Dave Gavitt's original Big East turned into a league at war with itself. As far back as the mid-90s, there was talk about a split between the schools that were basketball-first and those that weren't. Tranghese kept the thing together, but it was at times an uneasy alliance.
He led the league through the Atlantic Coast Conference raid a few years ago that took Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, in large part by raiding Conference USA for Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette and DePaul. That actually worked well in both football and basketball, stabilizing the football side and turning basketball into a true monster; but Tranghese acknowledged how difficult it was to govern.
