As Jake Crouthamel found out, a virtue can be a fault as well.

Jake Crouthamel’s virtues – loyalty and trust – caused him to place unfounded faith in the hands of The Rev. William P. Leahy. When Leahy, Boston College’s president, promised to support the Big East in its effort to rebuild following the loss of Virginia Tech and Miami, Crouthamel listened. But in this game of college athletics, loyalty and trust are something you can never take for granted, something BC proved in the slimiest manner this weekend.

Boston College became the latest BIg East school to defect to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Leahy did his job. He looked out for the interest of Boston College. Not Syracuse. Not Pittsburgh. Not any other Big East school. It’s difficult to blame him for that.

Leahy can be faulted, though, for dragging Boston College’s good name as an educational institute through the dirt. Flat out, Leahy lied. He told Crouthamel he was in it for the long haul with Syracuse, but at the same time was cutting a deal with the ACC, in effect destorying the conference he feigned being a part of.

Crouthamel, Syracuse’s director of athletics, fired off yesterday at a press conference, called in response to BC’s decision to bolt.

‘I’m offended with the process,’ Crouthamel said. ‘I’m disappointed with Boston College … The process was a travesty. To go through the mere formality and then (have them) say, ‘Oh, yeah, but we really didn’t intend to invite you.’ The whole process, quite frankly, stinks.

‘I guess handshakes don’t mean much anymore.’

No, handshakes don’t mean anything, not when you’re dealing with frauds like Leahy.

A ‘handshake’ agreement crippled SU, not just this weekend, but five months ago, too, when the ACC reneged on its deal to bring SU, Boston College and Miami to the ACC. And for some reason, he thought that the handshake deal Leahy apparently made with him to commit to staying in the Big East would be different.

. That SU expected BC – which essentially begged the ACC to include it in the original expansion plans – to ignore a luring invitation from the ACC turned out to be misguided.

This is college sports. It’s a money-grubbing institution. The ACC wanted a lucrative championship game, for which the NCAA requires 12 teams in a conference. So it grabbed BC.

When money and power are involved, under-the-table deals, though not right, must be anticipated. If the Big East wished to keep BC, it should’ve forced the Eagles, and other teams, to sign an agreement in writing.

Now Crouthamel claims the ACC’s primary goal was to dismantle and destroy the Big East to free up another Bowl Championship Series spot. Currently the BCS gives an automatic bid to six major conferences. But the current BCS agreement expires after the 2004-05 season. If during the renegotiation process the BCS feels the Big East has considerably weakened, the conference could be left out of the new deal.

Of course, the ACC’s prime motivation might be simply to reap the benefits from a football conference championship game. Crouthamel even admits he’s not completely sure. But even if the ACC’s motivation was to destroy the Big East, so what? There is no inalienable right granted to the Big East to exist as a conference.

The ACC is winning the war – and each battle – that it’s forged against the Big East.

‘When this process started about five years ago,’ Crouthamel said, ‘it was very clear to everyone the ACC wanted Miami.’

Five years ago? (ITALICS)Five(ITALICS) years? The ACC approached Big East teams five years ago about a possible expansion plan, and Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese took a wait-and-see approach.

Five years notice and the Big East throws together a last-second package involving Cincinnati and Louisville. Some replacements for Miami and Virginia Tech.

Still, Crouthamel remains optimistic.

‘I made the decision that we would make a commitment to make sure the Big East works,’ Crouthamel said. ‘It will be a reconstituted conference. But it will be a strong conference.

‘There will no doubt be financial damages. But it’s not irreparable damage.’

Crouthamel understands this will be hard. That’s a start. But in reality, the BIg East is on a destructive road toward mid-major city.

Syracuse wasn’t forced on that road. It, along with the rest of the Big East, could’ve actively anticipated this staggering blow by taking the offensive – maybe even inviting ACC teams to join the Big East first – before the ACC ransacked the Big East.

Instead, a pair of virtues – loyalty and trust – have Syracuse stuck in a lame-duck conference. Only in college athletics.

Scott Lieber is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at smlieber@syr.edu.

Published on October 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm