The BIG EAST The 2012-13 academic year is the 34th in the history of The BIG when the Syracuse men and the Connecticut women captured their EAST Conference as the unique consortium marches on competing at respective national championships. The BIG EAST placed three men’s the highest level with integrity and sportsmanship. basketball teams in the Final Four in 1985, the only time this has The BIG EAST has gone through membership changes since occurred in NCAA history. its birth and continues to make strides in improving the quality and Proactive movement has been a signature strategy for the depth of the storied league. conference that was born in 1979. The BIG EAST continually turns The BIG EAST Conference has been always been driven by lofty challenges into opportunities to become stronger. The conference goals. The outstanding performances of the student-athletes at BIG currently crowns champions in 24 sports. EAST schools are evidence of the league’s proud tradition of success. The BIG EAST became a reality on May 31, 1979, following The league has always been able to boast that many of its best students a meeting of athletic directors from Providence College, St. John’s, are also its best athletes. The 2011-12 year was no different. Georgetown and Syracuse universities. Seton Hall, Connecticut and In the athletic arena, BIG EAST student-athletes again enjoyed Boston College completed the original seven school alliance. success on the national stage. The Georgetown women’s cross country While the membership has both increased and changed, the team captured its first NCAA Championship. The win by the Hoyas focus of the BIG EAST has not wavered. The conference reflects a marked the third-straight year a BIG EAST team has won the women’s tradition of broad based programs, led by administrators and coaches cross country championship, with Villanova winning the past two. The who place a constant emphasis on academic integrity. Its student Louisville men’s basketball team advanced to the Final Four in New athletes own significantly high graduation rates and their record of Orleans. Connecticut field hockey reached the NCAA semifinals, as did scholastic achievement notably show a balance between intercollegiate the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team. The Irish women’s basketball athletics and academics. team and Syracuse women’s lacrosse Any successful organization team each reached the NCAA finals. has had the good fortune to have USF softball reached the Women’s outstanding leadership. The BIG College World Series in Oklahoma EAST primarily was the brainchild City, Okla., for the first time in of Dave Gavitt, wh was the program history. conference’s first Commissioner. The BIG EAST placed two Michael Tranghese, the league’s teams in the NCAA Women’s Final first full-time employee, and for Four for the third time in the last 11 years the associate to Gavitt, four years as Connecticut joined became Commissioner in 1990. In Notre Dame in Denver, with the his first year, he administered the Fighting Irish advancing to the formation of The BIG EAST Football national title game for the secondConference. John Marinatto was straight year. the third commissioner of the BIG BIG EAST student-athletes EAST, serving from 2009-2012, after won five NCAA championships. seven years as the conference’s Sheila Reid won her second-straight senior associate commissioner. Mike NCAA Women’s Cross Country title. Aresco became the conference’s Syracuse hurdler Jarret Eaton won fourth commissioner in 2012. the 60-meter hurdle championship The league has long been in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field The BIG EAST has won 32 national championships, including the 2011 Women’s considered a leader in innovative Championship. Notre Dame won concepts in promotion and publicity, Cross Country title won by Georgetown. the distance medley relay at the particularly regarding television. same championship. Georgetown’s Those efforts have resulted in Emily Infeld won the 3,000-meter run. Carlos Almeida of Louisville unparalleled visibility for BIG EAST student athletes. The conference won the 200-yard breaststroke at the NCAA Swimming & Diving has enjoyed longstanding relationships with CBS, ESPN, Inc. and ABC. Championships. BIG EAST men’s basketball games are regular sellouts at BIG EAST football maintained its national profile as a campus and major public arenas, including the annual men’s BIG EAST competitively balanced group. Three BIG EAST teams won bowl Championship in Madison Square Garden. The women’s basketball games, while the BIG EAST representative in the Bowl Championship championship has led all conferences in attendance for the past nine Series won its bowl game for the fourth time in the last seven years- a years. Attendance figures also are significant in soccer and baseball. streak that includes wins against the ACC, Big 12 and SEC champions. The BIG EAST has its headquarters in Providence where the The BIG EAST became the nation’s largest Division I-A conference administers to more than 5,500 student-athletes. conference in 2005-06 when five new members began competing – the University of Cincinnati, DePaul University, the University of Louisville, Marquette University and the University of South Florida. BIG EAST institutions reside in 18 of the nation’s top 50 largest media markets, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Tampa, Pittsburgh, Hartford, Cincinnati and Milwaukee. With its newest members, BIG EAST markets contain more than one-fourth of all television households in the U.S. The BIG EAST will welcome UCF, Houston, Memphis, SMU and Temple in all sports in 2013-14, while Tulane joins in 2014-15. Temple football joned the league in 2012,with East Carolina and Navy coming aboard in the following years. Since opening its doors in 1979, the league has won 32 national championships in six different sports and 137 student-athletes have won individual national titles through 2011-12. BIG EAST basketball squads have captured 11 titles in the last 13 years. In 2003-04, Connecticut became the first school in NCAA history to win the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball titles in the same season. In ’02-03, the BIG EAST became the first conference in NCAA history to win the men’s and women’s titles in the same year
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