Summary of Dana O'Neil's The Big East

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 Gavitt was the founder of the Big East Conference, and he was also the commissioner of it. He was universally praised as brilliant, but his real gift lay in his people skills. He was intelligent but not elitist, and everyone loved him.#2 Gavitt was able to connect with people easily, and he was able to make connections that carried him throughout his life. He was able to lead teams to the Final Four in both basketball and baseball, and he was named New England Coach of the Year after leading Providence to the NCAA Tournament in both 1969 and 1973.#3 Gavitt was a coach, and he was also the commissioner of the Big East conference, which was created in 1979. He believed his region, the East Coast, would benefit from a conference to rival the ACC. He never found a receptive audience, though.#4 In 1978, the NCAA passed a rule that required teams that competed against one another in postseason tournaments to also play a full round-robin regular-season schedule. This meant that coaches would have to build a schedule that included two games against regional foes.