Big East Conference News and Notes: A Brand Spanking New Hire

Wait. Don’t worry. It’s not this guy. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

The Big East Conference might be considered an older, historic league by some people. Others might consider the Big East a new, shiny and even unproven league as they begin their first season as a new version of the old conference. Neither group of folks would be wrong, but I like to think it is some combination of the two. Regardless, things are changing in the league. Well, at least administratively.

The new Big East Conference (from now on we will just call it the Big East) has escaped from the mittens of the murderer of history, Mike Aresco. To be fair to Uncle Mike, however, the league was probably going to be dismantled at some point anyway, but he did help in speeding up the process. In his place is Val Ackerman. A person that some might feel was an outside the box hire, although, she is as qualified as any person in the nation to run this league.

Still, Ackerman is unproven in this exact role. I mean, you don’t begin your life or career as the commissioner of the Big East. That’s why bringing in some help can be a good thing.

Which brings us to the hiring of Tom Jernstedt as a senior adviser to the Big East. Long story short, Jernstedt is famous (in a college basketball kind of way) for helping develop the NCAA Tournament into the awesome festival of hoops that it is today.

Not only does Jernstedt bring some experience in to help Ackerman in some ways, but he is also a guy who will likely help shape the way the Big East goes about scheduling in-season and postseason games — not to mention some possible expansion down the road. Although, at least with the expansion, that doesn’t feel as important as it did when the league was being put together.

Either way, nothing wrong with getting by with a little help from your friends.