Syracuse Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel speaks slowly, ensuring his words can’t be twisted, misunderstood or inflammatory. His decisions are calculated and analyzed, based on facts and numbers. Normally, there’s little room for feelings.

But with Boston College agreeing to leave the Big East and join Miami and Virginia Tech as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Sunday, Crouthamel put his emotions on display.

‘The whole process, quite frankly, stinks,’ Crouthamel said.

The whole process began last spring when the ACC was on the verge of inviting Miami, Syracuse and Boston College to join. The transfer of the three programs seemed certain until political pressure forced the University of Virginia to join North Carolina and Duke in opposing the admission of the three schools. Virginia acquiesced later when Syracuse and BC were dropped in favor of Virginia Tech.

The ACC added the schools in an effort to secure a conference football championship game and the lucrative television and advertising rights that go along with it. Miami, a perennial national powerhouse, was the crown jewel. Virginia Tech and BC give the ACC the minimum 12 teams necessary to qualify for a conference title game, according to NCAA rules.

The ACC requested that the NCAA allow it to play a championship game with only 11 teams. That request was recently denied, but the conference could have appealed the decision. Crouthamel said he was under the impression that the ACC would continue its efforts to secure a championship game with 11 teams.

‘I was personally offended at the process,’ Crouthamel said. ‘I was offended with the fact that in a conversation I had about two weeks ago or 10 days ago with (ACC Commissioner) John Swofford it was clearly indicated to me that they were planning to follow through with the NCAA legislative process, which could have, if concluded the way they wanted it to conclude, allowed them to play a championship with fewer than 12 teams.’

‘They were feeling the pressure to add a 12th team,’ Boston College President William Leahy said. ‘They had always had an interest in Boston College, and so in the last couple of weeks I think they realized that BC was a great fit and if we were interested they were going to discuss it.’

The ACC also wanted to expand its television grip into northern markets, of which Boston is one of the largest. Syracuse head football coach Paul Pasqualoni said the focus on national television deals hurts both players and the natural rivalries formed over the years.

‘I think the regional issue is better for the kids,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘I know it is better for the players. I think it is better for the fans. I think it is better for television. I think it is better. Maybe, someday, it will come back to that. Obviously it hasn’t gone in that direction.’

With Sunday’s decision, Syracuse, which, after its national basketball championship appeared to be the second-most desirable school, has been left in a Big East conference surviving on life support. The Big East must add three teams for football and two schools that are willing to compete in basketball.

Boston College has not decided if they will join the ACC for the 2004-05 season or whether rescheduling in such a short period of time would be too challenging.

Besides directing anger toward the ACC for continuing to raid its conference, the Big East expressed disappointment in Boston College’s alleged deception. After both teams were left out of the original offer, BC and Syracuse helped spearhead an initiative to rebuild the conference. While Syracuse focused on ensuring the survival of the Big East, BC actively sought a way out.

SU Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw said BC’s recent actions differed from the early attempts of Syracuse and Boston College to join the ACC. Shaw said the discussions between the three teams – Miami, SU and BC – were public knowledge, while Boston College hid its recent dealings with the ACC.

‘We spent the last three-plus months in extended discussion down to the most finite details about how to reconstruct ourselves and what’s different is that in effect, we had a double agent among us,’ Shaw said. ‘We were working to reconstruct a conference and we had one of the members that was attending and participating, but working another agenda.’

The Big East’s beef with Boston College is still far from over. During the conference meetings, the remaining Big East schools discussed upping the price to leave the conference from $1 million to $5 million in an effort to deter further departure. A vote was scheduled to take place Nov. 4, and both sides expect to need lawyers in order for the matter to come to a conclusion.

‘There have been moves in that direction,’ Leahy said. ‘We need to let the lawyers look at the documents and see when does it become official. Whatever the lawyers work out, that is what we will abide by.’

According to The Associated Press, Boston College has also been added, along with Miami, to a lawsuit filed in Connecticut. Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general of Connecticut, told the AP that: ‘Boston College is part of a continued conspiracy to weaken and destroy the Big East as a competitor for broadcast revenue and other rights.’

Despite the measures taken by the Big East, both Crouthamel and Shaw said the loss of BC wouldn’t destroy the Big East conference. Although they admitted the Big East will lose money and have greater difficulty finding a television deal, both insisted they believe the Big East will right itself.

‘Just how many bowl games had Virginia Tech participated in before they became a member of the Big East? And how strong were they?’ Shaw asked ‘When we get the configuration together, there will be some of us who emerge as national contenders, some of us as sometimes national contenders and some of us maybe not very often. But, it will be a strong conference just as it has been a strong conference for football.’

Published on October 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm