I have been so much looking forward to this next interview for quite some time.
Val Ackerman, Big East commissioner, really nice to see you again.
Welcome back to the New York Stock Exchange.
Always a pleasure to be here.
You are concluding a remarkable 13 year run in this role overseeing what I said at the top of the broadcast, a little bit biased to say the best conference in.
College sports.
What did this journey meant to you?
What are you most proud of here, Val?
Well, when I took this job 13 years ago, um, the schools that I represent were really on a mission.
They wanted to keep the Big East traditions alive.
They wanted to prove that a basketball conference could be successful in a world that's frankly dominated by college football.
And I'm so proud of what together we and our schools have accomplished with national championships in men's basketball.
UConn, of course, rejoined the league in 2020 and has added so much, um, and all the while, I, I think our schools have really stayed true to their values.
And so for me it's been an incredible run.
Pardon me, I didn't mean to interrupt.
How important is it to protect the identity of the Big East, how unique, how special this conference is and all the schools, the players, the fan bases, given where the spirit inherently is of conference realignment today?
Well, the, the conference has.
Such a proud history.
Founded in 1979, um, a, a group of sort of private schools focused on basketball, many of them Catholic institutions, and so keeping that DNA intact over the last 13 years has really been, uh, practically job one for me, um, and so I think we've been able to do that.
We've maintained our ties to big cities.
We're sort of ensconced here in New York City.
Our offices are at the Empire State Building.
We have a long standing relationship with Madison Square Garden for our men's basketball tournament.
And you know, I think there really is a sense of commonality among our schools that is helpful to have at a time when so much change is going on in college sports.
And all of us who proudly went to a Big East school know there is nothing, and I mean nothing in the world of sports quite like the Big East Tournament every year at the.
MSG at the Madison Square Garden, what has that event meant to you as it has continued to grow and be arguably the most important event that goes on in the world of sport here in the city?
Well, thank you for saying that.
You know, we like to think of that as well, that's, it's really the best event of its kind in college basketball.
It's got a long tradition at the Garden.
Uh, 43 years and counting, we've negotiated two extensions since I've been involved that will keep the tournament at the Garden for at least 50 years.
2032 will represent the 50th anniversary of the event at the Garden, world's most famous arena, um, and so it really is the crown jewel of all of the championships that we run.
And that's validated every year because of the great fan support we get there, not only from Villanova, your alma mater, but Saint John's, UConn all across the league.
So, uh, hopefully those traditions can stay alive in the years to come.
There's also incredible conference camaraderie, as you said.
If it's not the Villanova Wildcats that make the Final Four, we are all in on watching UConn, on watching Marquette on seeing the Johnnies.
Very competitive in the conference, who are fiercely defensive of the other schools outside the conference.
How have you seen those kind of relationships, school to school, develop over the last decade plus?
Yes, it's really been that.
I mean, we started to see it early on when this group of schools came together for the first time in 2013.
27 had been together and then Butler, Creighton and Xavier got added to make it 10, and now UConn back for 11.
But there really is a sense of sort of brotherhood among the men's basketball coaches, uh, fellowship among athletics directors, other administrators.
We have a really good boardroom led by now Father Shanley, the president of Saint John's.
There's just a lot of cohesiveness in there, which again, in a day and age where there's, um, just sort of a lot of change going on in college sports to be able to point to sort of stability and cohesion and a common sense of purpose.
It's a gift and you know I've just been lucky that our schools have that in spades and hopefully they can keep that sense of togetherness going because I, you know, they're going to need it as college sports continues to face challenges in the years ahead.
I'm sure you're familiar.
I'm sure you've heard the New York Knicks are NBA champions.
You had 5 different starters in the NBA Finals between the Spurs and the Knicks.
Very proudly we're from the Big East.
What does that type of conference representation in the NBA Finals mean to you?
Well, I'll tell you, we put, we put that on our social media platforms.
We wanted to tell the world just, um, how much of a connection the Big East had to, you know, the most, one of the most important events in, in the basketball calendar, the NBA Finals.
The Nova Knicks were a huge story.
I know that school was so proud of them.
These are 3 athletes who got their degrees, went to the same school, played for the same coach, now we're reunited in the pros, and they're bringing an NBA championship to the.
You know, the greatest city in the country.
It was, it was a pretty big deal, and, uh, and we were very proud of, of, you know, not only them, but Stefan Cassel as well and Julian Champeni, who played for the Spurs.
I think it really is a testament to how well the Big East prepares men's basketball players for the next level.
Yeah, a tremendous testament to your 13 years in this particular role.
Best of luck on what lies ahead, and I am really grateful to see you down here and that you made time for us here on the show today, Val.
Nice to see you.
Great, thanks for having me.
It's an honor to be here.
