Big East Conference

The Big East Conference is a college sports conference in the United States which sponsors many sports, but does not play football. The league has its roots in the original Big East Conference, which was founded in 1979 as a basketball-focused league by a group of schools in the Eastern U.S. That league added football in 1991, leading to years of conflict between schools that played top-level football and those that did not. In July 2013, the original league split along football lines. The seven schools that did not play FBS (top-level) football—often called the "Catholic 7" because all are run by the Catholic Church—bought the "Big East" name and formed a new Big East. The FBS schools joined with several new members and stayed in the original Big East structure under the new name of American Athletic Conference, now the American Conference (American).

Although the current Big East was not founded until 2013, it claims the 1979 founding date of the original Big East. Both the current Big East and American claim the pre-split history of the old Big East.

 Members 
The 10 schools that formed the current Big East are private schools. All of these are also Catholic except for Butler, which was started by Protestants but has never been run by any church. UConn (Connecticut) became the Big East's first public school in July 2020.

 School  Location  Founded  Type(affiliation)  Nickname  JoinedBig East   Butler University  Indianapolis, Indiana  1855  Private (nonsectarian)  Bulldogs  2013 Creighton University  Omaha, Nebraska  1878  Private/Catholic(Jesuit)  Bluejays  2013 DePaul University  Chicago, Illinois  1898  Private/Catholic(Vincentian)  Blue Demons  2005 Georgetown University  Washington, D.C.  1789  Private/Catholic(Jesuit)  Hoyas  1979 Marquette University  Milwaukee, Wisconsin  1881  Private/Catholic(Jesuit)  Golden Eagles  2005 Providence College  Providence, Rhode Island  1917  Private/Catholic(Dominican)  Friars  1979 Saint John'sSt. John's University  New York City, New York  1870  Private/Catholic(Vincentian)  Red Storm  1979 Seton Hall University  South Orange, New Jersey  1856  Private/Catholic(Diocesan)  Pirates  1979  (UConn)  Storrs, Connecticut  1881  Public  Huskies  1979, 2020 Villanova University  Villanova, Pennsylvania  1842  Private/Catholic(Augustinian)   Wildcats  1980 Xavier University  Cincinnati, Ohio  1831  Private/Catholic(Jesuit)  Musketeers  2013

Associate members
The Big East has six "associate members" that play either one or two sports in the conference.

 School  Location  Founded  Type(affiliation)  Joined  Sport  Current main conference  Nickname AkronUniversity of Akron  Akron, Ohio  1870  Public  2023  Men's soccer  MAC  Zips DenverUniversity of Denver  Denver, Colorado  1864  Private (nonsectarian)  2013 (men)2016 (women)  Men's and women's lacrosse  The Summit  Pioneers Liberty University  Lynchburg, Virginia  1971  Private (nondenominational)  2016  Field hockey  CUSA  Lady Flames Old Dominion University  Norfolk, Virginia  1930  Public  2013  Field hockey  Sun Belt  Monarchs Quinnipiac University  Hamden, Connecticut  1929  Private (nonsectarian)  2016  Field hockey  MAAC  Bobcats Temple University  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  1884  Public/private hybrid  2013  Field hockey  American  Owls

 Former members 
No full member of the Big East has left for another conference. However, eight associate members have left the Big East in one or more sports, with five entirely leaving the Big East.

Two schools that were associate members in the 2013–14 school year left to join conferences that play the sports that they housed in the Big East. Five women's lacrosse members left after the 2017–18 school year when the American Athletic Conference, full-time home to three of those schools, started a women's lacrosse league. Two of these schools, Temple and UConn, stayed in the Big East in field hockey, and UConn returned to the Big East full-time in July 2020. At the same time, Old Dominion moved its women's lacrosse team from the Big East to the American. This kept both conferences at six women's lacrosse members, the number needed to ensure that their conference champions would receive places in the NCAA Division I tournament. ODU is still a Big East member in field hockey.

 School  Location  Founded  Type  Joined  Left  Sport(s)  Current mainconference  Current conferencein former Big East sport(s)  Nickname LouisvilleUniversity of Louisville  Louisville, Kentucky  1798  Public  2013  2014  Field hockey, women's lacrosse  ACC  Cardinals Rutgers University  New Brunswick, New Jersey  1766  Public  2013  2014  Field hockey, men's & women's lacrosse  Big Ten  Scarlet Knights CincinnatiUniversity of Cincinnati  Cincinnati, Ohio  1819  Public  2013  2018  Women's lacrosse  Big 12  Bearcats FloridaUniversity of Florida  Gainesville, Florida  1853  Public  2014  2018  Women's lacrosse  SEC  Big 12  Gators Temple University  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  1884  Public/private hybrid  2013  2018  Women's lacrosse  American  Owls UConnUniversity of Connecticut (UConn)  Storrs, Connecticut  1881  Public  2013  2018  Women's lacrosse  Big East  Huskies Vanderbilt University  Nashville, Tennessee  1873  Private (nonsectarian)  2014  2018  Women's lacrosse  SEC  American  Commodores Old Dominion University  Norfolk, Virginia  1930  Public  2018  2020  Women's lacrosse  Sun Belt  American  Monarchs

References