Big East Conference

From BR Bullpen

The Big East was founded in 1979 when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse invited Seton Hall, Connecticut, and Boston College to form a conference primarily focused on basketball. Five of the founding seven schools are Catholic schools (Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Seton Hall, and Boston College). With the additions of Notre Dame and Villanova earlier in the conference's history, and the 2005 additions of Marquette and DePaul, the Big East represents the majority of the large, athletically competitive Catholic schools (Boston College has since left).

Penn State applied for admission into the Big East in 1982, but was rejected by one vote. This vote led Penn State to cancel its rivalry game with Syracuse and forced the conference to turn to Miami in 1991 to start up a football conference. Miami did not play a Big East schedule until 1993, after they had already won four national football championships. Temple (football only), Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Rutgers were added at this time, with Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Rutgers later becoming full conference members.

[edit] Current Members & First Year of Baseball

The conference has also included Syracuse University and Providence College since it's inception but niether supports baseball. Marquette University and DePaul University joined in 2006 but also do not support baseball.