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John Iamarino Retires- Did He Leave the Southern Conference a Two-Bid League?
And where does the conference go from here? It may depend on Sunday’s selection show.
Southern Conference commissioner John Iamarino announced his retirement, effective June 30, on Friday.
The question is if he will have left the conference in such a way that it is now worthy of placing two of its members in the NCAA Tournament.
If it does, the job will be much more desirable to someone who might be able to improve the conference the way Iamarino did, as Jeff Hartsell reported last week in the Post and Courier..
The exit fees from the five schools that departed the conference in this decade were used to turn the conference around, from one of the worst mid-majors to one of the best. Now, if a second bid comes to the SoCon next year, that means $1.6 million extra money coming to the conference over the next six years, with enough money to pay a coach’s salary coming to ETSU alone.
And since teams also bring in revenue for their conference when they win games, how would you like to have Francis Alonzo and Fletcher McGee on the Buccaneers’ side during the NCAA Tournament?
