BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman announces retirement
BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
The BIG EAST will conduct a search for a new commissioner for the first time in 13 years.
BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman is retiring, per the league.
“It’s been an extraordinary honor for me to serve as the Commissioner of one of the most prestigious and storied organizations in college sports,” Ackerman said in a statement on Monday. “I want to thank our Presidents for entrusting me with this one-of-a-kind leadership opportunity and for supporting the investments needed to maintain the BIG EAST’s stature and meet our schools’ high competitive and academic standards. I especially want to recognize the Athletics Directors, Senior Woman Administrators, coaches, game officials, athletics and university personnel, BIG EAST staff, NCAA staff, network and business partners, journalists, student-athletes, and others I have worked with along the way for their professionalism, their support of college sports values, and for making my days (and nights) working for the BIG EAST a joy. With our long-term business deals securely in place and knowing we have strong, focused leadership on our campuses, I am confident that the future of the conference, and BIG EAST basketball in particular, is very bright, and I believe the time is right for me to hand off the baton.”
The search for a new Commissioner will be conducted by the BIG EAST board of directors and is expected to begin immediately.
“Speaking on behalf of all the BIG EAST Presidents, we announce Commissioner Val Ackerman’s retirement with a tinge of sadness and deep gratitude,” St. John’s President and Chair of the BIG EAST Board of Directors Rev. Brian J. Shanley, said. “When we re-founded the BIG EAST in 2013 as a basketball-centric conference, our first task was to find a commissioner who could provide the strategic vision needed to position us as a basketball peer with the power football conferences and compete with the country’s best. We found that visionary leader in Val Ackerman. Val has leveraged our partnerships with FOX Sports and Madison Square Garden to create a platform that has produced five basketball national champions (four men’s and one’s women’s) in the past decade, and she has built a strong foundation for future success. She leaves big shoes to fill.”
The BIG EAST has won four men’s basketball national championships in the past decade, more than any other Division I conference in that span. UConn’s women’s basketball program holds 12 national titles, the most of any Division I program.
Under Ackerman the BIG EAST has been one of the premier conferences in college basketball and the expectation is for it to remain that way.
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