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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The Big East spring meetings wrapped up Wednesday with little fanfare. Here are some final notes from the meetings.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said he was committed to keeping his Olympic sports in the Big East, after Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds told CBSSports.com that Big 12 conference reps have had discussions with the Irish as far back as 2010. Interim commissioner Joe Bailey was asked if he had a response. I think this is the best quote of the week.

"They've been doing it since 2010? It hasn't worked," Bailey said.

Swarbrick also added he was confident that the details of a future four-team playoff would be worked out June 20 in Chicago. But just how Swarbrick and all 11 conference commissioners arrive at the ultimate answer will provide plenty of drama.

Bailey said search firms will be interviewed next week to help assist in finding the next commissioner of the league. The Big East is looking to fast-track the process to get somebody in place as quickly as possible. The three-to-four month timetable remains unchanged, though the sooner the better.

He added that the collective group did not really discuss what they are looking for in the next Big East commissioner.

"I'd say to you that there's always the definition of an effective leader -- on balance, that's what you're looking for," Bailey said. "Someone that can take the conference and continue to move it forward over an extended period of time. You're not looking for an individual that would be some sort of caretaker but somebody who would be able to grow with the conference itself. You're going to find an enormous number of capable people interested in a position like this."

Houston coach Tony Levine discusses his team's move to the Big East in 2013.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Big East football coaches and athletic directors heard a number of proposals for divisional alignment during spring meetings Tuesday.

Three specifically that got some attention -- a north-south alignment; an east-west alignment; and non-geographic alignments that focused on splitting the Florida schools, the Texas schools, and the West coast schools. There was no consensus in the room, but coaches were intrigued with some of the proposals.

"We’re far from coming up with a preferred format at this time," senior associate commissioner Nick Carparelli said. "A couple concepts that emerged -- (coaches) had a strong desire to protect the ability for fans to see as many of the games as possible. They want to make sure they maximize their value for television, and protected and promoted as many rivalries as possible."

"Who was in each of those divisions was irrelevant at this point. We were looking for conceptually which direction they wanted to head. So the next step is to put models together, we’ll probably put dozens of models together about what their home-away rotations might look like under all those scenarios so they can make a further evaluation."

There had been some early talk that Temple would be in a West Division. Coach Steve Addazio said he would have no problem if that scenario ended up being adopted.

"That’s all yet to be determined," he said. "You know what, honestly? It’s a great opportunity for Temple, and however we can fit this thing in for us, we’re thrilled. That’s really how I feel about it. It all works. I can’t wait to play some of these teams."

Carparelli said further analysis would happen between now and Big East media day in Newport, R.I., at the end of July. The league also will reach out to its television consultants to see what gets the most value for a future TV deal.

A decision must be made before the summer ends.

"The best thing we did is we defined our strengths as a conference. Geographically, that’s one of our strengths to be able to go from the Western portion of the United States to the East Coast. So how can we make the conference work within the geographic boundaries we have?" Cincinnati coach Butch Jones said. "We didn't reach conclusions, but we defined a lot of that."

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Here is a quick recap of what was on the agenda during the Big East spring meetings Monday.

Television negotiations were front and center for the athletic directors, who heard from consultants about how to position the league to best maximize TV revenue. Representatives from several networks are interested in bidding on media rights. There are no estimates just yet for what the Big East will command on the open market, but the hope is that having several parties interested will boost the value.

And for those curious, all Big East athletic directors met together.

Football coaches also heard a plan laid out from interim commissioner Joe Bailey about future positioning of the league, particularly when it comes to television rights. They also have a consensus on a future BCS format, and heard about officiating changes and NCAA legislative matters.

Senior associate commissioner Nick Carparelli also addressed a few topics, specifically bowl tie-ins and how the Big 12-SEC bowl partnership affects the Big East.

On the new Big 12-SEC bowl pairing: "Personally, I think the notion that two conferences agreeing to play each other in one bowl game is going to change intercollegiate athletics forever is a little bit preposterous, a little bit of an overreaction. But that’s the business we’re in. Football is so wildly popular, people like to talk about it. At the end of the day, I don’t know where that game will be played. It could be played in the Cotton Bowl. They already play in the Cotton Bowl. How would that be different? We have to see what happens with the BCS. Is it a three-bowl system and that’s it? Or are the semifinals and finals part of a bigger system that includes other non-championship games?"

On securing a bowl tie-in to a BCS game, he said, "Our entire bowl lineup is important but it starts at the top. When it all shakes out, we’re going to have a high quality champion so I feel confident we’ll find a home for our champion."

On the agenda Tuesday: divisional alignment and a championship-game format. Carparelli said several plans for divisions will be presented. The hope is for a preferred format to emerge, with a final vote on the alignment in Newport, R.I., later this summer.

Last spring, I sat in Bill Stewart's office in the West Virginia football complex for a long chat, as I had the previous two Aprils. Of course, this visit carried a distinctly different vibe, as Stewart was preparing to coach what he thought would be his final season as Mountaineers coach before handing the reins over to Dana Holgorsen.

Stewart never really wanted to participate in the peaceful transition of power, which became even more obvious just a few weeks later. Outwardly, though, he maintained his ever-rosy persona when I asked him what he planned to do with his life after football.

"I'm only going to be 59 this year," he told me. "I was born to coach. I was born to lead."

Sadly, and incredibly, Stewart didn't have much time to write a new chapter in his life, dying of a heart attack Monday just a couple of weeks shy of his 60th birthday.

His three-year run as West Virginia's head coach coincided with my three years covering the Big East for ESPN.com. I would always tell people who asked about the league one thing: There's not another football coach like Bill Stewart.

Nobody loved West Virginia more than the New Martinsville native who spoke reverentially about "the old Gold and Blue" every chance he got. You could have never pictured Stewart leaving the Mountaineers for a supposedly bigger job the way Rich Rodriguez did before the 2008 Fiesta Bowl. Which is why, in the hours after Stewart led the the team to an upset of Oklahoma in that game as interim coach, West Virginia leaders got swept up in the euphoria and emotion and named him permanent head coach.

It was a hasty decision that in retrospect was probably the wrong call. Stewart hadn't even been a coordinator during his career as an assistant in Morgantown, and his one stint as a head coach, at VMI, was a failure. He could deliver a rousing speech, he could connect on a personal level with his players and -- despite the perception caused by his "aw shucks" manners -- he knew football.

But Stewart lacked an obsessive focus on details that mark most successful coaches at powerhouse schools, and his teams often reflected that. The Mountaineers in the Stewart era lost games to less talented teams because of untimely mistakes, turnovers and penalties. Fans believed his teams underachieved, and their case was only strengthened when Holgorsen won the Orange Bowl with Stewart's players last season.

But if the worst thing you could say about Bill Stewart was that he didn't spend every waking minute breaking down film or yelling at his assistants, so be it. He was a people person, through and through. On one of my first spring visits, we sat in his office talking for more than 90 minutes even though he had to attend a high school coaches' clinic that was underway. He asked me more questions than the other way around. On another visit, I was scheduled to drive back to Pittsburgh at the end of the day. Stewart worried that I would be driving into storms and kept checking the weather reports throughout the day. He asked me to let him know that I got back safely that night. How many BCS conference coaches would do that?

But that's how Stewart was, a genuinely nice and thoughtful person. His players -- some of whom, like Noel Devine, had wildly different backgrounds -- clearly loved him as a father figure. Players, media members and others who knew him got used to receiving daily inspirational text messages from Stewart while he was coaching.

And if Stewart was not the right guy to follow Rodriguez, then whose fault was that? If someone handed you your ultimate dream job, would you say no? Rodriguez's departure created an ugly rift, and Stewart helped unite the West Virginia family once again. His tenure was hardly a disaster, as the Mountaineers won nine games in each of his three seasons, including a share of the 2010 Big East title. The program recruited well on his watch, and he's responsible for bringing stars like Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Bruce Irvin to campus. Things could have gone a whole lot worse after Rodriguez left, but Stewart maintained the strength of the program and made it possible for Holgorsen to excel immediately. He was a nice guy who didn't finish anywhere near last.

Stewart was an American history buff who was convinced that his legacy would look better down the road. He might have been right about that, though the controversial end to the relationship between him and Holgorsen did him no favors. What I'll choose to remember about Stewart was his overwhelmingly decent, fundamentally caring personality. There was no head coach like Bill Stewart, and there weren't many people quite like him, either.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- One of the big topics discussed during the football coaches meetings at the Big East spring meetings was how they want the future BCS to look.

The consensus from the Big East coaches: They would like to see bowl sites incorporated for the semifinals, have no problem with a neutral-site national championship game, and want preference given to conference champions.

With talk about a four-team playoff growing, and the next BCS meetings scheduled for June, each conference is taking various proposals to their administrators and coaches for further evaluation. Big East athletic directors will weigh in on the future BCS during discussions Tuesday.

"In college football, it’s different than college basketball. We don’t play nearly as many games. Winning your conference should matter," Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. "It should stand for something. Not that there wouldn’t be a place for a team in an at-large situation. But at the end of the day, winning your conference should have some value."

Added Cincinnati coach Butch Jones: "The first thing is preserving the bowl system. So much of it is a reward to our student-athletes and our universities and to our fans and it’s embedded in college football. But also it's good having a playoff to crown a national champion. So to be able to have the semifinals in the bowl games, that helps solidify that, but also having a neutral site for the national championship game would be extremely healthy for the world of college football."

As for the Big East's place in the future of the BCS, senior associate commissioner Nick Carparelli believes there will be a seat for the league in the future despite talk about the league not being a part of the largest BCS revenue generators.

"Everything that’s being discussed at some level is going to include the performance of the teams in each conference," Carparelli said. "If you look historically at the number of teams we’ve had ranked, revenue-wise, we’ll do fine. Some conference may end up making more revenue than others but it’s probably deserved. And in the end, the pool of money is going to be so much greater this time around, we feel pretty confident we’ll have an increase in revenue we will be getting."

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- There are plenty of items on the agenda for the Big East spring meetings, which begin Monday and run through Wednesday. Here is a brief primer on what the league's administrators, coaches and interim commissioner Joe Bailey will have on the table.

1. Conference stability. Though a league official told Joe Schad that Boise State has reaffirmed its commitment to the conference, you can bet that is going to be among the topics discussed. The Big East needs Boise State to join in a pretty bad way, and the Broncos must find a home for its non-football sports now that the WAC appears to be on the brink of collapse. Boise State is the big-ticket school the Big East needs moving forward. But beyond Boise State and the non-AQ schools joining, the Big East needs to know that all its member schools are committed so it can move forward in a meaningful way. That goes for teams like Louisville, UConn and Rutgers to name three. All of the new members -- Boise State, San Diego State, SMU, Houston, UCF, Temple, Memphis and Navy will be represented at the meetings. Syracuse and Pitt will not be there.

2. Commissioner search. The Big East has to find a new leader for the conference and fast, what with BCS negotiations set to continue in June and TV negotiations set to begin in September. What will the consensus be among those in attendance about the type of person they want in charge? How will Bailey assist in getting the Big East the best leader it can find among a rapidly changing landscape?

3. TV contract. The Big East has to get an excellent TV deal when it begins negotiations in September. First and foremost, it needs to be in the same ballpark as the deal that it turned down last year; and it is going to have to be in the same ballpark as the ACC to really be able to move forward. How will the Big East negotiate, which TV partners are interested, and will this finally lend stability to the league?

4. BCS, playoff. It appears to be a certainty that a four-team playoff will be coming to college football for the 2014 season. Which format does the Big East approve? More importantly than that, how does the Big East keep its seat as one of the top-six conferences in terms of BCS revenue distribution? The league is in danger of falling out of that grouping. That leads to the next topic.

5. Bowl tie-ins. The recent news that the Big 12-SEC champions would play in a bowl game is not good for a league like the Big East. Colleague Mark Schlabach writes: "And what about the depleted Big East? It's pretty clear the Big East is no longer sitting at the same table with the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, after it lost Pittsburgh, Syracuse, TCU and West Virginia to other leagues. Now the Big East might not even be sitting in the same room as the other BCS conferences." The possibility of a Big East-ACC matchup might be on the table, but Schlabach writes, "That matchup has really worked out well for the Orange Bowl. Maybe they'll increase the stakes by giving the winner an at-large invitation to the NCAA men's basketball tournament."

6. Divisional alignment. Lost among all the hot topics is divisional alignment once the Big East expands beyond eight teams for 2013. All reports point to Temple joining the West with Boise State and San Diego State, along with Houston and SMU. The other team moving out West has not been completely determined. Once Navy joins for 2015, then there will probably be more shifting. Of course, the Big East may look totally different in 2015 so ...

Cassidy Hubbarth and the college football bloggers bring you the best from the spring and what that means for the games in the fall.

Let's put one final bow on the spring with a look at five top breakout players.

JaQuez Jenkins, safety, USF. With starting strong safety Jon Lejiste out for the spring because of injury, Jenkins made his presence immediately felt in the defensive backfield and had one of the best springs of anybody on the Bulls roster. Jenkins was everywhere, making big plays and hard hits. His emergence gives USF a nice problem to have once Lejiste returns in the fall.

Scott Radcliff, receiver, Louisville. The most talked-about receiver after the Cardinals' spring game the former walk-on, who played with the first team and led all receivers with nine catches for 119 yards. He is listed ahead of Eli Rogers at the H-receiver spot on the post-spring depth chart.

Walter Stewart, defensive end, Cincinnati. Yes, Stewart is a returning starter. But he has never had a spring like the one he just completed, in which he was able to maintain what he started as his position. Stewart had been switched to several positions earlier in his career, but now he has a home at end and is ready to be a force this season.

Ray Vinopal, safety, Pitt. Safety could actually turn out to be a position of strength across the Big East with some of the talent that has emerged this spring. Vinopal sat out a year after transferring in from Michigan, and despite the coaching change, had an outstanding spring. He made big plays, forced turnovers and now makes safety a bright spot for the Panthers with Jarred Holley, Andrew Taglianetti and Jason Hendricks all returning.

Ryan Wirth, defensive tackle, UConn. The Huskies lost an NFL player in Kendall Reyes, along with their other starting tackle, so this is a huge question going into the season. But Wirth showed he can make an impact inside, especially after his spring performance, with 4.5 sacks and a safety.

Before he became one of the most successful wide receivers in NFL history, Art Monk was a collegiate running back.

Monk, who was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday, looked like he might follow in the footsteps of great Syracuse running backs like Jim Brown and Ernie Davis. He rushed for more than 560 yards as a sophomore and a junior.

But Monk eventually proved even more valuable as a receiver, where he became an All-American as a senior in 1979. He set the school record for receptions in a game with 14 against Navy in 1977. He finished his career with 102 catches for 1,644 yards, plus 1,140 rushing yards. Monk ranks seventh on the Syracuse all-time list for career receptions and eighth in receiving yards.

Monk, of course, made an even bigger mark in the pros. A first-round pick in the 1980 NFL draft, he spent the bulk of his career with the Washington Redskins, where he won two Super Bowl rings.

The three-time Pro Bowler became the NFL’s all-time leader in receptions with 820 in 1992 and was the first wide receiver in the NFL to eclipse 900 career catches. He also set an NFL record with a streak of 183 games with a reception.

Monk was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Now, he becomes Syracuse's 18th player or coach to be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Another suit has been filed against the embattled Big East.

This time, Pitt has filed a complaint in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, saying the Big East has waived its right to enforce the required 27-month waiting period. Therefore, the Panthers should be allowed to join the ACC without further penalty in time for the 2013-14 season.

Previously, former commissioner John Marinatto and Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson seemed hopeful the two sides could reach a resolution about allowing the Panthers to leave a year earlier than July 1, 2014. But it appears there was growing frustration from Pitt. Here is more from the AP story:

Marinatto and Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson met recently to discuss the matter. School officials said subsequent attempts by the school to begin more detailed talks were unsuccessful, leading them to believe they would not occur.

Big East spokesman John Paquette called the legal maneuver "disappointing" and said the conference had reached out to Pitt.

Pitt spokesman E.J. Borghetti said the goal is to get a resolution through private negotiations but extensively laid out its argument in court papers.

Pitt also is concerned about the change in leadership at the Big East. Regardless of commissioner, it is the university presidents in the Big East that would have been charged with making a decision about Pitt and Syracuse, which is also leaving for the ACC.

Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross told the Syracuse Post-Standard the school was still negotiating with the Big East about withdrawing in time for the 2013-14 season, but was keeping all its options open.

Big East presidents and athletic directors are charged with a huge challenge today, as they search for a new commissioner.

If I were in charge, these would be my prerequisite qualifications, in no particular order:

• Must be a strong leader.
• Must have a clear vision for the conference.
• Must be dynamic, charming and personable, somebody with excellent skills of persuasion.
• Must put football first.
• Must have ties to television and marketing.
• Must have previous relationships with major college football players.

If it were entirely up to me, I would also look for somebody outside the league office. That is not a slight against associate commissioner Nick Carparelli, who truly seems to get what the Big East needs. I just think the Big East could use a fresh perspective, somebody with no ties to anybody in the league, who can see what the Big East needs objectively and go from there.

Every commissioner the Big East has ever had has had ties to the league. But just look at what Larry Scott has done in his time at the Pac-12, just for an example. Scott and John Marinatto began their jobs on the same day, both in need of making their leagues and their teams household names.

Marinatto was just promoted up after serving alongside Mike Tranghese. Scott came from the women's tennis association, free of any ties to the Pac-12, and has transformed the league, using the business, television and marketing skills that served him well in previous stops. I don't have to spell out how the leagues have diverged since July 1, 2009.

Much in the way athletic directors are now businessmen and not football coaches, commissioners have to be well-versed in negotiating TV and marketing deals while keeping their leagues relevant.

The other aspect, of course, is going to be convincing folks like Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and SEC commissioner Mike Slive that the Big East should get the same slice of the BCS revenue pie as the other major conferences. That is not a guarantee once the new BCS cycle begins in 2014, with an expected four-team playoff. You can bet whoever is the new commissioner is going to have to do a lot of cajoling for that to happen.

He is also going to have to make sure he has a unified league moving forward, one that has everybody holding hands together, rather than looking for the next best opportunity. It is an unenviable task, one that is going to require a special skill-set that Marinatto simply didn't possess.

For those interested in how the process is going to work, Cincinnati president Gregory H. Williams is head of the search committee, which will be comprised of league presidents and athletic directors. A search firm will likely be used to help gather a pool of candidates.

Ultimately, the school presidents choose the commissioner. Under league bylaws, only current members have a vote. Temple, which begins play in football in 2012, would have a vote in this case. Boise State, San Diego State, SMU, UCF, Houston, Memphis and Navy will be involved in discussions, but cannot vote. Neither can Pitt, Syracuse or West Virginia, all departing members.

1. Commissioner John Marinatto paid for his inability to keep the two constituencies of the Big East Conference on one path Monday when he submitted his resignation. Whether anyone could have kept the conference’s original basketball-oriented members and its football-playing newbies happy is a fair question. It’s no knock on Marinatto, a back-of-the-house guy, that he failed. The conference presidents made a poor decision when they promoted him, as Dana O’Neil wrote Monday, and it may be too late to fix.

2. Alabama and LSU, the teams that played for the BCS Championship -- can we say playoff finalists yet? -- had a combined 10 freshmen enroll in January in time to participate in spring ball. At Oregon, which is on the quarter system, coach Chip Kelly chose not to begin spring ball until April, when spring quarter began. Three Duck signees who didn’t finish high school in December completed their studies in time to enroll for spring quarter. It’s a wonder more coaches don’t advocate for the quarter system.

3. Nebraska assistant coach Ron Brown wrote an open letter, published by the Lincoln Journal-Star over the weekend, saying he would never punish a gay athlete in his charge. As proof, he cited the Huskers who have played for him without repercussion even as they had heterosexual sex outside of marriage. That, too, is a sin, Brown wrote. If you’re scoring at home, Brown is using fornication to defend his ability to coach. Can’t wait to see what happens next.

Cincinnati president Gregory H. Williams is in charge of the search committee for the next Big East commissioner. So what is the league looking for in its next leader?

I had a chance to briefly catch up with Williams in a phone conversation this afternoon.

"We want someone that can take the Big East to the next level," he said. "We're excited about where we are right now. We feel the conference is stronger than it's ever been. We have some great new teams we are bringing in, there's a huge opportunity for us to build, so we're looking for someone who can facilitate that and make that happen."

Along those lines, what are the biggest priorities for Big East moving forward?

"There are a lot of priorities; TV negotiations are one of them," he said. "What happens in regards to the BCS is another issue, and we are making a transition for some teams to come in and we're working through that. That's going to be an issue as well. There's a whole range of issues the person has to be conversive with and provide the type of leadership we need."

When I tried to ask Williams more probing questions, he declined to answer. I specifically asked why the presidents asked Marinatto to resign. Williams referred me to the statement from the Big East. "John decided to leave the Big East and we wish him well," Williams said. "He did a fantastic job, but now all of us are moving on in different directions."

When I asked about the different interests among the football and basketball schools, Williams said, "I don't think there's any dissension between the football and basketball schools. In my involvement at the meetings, everyone works together, everyone tries to figure out what's in the best interest of the Big East. The basketball schools have been very supportive of the issues that have been faced."

Then I asked whether Marinatto deserved the blame for what happened to the league in the past year. Williams said I was getting off topic, and referred me again to the Big East statement.

As for a timetable for hiring a new commissioner, Williams said the sooner the better. It is critical to have somebody in place before the start of television negotiations in September.

"It's more important we get the right person than we do it quickly," he said. "The critical factor is making sure we have the right person."

Williams has been president of Cincinnati since 2009 and is a member of the Big East executive committee.

It is worth nothing that, on the November 2008 day that the Big East presidents and chancellors named John Marinatto as their new commissioner, it was a unanimous decision.

This was not a coup or hostile takeover. He was chosen for the job, awarded like loyal foot soldiers often are. Or at least were back in the day when there were such things as loyal foot soldiers.

And that was the Big East's crucial mistake.

The presidents made a rear-view window hire when the league desperately needed someone who could look into a crystal ball.

Now a once proud conference is in shambles because of it.

Click here for the rest of Dana O'Neil's column.