May, 7, 2012

The big college sports-related story of Monday morning is here: Big East commissioner John Marinatto has resigned from his post, according to an announcement by the league, a league that is now leaderless as it "works to find its footing amid a rapidly shifting landscape," as Andrea Adelson and Andy Katz wrote this morning :

"Our recent expansion efforts have stabilized the conference for the long term, and we are likewise well positioned for our very important upcoming television negotiations," Marinatto said in the news release. "As a result, I felt this was the right time to step aside and to let someone else lead us through the next chapter of our evolution."

On Sunday night, CBSSports.com reported that Marinatto was asked to resign. According to Adelson and Katz, the exit had been building for weeks, led by basketball members "upset that they had no say in the expansion process."

The Big East also lost Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia -- three founding members, all three of which were especially important to the conference's stature as the nation's premier basketball league -- on Marinatto's watch. Perhaps this move was only a matter of time.

In any case, there you have it. Much more reaction from a variety of angles, including what it means for college basketball (if anything?), to come. Stay tuned.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Eamonn Brennan

Brennan joined ESPN.com in 2009 after several years of blogging at Yahoo! and other places around the Internet. The Iowa native lives in Chicago with his roommates, his dog, and a crippling addiction to caffeine.