Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 12, 1994 TAG: 9407270010
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SOUTH BEND, IND. LENGTH: Medium
It was asked often as the Fighting Irish struggled to losing records the past two seasons, and MacLeod could only shrug as the administration methodically weighed its options.
When Notre Dame finally announced Monday that it had been approved to join the Big East in every sport except football in 1995, MacLeod couldn't wait for someone to ask his feelings.
``Where are all the guys that want to talk about the conference?'' he said, reporters still trickling in for a news conference. ``We finally can talk about it. I don't have to give this canned response anymore.''
The Fighting Irish were introduced as the 13th Big East member just four months after it appeared their chances of joining were scuttled with the addition of Rutgers and West Virginia as full members.
Those former football-only schools were added March 9 and Temple and Virginia Tech - also football-only members - were denied full membership. That ended a basketball vs. football membership feud that had threatened to shatter the 15-year-old conference.
The Big East Conference presidents had said any further expansion before 2000 was unlikely, unless ``a unique exception'' arose. Notre Dame was that exception.
Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said the addition of Notre Dame was ``probably the greatest Ben-Gay we could apply to our wounds.''
``I think the admission of Notre Dame not only enhances our league, it creates a feeling of satisfaction among our members,'' Tranghese said.
Already entrenched in the New York television market, the nation's biggest, the Big East now moves into the Chicago market, which is No.2. Notre Dame, about 90 miles east of Chicago, has a huge following there.
The conference also gets Notre Dame's immense national following, as well as the addition of lesser-known sports in which the Irish are national powers, including men's and women's tennis and soccer, baseball, lacrosse and volleyball.
Notre Dame has been a member of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, a non-football conference, in every sport but basketball.
For the Irish, the largest impact is the potential for its basketball program to return to the prominence of the 1970s and '80s, when it was perennially among the nation's top teams under Digger Phelps.
The Irish have lost several top recruits in recent years because they were not in a league.
``If we were going to play in the Big East next season, we would have a very difficult time,'' said MacLeod, an NBA head coach for 18 years before coming to Notre Dame in 1991.
``But by the time '95 rolls around we will have had a chance to bring five new players into our program. ... We're stepping up big-time.''
Notre Dame began its first serious discussions with the Big East in November, Tranghese said.
But he said he told Notre Dame athletic director Dick Rosenthal the Big East would be hard-pressed to consider Notre Dame while it was dealing with the internal dispute between big-time football and basketball-only schools.
Tranghese said seriously considering Notre Dame would have been ``the most damaging thing that could have happened'' to the conference.
However, Tranghese said the Big East found out about a week after its March decision that Notre Dame still was interested.
Notre Dame was talking with other conferences, including the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the Big East realized it would have to move fast if it wanted Notre Dame.
It was clear there was widespread support for the idea, and Rosenthal met with Big East athletic directors June 9 in Boston. The matter then went to the 12 Big East presidents, who voted unanimously Friday to admit Notre Dame.
``While the Big East was not really looking to expand, this was a rather unique opportunity for the Big East because of Notre Dame's stature,'' said Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel.
There never was talk about including Notre Dame's football team.
Notre Dame, Rutgers and West Virginia will begin competing in all sports in the 1995-96 season. A conference format has not been worked out, although it appears likely there will be two divisions with each team playing the others at least once.
It also appeared there would be no conflict between the Big East's television deal with CBS, which runs through 2001, and Notre Dame's football package with NBC, which includes four basketball games a year through 2001.
``This is great,'' MacLeod said, still talking to no one in particular before Monday's news conference. ``This is a big day for us. I guarantee it.''
by CNB