ESPN College Football

Since Big East football started in 1991, it has had only one commissioner. But Mike Tranghese will retire next summer after guiding the conference through immense change and growth. I had a chance to talk to Tranghese about a few league issues in his final year, and here is part one of my conversation:

Well, it was a tough start to 2008 for your conference last weekend (0-4 against FBS competition). As a commissioner, how painful is something like that to watch?

Mike Tranghese: I just don't deal in peaks and valleys. I think when you're in this job, it's very, very cyclical. You're going to have times when everything is perfect and times when you have a difficult week, and we struggled last week. I just don't get too high or too low over those things. You've just got to move on and play, and this Saturday is another opportunity to win some games. That's all you can do.

Perhaps it's a sign of how far the league has come the past few years in that there wasn't a huge national outcry about how bad the Big East is.

MT: Four or five years ago it would have been the end of the world, according to some people, when we had a bad weekend. So in one sense, it's better that people don't view us just in the context of one weekend. But I don't know anybody who enjoys losing.

How excited are you by some of the nonconference games this year, like Cincinnati-Oklahoma, South Florida-Kansas, and West Virginia vs Auburn and Colorado?

MT: I don't know if excited is the word because those are tough games and you want to win some. But those are the kinds of games we need to play. And that's one of the things we've consistently said to our membership: We've got to step out and play those kinds of games. And we've got tough games this weekend that happen to be on the road: Cincinnati at Oklahoma, West Virginia going to East Carolina and even USF has got a dangerous game because that's a big rivalry with Central Florida. And next week they have Kansas. But that's what this is about, you've got to play people if the goal is to be the best you can be.

Which is illustrated by Connecticut signing a series with Tennessee [Thursday].

MT: Yes, and our members are trying to find those kinds of deals. But it's hard to find a quality opponent and it's really getting harder and harder. You've really got to work at it.

You've addressed this topic before, but it drew a lot of response when I mentioned it in my blog last week, and that's the idea of adding a ninth team ...

MT: I'll be as candid as I can be. There's no discussion about it. What people don't understand is, it's not like we can go get another member and it becomes a ninth football team. It becomes a 17th member. And I just don't think that there is support out there for a 17th member. We're very large as it is, it's very, very challenging and I think it would take the most unusual set of circumstances for this league to look at a 17th team. I think it would have to be someone who brought an incredible amount to the table. And there are some people who do that, but they are people who are currently in other leagues and we are not out there talking to anybody. We're not out there to take people from other leagues. That's just not the way we're going.

So I think what we are is where we are right now. Is it the way it's going to be forever and ever? Who knows -- I've seen so much change, it's incredible. But for the time being, we're not even talking about expansion. I've got a presidents' meeting in November and it's not even on our agenda.

I couldn't help but think after watching Villanova play well at West Virginia last week that the Wildcats would be a natural solution. Have there been any talks about Villanova moving up to FBS and playing Big East football?

MT: Villanova, I think on a couple of occasions has looked at it and both times has elected not to pursue it. When you are looking to upgrade, you've got to have a football stadium. What Connecticut had when they made the move was, the state had put forth the bonds to have the stadium built. So all of a sudden, Connecticut was simply making the move -- yes, they were incurring expenses by going form I-AA to I-A, but they had a facility. Villanova does not have a facility.

Now, is there a facility in the city of Philadelphia? Yes, but it's being used. The Eagles use it and Temple uses it. Is it feasible to have someone start to use the facility with third call? I can tell you, that is a huge scheduling issue. We can't be third in line in trying to schedule, because you have to build your whole schedule around a facility. We already have that problem in basketball, but basketball is very different from football. So I think the lack of a facility has led them to believe they can't go forward -- I don't think they're in a position to build a football stadium. Does that mean it never comes up again? I don't know, and that's for Villanova to decide.