He tweets rap lyrics every morning to start the day and, in the mind of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, he is an ideal candidate to run a high-major college sports conference.
Jay Bilas.
In a blog post on his website Saturday, Pitino recommended that Bilas take over the job of John Marinatto, who resigned as Big East commissioner in early May.
Pitino outlined the four characteristics he thought were most important in a person looking to take over the position:
“-A presence that Presidents and Athletic Directors will respect.
-A strong personality and creative thinker.
-A television background and a total understanding of the diversity of its constituents.
-An ability to bring football into the limelight.”
Then he explained:
“Well Dave Gavitt’s vision could be carried out by one man that has come to the necessary way of thinking towards the future,” Pitino writes, going on to nominate Bilas. “I would take a portion of the Syracuse and Pittsburgh money, give him a 5 year contract and pay him 2 million per year. He has charisma, knows T.V., has a legal background, outstanding presence, and a creative thinker. He would be a grand slam.”
Bilas, 48, has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA during his time as a television analyst and color commentator, having been with ESPN since 1995.
He is often praised as one of the more knowledgeable analysts in college basketball and has gained a following of over 350,000 on Twitter.
Bilas has another thing going for him, in addition to his experience on television, being that he played the game at the collegiate level. He played at Duke from 1982-86 and averaged 8.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
Photo Credit: SportsGrid.com
Daniel Martin is a writer and editor at JohnnyJungle.com, covering St. John’s. You can find him on Twitter:@DanielJMartin_