Memphis gives Big East 12th football team
Memphis quarterback Andy Summerlin drops back to pass as Southern Mississippi defender Jeremy Snowden closes in during an NCAA college football game. (Nov. 26, 2011) Credit: AP
Citing the geographic needs of a conference that is evolving into a national model, Big East commissioner John Marinatto Wednesday announced the addition of midwestern Memphis University in all sports beginning in the 2013-14 academic year.
The Tigers are the seventh football-playing school the Big East has added since December and apparently won a battle with traditional eastern basketball power Temple for the final spot.
Memphis joins fellow Conference USA members Central Florida, Houston and SMU as all-sports invitees to the Big East, while Boise State and San Diego State of the Mountain West have been added as football-only members in 2013 and independent Navy joins for football in 2015. Together with current football-playing members Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, South Florida and Rutgers, that would give the Big East the 12 members it needs to hold a conference championship game, possibly at Yankee Stadium.
Asked if the expansion process is over, Marinatto said, "It was our goal to get to 12 football playing members, and we've done that. We're obviously pleased that we fulfilled our primary objective. But we're always going to be vigilant and do whatever is in the best interest of the conference."
Current Big East members Syracuse and Pitt announced plans to join the ACC, and West Virginia is headed to the Big 12. Under Big East rules, they are forbidden to leave until July 1, 2014, but West Virginia sued to leave for the 2012 football season and the league countersued. If the Mountaineers lose, the Big East could have 14 teams playing football and 20 playing basketball for two years beginning in 2013, but the commissioner said there are no plans for a football title game until Navy joins in 2015.
Marinatto said the outspoken support for Memphis' bid by Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino had "no influence" on the decision to take the Tigers over Temple, which has a stronger football program but whose inclusion reportedly was resisted by Philadelphia neighbor Villanova.
Explaining the reasoning, Marinatto said, "There were a lot of reasons that we explored Memphis, including central time zone. We needed a school that would fit into that West Division. Geographically, the school is located in the heart of our conference, in the heartland of America."
