Big East Commissioner John Marinatto Resigns, According To Report

The Big East Conference is in some serious turmoil right now as schools are leaving and joining like crazy. It seems like things are going to get worse before they get better too, because it looks like the conference could be without a leader during a pretty critical point in college football's future. According to our Big East Coast Bias blog conference commissioner John Marinatto has resigned. Here is BECB on why this is a particularly difficult time for the conference to be without a leader.

This is a particularly difficult time for the Big East to be looking for a commissioner as current BCS conference presidents are meeting in June to hammer out the final details of a new postseason format. Next year, the Big East will attempt to negotiate a new television contract. Now, apparently, it will do so with a new commissioner. The next commissioner, clearly, will have his or her hands full trying to negotiate a new television deal and fend off further attempts by other conferences to poach schools (Louisville, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Notre Dame, and UConn have all been rumored to be targets of other conferences to one degree or another).

We are still waiting on details about why Marinatto decided to step down, and why he would do it now, of all times, but it will be interesting to see how quickly they try to find a new leader and if they can get that man in place before the important meetings coming up in June.

For more on this story and how it will affect the Pitt Panthers during their last few months in the conference, please head over to Cardiac Hill and Big East Coast Bias.