BC AD miffed team wasn't presented trophy
By Michael Vega, Globe Staff | March 7, 2005
Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo lashed out yesterday at Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese for presenting the University of Connecticut with a championship trophy after the Huskies clinched a share of the league's regular-season title with an 88-70 victory over Syracuse Saturday afternoon, and not doing the same for the fifth-ranked Eagles, who not only clinched a share of the league title but earned the top seed in this week's conference tournament with a 78-66 victory Saturday night at Rutgers.
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"It was not surprising and very petty that the commissioner and the Big East Conference would go to Connecticut and present their coaches and their players with a championship trophy and not do the same for our players and our coaches and our fans," DeFilippo said at the Big East women's tournament in Hartford.
DeFilippo claimed the move was an attempt to punish BC for joining the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.
"Our coaches and our players had absolutely, positively nothing to do with Boston College's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference," DeFilippo said. "If they want to blame somebody, they should blame me and they should take it out on me, and not on our players and not on our coaches."
However, when reached last night at the Big East women's tourney, Tranghese said it was not a slight. "We don't travel to give out the trophy, but I happened to be at UConn to give awards to [Huskies coach] Jim Calhoun and [Syracuse coach] Jim Boeheim for their 700th coaching wins," said Tranghese.
Calhoun and Boeheim had their milestone victories last week.
"The BC team will get [its] trophy at the banquet in New York," he said. The Big East men's tournament starts Wednesday at Madison Square Garden; the awards banquet is tomorrow night.
Asked to respond to Tranghese's comments, DeFilippo said, "He's certainly entitled to his opinion, but the fact is he showed up for the second game today [at the Big East women's tournament] and we played in the first game, so you figure that one out. The other thing I say is, what happened in football. There was no one to give us a trophy then. So I'm entitled to my opinion and he's entitled to his." When BC's football team came down to its season finale against Syracuse last Nov. 27 at the Heights with a chance to clinch the Big East title and Bowl Championship Series berth, league officials were in attendance but did not make a trophy presentation after the Eagles finished in a four-way tie following a 43-17 setback.
"When [league spokesman] John Paquette was asked if there was going to be somebody from the Big East conference to present the football team a trophy, if they should beat Syracuse, the answer was, `We don't do things like that,' " DeFilippo recalled. "Apparently, they do do things like that, but what that was saying was, `We do do it, but we don't do it if Boston College is involved.' "
DeFilippo said he did not speak to Tranghese yesterday.
According to Paquette, no trophy presentation was planned at Rutgers "because we have never presented a [championship] trophy on an away court. We just have never done that. What we always try to do, if we have the opportunity to do it, is present it on a team's home court at the last game of the year."
DeFilippo indicated BC would have happily accepted the trophy in the visitors' locker room at the Louis Brown Athletic Center Saturday night. DeFilippo was not at the game, but he's maintained a low profile at conference road games all season.
"[The players] deserve the same treatment as other teams and other coaches [in the league] are receiving," DeFilippo said.
DeFilippo said Big East officials presented the Eagles with the regular-season championship trophy after the BC hoop team clinched the top seed for the 2000-01 tourney, which it went on to win as well. But that presentation was made on BC's home court in its regular-season finale.
"It's just evident to me that a lot of people in the Big East really, really are having trouble with the fact that we tied for the football championship and the basketball championship in our last year in the Big East conference," DeFilippo said.
Susan Bickelhaupt of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
By Michael Vega, Globe Staff | March 7, 2005
Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo lashed out yesterday at Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese for presenting the University of Connecticut with a championship trophy after the Huskies clinched a share of the league's regular-season title with an 88-70 victory over Syracuse Saturday afternoon, and not doing the same for the fifth-ranked Eagles, who not only clinched a share of the league title but earned the top seed in this week's conference tournament with a 78-66 victory Saturday night at Rutgers.
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"It was not surprising and very petty that the commissioner and the Big East Conference would go to Connecticut and present their coaches and their players with a championship trophy and not do the same for our players and our coaches and our fans," DeFilippo said at the Big East women's tournament in Hartford.
DeFilippo claimed the move was an attempt to punish BC for joining the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.
"Our coaches and our players had absolutely, positively nothing to do with Boston College's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference," DeFilippo said. "If they want to blame somebody, they should blame me and they should take it out on me, and not on our players and not on our coaches."
However, when reached last night at the Big East women's tourney, Tranghese said it was not a slight. "We don't travel to give out the trophy, but I happened to be at UConn to give awards to [Huskies coach] Jim Calhoun and [Syracuse coach] Jim Boeheim for their 700th coaching wins," said Tranghese.
Calhoun and Boeheim had their milestone victories last week.
"The BC team will get [its] trophy at the banquet in New York," he said. The Big East men's tournament starts Wednesday at Madison Square Garden; the awards banquet is tomorrow night.
Asked to respond to Tranghese's comments, DeFilippo said, "He's certainly entitled to his opinion, but the fact is he showed up for the second game today [at the Big East women's tournament] and we played in the first game, so you figure that one out. The other thing I say is, what happened in football. There was no one to give us a trophy then. So I'm entitled to my opinion and he's entitled to his." When BC's football team came down to its season finale against Syracuse last Nov. 27 at the Heights with a chance to clinch the Big East title and Bowl Championship Series berth, league officials were in attendance but did not make a trophy presentation after the Eagles finished in a four-way tie following a 43-17 setback.
"When [league spokesman] John Paquette was asked if there was going to be somebody from the Big East conference to present the football team a trophy, if they should beat Syracuse, the answer was, `We don't do things like that,' " DeFilippo recalled. "Apparently, they do do things like that, but what that was saying was, `We do do it, but we don't do it if Boston College is involved.' "
DeFilippo said he did not speak to Tranghese yesterday.
According to Paquette, no trophy presentation was planned at Rutgers "because we have never presented a [championship] trophy on an away court. We just have never done that. What we always try to do, if we have the opportunity to do it, is present it on a team's home court at the last game of the year."
DeFilippo indicated BC would have happily accepted the trophy in the visitors' locker room at the Louis Brown Athletic Center Saturday night. DeFilippo was not at the game, but he's maintained a low profile at conference road games all season.
"[The players] deserve the same treatment as other teams and other coaches [in the league] are receiving," DeFilippo said.
DeFilippo said Big East officials presented the Eagles with the regular-season championship trophy after the BC hoop team clinched the top seed for the 2000-01 tourney, which it went on to win as well. But that presentation was made on BC's home court in its regular-season finale.
"It's just evident to me that a lot of people in the Big East really, really are having trouble with the fact that we tied for the football championship and the basketball championship in our last year in the Big East conference," DeFilippo said.
Susan Bickelhaupt of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
