Cincinnati Bearcats head basketball coach Mick Cronin isn't happy about the recent happenings in the Big East. Seven non-FBS Catholic schools have chosen to leave the former hoops power conference to form their own. Those schools are DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova. Every program, except for DePaul and Marquette, are synonymous with the Big East. Cronin is upset that one sport is causing all of this chaos across college athletics. Football programs have been switching conferences the last couple of seasons and the trend is now making its way to college basketball.
Coach Cronin gave the Cincinnati Inquirer some pretty interesting quotes:
“I don’t blame them,” Cronin said. “It’s a shame that football, one sport, has dictated all this and the money that one sport apparently is swinging around and swaying universities to make the decisions. We’re sitting here in a state where the state school is 800 miles from its closest road game. It’s ridiculous. Don’t tell me that people care about student-athletes.”
He continued:
“Lost in the shuffle in all this is our volleyball team, our soccer team, Marshall’s tennis team,” Cronin said. “It’s all ridiculous. Let’s call it what it is. I’ve thought about this long and hard and I’ve waited to say this. If it’s all about this much money and money grabbing, the players need to get paid.”
We hope more coaches come out in support of a Pay-for-play system. The Bearcats are currently 10-0 and are ranked No. 11 in the AP Top 25.
[via The Big Lead]
