Coaching Changes At St. John’s, Georgetown Make Big East ‘Well-Situated’ For Next TV Deal

The coaching changes at St. John’s and Georgetown — and the expected uptick in performance by both teams as a result — should benefit the Big East Conference as it seeks a renewal deal with media rights holder FOX Sports in the coming months. The current agreement has two more years through the 2024-25 season.

St. John’s on Tuesday introduced Naismith Hall of Famer Rick Pitino as its new coach, while Georgetown on Wednesday will have a press conference featuring Ed Cooley, who left Big East rival Providence to succeed Patrick Ewing in the nation’s capital.

“It’s big time,” said John Kosner, a consultant and former ESPN Digital executive who previously served as an advisor to the Big East. “When the Big East was at its apex the NYC-D.C. Northeastern corridor was the center of attention. It’s coming back now with the two new coaches in town. On a slightly smaller scale, I liken it to what the resurgence of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry 15 years ago did for the NBA.”

Kosner was referring to the Big East’s heyday in the 1980s when Lou Carnesecca coached at St. John’s and John Thompson Jr. at Georgetown. In 1985, three Big East teams reached the Final Four — St. John’s, Georgetown and Villanova — with Villanova beating Ewing and the Hoyas in the championship game.

Since the formation of the “new Big East” in 2013, FOX has been the Big East’s media rights holder. Prior to that, ESPN was the league’s home .

Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman recently announced that the conference intends to initiate talks to renew its media rights deal with Fox, and Kosner said the league is “well-situated” with the additions of Pitino and Cooley, along with the return of UConn to the Big East.

“They have a good deal with FOX now that includes plenty of FOX broadcast windows,” Kosner said. “FOX has been an excellent partner. The key with these deals is having competitive bidders. The St. John’s and Georgetown announcements raise those odds.”

Under Ewing, Georgetown won just two Big East regular-season games combined in the last two seasons and finished in last place both seasons. Under Mike Anderson, St. John’s finished in seventh and eighth place the last two years, respectively. The expectation is that Pitino and Cooley will help turn both programs around.

“St. John’s is one of the legendary names in all of college basketball,” Pitino said Tuesday. “Has it fallen on tough times? Yes it has. But now we’re ready to fall on great times. We’re ready to raise this roof up because St. John’s is going to be back. I guarantee that.”

As for Georgetown, Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said it’s important for the league for the Hoyas to be relevant.

“We need Georgetown on a high perch,” she said in a one-on-one interview at Pitino’s press conference at Madison Square Garden. “They’re one of the biggest brands, if not the biggest brand in the Big East, [they] have a proud history. They’re very determined to restore past glory and they clearly think that Coach Cooley can get them to where they want to go so I think from that standpoint it’s very exciting with great coaches in the Big East but the bar just got raised.”

Meantime, the Big East has three teams in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in UConn, Creighton and Xavier. Kosner said the return of UConn to the league in 2020 also bodes well for future rights negotiations.

“Another key is the return of UConn and its impact on both men’s and women’s basketball,” he said. “Plus the conference’s Midwest expansion (Marquette, Xavier and Creighton, Butler, DePaul) has built followings in some key TV markets).”

Kosner called Ackerman “one of the savviest leaders” in college athletics.

“The Big East Tournament drew very well two weeks ago in New York City and has fought off the ACC, Big Ten and others in New York City over championship week,” he said. “Three Big East teams are still alive in the NCAA Men’s Tournament, two in the Women’s. In a very challenging environment you have to continually improve your product. The Big East is doing that. I think they are well-situated.”

Last August, the Big Ten completed a 7-year, $7-billion media rights deal with Fox, CBS and NBC that begins July 1. As Awful Announcing pointed out, if the Big East strikes another deal with FOX, “Those Big Ten games may wind up across BTN, Fox, FS1, and FS2, reducing available slots for other conferences.”

Ackerman participated in Pitino’s introductory press conference Tuesday at Madison Square Garden and said in a one-on-one interview she believes the Big East is in good position going into it’s next media rights negotiations.

“We feel like we bring great value to FOX and they bring great value to us,” Ackerman said. “It’s been a great partnership, and we know that our attractiveness in the market is going to come down to not only the size of our markets — we’re in some of the biggest media markets in the country — but the quality of our competition and the strength of our individual school brands. And the quality of our coaches is a way to get to the strength of brand that we need, whether it’s for FOX or anybody else.”