Big East Conference

The Big East Conference was founded in 1979 when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse invited Seton Hall, Connecticut, and Boston College to form an athletic 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 a few years later, 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. In 2010, Texas Christian was added, bringing the conference well beyond its original geographic confines. The next year, TCU reversed course and instead joined the Big 12 Conference, effectively replacing Texas A&M University in that conference.

On September 18, 2011 it was announced that the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University had been admitted to the Atlantic Coast Conference [1]. It was also reported that the University of Connecticut showed strong interest in making the same switch [2]. Rutgers University was also a rumored candidate to the conference and move to the ACC, but ended up moving to the Big 10 Conference in 2014-2015. The University of Louisville followed Pitt and Syracuse to the ACC, effective in 2014-2015.

On July 1, 2013, the seven catholic schools in the conference, DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, St. John's University, Seton Hall University, Villanova University, and Providence College (collectively known as the Catholic 7) will form a new non-football conference, to be known as the Big East Conference. Butler University, Creighton University, and Xavier University will also be joining the newly formed conference on July 1. The remaining schools will join with 4 schools from Conference USA (University of Memphis, University of Houston, Southern Methodist University, and University of Central Florida) to form the American Athletic Conference. 3 more C-USA schools (Tulane University, East Carolina University, University of Tulsa) will join in 2014. Even though the Big East name will go with the Catholic 7, the AAC will be the successor to the old Big East and will retain all postseason automatic bids and tie-ins.

The Big East began sponsoring a championship in baseball in 1985.

2024 Conference Members & First Year of Baseball*

• Butler Bulldogs - 2014
• UConn Huskies - 2021 (also 1980-2013)
• Creighton Blue Jays - 2014
• Georgetown Hoyas - 1980
• Seton Hall Pirates - 1980
• St. John's Redstorm - 1980
• Villanova Wildcats - 1981
• Xavier Muskateers - 2014

Providence College, Marquette University and DePaul University do not support baseball.

* Technically, the conference's history starts in 2013-2014 and the old Big East history goes with the American Athletic Conference

Former Members

• BC Eagles - 1980-2005
• Virginia Tech Hokies - 2001-2004
• West Virginia Mountaineers - 1996-2012
• Pitt Panthers - 1983-2013
• Notre Dame Fighting Irish - 1996-2013
• Rutgers Scarlet Knights - 1996-2013
• Cincinnati Bearcats - 2006-2013
• Louisville Cardinals - 2006-2013
• USF Bulls - 2006-2013

Conference Baseball Champions

Year	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion
1985	University of Connecticut (North) Seton Hall University (South)	St. John's University
1986	Providence College (North) Seton Hall University (South)	St. John's University
1987	St. John's University (North) Seton Hall University (South)	Seton Hall University
1988	Providence College (North) Villanova University (South)	St. John's University
1989	Providence College (North) Seton Hall University (South)	Villanova University
1990	Seton Hall University	University of Connecticut
1991	St. John's University	Villanova University
1992	St. John's University	Providence College
1993	Villanova University	St. John's University
1994	University of Pittsburgh	University of Connecticut
1995	Providence College	University of Pittsburgh
1996	West Virginia University (Amer.) Providence College (Amer.) Villanova University (Nat.)	West Virginia University
1997	West Virginia University (Amer.) University of Notre Dame (Nat.)	St. John's University
1998	Rutgers University	Rutgers University
1999	University of Notre Dame	Providence College
2000	Rutgers University	Rutgers University
2001	University of Notre Dame	Seton Hall University
2002	University of Notre Dame Virginia Tech	University of Notre Dame
2003	Rutgers University	University of Notre Dame
2004	University of Notre Dame	University of Notre Dame
2005	St. John's University	University of Notre Dame
2006	University of Notre Dame	University of Notre Dame
2007	St. John's University Rutgers University	Rutgers University
2008	St. John's University	University of Louisville
2009	University of Louisville	University of Louisville
2010	University of Louisville	University of Louisville
2011	University of Connecticut	Seton Hall University
2012	University of Louisville St. John's University	St. John's University
2013	University of Louisville	University of Connecticut
2014	Creighton University	Xavier University
2015	St. John's University	St. John's University
2016	Xavier University	Xavier University
2017	Creighton University	Xavier University
2018	St. John's University	St. John's University
2019	Creighton University	Creighton University
2020	Season cancelled in March
2021	University of Connecticut	University of Connecticut
2022	University of Connecticut	University of Connecticut
2023	University of Connecticut	Xavier University
2024	University of Connecticut	St. John's University

Players of the Year

• 1985: Dave Ford, Connecticut
• 1986: Roger Haggerty, Providence IF
• 1987: Marteese Robinson, Seton Hall IF
• 1988: Mo Vaughn, Seton Hall IF
• 1989: Gary Scott, Villanova IF
• 1990: Dennis McCaffery, Villanova OF
• 1991: Mike Neill, Villanova OF
• 1992: Sal Tinnerello, Connecticut
• 1993: Jack Stanczak, Villanova IF & Lou Merloni, Providence IF
• 1994: Josh Tyler, Pitt IF
• 1995: Bobby O'Toole, Providence C
• 1996: Jason Grabowski, Connecticut
• 1997: David Kim, Seton Hall OF
• 1998: Brant Ust, Notre Dame IF
• 1999: Keith Reed, Providence OF
• 2000: Darren Fenster, Rutgers IF
• 2001: Mike Scott, Connecticut OF & Steve Stanley, Notre Dame OF
• 2002: Steve Stanley, Notre Dame OF
• 2003: Jarod Rine, WVU OF & Marc Tugwell, Virginia Tech IF
• 2004: P.J. Hiser, Pitt OF
• 2005: Jared McGuire, Boston College OF
• 2006: Craig Cooper, Notre Dame IF
• 2007: Todd Frazier, Rutgers IF
• 2008: Josh Harrison, Cincinnati IF & Chris Dominguez, Louisville IF
• 2009: Chris Dominguez, Louisville IF
• 2010: Joe Leonard, Pitt IF
• 2011: George Springer, Connecticut OF
• 2012: Patrick Kivlehan, Rutgers 3B
• 2013: Eric Jagielo, Notre Dame 3B

Sources: Big East Conference correspondence, Wikipedia