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Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman Stepping Down This Summer After 13-Year Tenure

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Basketball

Pretty big news in the college basketball world as it was announced that Big East commissioner Val Ackerman will retire this summer, ending a transformative 13‑year tenure in which the conference stabilized after realignment and captured eight combined men’s and women’s basketball national championships.

Ackerman, 66, took over in 2013 as the league re‑formed around its basketball‑centric identity. She guided the Big East through a period of uncertainty following the departures of Syracuse, Pitt, Notre Dame, Louisville, Rutgers, West Virginia, UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida. Under her leadership, the remaining seven members — DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova — rebuilt the conference with the additions of Butler, Creighton and Xavier.

“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. She added that with long‑term business deals in place and strong campus leadership, “the future of the conference, and Big East basketball in particular, is very bright.”

Ackerman also played a central role in bringing UConn back to the Big East in 2020, a move that has since produced three national championships between the Huskies’ men’s and women’s programs.

St. John’s president Rev. Brian J. Shanley, chair of the Big East board of directors, praised Ackerman’s impact, calling her the visionary leader the conference needed when it re‑launched in 2013. “She leaves big shoes to fill,” Shanley said, noting her work with FOX Sports and Madison Square Garden to elevate the league’s national platform.

Before joining the Big East, Ackerman served as the founding president of the WNBA, president of USA Basketball, and the U.S. representative to FIBA’s central board. She received the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and was inducted into the Hall in 2021.

The conference said a national search for her successor will begin immediately.