Unafraid to spot the obvious and wag a finger right at it.
Why, just the other day, the Big East Conference commissioner accused the University of Miami of engaging in a sleazy form of corporate lust.
Of shamelessly considering a move from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference for no other reason than to reap millions in profits.
Tranghese was appalled. He was disgusted. He seemed on the verge of calling for an NCAA committee to regulate the consumption and distribution of greed.
"Keep it away from the soccer programs," you can picture Tranghese shouting. "There's no telling what those people would do with it.
"I don't want it near student-athletes, trainers or university presidents. They're too easily corrupted. Greed should be controlled by athletic directors, coaches and commissioners. They're already without souls."
He is a romantic, that Mike Tranghese.
Prone to whimsy and old-fashioned notions of courtship.
Sure, he said, the Big East might be forced to raid other conferences. After all, the league did it just a few years back to get West Virginia and Rutgers basketball out of the Atlantic 10.
But the Big East is honorable. It will not be as brazen as those hussies from the ACC. When the time comes for the Big East to woo universities from, say, Conference USA, it will notify the league in advance.
That way, Conference USA won't feel so bad about losing some of its premier programs and seeing its revenues head straight toward the gutter.
Sort of like letting your neighbor know you have the hots for the poor sod's spouse before actually making a pass.
He is a historian, that Mike Tranghese.
Called Miami's possible defection "the most disastrous blow to intercollegiate athletics in my lifetime."
You see, others would not be sharp enough to recognize that. They would fail to see how the loss of the Miami-Temple football rivalry could cripple the NCAA's entire structure.
This wouldn't be a minor blip like point shaving at Tulane or Boston College. Or SMU having its football program wiped off the earth's surface. No way. This would be morally devastating.
Think about what's happening here. It's schools such as Miami, Boston College and Syracuse deciding to play games against different opponents.
You just wish he hadn't been so understated.
He is a humanitarian, that Mike Tranghese.
Darn near said so himself the other day. He was recalling how, in 1990, the University of Miami was an NCAA orphan with nowhere to go.
Tranghese explained how the Hurricanes were plucked off the streets by the Big East and given a home in a conference with zero football tradition.
Thus, today, the Canes are showing no loyalty to a group of schools "who were there when nobody else wanted Miami."
You might recall how pathetic Miami was back then. And how the Big East had so little to gain by offering the Hurricanes a home.
Sure, Miami was the defending national champions in football. Yes, the Hurricanes had won three national titles in the previous seven years. But in 1990? The year the Big East actually extended its invitation?
Miami was a measly 10-2 and No. 3 in the nation.
All the Hurricanes have done for the Big East since then is win two more national titles.
He is a philosopher, that Mike Tranghese.
"If I were IBM, I'd understand it," he said. "But I'm not IBM. I represent 14 educational institutions."
See? It's not about money.
This is about education.
About making sure a young man such as Carmelo Anthony can get in two semesters at Syracuse before skipping town.
You can see that, right?
If universities were so infatuated with cash, for instance, they would let television networks dictate starting times.
If the NCAA cared only about profits, it would add football games at the beginning of the season, giving them made-up names like the Pigskin Classic and add games in December under the guise of league championships.
If they weren't so concerned about the greater good of the student-athletes, NCAA institutions might make coaches honor their contracts and allow students to transfer without penalty.
If intercollegiate athletics was just a regular ol' business like IBM, it would not give a second chance to a basketball player at Georgia who bounced in and out of five high schools and was accused of sexual assault.
