Big East basketball schools say "bye bye"

The Big East basketball only Catholic schools have had enough. They are now set to break away from the conference they founded and are fighting to take the Big East's history and assets with them. I think it makes sense and is long overdue. What they've learned is that if you expand too quickly and without much thought you undermine what you are and who you associate with. Georgetown doesn't want to play Tulane. UCF isn't going to bring in the fans at Providence. A tighter, aligned group of Catholic schools should thrive based purely on increased revenue and the chance to recruit and sell an actual identity and not some membership of an every changing group of disparate schools.

The BC and the ACC could learn a thing or two from the Catholic schools' move. For the ACC the lesson is obvious: make sure all expansions keeps the schools aligned and the schools share the same values. The ACC is moving further and further away from that and it may be our undoing. But I think there are enough like-minded schools to hold the core together. For BC, it is more of a reminder. We have real football when our other Catholic brothers do not. Our commitment to playing "big time" sports has paid off tenfold. We could have put sports on the backburner multiple times through the decades. Even joining the Big East was a risk at first. And every time we've taken a risk, we've raised the profile of the school. I don't know how the next decade will play out, but I hope BC realizes that aggressive leadership has served us well. Without it we might be Holy Cross or UConn right now.