Last month, a YouTube account called “Big East Films” popped up with a trailer for an upcoming series of documentaries focused on each of the conference’s 11 men’s basketball programs.
The first installment, Divine Providence, debuted last week, but has now received a surge of attention thanks to an apparent feud between the series’ creator and longtime college basketball insider Jeff Goodman.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, a DePaul fan with the account handle “BlueDemonDegen” claimed responsibility for the Big East Films series after its own X account had been taken down. In a wide-ranging thread (which begins here), the social media user discussed the intent behind the series as well as the reaction to some of the more controversial aspects of Divine Providence, which included one panelist likening former Friars head coach Ed Cooley to Adolf Hitler and claiming that the now-Georgetown coach had been involved in extramarital affairs during his time at Providence.
“Every single view expressed in the doc was *not* my own,” he wrote. “The documentary didn’t endorse any opinion over another, it attempted to show how people around the departure felt, more specifically, in Providence. Can’t believe i even have to say this.
@BlueDemonDegen went on to respond to allegations that he had “tricked” an unnamed interviewee, who he says he had given final cut to, into participating in the interview.
“Some people are of the opinion that I tricked a certain interviewee into doing this or that i was dishonest about the doc during production when in reality they had final cut over their lines and *did* cut 7/8 lines from the film. Which is fine. They had every right to,” he wrote. “But it sucked when i started hearing rumors that this same interviewee was telling people that he didn’t know what the doc would look like when it aired when in reality they had seen the entire thing and said it was outstanding.”
While the creator said he received mixed reactions to the film — most loved the content but not necessarily the production quality — one person who clearly wasn’t a fan was Goodman. In a series of screenshots shared by @BlueDemonDegen, the Field of 68 co-founder can be seen implying that the film could result in legal action, in addition to threatening to discover his identity.
Goodman’s Field of 68 co-founder, Rob Dauster, had publicly replied to @BlueDemonDegen with a similar sentiment regarding an unrelated topic last week.
The screenshotted messages caught the attention of Barstool Sports, with Dan “Big Cat” Katz discussing the matter on Monday’s episode of Barstool Yak. Barstool founder Dave Portnoy also took interest in the controversy, and used it as an opportunity to promote the Divine Providence documentary, which has now been viewed more than 23,000 times as of Monday afternoon.
“This is the doc that Ed Cooley and Jeff Goodman don’t want you to watch apparently,” Portnoy wrote.
While it’s understandable why Cooley wouldn’t be happy with the film — and might even threaten legal action — it’s unclear what Goodman specifically took issue with. Thus far, The Messenger senior basketball insider has yet to publicly respond to the screenshots of his apparent messages, which have only been amplified by the criticism he has received from Barstool Sports.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.