WVU, Other Universities May Leave Big East

Sources within the conference and published reports said Thursday that the six remaining Big East all-sports members are close to finalizing a move to break away from the basketball-based schools and form a new league.

That new Division I-A conference, created by West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College, Rutgers and Connecticut, would then invite Louisville and Cincinnati from Conference USA.

That would create an eight-team conference for football, and sources indicated that Notre Dame would join that group for all sports except football.

These moves would be made for the 2005-06 school year, leaving St. John's, Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall and Providence to find other players for a basketball league that was established upon that sport with seven original members in 1979-80.

The developments are the result of a three-day meeting of presidents and athletic directors of the six Big East football schools -- with UConn replacing exiting Temple in the discussions -- at a Newark, N.J., hotel.

WVU Athletic Director Ed Pastilong said Thursday upon arriving back in the Mountain State that he and WVU President David Hardesty "were present for all of the meetings, which "were attended by all six presidents and ADs, and (Big East Commissioner) Mike Tranghese."

Pastilong would not comment on a report about the developments in Thursday's edition of the New York Post, and the Big East issued a statement confirming the meeting, and announcing that the timetable for UConn's entrance into Big East football would be advanced from the 2005 season to '04.

"Scheduling got a lot of talk," Pastilong said. "Obviously, we're all going to have to make moves in that area, some of us more than others. It's obvious we worked on our future. I can tell you we're all confident we'll remain very competitive as a Division I-A conference."

Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky announced on Wednesday that the Chicago-based league would remain intact in its all-sports membership through the 2004-05 school year.

On Thursday, Army, a football-only C-USA member, announced it was leaving the league to return to independent status in 2004. That move, and an exit by Louisville and Cincinnati, would leave C-USA with eight football members in 2005, and potential vacancies for programs like Marshall, Central Florida and SMU.

Earlier in the week, a Big East source told the Daily Mail that the league's "football members have to decide what they're going to do" as the first move in the league's restructuring plans following the loss of Miami (Fla.) and Virginia Tech to Atlantic Coast Conference expansion 10 days ago.

Pastilong and Hardesty had been quoted in recent weeks as saying WVU favored keeping the remaining 12 Big East members together, at least for the short term.

Syracuse and Boston College, snubbed by the ACC, were said by two sources within the conference to be in favor of going to a football-based conference.

UConn, wedded to a football commitment that includes a $90 million stadium construction in East Hartford, seemingly had the most to lose by breaking from the Big East's basketball roots at Madison Square Garden, the league's tournament site for more than two decades.

"We're not sure either group is hell bent about one side or the other," a Big East source said Wednesday. That's why they're meeting, to figure out who's where, and who wants to be where."

Asked about the two options, Pastilong said, "There are pluses to staying with the basketball schools, and pluses to the other side, breaking off by the football schools. I can tell you Mike notified the basketball schools of our meeting, and kept them up-to-date on what was going on the entire time."

Although a firm decision on the Big East breakup may be made within days, sources said, Pastilong said nothing "may be official until we get toward the start of the school year, into late August."

"We're moving as quickly as we can, while keeping in mind we need to be thorough," the WVU athletic director said.

"This meeting was just Part One of a great deal more discussion. We'll be talking by phone and meeting face-to-face some more. I'm sure we'll confirm something as soon as we can. A lot of progress was made. Quite frankly, I feel pretty good coming out of this meeting, better than I've felt about these things for a while."

In the 2004 season, Big East football will have seven schools, as Temple plays its last season and UConn makes its debut. The following year, Louisville and Cincinnati are expected to join a conference that will be making a bid to keep a Bowl Championship Series berth.

The ramifications in men's basketball, while not as financially compelling as a $14 million BCS spot, are nonetheless noteworthy.

Because of the expected shifts, neither of the two conferences would retain an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

The original Big East would be down to five members. NCAA rules require six continuous members over a five-year period to keep a bid.

Because, technically, two new conferences would be created, the NCAA basketball units (funds earned by a conference from tournament participation in a rolling, six-year plan) would not stay with the basketball schools, but would revert to the schools that earned them.

So, units earned in recent years by 2003 national champ Syracuse, Pitt, UConn and Notre Dame would go into the football-based conference with those schools. Units earned by Louisville and Cincinnati would stay with C-USA, just as any units earned by programs the Big East basketball leftovers might add would remain with the Atlantic 10 and C-USA.

Because the Big East basketball schools do not have similar revenues as the departing football members, the latter may be asked to pay indemnity fees to the remaining five schools.

The Big East has a football telecast contract for $15 million annually through the 2007 season with ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

On the basketball side, the Big East has contracts with CBS and ESPN/ESPN2 through 2006-07 that bring the conference $13 million annually.

How those deals will be renegotiated due to a basketball breakup is another question to be answered.

The Big East also has a long-term contract (through 2014) with Madison Square Garden for the conference tournament.

The addition of Notre Dame to eight football-playing schools would allow that conference to play a 16-game basketball round-robin, and the Fighting Irish also would be asked to play at least three non-conference football games annually within the group.

ND also would be part of the league's sub-BCS bowl pecking order, as it is currently in the Big East.

Although a new league that includes West Virginia would be formed with football as its revenue leader, the basketball in that conference projects stronger than that of the current Big East.

Using the final 2002-03 Ratings Percentage Index as a guide, the new nine-team conference members had an average RPI of 43. Six of those teams were in the top 30 - more than any current conference.

The current Big East membership -- minus Miami and Virginia Tech (playing their final season in 2003-04) -- posted an average RPI of 58 among the dozen schools last season.

Asked about the new football-based league's potential name, office location, basketball tournament site and commissioner, one source said, "We've got a lot to figure out, and frankly, some other things are more important than some of those right now."

Holed up in Newark for nearly three days, administrators from the Big East's football-playing schools broke camp Thursday with roster spots still available.

Or are they? Big East commissioner Michael Tranghese issued a statement claiming the partial meeting of his league resolved only concerns involving football scheduling, and that replacements for Miami and Virginia Tech - which leave in 2004 for the ACC - are still no closer than two years away. The replacements, however, may be only a short while away from being invited.

"We talked about what we want to do, and there is a united force to act together," Rutgers' athletic director Bob Mulcahy said. "But we can't do it in a willy-nilly fashion. We pledged to do this right."

Mulcahy insisted no definite map was laid for the future, saying the various markets needed to be examined and television networks needed to be consulted. The Big East doesn't need new members integrated until 2005, when the NCAA rule mandating at least eight schools in Division I-A conferences goes into effect. And, with Miami's announcement coming June 30, deadline day to notify most conferences of an intent to leave, prospective Big East invitees had no time to notify their conferences, much less actually be extended a Big East invitation.

A published report Thursday said Conference USA schools Louisville and Cincinnati would be invited to join the league shortly, but several league officials denied that, insisting that no consensus had been reached on conference composition.

Army sent tentative signals of its availability Thursday as well, announcing its decision to sever its football ties with Conference USA by 2005. Army athletic director Rick Greenspan said the Big East's need for schools did not influence his school's decision and insisted his school is moving toward independent status for 2005, but he also said his staff was "not going to put our heads in the sand."

Conference USA, meanwhile, voted Wednesday to enforce its bylaw preventing teams from leaving before June 30, 2005, which would make schools available to join the Big East that fall.

A Big East that perhaps doesn't have some of its charter members. Mulcahy remained noncommittal when asked about that same report's assertion that the league's football-playing schools had decided to leave their non-football-playing brethren.

"We had major discussion about what options are before us," Mulcahy said.

The athletic directors of Boston College, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and West Virginia joined Mulcahy in presenting those options to their chancellors and presidents Wednesday. Tranghese acknowledged after Miami's departure last week that the 14 Big East schools - with three competing membership imperatives - had become unwieldy, and his only comment Thursday was to say the football group "reaffirmed its commitment to remain a strong and highly competitive I-A conference."

To do so, dropping the non-football schools - Georgetown, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova - seems inevitable.

"I think it's the best for everybody," Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun said. "We've lost so much rivalry in the Big East that it's not fun. I like to play a team at home and away, have a regular league. You go play each other, and you have common interests. Things that affect us don't affect a Seton Hall or Providence."

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