Val Ackerman, who guided Big East after team exodus, to retire

Big East commissioner Val Ackerman will retire from her position this summer, the league announced on Monday.

Ackerman, 66, has been in charge of the league for the past 13 years, watching on as men’s and women’s basketball won a combined eight national championships during her tenure. She also oversaw the Big East’s transition during realignment.

“It’s been an extraordinary honor for me to serve as the Commissioner of one of the most prestigious and storied organizations in college sports,” Ackerman said. “I want to thank our Presidents for entrusting me with this one-of-a-kind leadership opportunity and for supporting the investments needed to maintain the Big East’s stature and meet our schools’ high competitive and academic standards.

“With our long-term business deals securely in place and knowing we have strong, focused leadership on our campuses, I am confident that the future of the conference, and Big East basketball in particular, is very bright, and I believe the time is right for me to hand off the baton.”

Ackerman, who was previously the founding president of the WNBA, the president of USA Basketball and the U.S. representative for men’s and women’s basketball on the central board of FIBA, took over as the Big East’s commissioner in the summer 2013. At the time, the league was in the midst of losing several of its marquee programs to other conferences at the height of realignment. Syracuse, Pitt, Notre Dame and Louisville left for the ACC; Rutgers went to the Big Ten; West Virginia left for the Big 12; and UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida opted for the AAC.

The remaining seven members — DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova — formed the new Big East, with Butler, Creighton and Xavier joining to make it a 10-team league in March 2013. Ackerman then spearheaded negotiations to bring back UConn in the summer of 2020. The Huskies have won a combined three national championships between men’s and women’s basketball since returning to the Big East.

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“Speaking on behalf of all the Big East Presidents, we announce Commissioner Val Ackerman’s retirement with a tinge of sadness and deep gratitude,” said St. John’s President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, chair of the Big East board of directors. “When we re-founded the Big East in 2013 as a basketball-centric conference, our first task was to find a commissioner who could provide the strategic vision needed to position us as a basketball peer with the power football conferences and compete with the country’s best. We found that visionary leader in Val Ackerman. Val has leveraged our partnerships with FOX Sports and Madison Square Garden to create a platform that has produced five basketball national champions (four men’s and one’s women’s) in the past decade, and she has built a strong foundation for future success. She leaves big shoes to fill.”

Ackerman received the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021.

A national search for Ackerman’s successor will begin immediately, the league said.