Men's Basketball: Big East Conference slate announced, Steve Cottingham resigns

2011-2012 Big East Opponents Announced

The Big East announced the home and away slates for the Big East season.  Marquette will face Cincinnati, Georgetown, and Villanova in a home-and-home series for the 2011-2012 Big East basketball season. The breakdown of home and away is:


HOME GAMES:  Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, Villanova

ROAD GAMES:  Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia


At quick glance, 7 of the 9 games on the road are against NCAA Tournament teams including a trip to defending national champion Connecticut.  While the home games include 6 games against NCAA Tournament teams.  
The non-conference schedule looks like this as of today:
11/14 Norfolk State (H)
11/19 Winthrop (N)
11/20 or 21 Mississippi/Drake (N)
11/22 Virginia/TCU/Norfolk State/Drexel (N)
12/6 Washington (N)
12/10 UW-Green Bay (H)
12/19 LSU (A)

TBD Vanderbilt (H)
TBD Wisconsin (A)
TBD UW-Milwaukee (H)
TBD Jacksonville (H)
TBD Mount St. Mary's (H)
TBD Northern Colorado (H)


Vanderbilt is expected to be a top 10 team all season long.  Wisconsin, at the Kohl Center and Washington, in New York City will be top 25 teams next season contending for conference titles after a few key losses to their starting lineups.  Overall an upgrade for the non-conference slate with only one opponent with an RPI of 250 or higher (Norfolk State).  Last season the Golden Eagles played six such teams.  It will be the second consecutive season Marquette plays against the defending national champion (Duke last season in Kansas City).


Cottingham Resigns


While most people would normally take today to discuss every match-up in detail, the big news out of the athletic department was the resignation of athletic director Steve Cottingham.  The athletic department seems to be in great shape financially, with success and continued improvement of each team on campus.  The inclusion of a men's and women's lacrosse team was one of Cottingham's biggest steps as athletic director.


The issues that student-athletes had during the last school year brought negative attention to a typically clean athletic department.  National and local stations and articles have continued to uncover new details of the situations.  The timing of the resignation will lead to speculation of the sole cause of Cottingham's leaving.  Cottingham was always approachable and was seen at every sporting event talking to anyone who was willing to talk to him.  


In a letter to Father Wild, Cottingham said, “Although recent events involving a few student-athletes have certainly been a disappointment to me, I leave Marquette with positive feelings and confidence in its future.”