The day many of you wanted has arrived: John Marinatto has stepped down as Big East commissioner.

Now tell me how you really feel about it. You can vote in my handy dandy poll here, and leave your comments either down below or in the mailbag. I have a feeling the vote is going to be somewhere along the lines of, "Good riddance!"

But there are those who believe Marinatto is just a scapegoat for short-sighted university presidents with way too much say in college athletics today. Our own Dana O'Neil called Marinatto a puppet, because Big East leaders failed to look to the future when he was hired in 2009. I do see both points of view.

While I wrote Monday that Marinatto failed at being a visionary leader, he was put in a terrible situation from the start. There already was a division between the basketball schools and the football schools, and reluctance to come together for the good of the league. Just look at what happened with the attempt at adding Villanova. Marinatto pushed for presidents to accept a new TV deal last spring. They balked. Basketball schools still seem to be stuck in 1978.

Once the Big East was pushed to the brink of collapse, Marinatto did the best he could and added the best candidates available. Boise State, SMU, UCF and Houston are all programs on the rise. There were no real options left. He did salvage the league.

But to what end? The Big East could lose its spot among the top conferences when it comes to BCS revenue distribution. Upcoming television negotiations are critical. Could Marinatto have done more? Could he have been more forceful? Direct? In the end, Big East presidents felt they needed a change at the top to move the Big East forward.