Syracuse will comply with the bylaws of the Big East regarding the timetable for leaving the conference to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs, said Tuesday.

Contracts with the Big East require 27 months’ notice before exiting and a $5 million exit fee. Big East Commissioner John Marinatto told The New York Times on Monday night that both Syracuse and Pittsburgh will be held to that 27-month waiting period.

Quinn further referred to comments made by Athletic Director Daryl Gross to The Post-Standard on Monday. Gross said Syracuse will abide by what laws the Big East sets.

‘We are going to abide by whatever the Big East thinks is best because we were partners,’ Gross said. ‘ … I think Commissioner Marinatto is trying to put together a plan for the Big East and there may come a time where he really needs us to go. So, we don’t want to be in their way either.’

Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said Sunday in the ACC teleconference that his school would comply with the Big East’s guidelines during the transition period.

The purpose of the exit requirement is to allow the rest of the conference to restructure itself before multiple teams leave, said Chuck Sullivan, Big East director of communications. These requirements were put in place after Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College all left the Big East and joined the ACC in 2004 and 2005.

Syracuse’s then-Chancellor Kenneth ‘Buzz’ Shaw was chair of the committee that helped rewrite the exit rules for Big East member schools.

During that time, Syracuse had been in talks with the ACC about potentially joining the conference. But ultimately an offer was not extended to SU.

Shaw, along with the presidents of West Virginia and Pittsburgh, worked together to rebuild the conference and hopefully prevent future departures from happening as quickly, he said.

‘The purpose was to make it difficult but not impossible to leave,’ Shaw said. ‘ … We weren’t thinking about when we would leave or when we would not leave, but how we would attract people and retain them.’

Shaw also said that while 27 months is part of the contract, restructuring does not necessarily need to take that long.

‘And what the 27 months does is it gives you some time to do that, but it may be when you’re leaving a conference they won’t want you around that long, and so that’s something you work out,’ he said.

If Syracuse or Pittsburgh were to attempt to leave the Big East in violation of the contract before 27 months had passed, the schools would likely face legal action, said Sullivan, Big East spokesman.

Said Sullivan: ‘I would have to speculate on what would happen other than it would be a breach of the legal contract to which they had agreed to and were part of formulating.’

kronayne@syr.edu

 

Published on September 20, 2011 at 12:00 pm