New A10 Commish???

[XURunner85]

Ok now that the season is over, the A10 needs to start thinking who will replace Blutarsky as the Commish. Everyone agrees that Bobinski would be a good choice but I agree with most he will not leave X (thank God). I think the AD at St Joes would be good but don't think he will take it, I also think a good commish would be Phil Martelli but I am sure he is not done coaching.....so who is my chioce??? I think Fogelson would be a good choice. He was here at X when I came to X and I got to know him since I was on the first cross country team started in the 81-82 season....He along with Staak and then Gillen then Skip got this program really started to where Bobinski and Sean have taken have taken it further but without the others we would not be where we are now. I would like to nominate Fogelson for the A10 Commisioner. He would bring this league up the respectability and would help all the lower teams to get themselves up to a higher level. He can bring the league into the top 5 leagues...Does he make sense or is there someone else out there??? Lets here it....

[wkrq59]

Sorry, Runner, but I don't think JF is the man for the job. What will probably happen is the A10 presidents or whoever makes the choice will pick a young assistant commissioner from one of the Big Six leagues.
I have nothing against Fogelson, but for some reason I think he's kind of burned out on the whole athletic scene. And I don't think he'd show much love to Xavier as their parting was not on sweet terms. In fact it was anything but, and I don't believe Jeff was totally at fault.
Besides all that, I don't think someone in any way connected with the A10 should be brought in. This conference needs a fresh new approach by someone beholding to no one school or group of schools.
One of Blutarski's failures was her favoritism shown the three Philadelphia schools. Her handling of the two major public relations crises the league faced in recent years was woeful. The St. Bonaventure Olean Welding debacle and the Chaney Gate thuggery where she allowed Chaney to dictate his own punishment terms and then failed to sanction him for what happened were ridiculous.
Also, she and her staff have failed to maintain some sort of (really any sort of) minimum standards for competition venues, officiating and scheduling. The latter only recently has improved.
But worst of all was the TV package Brunhilda arranged. One of the failings of this conference has been it's lack of respect nationally. Other conferences have the worst of their teams on national TV more often than the best of the A10. As bad as UC has been the past couple of years, they have been on national TV more than X.
There is no way games from Fordham's horse manure Rose Hill gym, LaSalle's piece of crap arena or yes, even St. Joe's arena which is being renovated in a put lipstick on a pig maneuver should be on TV. Ditto for Duquesne and St. Bonaventure.
Face it people, thanks to Xavier and pressure brought to bear on the rest of the league, the A10 was ranked 7th behind the Big 6. at this point the two best non-Big 6 conferences are the A10 and C-USA thanks to Memphis.
Among the A10's needs besides stronger leadership and a definite policy on venues, the needs of the conference include:
A more central site for the tournament. Atlantic City has the casinos to attract people, but the travel deficits are not enticing. The nearest central site would be Pittsburgh, but the Igloo downtown is tied up with Pens hockey.
All 14 teams should be in the tournament. The fact that two don't make it every year sucks. And how can you recruit if kids ask you when are you going to make your own league's tournament? How many years has St. Bonaventure not been in the tournament? Start the damn thing on the campus of the higher seeded team for all but the top 2 or 4 seeds. Then bring everybody together. The problem is there is no Georgia Dome, or the arena in Tampa, or Greensboro Coliseum or other venue for the tournament. Yeah, there's MSQG, but the BE has that tied up for ages to come.
Also, something has to be done about standards of officiating. Martelli's illegal screens (and St. Louis and Dayton are picking up on the practice) are ridiculous. Somebody will be seriously hurt and then they'll be forced to stop it.
I am not that familiar with the administrations of the various leagues, but whoever the new commissioner is, he or she must have the power to select his or her own staff and to hire competent referees to work the games.

[XURunner85]

Good points Q. I just wanted to get the ball rolling here....you are right, some young assistant in a big conference would be a logical choice...would say they need atleast 5 years experience, in my opinion....I also agree about the A10 tourney with all teams playing also about a venue that is centrally located...though for now I think Altantic City is a good choice but agree it is difficult to there and can get pricey....anyone else with thoughts???

[MADXSTER]

Q and Runner, I just wanted to say good post. Unfortunately I don't have much to offer on this subject. I do however appreciate your thoughts and insights.

[XU05and07]

I heard they were considering Dawn Rogers...I believe that would be a fine choice...continuity of the conference is the best thing for the recruits

[Jumpy]

Joe Lunardi.

[Muskie]

How bout Fred Barakat, who retired in 2007 as the ACC's Associate Commissioner of Basketball Operations? or his replacement Karl Hicks?

[Billy]

I heard they were considering Dawn Rogers...I believe that would be a fine choice...continuity of the conference is the best thing for the recruits

I imagine she'd get the endorsement of the conference's strength trainers.

[xuab]

According to the Richmond paper (http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/sports/colleges.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-05-02-0142.html), the new commissioner should be named by the time of the yearly A10 meetings which meets on May 18th. So, we should know something soon. The A10 presidents interviewed the finalists last week.

It will be interesting; the only name mentioned is the George Mason AD. I guess I don't know much about him other than him chairing the NCAA selection committee. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[nuts4xu]

I vote for Fred Garvin. He is a true gentleman and would take this conference to heights never seen!!

http://images.footballfanatics.com/productImages/_182000/FF_182575_l.jpg

[Muskie]

Still no commish?