Rick Pitino does not want Gonzaga to join the Big East Conference. Nor does he care what UConn head coach Dan Hurley thinks about the idea and made that clear when asked about the possible addition.
100 percent, no.
— Rick Pitino
The ongoing conversation surrounding the Bulldogs stems from their current membership to the West Coast Conference. They are one of the best college basketball programs in the country, but they compete among teams like Pepperdine, Portland and Pacific.
Although San Francisco, Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara prove to be strong mid-major programs in certain years, it is not the same level of competition. St. John’s plays Creighton, Villanova, Butler, Georgetown, Marquette, etc. in the Big East. UConn just won a national title out of the conference.
The Huskies traveled out to Seattle earlier this week for a fun non-conference game against the Zags. Big East commissioner Val Ackerman was in attendance.
Hurley suggested prior to the blowout win that Gonzaga should make a move.
Not putting any pressure on Gonzaga to join a great basketball league but, um, yeah […]
If we could get a program of Gonzaga’s caliber to come into the Big East, obviously we could really use another big-time program to strengthen the league, the TV contracts and everything that goes into it, we should just suck it up.
It would certainly be worth it just for the basketball boost that it would give to our confernence.
— Dan Hurley
Ackerman said that she remains in touch with the Washington-based university at Big East media day. There was a lot of support for the move in her comments.
There’s no better fit for Gonzaga than the Big East. If you look at the kind of school they are, basketball focus, their enrollment, their budget, it’s totally on point.
— Val Ackerman
Such a move would create a big shakeup in the landscape of collegiate athletics!
Rick Pitino disagrees with the idea.
The 71-year-old head coach has been very vocal against all of the ongoing conference realignment. He is very against moves that require student-athletes to make cross-country trips to compete.
I think it’s the most absurd thing what’s going on in the world of college sports. It’s totally absurd.
They don’t even care about women’s sports, minor sports. They’re just saying you’ve gotta travel, so everybody’s going to be sitting in an airport with their flight delayed while football and basketball are taking their private planes.
— Rick Pitino in September, via ZAGSBLOG
Pitino threw Hurley’s support of the Gonzaga addition right back in his face on Saturday night.
I don’t feel like getting on a plane for five or six hours. Tell Danny he can go [join their conference.]
— Rick Pitino
With that being said, Rick Pitino is more open to adding the Bulldogs if it is only for basketball. That way, his team would only make one trip out to the Pacific Northwest each year. Other non-hoops programs would not be forced to deal with the strain of such significant travel.