Up Close With PSR
John Feinstein

John Feinstein became a household name to sports fans in 1986, when his novel A Season on the Brink: A Year With Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers hit the shelves. In what was destined to become the best selling sports book of all time, Feinstein captured Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight like no one before or since. Feinstein, who graduated from Duke in 1977, worked at the Washington Post for eleven years as both a political and sports reporter, and also wrote for Sports Illustrated and National Sports Daily. He still contributes to the Washington Post, and is the author of a number of bestselling sports books, including A Good Walk Spoiled, A Civil War, The Last Amateurs, and his most recent, Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black. His latest chronicles the years spent renovating 'chewed-up' Bethpage Black in New York for the first-ever U.S. Open held on a municipal course. PSR's Tony DeFazio caught up with Feinstein as he relaxed with his family in Shelter Island, NY.

PSR: Obviously, the hot sports topic in Pittsburgh recently has been the defection of Miami and Virginia Tech to the ACC, and the possible break-up of the Big East Conference. You're an ACC guy, a Duke alum, what's your view of the whole thing?

JF: I just don't know that it even needed to be done. I wonder what they've ultimately accomplished. I'm a basketball guy at heart, and I don't think anyone can argue that the ACC has always been a basketball conference first. This expansion doesn't do anything positive for basketball. It takes what was almost a perfect conference set-up and basically destroys it.

PSR: The ACC didn't accomplish exactly what it set out to accomplish, the original plan was to add three Big East schools: Miami as the cornerstone, Syracuse, and Boston College. Miami and Virginia Tech were ultimately added. Has the ACC improved its product?

JF: On the basketball court, they've watered it down and made changes that are unnecessary. On the football field, Miami and Virginia Tech are two of the premier programs in the nation, so there's no question that they've improved the teams who play football in the ACC. Overall, though, they've succeeded in one thing that they set out to do, they've weakened the Big East.

PSR: Has the Big East been crippled or is their situation salvageable?

JF: Oh, I think the Big East can be salvaged. Michael Tranghese is going to try to talk to Notre Dame, and I think they may be persuaded at some point. A long shot, perhaps. But you look at what the league consists of, Pittsburgh, Boston College, ConnecticutÉit would be a league where all you have to do is get through those three, Syracuse, Rutgers and West Virginia to get to a BCS game every year. And that's essentially what they'd have to do.

PSR: Every conference wants Notre Dame as a member, the Big East and the Big Ten have already tried to get them, and the ACC is talking about adding them. Is the Big East, however, the only conference that Notre Dame can dictate their terms to?

JF: Notre Dame can dictate their terms to anybody. At least I think they can. Certainly the Big East is in more a desperate situation, but the Big Ten or the ACC too, any conference automatically improves with Notre Dame as a member.

PSR: I don't think anyone will say that losing Virginia Tech and Miami hurts Big East basketball. Last season, in fact, the Big East's RPI rating would have gone up minus those two schools. Nevertheless, their departure has to have some effect on the basketball league, correct?

JF: Well one thing that's obvious is that everybody will get to play in the Big East Tournament every year. I never agreed with the idea that teams get left out of the tournament Ð it isn't representative. That alone can help teams recruit, the kids will definitely get to play in the tournament. You know, to me, I think the idea of having a conference tournament is to get all the teams involved. If that's not happening, I think some credibility is lost.

Everyone should be able to play each other in the regular season as well, which has been a criticism of the Big East in the past.

PSR: How will the football fallout affect a basketball program like Pitt, which has seen high levels of success the past two seasons, but doesn't have the longevity of a Syracuse or a UConn?

JF: That's a scenario that might be comparable on some levels to Duke, which has had a tremendous amount of basketball success, but can't compete with any consistency in football. It is now that much harder for Duke football with the two new additions. Wake Forest has been very much the same way.

The University of Pittsburgh will survive this, they have too much tradition not to. They'll be fine on the basketball court and they'll survive in football also.

PSR: What do you think the future of college football looks like right now?

JF: The ACC expansion is going to have a domino effect. Obviously, the Big East is going to have to look for teams to replace Miami and Virginia Tech. You'll likely see more expansion to 12 teams and possibly beyond.

I think that eventually there will be a playoff, but it won't be the playoff format that everyone imagines, like an 8-team or a 16-team, bracketed playoff. The bowl games won't go away, they'll have to remain because of the money that they generate. They'll be a part of the playoff.

To a great extent, the top portion of the programs in the country are the ones calling the shots on this. Everyone wants to get a larger portion of that financial pie.

PSR: Where does that leave schools like Tulane, Brigham Young, and other non-BCS schools?

JF: That's a good question, and Tulane is setting out to get the answer with the lawsuit they've filed. The current contract with the BCS expires after the 2005 season. The question is whether there should be more teams in the BCS, if it continues, or less. The top tier schools think there should be less, more money for them. I think it's better for college football if there are more teams involved, better for fans, better for students, better for the game. But that's not what the top programs want.

PSR: Is college football such a different animal than the rest of college athletics that it might be beneficial for football to separate itself from the rest of the NCAA?

JF: That's what the power schools would like to do. In effect, that's what the have with the BCS. It operates outside the umbrella of the NCAA. I can definitely see that happening.

I would rather see it go the other way. I think the entire sport is better when you have a situation where a school that is not a power school gets a chance to play for the national championship; like Brigham Young did years ago, like Tulane almost did a few seasons ago, like Texas Christian did in 2000. I think you should have a chance to play for the national championship. You should not be told 'nice season, go and play in the Liberty Bowl.' And that's the way the current system is set up.

Until three teams go undefeated in the regular season, though, they'll tell you that the current system works. But eventually a third team will go undefeated and get left out. I hope it happens sooner rather than later, because once an undefeated school from a power conference gets left out, that's when you'll hear the cries for change.