Emilia Farrell ‘28

by Emilia Farrell ‘28 on October 8, 2026

This year’s Big East Media Day for men’s and women’s basketball began with opening remarks from the Big East’s newest commissioner, Tim Brosnan, outlining his vision for the future of the conference and college basketball. Brosnan is the conference’s sixth commissioner and assumed the role on Sept. 1 upon the retirement of Val Ackerman. A graduate of Georgetown University and former baseball player, Brosnan spent the majority of his career working in the sports industry, most recently serving as executive vice president for Business of Major League Baseball. While not a basketball player himself, Brosnan has a long history playing and working in the sports industry, which he says makes this role significant: “This is not a job for me, it’s a passion”.

Brosnan began his speech by explaining how the Big East Conference was born out of necessity, with conferences at the time being solely focused on football with little regard for basketball. Currently, out of the 11 member schools, only four of the universities have a varsity football program. Brosnan articulated that through having a basketball centric conference, the Big East has gone on to be “defined by our greatness and our determination to win championships. Through its tenure, The Big East has become one of the best and most competitive men’s basketball conferences in the nation. While emphasizing tradition, Brosnan also made it clear that the conference cannot afford to stay stagnant. “History and tradition are invaluable assets,” Brosnan said, and followed up with, “We don’t run from change we embrace it,” specifically regarding player eligibility, conference realignments, and the everchanging NIL landscape. One of those traditions is the Big East’s presence at Madison Square Garden each year. It is invaluable to both players and fans to have such an iconic space as a home base for the conference.

Brosnan also outlined his expectations for the conference on the court. “Three bids to the tournament is not our standard, in fact based upon what I know about our programs and our members and our current commitments they have made to their programs, I expect half of our men’s basketball programs to be in the tournament come March. I know too that the women’s coaches believe that they’re going to surprise people this season as well.” Based on what Brosnan has seen from Big East programs so far, he expects nothing but the best from both men’s and women’s teams this season. Beyond basketball, Brosnan discussed the importance of using all assets that member universities offer to advance both their teams and the conference. He aims to “take better advantage of non-commercial assets that our universities possess that are part of our history which will in turn generate greater performance and opportunity for our conference.” Rather than competing for attention with football, the conference can be deliberate and focus on basketball all year. 

For the Big East’s 11 basketball programs, including Providence, this vision comes with high expectations. Broson raises the bar beyond reaching the round of 64 in March. He expects many schools to excel throughout the season and through the national tournament.