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The Big East Conference

By Matt Shetler

 

The Big East Conference is the largest athletic conference in the United States.  Founded in 1979 as a seven member league, the Big East, as of 2008, consists of seventeen members.  Its headquarters are located in Providence, Rhode Island and its commissioner is Mike Tranghese, a post he has held since 1990.
  
The Big East came into existence in 1979, when Seton Hall, Connecticut and Boston College joined Syracuse, Georgetown, Providence and St. Johns, forming a conference focused primarily on basketball.  Villanova became a member in 1980 and Pittsburgh joined in 1982.
   
About ten years later, the Big East became focused on becoming a football powerhouse.  They added: Miami, Virginia Tech, Temple, West Virginia and Rutgers.  The Big East launched its first football season in 1991.
  
At the time the structure of the Big East was very unusual.  It was the only major conference where not all of its members competed in football and some were football only members.  West Virginia and Rutgers only competed in football until 1995 and Virginia Tech was a football only member until 2001.  Temple was a football only member until 2004 when at that time it was removed from the league for failing to attract fan support.
  
Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown and Villanova were still major parts of the conference, but neither competed in football.  The Big East also added Notre Dame in 1995, but they remained an independent in football, despite competing in all other Big East sports.
  
This created a lot of tension between the football schools and the basketball schools.  In 2003, three football schools- Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College- left the Big East for the ACC.  The Big East responded by adding five Conference USA members:  Louisville, DePaul, Marquette, Cincinnati and South Florida.  At this time Connecticut also moved up from Division I-AA to Big East football.
   
This move ensured the Big East would maintain the NCAA minimum requirement of eight teams, keeping its BCS bid.  In 2006, the Big East added Loyala College as an associate member, competing only in lacrosse, upping its total to seventeen.
   
The Big East remains, arguably the best basketball conference in the nation (both men’s and women’s). The conference set a record in 2006 by getting eight teams into the NCAA Tournament, a feat they matched again in 2008.  Big East teams account for 40 Final Four appearances, with 15 of the 16 teams making the Final Four at least once (only South Florida has not reached the Final Four).  Ten of these teams have cut down the nets, bringing home the NCAA championship, the most recent being Connecticut in 2004.
   
On the Gridiron, the University of Miami dominated the league from its inception, winning nine of the first thirteen league championships.  The Hurricanes also brought home two national titles to the Big East, in 1991 and 2001.
   

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