The market will accept it, we have little doubt about it.

We are very excited for our teams that have been invited to the NCAA Championship, but we are disappointed that Cincinnati was not included. They had some quality wins inside and outside the conference.

Then there are other rivalries that are good but that we just couldn’t fit in, such as Connecticut-Providence. But because Connecticut is one of our top teams we had to cross over and have them...

I don’t think it can hurt. I think anything we do to excel, to demonstrate our ability to continue to compete at a high level can only help us.

I think there’s this public perception that we’re under tremendous scrutiny, so I guess that’s true, but I have to tell you, I would never have that conversation with West Virginia. I would never impose...

There were certain rivalries that we were committed to keeping intact,

We’ve got people out there working on this, they’ve spent an enormous amount of time on it already. I’m pretty optimistic what we craft will be better than what we have.

They’re very ambitious. They’re not coming here just to be a part of this league, they’re coming to be a significant factor.

To go back originally to the defections, it was as bad a time as a lot of us have ever gone through. There were some days when we didn’t even know if there was going...

If you’re recruiting against Southern California, Oklahoma or Miami, those are hard recruiting sells, … There are a whole bunch of teams in those leagues who are never getting to a BCS game. I told...

So that all played into it.

When we lost people and sat down and talked about it for the first time, Louisville was always part of those conversations. A big reason why was how much they seemed to want to be...

This, … will be the most disastrous blow to intercollegiate athletics in my lifetime.

The only way this thing won’t survive, … is if these coaches can’t coach and recruit, and if I screw up. They ain’t going to screw up, because this league has always been successful because...

I never talked about numbers with our people, … I just said obviously with the kind of quality that we have there’s no reason to think that we can’t generate more teams qualifying for the...

We had pretty high expectations before the season. You hope it’s right, but I don’t know if anybody could have written a better script than how it turned out.

It’s hard to sit here and do cartwheels, … I understand the USC situation. I have empathy for them. But at the end of the day, I have little doubt that the Rose Bowl game...

I can tell you that our coaches and athletic directors and presidents have all told me in the strongest terms where they want to be long term is they want everybody playing everybody at least...

Five new members makes us not only bigger, but better in terms of overall depth.

I have nothing to apologize for. My conference has nothing to apologize for.

When we began to look at Notre Dame, Marquette, DePaul, Louisville and Cincinnati as well as those schools located in the Northeast, we were also trying to not have people do even more travel,

We’re not going to fail, … But we’re not going to simply succeed because we’re 16. Sixteen presents a number of problems, and we’re going to be aggressive in dealing with them. But this whole...

Two years ago, a lot of people didn’t even think our conference was going to make it, … What occurred a year ago was that we didn’t have our members with us. Boston College was...

We have a couple more who if we were voting today would probably get in, … and I’ll match the strength of our coaches with any league in the country.

People are quick to pass judgments based on the results of games, … This is a long-term venture we’re involved in. These are college kids playing. When one group outplays the other, they deserve the...

a formula for disaster.

No two people stood up during those very, very difficult times and expressed such sincere support for the league, … I know it’s something I won’t forget. When you’re being attacked and you have two...

I am absolutely convinced that we can get a lot of teams in if they do what they are supposed to do. The selection committee has good people, and they’ll be fair about it. They...

It’s hard to sit here and do cartwheels. I understand the USC situation. I have empathy for them. But at the end of the day, I have little doubt that the Rose Bowl game between...

I keep hearing the question, ‘Are we going to survive?’

The rest of the season just was not a lot of fun, … Everybody was painting a negative scope on everything we were doing and not doing. They [Louisville] gave us credibility because of all...

We’re not going to be judged on a single game; we’re going to be judged over a four-year period, but obviously how West Virginia does against Georgia will have some impact on how we are...

The way we’re scheduling now is not the right way to do it. We are committed to having everybody playing everybody else at least once.

Everybody keeps telling me we’re too big,

Two years ago a lot of people didn’t even think our conference was going to make it, … There was a lot of discussion about separation. … Two years, for our members, have been pretty...

I’m just not the kind of guy who says I told you so.

The NFL is going to be playing in that Thursday night slot now and ESPN didn’t want that game on that night to go against it.

Everybody keeps telling me we’re too big. We’re all too big. We’re just bigger than others.

I just think me saying anything, all it does, it doesn’t help. I don’t see what I have to gain by talking about it.

If I were IBM, I’d understand it. I’m not IBM. I represent 14 educational institutions.

[That is how a season starts, after 26 seasons that led to a new starting line.] Twenty years from now, … people are going to be saying, ‘Look at the people in this picture.’

We have done significant research and analysis into the use of instant replay for our conference football games for the coming season. We are pursuing what we think will be the best possible system for...