USF to round out BE

[The PonyGrad]

Agreement reached on new shape of Big East

A formal announcement is a week away, but a source says Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida will be added for all sports and DePaul and Marquette for all sports except football.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, October 29, 2003

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The remaking of the Big East is almost complete.

Barring unforeseen developments, the conference's presidents will meet in New York Tuesday to hold a media briefing where they'll announce the addition of five new schools. As has been reported for much of the last month, the conference will add Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida for all sports and DePaul and Marquette for all sports except football. The five schools, all current members of Conference USA, would begin playing as part of the Big East in the fall of 2005.

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said he would have no formal announcements on expansion at today's conference media day in New York, but did say: "We are very close to a conclusion to what has been a very difficult, tiring process. We've had to do a (self-analysis) that I think has benefited each of our members."

One conference source confirmed, however, that the membership has reached a definitive agreement on which schools to add. "You never say never, but everything will be announced next week. South Florida was the last hurdle we had, but everyone is on board," the source said.

There were two recently resolved pieces to a puzzle that threatened the 24-year-old league's existence. One was the

agreement that South Florida offered more potential than Central Florida, Temple or any of several other football schools that were discussed. The other was that DePaul and Marquette formed the correct pair of non-football schools that would complement the five "basketball-only" members, which include Providence College.

The new Big East will now contain eight members in all sports: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida. DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, PC, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova round out what will be a powerful 16-team basketball conference. There is still talk of adding a ninth member that would only play football, but no consensus has been reached. Army, Navy, Central Florida and other schools have been mentioned as filling that role.

For Providence fans, the new makeup of the conference is great news. First, the Friars remain in a league with the likes of recent national champions Syracuse and Connecticut, and the additions strengthen the list of foes who'll play at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

"This will make our league stronger," PC basketball coach Tim Welsh said. "We've already gone out and sold this to recruits. Their eyes light up when we tell them this could happen."

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim called the new Big East "the best basketball league in the country, by far."

"With the schools we're losing and then adding Louisville and Cincinnati, we've upgraded our basketball by 50 percent," Boeheim said. "The ACC has downgraded by 25 percent. This makes us a much better league. I'm just happy I'm old. I'll let the younger guys deal with games like that."

Of the 16 Big East schools, 7 finished in the top 29 of the Ratings Percentage Index a year ago. The RPI reflects success and schedule strength. Two -- Syracuse and Marquette -- advanced to the Final Four. No decisions have been made on how to split the 16 schools into divisions.

The crisis began in June when Miami and Virginia Tech announced they would leave after this season for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The loss of its two best football programs was seen as a staggering blow to the Big East, but conference leaders set out to make some football additions that could keep the league in a position to remain a player in the sport's lucrative Bowl Championship Series. Cincinnati and Louisville were quickly identified as the leading candidates to fill the conference's openings.

But last month, Boston College, after pledging their allegiance to the remaining members and participating in numerous meetings on the Big East's future, accepted an offer to become the ACC's 12th member. Syracuse Chancellor Kenneth Shaw referred to BC officials as "double agents" for their roles in talks with the two rival conferences. Another Big East athletic director said of BC: "I guess a handshake doesn't mean anything anymore."

Without BC, the Big East needed another football school and South Florida has filled that opening.

Unlike the ACC's sometimes clandestine courtship of the three Big East schools, Tranghese took pains to be open with Conference USA and its commissioner, Britton Banowsky. He told schools such as DePaul to do what's in their best interest, and then worked to remake his league. C-USA recently announced that Rice, Southern Methodist and Tulsa will move from the Western Athletic Conference. Marshall will join from the Mid-American Conference, giving C-USA 11 members.

Jean Lenti-Ponsetto, the DePaul athletic director, praised the openness of the negotiations between the Big East and Conference USA recently in a story in the Chicago Daily. She also said, "We're a little better than guardedly optimistic at this point. We're obviously excited. This puts us in position to be in a conference with more peer institutions."

The Big East and Conference USA aren't the only conferences following the ACC's lead. Sources said the Atlantic 10, which has 12 members, is on the verge of adding two more schools. A-10 members Xavier and Dayton were at one time considered by the Big East, but bypassed in favor of DePaul and Marquette. Now the A-10 is reportedly set to invite St. Louis and Charlotte, the only C-USA members who do not play 1-A football. One A-10 source said Boston University hasn't been ruled out as a candidate for one of the two openings.

Even with the agreed-upon new lineup of members, all is not rosy with the Big East's future. Most challenging will be negotiations, beginning next fall, with other major conferences on the future makeup of the BCS. The conference needs to keep its spot in the series, a spot that pays the Big East champion more than $13 million this year. That money is shared with the other Big East football members.

And there already is major doubt brewing on how long the 16-team union will last. Sources said the schools will commit for five years but after that the eight Big East football partners could choose to split from the seven non-football schools and Notre Dame. The Irish will then have to choose which side to associate with, or move to another conference such as the Big 10.

[Nacho]

Looks like this clears the way for UCF to C-USA.

UNT and 2 other SBC schools will probably form the new eastern WAC along with UTEP, NMSU and La Tech.

<small>[ 10-29-2003, 12:07 PM: Message edited by: Nacho ]</small>

[abezontar]

So does CUSA now add UCF as the 12th? Or is this what people were looking for when they were thinking of adding La. Tech?

[The PonyGrad]

Maybe it is just the rumor mill but all I have heard is that UCF was considered an alternative for USF. I have not heard anything about La. Tech, but who knows.

[Nacho]

Rumor mill has it that UCF wanted to go to the BE as a football only. That didn't happen (although there is still a possibility) so I doubt that they will stay in the MAC with Marshall now in C-USA.

<small>[ 10-29-2003, 12:29 PM: Message edited by: Nacho ]</small>

[Nacho]

Who is that at the bottom?

http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&mid=24649927&sid=&tid=24649927&style=1

[DandyDon]

MEMPIS trying DEPERATELY to get somewhere other then the "watered down WAC West / C-USA leftovers"......word is , ACC / SEC / Big 12 / or MWC, probably their best chance...