WASHINGTON — Chris Rotelli played all season like he couldn’t care less
about individual awards. Despite that — or because of it — he won the biggest
one that the sport of college lacrosse has to offer.
Virginia’s senior midfielder was named the 2003 recipient of the Tewaaraton
Trophy — the lacrosse equivalent of football’s Heisman — on Wednesday night.
In a ceremony at the National Geographic Building, the leader of the national
champion Cavaliers was honored as much for his intangible qualities as for his
26 goals and 23 assists.
Rotelli’s all-around excellence, selfless play and inspirational work ethic
set the tone for Virginia all season. Appropriately, then, he said he
considered the award a reflection of the team’s success.
“It’s a little uncomfortable because I can’t include all my teammates in this,
but they are as much a part of this as I am,” Rotelli said. “This is for the
team. I had such great teammates, they made it easy for me so I didn’t have to
try to do too much. I was able to play unselfishly.
“To tell the truth, I wasn’t focused on winning this at all. I was focused on
winning the national championship. This is icing on the cake.”
Princeton senior defender Rachael Becker, who led the Tigers to their second
straight NCAA title, was the women’s Tewaaraton winner. The five men’s and
five women’s finalists, including UVa senior midfielder Lauren Aumiller, all
were at the awards presentation. Like the Heisman ceremony, none of the
players knew who won until the names were announced.
“Chris was the clear choice of the committee,” said UVa coach Dom Starsia, one
of seven members of the Tewaaraton men’s selection committee. “He was the
heart and soul of the program. When your best player is your hardest worker,
you know you have a chance. We had a lot of great leaders, but Chris was the
emotional linchpin of this team.”
Rotelli was chosen over Syracuse junior attackman Michael Powell (last year’s
winner), Johns Hopkins sophomore midfielder Kyle Harrison, Johns Hopkins
senior midfielder Adam Doneger and Duke senior midfielder Kevin Caccese.
Aumiller was a women’s finalist for the second straight year. Maryland junior
midfielder Kelly Coppedge, Loyola senior attack Suzanne Eyler and James
Madison senior attack Lisa Staedt also were finalists.
Rotelli is the first Cavalier to win the Tewaaraton, which is only three years
old. Two Virginia players won the previous player of the year trophy, the
Enners Award: Pete Eldredge (1972) and Doug Knight (1996).
Not long ago, Rotelli seemed like an unlikely candidate for such an honor. A
native of Rumford, Rhode Island, not exactly a lacrosse hotbed, he came to
Virginia as a one-dimensional player. He scored goals but did little else his
first two seasons.
Gradually, however, Rotelli evolved into a consummate team player, vastly
improving as a defender and passer. This season he was especially proud of his
23 assists, five more than his previous career total. But he never forgot how
to score.
Rotelli recorded hat tricks in six games this season, including four goals
in a 10-7 road victory over Princeton. He had one goal and four assists in the
NCAA championship game, a 9-7 triumph over Johns Hopkins, and finished tied
for the team lead with 49 points.
“None of us expected this, but he grew up so much in the last year,” Starsia
said. “You couldn’t have anticipated this a year or two ago. It’s really been
fun to watch. This is a storybook ending to a great career for him. Chris
really had a great season. I’m really, really happy for him.”
After posing for pictures with the bronze trophy, which features a Mohawk
native player in honor of the game’s Native American heritage, Rotelli smiled.
The award was the culmination of what he called “a crazy couple weeks.” He won
the national title and was named an All-American on May 26. Last week he was
the first pick of the Major League Lacrosse draft (by Bridgeport) and played
in his first pro game last weekend.
“Everything hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he said. “But I guess it can’t get any
better than this.”
Note. Four other Cavaliers were selected in the Major League Lacrosse draft. Midfielder A.J. Shannon went fourth overall to New Jersey, midfielder Billy Glading was picked by Rochester in the third round (17th overall), Baltimore took long-stick middie Trey Whitty in the fourth round (24th) and defenseman Ned Bowen was chosen by Boston in the fifth round (27th).
Tech president not giving up
Steger says no official offers made
BY MIKE HARRIS AND MARSHA MERCER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS Jun 05, 2003
WASHINGTON - Don't count Virginia Tech President Charles Steger among those who
see it as a foregone conclusion that Miami, Boston College and Syracuse will
leave the Big East Conference for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"It's not over," Steger said. "No, it's not over."
Steger and some colleagues met yesterday with Miami President Donna Shalala.
Miami is seen as the ringleader of the potential defection. Shalala's decision
on whether to take her school out of the Big East is expected to be followed
shortly by similar decisions from Boston College and Syracuse.
Shalala, a former secretary of Health and Human Services, was in Washington to
speak at a seminar on the future of Congress and the government after a
terrorist attack. She agreed to meet afterward with Steger, David Hardesty of
West Virginia, Richard McCormick of Rutgers, Philip Austin of Connecticut and
Mark Nordenberg of Pittsburgh.
Those are the five football schools that would be left behind - and left in a
bind - in the Big East by a defection. The leaders wanted an opportunity to
discuss with Shalala what such a defection could do to their universities. The
ACC yesterday finished site visits with the three schools and could issue a
formal invitation any day.
Shalala did not speak with the media after the meeting at the offices of the
American Enterprise Institute. Miami did issue a statement from her shortly
after the meeting ended.
"Being a university president myself, I fully understand the importance of
making decisions based upon doing the correct thing for your institution - not
only for the short term but for the long haul as well," Shalala said. "We had a
thoughtful dialogue today. The University of Miami will continue to review
possible changes in our athletic alignment."
A move by Miami would force Tech and the others to make changes as well. Steger
said his school has not been approached by any other conference.
He didn't offer many specifics of yesterday's meeting.
"We just shared a lot of points of view," Steger said. "We didn't come to any
conclusions."
The meeting lasted about an hour, and Steger described it as a "very cordial
discussion. Nobody got angry."
No specific proposals were made, Steger said, but more meetings are a
possibility. He noted that he and the other presidents "have had a series of
discussions and we'll probably continue to do that. We might have some
additional meetings with Miami, BC and Syracuse."
Money is the root of Miami's wanderlust. The Hurricanes won the national
football championship in 2001 and lost to Ohio State in the championship game
this past season. Yet the school's athletic department is said to be losing
money. Several sources reported last week that the Big East has offered Miami a
payout of $9 million a year for four or five years, regardless of whether it
earns the league's Bowl Championship Series bid. The ACC reportedly is prepared
to offer at least $9.7 million a year.
"The financial dimension of the problem is a large part of it," Steger said.
"The ACC supposedly has not made an offer."
But that offer could come at any time, the formal one at least. Some sources
believe the deal already has been worked out informally while the league and the
schools went through with proper procedure.
U.Va. might have to make sacrifices
Fewer games vs. UNC, Duke?
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 05, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE - For a half-century, a major incentive for purchasing season
tickets to University of Virginia men's basketball games has been this: The
buyer is assured a seat when Duke and North Carolina visit University Hall each
winter.
If the Atlantic Coast Conference, as expected, expands from nine to 12 schools
by adding Miami, Boston College and Syracuse, then Blue Devils and Tar Heels may
not come to town so often. Unless the ACC adopts a 22-game conference schedule -
and it has no intention of doing so - the days of every school playing an annual
home-and-home series with each of its counterparts would end.
Something would have to give for each of the ACC's current members. For U.Va.,
that could well mean annual home games with Duke and Carolina. Expansion would
affect other longtime series, too.
"I think everybody understands that if you do this, you do it with the big
picture in mind," ACC Commissioner John Swofford said yesterday at a news
conference in Syracuse.
"And it may not be exactly what Maryland would want. It might not be exactly
what N.C. State would want. It might not be exactly what Syracuse would want,
but in the whole scheme of things and in the big picture and in the long run, it
makes sense, and the benefits of it would far outweigh some of the individual
concerns that a particular institution might have."
If the ACC succeeds in adding the three Big East schools it has targeted, the
conference would split into two six-school divisions, perhaps as early as
2004-05. In basketball, schools probably would play 16 or 17 conference games.
That would mean a home-and-home series with each divisional partner, a
home-and-home series with a "natural rival" from the opposite division and
single games with four - or all five - of the other schools in the opposite
division. One scenario under consideration would pair these "natural rivals" as
follows: Virginia-Maryland, UNC-N.C. State, Duke-Wake Forest, Georgia
Tech-Clemson, Florida State-Miami and Syracuse-BC.
U.Va. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage and the three ACC representatives who
met with reporters yesterday at Syracuse - Swofford, Maryland AD Debbie Yow and
N.C. State AD Lee Fowler - stressed that the divisions haven't been determined
and would not be until input from new members was considered.
"Some of the things that will be resolved," Fowler said, "will be resolved by
all 12 if we become a 12-team league. So divisional and that sort of thing are
the type issues that Syracuse and Boston College and Miami would be involved
in."
Which is not to say ACC officials haven't discussed potential divisions.
"In the last month or so, particularly in the meetings we've had face to face,
we've just taken a shot at a number of different variations," Littlepage said.
"We were at the very least able to articulate institutional priorities: Who are
the teams that we feel are the most important rivals from an institutional
standpoint."
When splitting up schools, Littlepage said, the "tricky thing is trying to do
that in such a way that you have a consistent alignment that holds up for
basketball and football."
Rest assured, archrivals UNC and Duke would continue to meet in Durham and
Chapel Hill each basketball season, regardless of where they were placed. More
uncertainty surrounds the future of U.Va.'s series with each of those perennial
powers.
"If by chance an alignment would shake out with us opposite one or both of
them," Littlepage said, "having one of them at home each year would be very
important."
For many U.Va. fans, UNC is the team they'd most like to see the Cavaliers beat,
no matter the sport.
"But when you talk about a traditional rival, that is a two-way street,"
Littlepage said. "If you ask a North Carolina follower, Virginia would probably
be third or fourth on the list of natural rivals."
That's why Virginia would almost certainly be paired with Maryland. Littlepage
cited the schools' proximity to each other and "the way football and basketball
matchups have gone the last 10 or 15 years."
ACC’s ‘tour’ ends; Swofford says expansion not done deal
By NEIL AMATO : The Herald-Sun
namato@heraldsun.com
Jun 4, 2003 : 10:48 pm ET
Syracuse athletics director Jake Crouthamel is trying to put aside his feelings
for the Big East and deal with the reality of leaving the conference he helped
found.
Crouthamel has been the AD at Syracuse for 25 years, taking over one year before
the Big East began. Now, he is the point man on a move that would deplete the
Big East and turn the ACC into a 12-team superconference with the addition of
Syracuse, Boston College and Miami. Each of those schools had meetings with an
ACC delegation in the past week, and a move appears imminent now that those
visits, mandated by ACC bylaws, are finished.
Crouthamel is a friend of Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, but Crouthamel
said Wednesday that he was looking out for his school’s future.
"Mike has an emotional attachment to this conference, as do I," Crouthamel said.
"I have to get through the emotional part, because we’re dealing with reality.
We’re not dealing with fun and games. We’re dealing with the stability and the
future of our program. That must be very personal, not emotional. While I still
have that twinge of emotion, it’s becoming a lot more of a kind of personal
decision, personal to Syracuse University, our stability, our ability to stay
competitive in the marketplace of college athletics."
Crouthamel made those comments shortly after the completion of the ACC’s
official visit to Syracuse. ACC commissioner John Swofford made the trip, along
with N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler, Maryland AD Deborah Yow and other
league officials.
While all parties said no assurances had been made on either side, a move to add
the three teams appears to face no roadblocks. ACC presidents voted in May to
pursue those three schools, and each site visit has yielded similar official
impressions: the schools were impressed with the ACC, which in turn liked what
it saw and heard on campus.
Swofford said the next step in the process was going back to the league’s nine
presidents or chancellors and presenting the information gathered on the visits.
Then, he said, the leaders of BC, Miami and Syracuse would talk with the ACC
presidents or chancellors and try to address "any lingering questions," such as
how the teams would be split into divisions. When asked when he would talk to
Miami president Donna Shalala, who met with some Big East officials Wednesday in
Washington, Swofford said: "If not the end of this week, certainly the first of
next week."
Swofford stressed that expansion was not a done deal. "This is a two-way street,
as expansion always is," he said. "The ultimate decision as to whether,
together, we take the next step is always a two-way street."
Swofford estimated a decision by the end of June. Swofford would like to expand
to 12 teams for several reasons, including the chance for more revenue in
football and a stronger postseason presence in football and basketball.
"We don’t have a league that’s broken," Swofford said. "It’s not like it needs
to be fixed. It’s more about looking ahead to the future and what’s going on
around us. I think the landscape will change whether we’re a part of that change
or not.
"Whether we’re nine or we’re 12, I hope we would continue to have that strength
and stability. It’s a question of maximizing potential — to have a position of
influence and strength for the future. It’s not just financial. You need for it
to work financially, and you want it to, but that’s not the only aspect of
this."
Crouthamel said that his school had been given plenty of information but would
need several days to analyze it. "We still have some stuff to find out," he
said.
However, Crouthamel talked about Syracuse and the ACC having "sameness" and said
the official visit process was "fun."
"I don’t think it’s a matter of knowing more about the ACC as a conference," he
said. "I think it’s more a matter of having now a clear awareness of where the
ACC wants to position itself for the future, and I can’t help but applaud that.
"Maybe it could be said that we in the Big East could have been more proactive.
I think the ACC being proactive, given the current marketplace, the way it’s
headed nationally, and I applaud them. Does that position set well with current
members of the Big East? Clearly not."
Still being a current member, Crouthamel feels some tugging at his heart. But
his brain also has a say, and Crouthamel seemed resigned to his school leaving
for the ACC.
Syracuse gives ACC no promises
But Swofford says league 'left with positive feeling'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Christian Ewell
Sun Staff
Originally published June 5, 2003
The Atlantic Coast Conference took another step toward adding three Big East
schools to its membership yesterday, as a league group ended its visit to
Syracuse.
Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow was one of the ACC contingent, which
included league commissioner John Swofford and North Carolina State AD Lee
Fowler.
An expansion announcement could come by the end of the month, Swofford said.
Though he said that Syracuse gave no assurances that it would join the ACC, "we
left with a positive feeling, and we haven't seen anything that would leave us
with the impression that the possibility [Syracuse's leaving] is not there,"
Swofford added.
"The prevailing thought is that the visit was very productive and, to be candid,
the athletic program is very impressive," Yow said of Syracuse.
Miami and Boston College, the other potential ACC newcomers, were the hosts to
conference groups in the last week.
ACC by-laws require the visits for expansion, a process the league is hoping to
complete for the third time in its 50-year history. The aim is a 12-team league
able to attract increased revenue, including a conference championship game in
football.
Though the visits were considered a formality, they were designed to give the
ACC a first-hand examination of the prospective schools. Yesterday's visit
allowed ACC officials "to know more about Syracuse and for Syracuse to know more
about the Atlantic Coast Conference," Swofford said. Among other things, the
parties discussed how the 12 teams would be divided, financial implications and
scheduling.
Swofford said the next step for the ACC is for its school presidents to discuss
the matter between themselves and then with the presidents at Boston College,
Syracuse and Miami.
Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel maintained that his school - seen as
the reluctant one of the trio possibly leaving the Big East - has not made a
decision on leaving its current league. He said the visit hadn't necessarily
altered his view one way or the other, though the school's president, Kenneth
Shaw, will make the call.
The nine-school ACC generated $9.7 million in revenue in the 2001-2002 school
year. Crouthamel has said he is concerned with the ACC's higher revenue
projections for the expanded conference. Yesterday, he said he got the
information he wanted on Tuesday, but the school's officials haven't had the
chance to analyze it.
"Some of this is a leap of faith, but, it is a calculated leap of faith,"
Crouthamel said. ""There's got to be some substance to it [the potential
expansion] or we wouldn't be engaged in the exercise from either side."
Also yesterday, Miami president Donna Shalala met in Washington with officials
from the five Big East schools that would remain if Miami, Syracuse and Boston
College left. In a one-hour meeting at the American Enterprise Institute, the
presidents at Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Rutgers, West Virginia and Virginia Tech
met with Shalala as part of a last-ditch effort to keep her school in the
league.
Last week, the league promised Miami $9 million in each of the next five years
in return for the school's loyalty. Virginia Tech president Charles Steger said
he anticipated more meetings between the group and Miami before it makes a
decision.
They are the future casualties of ACC expansion, great players whose careers won't be forgotten -- but won't be entirely remembered, either.
Maybe it'll happen to Gerry McNamara, a sweet-shooting freshman on the 2002-03 Syracuse basketball team. Maybe it'll be Craig Smith, a Boston College freshman who averaged 19.9 points this season. Maybe Frank Gore, a tailback at Miami who once beat out future Heisman Trophy winner Willis McGahee.
It'll be someone -- perhaps someone still in high school, a junior or senior destined to star at Miami, Syracuse or Boston College and then be forgotten because timing is, as they say, everything.
If those three schools leave the Big East as expected to join the ACC in 2004 or '05, they will make nomads of their players, whose career statistics will be broken in two by time spent in both leagues. The Big East won't honor personal statistics achieved by a player in the ACC, and vice versa. Records will be approached or even broken, but no one will know.
It happened to Kez McCorvey, a Florida State receiver in 1991-94 who doesn't appear in the ACC's top 10 for career receptions despite being tied with Clarkston Hines at 189, the No. 6 total in league history. The Seminoles were a football independent in 1991, his freshman season. Those 22 catches McCorvey had in 1991? Didn't happen, according to the ACC.
Neither did the final two seasons of Kevin Joyce's basketball career at South Carolina. Joyce became a U.S. Olympian and a guard in the NBA, but as far as the ACC is concerned, his career ended the moment the Gamecocks seceded from the league after the 1970-71 season, his sophomore year.
"I never cared about records or statistics," said Joyce, who scored 1,400 points and shot 81.3 percent from the foul line in three seasons, "but I suppose it would be interesting to see how you compared to other players in your league."
There is wiggle room here, gray area for the ACC to shade however it wants -- and it has been shaded in various hues.
When the ACC formed in 1953 around a seven-school nucleus (plus Virginia, seven months later) from the old Southern Conference, officials of the new league voted to recognize statistics of players whose careers had begun in the Southern Conference.
That's why Wake Forest center Dickie Hemric is the ACC's official leader in career points (2,587) and rebounds (1,802) despite having spent only his junior and senior seasons in the ACC.
The ACC's next two expansions were handled differently. Georgia Tech agreed to join the ACC in 1978, and although its football team didn't compete in the league until 1983, the ACC has honored the career statistics of Jackets tailback Robert Lavette (1981-84).
In the official ACC record book, Lavette is No. 1 in career carries (914), No. 2 in rushing touchdowns (45) and No. 4 in yardage (4,066), even though nearly half those numbers came when Georgia Tech was a football independent.
Meanwhile, although Florida State agreed to join the league before the 1991 football season, McCorvey's freshman catches aren't recognized because the Seminoles didn't begin ACC competition until '92.
ACC assistant commissioner Brian Morrison, who oversees the record book, said the league probably would handle future expansions as it did with Florida State in 1992, recognizing only statistics achieved while competing as a full ACC member.
Only time will tell if that is good news for the likes of ACC record-holders Hemric, Curtis Staples and Ted Brown, and bad news for Smith, McNamara and Gore. With 617 points as a freshman, Smith could challenge Hemric's ACC scoring record. With 85 three-pointers as a freshman, McNamara has a shot at Staples' career mark of 413.
Gore has just 562 career rushing yards, all coming as Clinton Portis' backup in 2001. But he has three seasons left, and he's talented enough to have averaged 9.1 yards per carry as a freshman, and to have beaten out McGahee for the starting job in 2002 before suffering a knee injury.
If he stays healthy, might Gore make a run at Brown's ACC mark of 4,602 yards? Who knows, but like McNamara and Smith, Gore's Big East totals won't carry over to the ACC -- just like Joyce's post-ACC numbers.
Joyce is 52 now, a father of three in New York. He doesn't look back with regret on his truncated position in ACC basketball lore, although he does remember attending a recent ACC basketball tournament and watching the overhead scoreboard play a clip of great finishes in tournament history.
"Remember our last season in the league, in 1971, when we won it with that jump ball against North Carolina?" Joyce said. "It wasn't on the tape. I thought that was funny."
Some legacies were never meant to be remembered.
Looks like the wedding is on
Nothing in Wednesday talks suggests SU won't soon accept ACC invitation.
June 05, 2003
By Donnie Webb
Staff writer
The Atlantic Coast Conference's expansion initiative is moving to a rapid
conclusion, with Syracuse University looking more and more like it's content to
be swept along.
A nine-member team led by ACC commissioner John Swofford completed two days of
what were described as amicable, productive talks in Syracuse on Wednesday.
Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel called the meetings "kind of fun."
University of Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow called Syracuse's athletic
department "very impressive." North Carolina State athletic director Lee Fowler
mentioned how it was "comforting that we do business the same way." Swofford
said he sensed no reluctance on the part of Syracuse to leave the Big East and
talked about "a good marriage" and taking "a leap of faith."
Get the picture?
"This is a two-way street, as expansion always is," Swofford said. "There had to
be a certain level of interest by both parties . . . to reach the point of these
visits taking place."
Syracuse was the third and final site inspection by the ACC after visits over
the past week to Miami and Boston College.
All three Big East Conference schools are a presidents' conference call away
from probably receiving - and accepting - official invitations to join the ACC.
June 13 is being floated as a possible announcement date, although it could
happen as early as Monday or Tuesday.
Swofford said ACC faculty representatives that participated in the three site
inspections will provide reports to the presidents of his league. He said there
will be subsequent talks by ACC presidents with Syracuse chancellor Kenneth
"Buzz" Shaw, Boston College president Rev. William P. Leahy and Miami president
Donna Shalala to iron out any lingering issues. Swofford said he'd likely speak
with Shalala in the next two days or
early next week.
"Whenever she's ready," Swofford said.
Crouthamel said Shaw, Leahy and Shalala will be on the ACC conference call when
the vote is taken to officially extend invitations.
Shalala said again Wednesday that she has not made a final decision. Her choice
will trigger expansion in the ACC or give the Big East a reprieve.
Shalala metwith the presidents of Connecticut, West Virginia, Rutgers, Virginia
Tech and Pittsburgh in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Those Big East schools
are making a final plea to Miami to stay.
Pittsburgh chancellor Mark Nordenberg was in Syracuse last Friday to speak with
Shaw.
"I fully understand the importance of making decisions based upon doing the
correct thing for your institution," Shalala said in a prepared statement, "not
only for the short term, but for the long haul, as well.
"We had a thoughtful dialogue today. The University of Miami will continue to
review possible changes in our athletic alignment."
It was a theme echoed by Crouthamel, who finds himself on the brink of leaving a
conference he helped form more than two decades ago.
"I have to get through the emotional part, because we are dealing with reality
here," Crouthamel said. "We're not dealing with fun and games."
Swofford met with Shaw for an hour Wednesday. There were numerous other meetings
and presentations by different groups at SU and by members of the ACC committee.
There was a brief tour of the Carrier Dome prior to the news conference.
Swofford said issues raised by Syracuse included potential divisions, scheduling
policies, timing, financial implications, compliance issues, academic standards
and student-athlete welfare. He said some things remain unresolved, though he
does not believe agreements or solutions can't be found.
"I think any time you take a step like this, there's going to be a certain leap
of faith involved with it," Swofford said. "You can't necessarily have all of
the answers when you make that decision. Sometimes, the risk of staying as you
are is just as great if not greater than the change you may be considering."
Crouthamel saidthe same leap exists when he looks at the financial projections
provided by the ACC.
"If you hit the projection, you're good," Crouthamel said. "If you don't hit the
projection, you're not as good. And then it's a matter of how close to the
projection do you miss? We can't define that at this point. Some of this is a
leap of faith, but it is a calculated leap of faith.
"Neither the nine members of the Atlantic Coast Conference or the three of us -
Miami, Boston College and Syracuse - are engaged in making an irrational
decision. There's got to be some substance to it or we wouldn't be engaged in
the exercise from either side."
Crouthamel said Swofford did not ask for any assurances from Syracuse that the
Orangemen are on board. He said Syracuse asked for no assurances, either. But
when Swofford was asked about those assurances, he smiled. So did Crouthamel.
"We leave here with a very positive feeling about how the visit went," Swofford
said, "and certainly, we haven't seen or heard anything that would lead us to
believe that the possibility is not still there."
"We feel really comfortable with the situation at all three of these schools,"
Fowler said.
Crouthamel playsuncomfortable role
Having helped form Big East, he faces a tough decision that could bring it down.
June 05, 2003
By Dave Rahme
Staff writer
Jake Crouthamel is in a delicate position. One of the founders of the Big East
Conference, the Syracuse University athletic director could play a significant
role in its demise.
Crouthamel made it clear Wednesday afternoon that in terms of joining the
Atlantic Coast Conference, he would recommend what is best for SU regardless of
his emotional attachment to the Big East.
"I have to get through the emotional part, because we are dealing with reality
here," Crouthamel said. "The twinge of emotion is becoming a lot more of a kind
of a personal decision, personal to Syracuse University and our athletic
program, our future, our stability."
Crouthamel addressed members of the media, a few SU coaches and faculty members
and an Internet audience during a news conference held in Manley Field House. It
is where SU coach Paul Pasqualoni meets with the media to discuss an upcoming
opponent during football season.
Crouthamel satin Pasqualoni's customary spot and discussed why the coach soon
may be talking about ACC foes instead of Big East foes. Earlier, members of an
ACC delegation had summed up two days of meetings at SU and answered questions
about why they think the school should join Miami and Boston College in the ACC.
The news conference seemed stiff and formal, which Crouthamel said was due to
the nature of the visit and not the content.
"Behind closed doors the meetings were very cordial, very light," he said. "The
purpose of this visit was to meet and share information, not to make any kind of
announcement."
As such, there was no reaction from those in attendance, among them longtime
assistant men's basketball coach Bernie Fine, veteran track and field coach
Andrew Roberts and volleyball coach Jing Pu. Assistant football coaches Chris
White and Dennis Goldman listened from a doorway.
Pasqualoni, who met with the committee shortly before the news conference, was
not present, and head basketball coach Jim Boeheim was out of town.
Crouthamel disputed the perception that Syracuse is the most reluctant of the
three Big East members being wooed by the ACC.
"The money is therefor the elite conferences, and if you're not an elite
conference you're going to be left by the wayside," he said. "It's not
reluctance. We will do what the situation dictates and do it gladly."
Even if it comes at the expense of the five remaining football-playing members
of the conference that would be "left by the wayside." Crouthamel knows those
athletic directors intimately, has worked with them for years, first forming and
then running the Big East.
"A month ago I was right where they are," he said. "I was in that chair. We
weren't invited at the time, weren't mentioned as a potential member. I know how
it feels. You're damn right I do."
Crouthamel isquick to point out that the process has yet to be completed, that
no formal invitation has been issued or accepted. He seemed aware that he could
still end up on the outside looking in.
"This could go either way, and I personally don't have a preference as to which
way it goes," he said. "I'm very happy if it goes either way. Right now, I don't
want to say I have a preference, because if it doesn't go the way I want it to
go or would like it to go or say I would like it to go, I'm in a hole. So, I'm
playing the middle line."
That's the delicate position Crouthamel finds himself in today, as he awaits the
conclusion of the process. He sees the possibilities for those who belong to the
elite conferences and the pain for those who are left by the wayside. It is a
challenging time, and not a particularly happy one for one of the Big East's
founders.
"Not at all," Crouthamel said, "but I've got to look out for Syracuse
University. That's my responsibility."
WASHINGTON - After spending Wednesday morning at a prestigious think tank discussing a report about what could happen in the aftermath of a catastrophic terrorist attack on Congress, then taking nearly two hours at the White House presenting the report to Vice President Dick Cheney, University of Miami president Donna Shalala addressed the issue capturing the attention of thousands across the nation -- conference realignment in college sports.
Shalala met with the presidents of the five football-playing universities in the Big East at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, site of her morning meeting. She spent roughly an hour listening and sharing information. According to at least one of the presidents, Shalala didn't reveal a decision about whether UM will defect to the Atlantic Coast Conference, but a source close to the discussions said Wednesday night an announcement to leave the Big East could come by this weekend or early next week.
Also, two sources said they believe Shalala will not need to have a vote by the 20-person executive committee of the UM Board of Trustees, but instead could just relay her decision to them by phone. The executive committee met last week and asked her to negotiate three issues with ACC commissioner John Swofford, but a source said they were not ''earth-shattering'' issues that would prevent UM from leaving.
The ACC, upon quietly learning UM's intention to defect, if, indeed, that were Shalala's decision, then would vote to formally invite the Hurricanes, Boston College and Syracuse. The celebratory announcement would be made in Greensboro, N.C., home of the ACC.
While the Washington meeting was ending, Swofford and ACC representatives were concluding their final site inspection, this one at Syracuse University. Swofford and Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel said the next step would involve a conference call with the nine ACC presidents and the three targeted Big East presidents.
''After that,'' Crouthamel said, ``I guess the nine presidents vote formally.''
Legal action by the Big East presidents, a topic addressed by Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese in private with his athletic directors, according to sources, is another looming possibility.
After the administrators ended their meeting at about 3 p.m., University of Connecticut president Philip Austin was asked about any possible legal actions, based on a long-term commitment to the Big East that Shalala allegedly made to the presidents during a November 2001 meeting. Since the alleged commitment, Connecticut proceeded with the building of a $90 million football stadium that opens this fall, and Pittsburgh built a $100 million basketball arena that opened last season.
''Of course if I talked about actions,'' Austin said, ``then it would be certain they wouldn't happen. We're going to continue to evaluate our options, and we'll pursue them depending on what all of us do. It's a very fluid situation.
``Our strongly preferred option is to keep the Big East together, but I'm also aware there are many different options.''
Austin, who insisted Shalala was ''evaluating alternatives, and I take her at her word,'' said ''she said she hadn't decided'' and ''she is going to reflect on it.'' But he still sounded like a man who was bracing for the worst.
''We have a lot to think about, and we're going to probably assemble in the next day or so and see what we're going to do,'' Austin said of his fellow presidents from Pittsburgh (Mark Nordenberg), Rutgers (Richard McCormick), Virginia Tech (Charles Steger) and West Virginia (David Hardesty, Jr.). ``My assumption is we're going to be playing a Big East schedule for the next two years. . . . [This] is a development in the realignment of the major conferences that has been underway for some time and it's now happening and we're going to have to confront it.''
Shalala declined comment to reporters staked out at the AEI, and slipped out in the afternoon through an underground entrance to an adjacent garage. She later released a statement through the university.
``Being a university president myself, I fully understand the importance of making decisions based upon doing the correct thing for your institution, not only for the short term but for the long haul as well.
``We had a thoughtful dialogue today. [UM] will continue to review possible changes in our athletic alignment.''