Big East Conference (1979–2013)

Big East Conference

Association	NCAA
Commissioner	Mike Tranghese (since 1990)
Sports fielded	23 men's: 10 women's: 13
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FBS
Region	Eastern United States
Official website	http://www.bigeast.org/
Locations

The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of seventeen universities in the northeastern, southeastern and midwestern United States. The conference's 17 members (16 full-time and 1 associate member) participate in 23 NCAA sports. Eight of the seventeen conference schools are football members and the Big East competes as a BCS conference in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the top level of NCAA competition in that sport (also known by its former designation: Division I-A). Three members have football programs but are not Big East football schools: Georgetown and Villanova compete in the Football Championship Subdivision and Notre Dame plays as an FBS independent.

In football the Big East has re-emerged as an elite conference going 3–1 in BCS bowl games (University of Louisville once, West Virginia University twice) since being re-built and at full-strength. The Big East has also had all 8 of their members play in bowl games since re-alignment and have had 7 of their 8 teams in the Top 25 since 2003. The last 3 years the Big East has seen the emergence of new national players (University of South Florida rising as high as #2, Rutgers as high as #6, University of Connecticut as high as #13 and University of Cincinnati as high as #12 in BCS standings). Big East football has also seen an increase in attendance and is enjoying a new, quarter of a billion dollar plus television package that lasts through 2013.

In basketball, teams currently in the Big East account for 40 all time Final Four appearances and 10 National Championships, numbers only surpassed by the Big Ten and Pac-10 respectively. Of the Big East's 16 full members, 15 (or 94%) have been to the Final Four, by far the most of any conference, although it should be noted that Louisville, Marquette, DePaul, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Cincinnati and West Virginia made their trips before joining the Big East. The only full member that has never been to the Final Four is South Florida. The Big East set the record for the most teams sent to the NCAA Tournament by a single conference in 2006, with eight. The conference tied its own record in 2008.

History

The Big East was founded in 1979 when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse invited Seton Hall, Connecticut, and Boston College to form a conference primarily focused on basketball. Villanova joined a year later in 1980 and Pittsburgh joined in 1982. Also in 1982, Penn State applied for membership, but was rejected when Syracuse cast the deciding vote against Penn State's application.

Almost a decade later, the Big East was serious about becoming a major football conference and added five schools, including four-time champion Miami, Temple, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Rutgers. Penn State joined the Big Ten Conference. The inaugural Big East football season was launched in 1991. West Virginia and Rutgers were football-only members until 1995, Virginia Tech was a football-only member until 2001, with Temple remaining a football-only member until consistently failing to attract enough fan support and vacating its membership in 2004. Notre Dame was also offered a non-football membership as of 1995.

Big East Sports Offered Baseball Women's and Men's Basketball Women's and Men's Cross Country Football Field Hockey Women's and Men's Golf Men's Lacrosse Women's Lacrosse Women's Rowing Women's and Men's Soccer Softball Women's and Men's Swimming & Diving Women's and Men's Tennis Women's and Men's Indoor & Outdoor Track Volleyball

This led to an unusual structure since not all members of the conference competed in Division I-A (now FBS) football. This had long led to rumors of instability, and in 2003, ongoing press reports of tensions between the football schools and the basketball schools finally exploded into a months-long public tug-of-war between the Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conference over several Big East members. The end result was that three Big East schools — Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College — moved to the ACC, while five teams moved to the Big East from Conference USA — Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette, and DePaul. For more details on this topic, see Realignment.

The addition of the three football schools, along with Big East non-football member Connecticut moving up to the Big East football conference, ensured that the league would keep the minimum eight teams needed to keep its BCS bid. In addition two traditional basketball teams, DePaul and Marquette, were added to gain the Chicago and Milwaukee TV markets and help the already solid basketball status of the conference.

The Big East currently represents the majority of the large, athletically competitive private Catholic schools, with public schools Pittsburgh, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, and Cincinnati also being located in areas with large Catholic communities. Five of the founding seven schools are Catholic schools — Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Seton Hall, and Boston College.

In January 2006, Loyola College in Maryland was added as an associate member in the sport of women's lacrosse.

Big East schools compete in Division I in basketball and Olympic sports. Football members of the conference participate in Division I FBS. Notre Dame remains an FBS independent, while Georgetown and Villanova have Division I FCS (formerly I-AA) football programs. Georgetown football competes in the Patriot League. Villanova competed in the Atlantic Ten through the 2006 season, but along with all other members of the A-10 football conference joined the new football conference launched by the Colonial Athletic Association in 2007.

An interesting note is that the 8 schools which play football in the conference are all state-supported (or in the case of Pittsburgh, state-related) with the exception of Syracuse (a private but secular institution), whereas the 8 schools that do not play football in the conference are all affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

Beginning in 2010, the Big East will sponsor a Men's Lacrosse League.

Membership timeline

Commissioners

• Dave Gavitt: 1979–1990
• Mike Tranghese: 1990–2009
• John Marinatto: 2009–

Mike Tranghese is retiring at the end of the 2008–09 academic year, which he announced in June 2008, and he will be replaced by current senior associate commissioner John Marinatto.

Members

The full member institutions of the Big East are:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Football Member	Year Joined	Nickname	Endowment
CincinnatiUniversity of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	1819	Public	36,518	Yes	2005	Bearcats	$ 1,185,000,000
ConnecticutUniversity of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut	1881	Public	28,411	Yes	1979	Huskies	$ 336,000,000
DePaul University	Chicago, Illinois	1898	Private/Catholic	23,570	No	2005	Blue Demons	$ 344,000,000
Georgetown University	Washington, D.C.	1789	Private/Catholic	13,612	No*	1979	Hoyas	$ 1,000,000,000
LouisvilleUniversity of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	1798	Public	21,689	Yes	2005	Cardinals	$ 796,000,000
Marquette University	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	1881	Private/Catholic	11,510	No	2005	Golden Eagles	$ 301,000,000
Notre DameUniversity of Notre Dame	Notre Dame, Indiana	1842	Private/Catholic	11,415	No*	1995	Fighting Irish	$ 6,500,000,000
PittsburghUniversity of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1787	Public/State-Related	32,105	Yes	1982	Panthers	$ 2,200,000,000
Providence College	Providence, Rhode Island	1917	Private/Catholic	3,648	No	1979	Friars	$ 117,000,000
Rutgers University	New Brunswick, New Jersey	1766	Public	34,696	Yes	1995	Scarlet Knights	$ 654,000,000
Saint John's UniversitySt. John's University	Queens, New York	1870	Private/Catholic	19,813	No	1979	Red Storm	$ 500,000,000
Seton Hall University	South Orange, New Jersey	1856	Private/Catholic	9,700	No	1979	Pirates	$ 261,000,000
South FloridaUniversity of South Florida	Tampa, Florida	1956	Public	40,261	Yes	2005	Bulls	$ 388,000,000
Syracuse University	Syracuse, New York	1870	Private/Non-sectarian	18,247	Yes	1979	Orange	$ 1,100,000,000
Villanova University	Villanova, Pennsylvania	1842	Private/Catholic	9,500	No*	1980	Wildcats	$ 335,000,000
West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia	1867	Public	28,113	Yes	1995	Mountaineers	$ 430,000,000

Locations of current Big East Conference full member institutions.

^* Denotes schools that sponsor football programs outside of the Big East Conference (see above)

Associate members

Institution	Location	Conference	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Sport	Endowment
Loyola College in Maryland	Baltimore, Maryland	MAAC	Private/Catholic	3,501	Greyhounds	Women's lacrosse	$143,000,000

Former members

Institution	Affiliation	Years	Current Conference
Boston College	Full member	1979-2005	ACC
Temple University	Football only	1991-2004	A-10, MAC (football)
University of Miami	Full member	1991-2004	ACC
Virginia Tech	Football only Full member	1991-1999 2000-2004	ACC

Men's basketball

2006-2007 Average Men's Basketball Attendance
School	Average Attendance
Syracuse	21,488
Louisville	18,488
Marquette	15,345
Connecticut	13,012
Pittsburgh	11,611
Villanova	10,706
DePaul	10,551
Georgetown	10,441
West Virginia	9,649
Notre Dame	9,027
Cincinnati	8,831
Providence	8,410
St. John's	6,920
Seton Hall	6,636
Rutgers	5,453
USF	3,852

File:BEBasketball.jpg

See also: Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

The Big East was founded by seven charter schools in 1979 (Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Syracuse, Seton Hall, UConn, and Boston College) with the intent of creating a powerhouse basketball conference. Villanova joined the following year, followed by Pittsburgh in 1982.

It wouldn't take long for the conference to meet its original aim, with Georgetown, led by senior Sleepy Floyd and freshman Patrick Ewing, making the NCAA Championship Game (losing to the James Worthy-led North Carolina Tar Heels, who sported a freshman Michael Jordan). Just two years later in 1984 Georgetown won the Big East's first NCAA basketball championship with a victory over the University of Houston.

The following year three Big East teams (Villanova, St. John's, and Georgetown) all advanced to the Final Four, culminating in Villanova's stunning championship game victory over the heavily-favored Hoyas. The conference's 1985 success was nearly duplicated in 1987, when Syracuse and a surprising Providence College both made the Final Four, followed by the Orangemen's narrow loss to Indiana University in the tournament final. Two years later, the Seton Hall Pirates also advanced to the NCAA Championship Game, but were defeated by the Michigan Wolverines in an overtime heartbreaker.

Team	NCAA Championships	Final Fours
Louisville	2	8
Cincinnati	2	6
Connecticut	2	2
Georgetown	1	5
Syracuse	1 (2 Helms MNCs)	4
Marquette	1	3
Villanova	1	3
DePaul	1	1
St. John's	0 (1 Helms MNC - 1911)	2
Providence	0	2
Seton Hall	0	1
West Virginia	0	1
Pittsburgh	0 (2 Helms MNCs - 1928, 1930)	1
Rutgers	0	1
Notre Dame	0 (2 Helms MNCs - 1927, 1936)	1

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Georgetown, St. John's, and Syracuse were the primary powers in the conference. Georgetown was led by John Thompson Jr., who was named three times as the conference Coach of the Year. They won five regular season conference championships and six Big East Tournaments to go with their 1984 national title. St. John's was led by Lou Carnesecca, who won the National Coach of the Year honor in 1983 and 1985. He led the Redmen (now the Red Storm) to the 1985 Final Four, and made a post-season appearance in each of his 24 years at the helm. Syracuse has been led by alumnus Jim Boeheim since the 1977 season. He was named conference Coach of the Year in 1984 and 1991. During this period, the Orangemen won five regular season conference championships, three Big East Tournaments, and were invited to the NCAA Tournament every year but two (1981 and 1982), losing the 1987 National Final to Indiana.

From the mid 90's to mid 00's, basketball in the Big East was largely dominated by UConn. Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun's program, led by such stars as Ray Allen, Richard "Rip" Hamilton, Caron Butler and Emeka Okafor, averaged nearly 26 wins a year during that time span, won numerous Big East regular season and tournament championships, and claimed the National Championship in both 1999 and 2004.

Syracuse won its first national title in 2003, led by coach Boeheim and freshman Carmelo Anthony. The conference got a record eight teams into the NCAA Men's Tournament in 2006 and matched their own record in 2008. At the start of the 2008-2009 season, many sports analysts predicted that the conference would surpass the record by sending 10 teams to the tournament.

The conference has a number of former players currently playing in the National Basketball Association with some of the most recent being Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Caron Butler, Dwayne Wade, Ryan Gomes, Austin Croshere, Herbert Hill, Richard "Rip" Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Emeka Okafor, Carmelo Anthony, Troy Murphy, Hakim Warrick, Quincy Douby, Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, Rudy Gay, Marcus Williams, Hilton Armstrong, Josh Boone, Samuel Dalembert, Charlie Villanueva, Donte Greene, Ron Artest, Chris Quinn and Aaron Gray.

Women's basketball

File:BEBasketball.jpg

See also: Big East Women's Basketball Tournament

Big East women's basketball is nearly as powerful as the conference's men's programs. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has led his women's team to five national championships (including four between 2000 and 2004) and two undefeated seasons (1995 and 2002). UConn set the record for longest winning streak in all of NCAA women's basketball history with a 70 game winning streak stretching from 2001-2003. This streak was ended in 2003 when Villanova beat UConn for the Big East tournament title, in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in women's basketball (Villanova would go on to reach the Elite Eight that year). Under the strength of the UConn program, and to a lesser extent 2007 national runner-up Rutgers, and 2001 national champion Notre Dame, the Big East has emerged as one of the major powers in women's college basketball.

Football

2007 Average Football Attendance
School	Average Attendance
West Virginia	60,400
USF	53,170
Rutgers	43,663
Louisville	39,881
Connecticut	38,205
Syracuse	35,009
Pittsburgh	33,315
Cincinnati	30,246
Big East Conference Average	41,736

Big East began football during the 1991-1992 season with the addition of Miami and was a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series. The league obtained immediate legitimacy with the addition of powerhouse Miami.

In the league's early years the University of Miami dominated, winning nine of the first thirteen championships and two national championships in 1991 and 2001. Virginia Tech also did well, winning the conference in 1995 and 1996 and earning a number 2 national ranking in 1999. West Virginia and Syracuse were the only other teams to win conference titles during the league's original alignment.

The conference experienced a major reconstruction when Miami and Virginia Tech left for the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2004, followed by Boston College in 2005. Initially, Syracuse University was in place to make the jump instead of Virginia Tech, but in 2003, the governor of Virginia put pressure on the ACC to ensure that Virginia Tech was taken over Syracuse. Syracuse was left to remain in the Big East.

The universities that replaced them were Louisville, USF and Cincinnati from Conference USA. The league also invited the University of Connecticut to play football a year earlier than planned.

At about this time, the BCS announced that it would adjust the automatic bids granted to its six founding conferences based on results from 2004–07, and that there would be five, six, or seven such bids starting in 2008. The obvious inference was that soon the Big East might lose its bid, and the Mountain West might gain one.

The conference’s fortunes improved in 2005. The three new teams from Conference USA began play that year, restoring the league to eight teams. West Virginia won the conference title, defeated SEC champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, and finished 11–1 and finished #5 in the AP poll. Newcomer Louisville also ranked in the top 20.

File:2006-07BowlChallengeCup.jpg

Bowl Challenge Cup awarded to the Big East for play during the 2006-07 bowl games in which they had an undefeated record of 5-0.

Another former member for football only was Temple. Unlike other football only members in the past, they did not gain full membership in the Big East - due to objections from crosstown rivals Villanova (who do not play football in the Big East). After 14 seasons of mostly poor performance, Temple was kicked out of the conference following the 2004 season. They currently play football in the Mid-American Conference (for that sport only), and are the first school to leave a BCS conference to later join a non-BCS conference.

In 2006, West Virginia, Louisville, and Rutgers all entered November undefeated. However, they did not stay that way, as in a trio of exciting games over the next month, Louisville defeated West Virginia 44–34, Rutgers defeated Louisville 28–25, and West Virginia defeated Rutgers 41–39 in three overtimes. Rutgers’ resurgence after a century of mostly futile play was a national story, but Louisville won the conference title in the end. In bowl action, the Big East went 5–0, including an Orange Bowl victory for Louisville over Wake Forest and a win by West Virginia over Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl.

In 2007, USF, rose to #2 in the BCS rankings. They lost their next three games, however, to drop out of the rankings. They eventually finished the season #21 in the final BCS polls. The Connecticut Huskies, getting as high as #13, and West Virginia remained in the top 25. Cincinnati also rose as high as #15 in the rankings eventually finishing the season with 10 wins and a #17 ranking. Connecticut lost subsequent games and dropped substantially in the rankings. On the final day of the season, Pittsburgh upset #2 WVU 13–9 in the 100th edition of the Backyard Brawl to give the Huskies a share of the conference championship, while WVU was stopped on the doorstep of the BCS National Championship Game. In bowl games, WVU upset the Big 12 Champion Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, despite having lost their highly touted coach, Rich Rodriguez to Michigan less than a month before the game.

Big East Football Champions

Year	Conference Champion	Conference Record	Bowl Coalition/Alliance/BCS Bowl Representative
1993	West Virginia	7-0-0	West Virginia
1994	Miami (Fla.)	7-0-0	Miami (Fla.)
1995	Virginia Tech / Miami (Fla.)	6-1-0	Virginia Tech
1996	Virginia Tech / Miami (Fla.) / Syracuse	6-1	Virginia Tech
1997	Syracuse	6-1	Syracuse
1998	Syracuse	7-0	Syracuse
1999	Virginia Tech	7-0	Virginia Tech
2000	Miami (Fla.)	7-0	Miami (Fla.)
2001	Miami (Fla.)	7-0	Miami (Fla.)
2002	Miami (Fla.)	7-0	Miami (Fla.)
2003	Miami (Fla.) / West Virginia	6-1	Miami (Fla.)
2004	Boston College / Pittsburgh / Syracuse / West Virginia	4-2	Pittsburgh
2005	West Virginia	7-0	West Virginia
2006	Louisville	6-1	Louisville
2007	West Virginia / Connecticut	5-2	West Virginia
2008	Cincinnati	6-1	Cincinnati

Bowl affiliations

Priority	Bowl Game	Tie-in
1	Bowl Championship Series	Big East #1†
2a	Gator Bowl	Big East #2‡ vs ACC #3
2b	Sun Bowl	Big East #2‡ vs Pac-10 #3
3	Meineke Car Care Bowl	Big East #3 vs ACC #5/6
4	International Bowl	Big East #4 vs MAC #3
5	PapaJohns.com Bowl	Big East #5 vs SEC #9
6	St. Petersburg Bowl	Big East #6 vs C-USA

Notes on bowl game selection

• † The Big East's BCS representative is not tied directly to a specific BCS Bowl. It is selected to a bowl in the same manner as an at-large team. The BCS may choose select a second team to play in another BCS bowl game.
• ‡ The Gator Bowl has first selection after the BCS between 2006 and 2009, and the Gator Bowl must select a Big East school twice during that four-year span. During the two seasons during which the Gator Bowl opts not to select a Big East team, but rather a Big 12 team, then the highest non-BCS selection goes to the Sun Bowl. A Big East team must be selected to one of the two bowls but cannot be selected to both.
• Notre Dame is eligible to be chosen in lieu of a Big East team for any non-BCS bowl game. In a separate rule specific only to Notre Dame that doesn't affect the Big East's BCS representative, Notre Dame is eligible to receive a BCS automatic berth if they finish within the Top 8 of the BCS Rankings.

Conference facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity
Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium	35,097	Fifth Third Arena	13,176
Connecticut	Rentschler Field	40,000	Gampel Pavilion XL Center	10,167 16,294
DePaul	non-football school		Allstate Arena (men) Sullivan Athletic Center (women)	18,500 3,000
Georgetown	see Patriot League1		Verizon Center (men) McDonough Gymnasium (women)	20,600 2,500
Louisville	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium 2	42,000	Freedom Hall	18,865
Marquette	non-football school		Bradley Center (men) Al McGuire Center (women)	18,717 4,000
Notre Dame	see Division I-FBS independents1		Edmund P. Joyce Center	11,418
Pittsburgh	Heinz Field	65,050	Petersen Events Center	12,508
Providence	non-football school		Dunkin' Donuts Center (men) Alumni Hall (women)	12,993 2,603
Rutgers	Rutgers Stadium 6	42,000	Louis Brown Athletic Center (The RAC)	8,000
St. John's	non-football school		Madison Square Garden (some men games) & Carnesecca Arena (men & women) 3	19,522 6,008
Seton Hall	non-football school		Prudential Center (men) Walsh Gymnasium (women)	18,000 2,600
USF	Raymond James Stadium	65,000	USF Sun Dome	11,324
Syracuse	Carrier Dome	50,000	Carrier Dome 5	33,000
Villanova	see Colonial Athletic Association1		Wachovia Center The Pavilion 4	21,600 6,500
West Virginia	Mountaineer Field	60,000	WVU Coliseum	14,000

Notes:
¹ Football stadiums for Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Villanova are not "conference facilities" as those universities are not members of Big East Football.
² The University of Louisville is in the process of a $63 million expansion of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium to 63,600 and constructing a new $350 million downtown waterfront arena that will seat 23,500. Both projects are funded and expected to be complete by 2010.
³ St. John's men generally play their Big East home schedule in Madison Square Garden and their non-conference home schedule on campus at Carnesecca Arena. In 2005-06, St. John's played only one non-conference game at MSG and one Big East game on campus.
⁴ For certain high-profile home games, Villanova uses the Wachovia Center, and previously used the Wachovia Spectrum. In 2005-06, Villanova played three home games at the Wachovia Center and the rest on campus at The Pavilion. In 2006, the Wachovia Center was also a first-round site for the NCAA Tournament. Under NCAA rules, a venue is not considered a home court unless a school plays four or more regular-season games there; this enabled Villanova to play its first two tournament games at the Wachovia Center (but Villanova was not considered the host school for that sub-region — the Atlantic 10 Conference was). This situation will apply again in 2009 when the Wachovia Center was announced as a first/second round site to be hosted by Saint Joseph's University.
⁵ For Syracuse basketball games in the Carrier Dome, the court is laid out on one end of the field and stands are erected beside it. This makes the Carrier Dome the largest on-campus venue for college basketball in the nation.
⁶ Late in 2006, Rutgers added approximately 3000 temporary end zone seats that remained for the 2007 season (total 45,000). In 2008, Rutgers began a stadium expansion project which is expected to increase capacity to over 55,000 seats and add luxury and club seats. The premium seating is projected to be ready for the 2008 season and the additional 12,000 end zone seats are expected for the 2009 season. The stadium is also expected to receive a new name as part of the financing package depends on a name sponsorship.

Rivalries

Main article: Big East rivalries

Realignment

In 2003 the Big East was put on watch as the ACC announced plans to expand from nine teams to twelve which under NCAA rules would have enabled them to hold a special conference championship football game. Miami, Syracuse, and BC were rumored to be the three schools under consideration, and all three met with officials from the ACC regarding membership. At the same time, the Big East itself was contemplating its future.

It was later revealed that Miami had been dissatisfied with the Big East and its leadership since a formal letter of complaint was issued by Miami to Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese in 1999. Their issues went unresolved, leading to Miami's interest in the ACC — a league which had been pursuing the college football superpower since the mid-1990s, at the request of football-oriented Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech. Those schools were concerned with the balance of power in the ACC, which they viewed as tilted towards "Tobacco Road", the nickname given to the four North Carolina ACC schools and their nationally prominent basketball programs.

Led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, UConn and the "remaining" football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) filed two lawsuits, one against the ACC, and the other against Miami and BC, accusing them of improper disclosure of confidential information and of conspiring to weaken the Big East. Syracuse was not named as a defendant in part because they never made public comments about the ongoing situation.

Talks with Syracuse indicated that it would likely leave the Big East. But doubts arose when Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim publicly expressed his disapproval of a conference change, even as Syracuse and ACC officials proceeded with the formalities of official campus visits. Miami and Boston College were unwavering in their interest in the ACC, and Virginia Tech made it clear that they had long wanted to join the ACC. Finally, in a last-minute about-face, due in large measure to political pressure applied by Mark Warner, Governor of Virginia, the ACC replaced Syracuse with Virginia Tech in its expansion vote. Things became even more surprising when, reached by phone at a conference in Switzerland, then-N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox cast a last-minute "no" vote against BC. As a result, the ACC extended invitations only to Miami and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech immediately accepted the invitation and filed court papers to get themselves out of the awkward position of suing their new conference. Miami, stunned by the outcome of the vote, delayed their acceptance until the last possible day. Miami President Donna Shalala explained the delay stating "We had numbers on BC-Virginia Tech. We had done numbers on Miami alone. But we had not anticipated that Virginia Tech and Miami would be the only two invitees." The remaining four plaintiffs removed BC from the list of defendants and asked both BC and Syracuse to join their suit. Both declined.

Leaked minutes of Big East meetings have shed light on the confusing process surrounding the defection of three of its members. At a summer meeting of the "football schools", following the announced departures of Miami and Virginia Tech, discussion among the Presidents and Athletic Directors of the remaining schools focused on a potential split into two conferences; an all-sports conference including football, and a second conference focused primarily on basketball. The idea of a 16-team superconference of both basketball and football schools was discussed, as was merging with Conference USA. Minutes of a July 9, 2003 meeting of presidents and athletic directors held before any detailed review of the conference's options show that Syracuse Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel and BC Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo went on record indicating they would resign their positions if the Big East expanded to 16 teams.

In response to a proposal for the establishment of a binding agreement among the six schools with a $5 million exit fee and 27-month notice requirement. Meanwhile, the Big East presidents agreed to meet with and possibly extend invitations to Penn State and Notre Dame. However, neither school showed interest in joining the conference. The minutes show the presidents unanimously voted to support an eventual conference invitation for the University of Louisville, and to begin due diligence on Louisville and other proposed new members. Several models for a new conference were discussed; and it was decided that the football schools would explore separating from the basketball-only schools to establish an 8-team all-sports conference. The presidents and athletic directors described the breakup of the football and basketball schools as "inevitable".

Additional meetings of the football conference members occurred between July and October 2003. In the course of those meetings it was realized that the break-up scenario would not be feasible because the new football conference would lose its automatic NCAA basketball tournament berth and possibly its BCS bid, as well as the Big East name. Further, the football schools had not been together long enough to satisfy certain NCAA rules. At a Big East meeting in Newark, New Jersey on October 1, 2003 after a discussion of Notre Dame's concerns for stability, BC president Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., addressed rumors surrounding BC's intentions toward the Big East. Fr. Leahy conceded that BC might indeed be leaving the conference and he would determine how genuine the ACC's reported interest in having any school as a 12th member. He stated he could not agree to an exit penalty larger than the already agreed to $5,000,000, and expressed concerns about academic issues at Louisville and Cincinnati that emerged during due diligence. It was decided that the conference would add the additional football and basketball schools and continue in its existing structure until such time as the football schools could establish their own conference. Unhappy with the vote on the future structure of the conference, the administration of BC continued discussions with the ACC.

Speculation that Chancellor Fox, a Notre Dame trustee, cast her initial vote against BC so that the ACC might consider extending membership to Notre Dame was fueled by press accounts reporting that a bid to the Fighting Irish was imminent. But in mid-October 2003, the ACC voted unanimously to invite BC to be its twelfth member, although because of timing issues BC was not able to compete in the ACC until the 2005-2006 season. When BC accepted they were returned to the lawsuit still pending against Miami by several Big East schools. After expansion, Jake Crouthamel retired as athletic director at Syracuse.

In response to losing three football programs, the Big East extended invitations to five schools from Conference USA in order to replenish their football ranks and to create a 16-team basketball superconference. The schools that left Conference USA on July 1, 2005 for the Big East are:

• University of Cincinnati
• DePaul University (non-football school)
• University of Louisville
• Marquette University (non-football school)
• University of South Florida

The fallout from the Conference USA realignment instigated a chain reaction of conference realignments that affected the WAC, MAC, Sun Belt, Mountain West, and Atlantic Ten Conferences. At the same time, the UConn Huskies completed their leap to Division I-A football and became a full member of the conference in 2004, resulting in their first-ever bowl bid.

Conference Champions by year

Year	Men's B-ball Regular Season Champion	Men's B-ball Tournament Champion	Women's B-ball Regular Season Champion	Women's B-ball Tournament Champion	Football Champion
1979/80	Georgetown/St. John's/Syracuse	Georgetown
1980/81	Boston College	Syracuse
1981/82	Villanova	Georgetown
1982/83	Boston College/St. John's/Villanova	St. John's	Providence/St. John's	St. John's
1983/84	Georgetown	Georgetown	Pittsburgh/Villanova	Pittsburgh
1984/85	St. John's	Georgetown	St. John's/Villanova	St. John's
1985/86	St. John's/Syracuse	St. John's	Providence	Providence
1986/87	Georgetown/Pittsburgh/Syracuse	Georgetown	Villanova	Villanova
1987/88	Pittsburgh	Syracuse	Syracuse	Syracuse
1988/89	Georgetown	Georgetown	Connecticut	Connecticut
1989/90	Connecticut/Syracuse	Connecticut	Connecticut/Providence	Connecticut
1990/91	Syracuse	Seton Hall	Connecticut	Connecticut
1991/92	Georgetown/St. John's/Seton Hall	Syracuse	Miami	Miami	Miami
1992/93	Seton Hall	Seton Hall	Georgetown/Miami	Georgetown	Miami
1993/94	Connecticut	Providence	Connecticut	Connecticut	West Virginia
1994/95	Connecticut	Villanova	Connecticut	Connecticut	Miami
1995/96	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut	Virginia Tech/Miami
1996/97	Boston College/Villanova	Boston College	Connecticut	Connecticut	Virginia Tech/Miami/Syracuse
1997/98	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut	Syracuse
1998/99	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut/Rutgers	Connecticut	Syracuse†
1999/00	Syracuse/Miami	St. John's	Connecticut	Connecticut	Virginia Tech†
2000/01	Boston College (east)/Notre Dame (west)	Boston College	Connecticut/Notre Dame	Connecticut	Miami†
2001/02	Connecticut (east)/Pittsburgh (west)	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut	Miami†
2002/03	Syracuse & Pittsburgh (west)/ Connecticut & Boston College (east)	Pittsburgh	Connecticut	Villanova	Miami†
2003/04	Pittsburgh	Connecticut	Connecticut	Boston College	Miami†/West Virginia
2004/05	Boston College/Connecticut	Syracuse	Rutgers	Connecticut	Pittsburgh†/West Virginia/Boston College/Syracuse
2005/06	Connecticut/Villanova	Syracuse	Rutgers	Connecticut	West Virginia†
2006/07	Georgetown	Georgetown	Connecticut	Rutgers	Louisville†
2007/08	Georgetown	Pittsburgh	Connecticut	Connecticut	West Virginia†/Connecticut
2008/09					Cincinnati†

†Received the Conference's BCS (or Alliance Bowl) berth Source:

See also

• Big East Baseball Tournament

External links

• Official Site of the Big East Conference
• Un-Official Site of the Big East Conference
• ESPN Big East Coverage
• The Official Site of the Louisville Cardinals
• WVMountaineerSports Your Source for WVU Mountaineers
• 2008-2009 Big East Basketball Composite Schedule Grid

Football and Basketball