Big East Conference
Big East Conference One of America’s Great Conferences
The Big East Conference will mark its 31st season of existence with the 2009-10 academic year. The 16-team league has gone through membership changes over the past three decades but has never been stronger. This season will mark the conference’s fifth year as the nation’s largest NCAA Division I conference. The goals of the Big East have never changed. The league aims and expects to compete at the highest level and does so with integrity and sportsmanship. The student-athletes of the member schools continue to maintain the league’s proud tradition of success.
“The BIG EAST conference reflects a tradition of broad based programs, led by administrators and coaches who place a constant emphasis on academic integrity. Its student athletes own significantly high graduation rates and their record of scholastic achievement notably shows a balance between intercollegiate athletics and academics.”
- bigeast.org
The BIG EAST by the numbers: umber of new members joining the conference in 2005-06. (University of 5 – NCincinnati, DePaul University, University of Louisville, Marquette University and the University of South Florida).
he Big East is one of six conferences that comprise the NCAA Division 6 – TI football Bowl Championship Series, the highest level of competition in collegiate athletics.
ig East institutions reside in nine of the nation’s largest media markets, 9 – Bincluding, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Tampa, Pittsburgh, Hartford, Milwaukee and Cincinnati.
16 – Number of institutions that belong to the Big East Conference. umber of sports the Big East Conference sponsors with the addition of 24 – Nmen’s lacrosse in 2009-10. overage area of both the nation’s population and television 25% - Caudience the Big East Conference reaches. umber of national championships the league has won since opening its 26 – Ndoors in 1979.
31 – Years in existence for the Big East Conference. ver 370 Big East Conference student-athletes have earned academic 370 – OAll-America honors. 550 – Over 550 students-athletes have earned All-America recognition. ith its headquarters in Providence, R.I., the conference 5,500 – Wadministers to more than 5,500 student-athletes. C23