the finals. It would be Marrone's only appearance in the championship game during his legendary 36-year stint as coach of the Orange.
April 2045
Syracuse wins its third national championship in eleven years under head coach Gerry McNamara. 101-year-old Jim Boeheim stands on the podium with the team as they receive the trophy. Three weeks later he passes away. According to legend, his last words are, "Keep the perimeter active!"
September 2111
Football is abolished by law due to mounting injuries and deaths on the playing field. Anyway, basketball, lacrosse, and soccer have long ago surpassed football as the most popular American sports. (The MLB went out of business in 2027.) Everyone agrees that the Big East is the best athletic conference in the country, and Syracuse is probably the best sports school, although an argument could be made for Butler.
Labels: ACC, Big East, Conference realignment, Darryl Gross, Jake Crouthamel, Syracuse University
posted by Prof. A at 7:51 PM
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