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Big East Conference (1979–2013)

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Big East Conference
Big East Conference
Data
Classification NCAA Division I FBS
Established 1979
Members 16 (full) 1 (associate)
National
championships
24
Sports fielded 23 (10 men's, 13 women's)
Regions Northern US, Ohio River Valley
Midwest, Southeast US
States 13 - CT, FL, IL,IN, KY, MD, NJ
NY, OH,PA, RI, D.C., WV, WI
Headquarters Providence, Rhode Island
Locations

The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of seventeen universities in the northeastern, southeastern and midwestern United States. The conference's 17 members (16 full-time and 1 associate member) participate in 23 NCAA sports. The schools that are Big East members in football — which are actually only eight of the 11 conference schools that sponsor varsity football — are part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the top level of NCAA competition in that sport (still frequently known by its former designation of Division I-A).

In basketball, teams currently in the Big East account for 40 all time Final Four appearances and 10 National Championships, numbers only surpassed by the Big Ten and Pac-10 respectively. Of the Big East's 16 full members, 15 (or 93%) have been to the Final Four, by far the most of any conference. The only full member that has never been to the Final Four is South Florida.

About The League

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. Villanova joined a year later in 1980 and Pittsburgh joined in 1982. Big East regents rejected Penn State's application for admission into the Big East in 1982, since the conference at that time was only focused on basketball.

Almost a decade later the Big East was serious about becoming a major football conference and added five schools, including four time champion Miami, Temple, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Rutgers - Penn State ended up joining the Big Ten Conference. The inaugural Big East football season was launched in 1991.[1] [2] West Virginia and Rutgers were football-only members until 1995, Virginia Tech was a football-only member until 2001, with Temple remaining a football-only member until consistently failing to attract enough fan support and vacating its membership in 2004. Notre Dame was also offered a non-football membership as of 1995.

Big East Sports Offered
  • Baseball
  • Women's and Men's Basketball
  • Women's and Men's Cross Country
  • Football
  • Field Hockey
  • Women's and Men's Golf
  • Women's Lacrosse
  • Women's Rowing
  • Women's and Men's Soccer
  • Softball
  • Women's and Men's Swimming & Diving
  • Women's and Men's Tennis
  • Women's and Men's Indoor & Outdoor Track
  • Volleyball

This led to an unusual structure since not all members of the conference competed in Division I-A (now FBS) football. This had long led to rumors of instability, and in 2003, ongoing press reports of tensions between the football schools and the basketball schools finally exploded into a months-long public tug-of-war between the Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conference over several Big East members. The end result was that three Big East schools — Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College — moved to the ACC, while five teams moved to the Big East from Conference USALouisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette, and DePaul. For more details on this topic, see Realignment.

The addition of the three football schools, along with Big East non-football member Connecticut moving up to the Big East football conference, ensured that the league would keep the minimum eight teams needed to keep its BCS bid. In addition two traditional basketball teams, DePaul and Marquette, were added to gain the Chicago/Milwaukee TV market and help the already solid basketball status of the conference.

The Big East currently represents the majority of the large, athletically competitive private Catholic schools, with public schools Pittsburgh, Louisville, Rutgers, and Cincinnati also being located in areas with large Catholic communities. Five of the founding seven schools are Catholic schools — Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Seton Hall, and Boston College.

In January 2006, Loyola College was added as an associate member in the sport of women's lacrosse.[3]

Big East schools compete in Division I in basketball and Olympic sports. Football members of the conference participate in Division I FBS. Notre Dame remains an FBS independent, while Georgetown and Villanova have Division I FCS (formerly I-AA) football programs. Georgetown football competes in the Patriot League. Villanova competed in the Atlantic Ten through the 2006 season, but along with all other members of the A-10 football conference joined the new football conference launched by the Colonial Athletic Association in 2007.

An interesting note is that the 8 schools which play football in the conference are all state-supported (or in the case of Pittsburgh, state-related) with the exception of Syracuse (a private but secular institution), whereas the 8 schools that do not play football in the conference are all affilated with the Roman Catholic Church.

The league has not done a thorough job in hiring game officials and has very loose rules regarding school administration and fan behavior at its sporting events. This has led to some other conferences to reconsider allowing its members to play Big East teams at their facilities due to possible security and fairness concerns. Outside of basketball, the Big East Conference is considered a mid-major conference by the major conferences and the media.

Commissioners

  • Dave Gavitt 1979-1990
  • Mike Tranghese 1990-present

Members

Full member institutions include:

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Football Member Year Joined Nickname
University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio 1819 Public 35,244[4] Yes 2005 Bearcats
University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut 1881 Public 28,411[5] Yes 1979 Huskies
DePaul University Chicago, Illinois 1898 Private/Catholic 23,570 No 2005 Blue Demons
Georgetown University Washington, D.C. 1789 Private/Catholic 13,612 No* 1979 Hoyas
University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky 1798 Public 21,841[6] Yes 2005 Cardinals
Marquette University Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1881 Private/Catholic 11,510 No 2005 Golden Eagles
University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana[7] 1842 Private/Catholic 11,415 No* 1995 Fighting Irish
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1787 Semi-Public 32,105 Yes 1982 Panthers
Providence College Providence, Rhode Island 1917 Private/Catholic 3,648 No 1979 Friars
Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Jersey 1766 Public 34,696 Yes 1995 Scarlet Knights
St. John's University Queens, New York 1870 Private/Catholic 19,813 No 1979 Red Storm
Seton Hall University South Orange, New Jersey 1856 Private/Catholic 9,700 No 1979 Pirates
University of South Florida Tampa, Florida 1956 Public 40,261 Yes 2005 Bulls
Syracuse University Syracuse, New York 1870 Private/Non-sectarian 18,247 Yes 1979 Orange
Villanova University Villanova, Pennsylvania 1842 Private/Catholic 9,500 No* 1980 Wildcats
West Virginia University Morgantown, West Virginia 1867 Public 27,115[8] Yes 1995 Mountaineers

* = These schools sponsor football programs outside of the Big East Conference (see above)

Associate Members

Former Members

Basketball

2006-2007 Average Men's Basketball Attendance
School Average Attendance
Syracuse 21,488
Louisville 18,488
Marquette 15,345
Connecticut 13,012
Pittsburgh 11,611
Villanova 10,706
DePaul 10,551
Georgetown 10,441
West Virginia 9,649
Notre Dame 9,027
Cincinnati 8,831
Providence 8,410
St. John's 6,920
Seton Hall 6,636
Rutgers 5,453
USF 3,852
File:BEBasketball.jpg

The Big East was founded by seven charter schools in 1979 (Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Syracuse, Seton Hall, UConn, and Boston College) with the intent of creating a powerhouse basketball conference. Villanova joined the following year, followed by Pittsburgh in 1982.

It wouldn't take long for the conference to meet its original aim, with Georgetown, led by freshman Patrick Ewing, making the NCAA Championship Game (losing to the Michael Jordan-led North Carolina Tar Heels. Just two years later in 1984 Georgetown won the Big East's first NCAA basketball championship with a victory over the University of Houston.

The following year three Big East teams (Villanova, St. John's, and Georgetown) all advanced to the Final Four, culminating in Villanova's stunning championship game victory over the heavily-favored Hoyas. The conference's 1985 success was nearly duplicated in 1987, when Syracuse and a surprising Providence both made the Final Four, followed by the Orangemen's narrow loss to Indiana University in the tournament final. Two years later, the Seton Hall Pirates also advanced to the NCAA Championship Game, but were defeated by the University of Michigan Wolverines in a controversial overtime heartbreaker.

Team Championships Final Fours
Louisville 2 8
Cincinnati 2 6
Connecticut 2 2
Georgetown 1 5
Syracuse 1 4
Marquette 1 3
Villanova 1 3

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Georgetown, led by John Thompson, was one of the primary powers in the conference, led by Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Dikembe Mutombo.

Since the late 1990s, basketball in the Big East has been led by UConn, under the guidance of Jim Calhoun and Pittsburgh (since the early 2000s) under Ben Howland and later, Jamie Dixon. UConn won a national championship in 1999. The Big East held back to back national championships as Syracuse won a title under Jim Boeheim in 2003, and UConn again in 2004. Other teams have enjoyed recent success from 2004 to present, including WVU and Villanova. Georgetown, now coached by Thompson's son John III, made the 2007 Final Four, while UConn remains the last Big East team to win a national championship (the aforementioned title in 2004). The Big East has a very long and distinguished list of former players currently playing in the NBA with some of the most recent being Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Richard "Rip" Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Emeka Okafor, Carmelo Anthony, Hakim Warrick, Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, Rudy Gay, Marcus Williams, Hilton Armstrong, Josh Boone, Samuel Dalembert and Charlie Villanueva.

In the 2006 season the Big East got a record eight teams into the NCAA tournament. These teams were Syracuse, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Marquette, UConn, Seton Hall, Villanova, and Georgetown.

Big East women's basketball is nearly as powerful as the conference's men's programs. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has led the women's team to five national championships (including four between 2000 and 2004) and two undefeated seasons (1995 and 2002). UConn set the record for longest winning streak in all of NCAA women's basketball history with a 70 game winning streak stretching from 2001-2003. This streak was ended in 2003 when Villanova beat UConn for the Big East tournament title, in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in women's basketball (Villanova would go on to reach the Elite Eight that year). Under the strength of the UConn program, and to a lesser extent Boston College, 2007 national runnerup Rutgers, and 2001 national champion Notre Dame, the Big East has emerged as one of the major powers in women's college basketball.

Football

2005 Average Football Attendance
School Average Attendance
West Virginia 58,773
Pittsburgh 43,305
USF 42,609
Louisville 41,482
Rutgers 41,113
Connecticut 38,939
Syracuse 37,263
Cincinnati 20,373
Big East Conference Average 38,933

Big East began football during the 1991-1992 season with the addition of Miami and was a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series. The league obtained immediate legitimacy with the addition of powerhouse Miami.

In the league's first years the University of Miami dominated, winning nine of the first thirteen championships and two national championships in 1991 and 2001. Virginia Tech also did well, winning the conference in 1995 and 1996 and earning a number 2 national ranking in 1999. West Virginia and Syracuse were the only other teams to win conference titles during the league's original alignment.

The conference experienced a major reconstruction when Miami and Virginia Tech left for the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2004, followed by Boston College in 2005.

The universities that replaced them were Louisville, USF and Cincinnati from Conference USA. The league also invited the University of Connecticut to play football a year earlier than planned.

After the completion of the regular season, Pittsburgh received the Big East’s automatic BCS berth with a #21 ranking. In the Fiesta Bowl, Pitt was trounced, 35-7, by undefeated Utah, the first team from a non-BCS conference (the Mountain West) to qualify for the lucrative bowls.

At about this time, the BCS announced that it would adjust the automatic bids granted to its six founding conferences based on results from 2004-07, and that there would be five, six, or seven such bids starting in 2008. The obvious inference was that soon the Big East might lose its bid, and the Mountain West might gain one.

The conference’s fortunes improved in 2005. The three new teams from Conference USA began play that year, restoring the league to eight teams. West Virginia won the conference title, defeated SEC champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, and finished 11-1 and finished #5 in the AP poll. Newcomer Louisville also ranked in the top 20.

Another former member for football only was Temple. Unlike other football only members in the past, they did not gain full membership in the Big East - due to objections from crosstown rivals Villanova (who do not play football in the Big East). After 14 seasons of mostly poor performance, Temple was kicked out of the conference following the 2004 season. They currently play football in the Mid-American Conference (for that sport only), and are the first school to leave a BCS conference to later join a non-BCS conference.

In 2006, the Big East’s troubles became a distant memory. West Virginia, Louisville, and Rutgers all entered November undefeated. They did not stay that way, as in a trio of exciting games over the next month receiving national attention, Louisville defeated West Virginia 44-34, Rutgers defeated Louisville 28-25 (in the most watched weeknight college football game in history), and West Virginia defeated Rutgers 41-39 (in three overtimes). Rutgers’ resurgence after a century of mostly futile play was a national story, but Louisville won the conference title in the end. In bowl action, the Big East went 5-0, including an Orange Bowl victory for Louisville over surprise ACC champion Wake Forest and a win by West Virginia over ACC championship game runner-up Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl.

Louisville ended the year ranked #6, West Virginia #10, and Rutgers #12.

The league made noise early in the 2007 season when USF, behind upsets of then #17 Auburn and #5 West Virginia, debuted at #2 in the initial BCS rankings. They lost their next three games, however, to drop out of the rankings completely. Showing the depth of the conference, the Connecticut Huskies took up the slack and appeared poised to join West Virginia in the top 10, before losing to them in a 66-21 blowout. Yet, on the final day of the season, Pittsburgh upset WVU 13-9 in the 100th edition of the Backyard Brawl to give the Huskies a share of the conference championship, while WVU was stopped on the doorstep of the BCS National Championship Game.

Officiating- The Big East Conference has had several episodes of questionable football officiating calls during the 2007 season. This culminated during the Pitt-West Virginia game where several calls of a very questionable nature called into question whether the conference and its commissioner were trying to get to an outcome that would put West Virginia into the BCS championship game resulting in a huge financial and promotional windfall for the Big East Conference. Commissioner Mike Tranghese was openly compared to WWE owner Vince McMahon in the media after the game for possibly attempting to choreograph a desired outcome. Several other media outlets have strongly criticized the events in this game.

Game Conditions- The Big East Conference allowed West Virginia University to play loud music over the stadium speaker system during live clock situations during the Pitt game. The music would only be turned down after the quarterback for Pitt had his hands under center. Other conferences have strict rules concerning such activity.

Conference facilities

School Football stadium Capacity Basketball arena Capacity
Cincinnati Nippert Stadium 35,097 Fifth Third Arena 13,176
Connecticut Rentschler Field 40,000 Gampel Pavilion &
Hartford Civic Center
10,167
16,294
DePaul non-football school n/a Allstate Arena (men)
Sullivan Athletic Center (women)
18,500
3,000
Georgetown* see Patriot League Verizon Center (men)
McDonough Gymnasium (women)
20,600
2,500
Louisville Papa John's Cardinal Stadium* 42,000 Freedom Hall* 18,865
Marquette non-football school n/a Bradley Center (men)
Al McGuire Center (women)
18,717
4,000
Notre Dame* see Division I-FBS independents Edmund P. Joyce Center 11,418
Pittsburgh Heinz Field 65,050 Petersen Events Center 12,508
Providence non-football school n/a Dunkin' Donuts Center (men)
Alumni Hall (women)
12,993
2,603
Rutgers Rutgers Stadium 42,000 Louis Brown Athletic Center (The RAC) 8,000
St. John's non-football school n/a Madison Square Garden (men) &
Carnesecca Arena (men & women)
19,522
6,008
Seton Hall non-football school n/a Prudential Center (men)
Walsh Gymnasium (women)
18,000
2,600
USF Raymond James Stadium 65,000 USF Sun Dome 11,324
Syracuse Carrier Dome 49,262 Carrier Dome 33,000
Villanova* Villanova Stadium 12,500 Wachovia Center 21,600
West Virginia Mountaineer Field 60,000 WVU Coliseum 14,000

Notes:

  • The University of Louisville is in the process of a $63 million expansion of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium to 63,600 and constructing a new $350 million downtown waterfront arena that will seat 23,500. Both projects are funded and expected to be complete by 2010.
  • Football stadiums for Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Villanova are not "conference facilities" as those universities are not members of Big East Football.
  • St. John's men generally play their Big East home schedule in Madison Square Garden and their non-conference home schedule on campus at Carnesecca Arena. In 2005-06, St. John's played only one non-conference game at MSG and one Big East game on campus.
  • For certain high-profile home games, Villanova uses the Wachovia Center, and previously used the Wachovia Spectrum. In 2005-06, Villanova played three home games at the Wachovia Center and the rest on campus at The Pavilion. In 2006, the Wachovia Center was also a first-round site for the NCAA Tournament. Under NCAA rules, a venue is not considered a home court unless a school plays four or more regular-season games there; this enabled Villanova to play its first two tournament games at the Wachovia Center (but Villanova was not considered the host school for that sub-region—the Atlantic 10 Conference was). This situation will apply again in 2009 when the Wachovia Center was announced as a first/second round site to be hosted by Saint Joseph's University.
  • For Syracuse basketball games in the Carrier Dome, the court is laid out on one end of the field and stands are erected beside it. This makes the Carrier Dome the largest on-campus venue for college basketball in the nation.

Rivalries

Realignment

In 2003 the Big East was put on watch as the ACC announced plans to expand from nine teams to twelve. Miami, Syracuse, and BC were rumored to be the three schools under consideration, and all three met with officials from the ACC regarding membership. At the same time, the Big East itself was contemplating its future.

It was later revealed that Miami had been dissatisfied with the Big East and its leadership since a formal letter of complaint was issued by Miami to Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese in 1999. Their issues went unresolved, leading to Miami's interest in the ACC — a league which had been pursuing the college football superpower since the mid-1990s, at the request of football-oriented Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech. Those schools were concerned with the balance of power in the ACC, which they viewed as tilted towards "Tobacco Road", the nickname given to the four North Carolina ACC schools and their nationally prominent basketball programs.

Led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, UConn and the "remaining" football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) filed two lawsuits, one against the ACC, and the other against Miami and BC, accusing them of improper disclosure of confidential information and of conspiring to weaken the Big East. Syracuse was not named as a defendant in part because they never made public comments about the ongoing situation.

Talks with Syracuse indicated that it would likely leave the Big East. But doubts arose when Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim publicly expressed his disapproval of a conference change,[9] even as Syracuse and ACC officials proceeded with the formalities of official campus visits. Miami and Boston College were unwavering in their interest in the ACC, and Virginia Tech made it clear that they had long wanted to join the ACC. Finally, in a last-minute about-face, due in large measure to political pressure applied by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia, the ACC replaced Syracuse with Virginia Tech in its expansion vote. Things became even more surprising when, reached by phone at a conference in Switzerland, then-N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox cast a last-minute "no" vote against BC.[10] As a result, the ACC extended invitations only to Miami and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech immediately accepted the invitation and filed court papers to get themselves out of the awkward position of suing their new conference. Miami, stunned by the outcome of the vote, delayed their acceptance until the last possible day. Miami President Donna Shalala explained the delay stating "We had numbers on BC-Virginia Tech. We had done numbers on Miami alone. But we had not anticipated that Virginia Tech and Miami would be the only two invitees."[10] The remaining four plaintiffs removed BC from the list of defendants and asked both BC and Syracuse to join their suit. Both declined.

Leaked minutes of Big East meetings have shed light on the confusing process surrounding the defection of three of its members. At a summer meeting of the "football schools", following the announced departures of Miami and Virginia Tech, discussion among the Presidents and Athletic Directors of the remaining schools focused on a potential split into two conferences; an all-sports conference including football, and a second conference focused primarily on basketball. The idea of a 16-team superconference of both basketball and football schools was discussed, as was merging with Conference USA. Minutes of a July 9, 2003 meeting of presidents and athletic directors held before any detailed review of the conference's options show that Syracuse Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel and BC Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo went on record indicating they would resign their positions if the Big East expanded to 16 teams.

In response to a proposal for the establishment of a binding agreement among the six schools with a $5 million exit fee and 27-month notice requirement. Meanwhile, the Big East presidents agreed to meet with and possibly extend invitations to Penn State and Notre Dame. However, neither school showed interest in joining the conference.[11] The minutes show the presidents unanimously voted to support an eventual conference invitation for the University of Louisville, and to begin due diligence on Louisville and other proposed new members. Several models for a new conference were discussed; and it was decided that the football schools would explore separating from the basketball-only schools to establish an 8-team all-sports conference. The presidents and athletic directors described the breakup of the football and basketball schools as "inevitable".

Additional meetings of the football conference members occurred between July and October of 2003. In the course of those meetings it was realized that the break-up scenario would not be feasible because the new football conference would lose its automatic NCAA basketball tournament berth and possibly its BCS bid, as well as the Big East name. Further, the football schools had not been together long enough to satisfy certain NCAA rules. At a Big East meeting in Newark on Oct. 1, after a discussion of Notre Dame's concerns for stability, BC president Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., addressed rumors surrounding BC's intentions toward the Big East. Fr. Leahy conceded that BC might indeed be leaving the conference and he would determine how genuine the ACC's reported interest in having any school as a 12th member.[12] He stated he could not agree to an exit penalty larger than the already agreed to $5,000,000. And he expressed concerns about academic and graduation rate issues at Louisville and Cincinnati that arose during due diligence. It was decided that the conference would add additional football and basketball schools and continue in its existing structure until such time as the football schools could establish their own conference. Unhappy with the vote on the future structure of the conference, the administration of BC continued discussions with the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Speculation that Chancellor Fox, a Notre Dame trustee, cast her initial vote against BC so that the ACC might consider extending membership to Notre Dame was fueled by press accounts reporting that a bid to the Fighting Irish was imminent. But in mid-October 2003, the ACC voted unanimously to invite BC to be its twelfth member. When BC accepted they were returned to the lawsuit still pending against Miami by several Big East schools. After expansion, Jake Crouthamel retired as athletic director at Syracuse.

In response to losing three football programs, the Big East extended invitations to five schools from Conference USA in order to replenish their football ranks and to create a 16-team basketball superconference. The schools that left Conference USA on July 1, 2005 for the Big East are:

The fallout from the Conference USA realignment instigated a chain reaction of conference realignments that affected the WAC, MAC, Sun Belt, Mountain West, and Atlantic Ten Conferences. At the same time, the UConn Huskies completed their leap to Division I-A football and became a full member of the conference in 2004, resulting in their first-ever bowl bid.

Conference Champions by year

Year Men's B-ball Regular Season Champion Men's B-ball Tournament Champion Women's B-ball Regular Season Champion Women's B-ball Tournament Champion Football Champion
1979/1980 Georgetown/St. John's/Syracuse Georgetown
1980/81 Boston College Syracuse
1981/82 Villanova Georgetown
1982/83 Boston College/St. John's/Villanova St. John's Providence/St. John's St. John's
1983/84 Georgetown Georgetown Pittsburgh/Villanova Pittsburgh
1984/85 St. John's Georgetown St. John's/Villanova St. John's
1985/86 St. John's/Syracuse St. John's Providence Providence
1986/87 Georgetown/Pittsburgh/Syracuse Georgetown Villanova Villanova
1987/88 Pittsburgh Syracuse Syracuse Syracuse
1988/89 Georgetown Georgetown Connecticut Connecticut
1989/1990 Connecticut/Syracuse Connecticut Connecticut/Providence Connecticut
1990/91 Syracuse Seton Hall Connecticut Connecticut
1991/92 Georgetown/St. John's/Seton Hall Syracuse Miami Miami Miami
1992/93 Seton Hall Seton Hall Georgetown/Miami Georgetown Miami
1993/94 Connecticut Providence Connecticut Connecticut West Virginia
1994/95 Connecticut Villanova Connecticut Connecticut Miami
1995/96 Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut Virginia Tech*/Miami
1996/97 Boston College/Villanova Boston College Connecticut Connecticut Virginia Tech*/Miami/Syracuse
1997/98 Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut Syracuse
1998/99 Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut/Rutgers Connecticut Syracuse
1999/2000 Syracuse/Miami St. John's Connecticut Connecticut Virginia Tech
2000/01 Boston College Boston College Connecticut/Notre Dame Connecticut Miami
2001/02 Connecticut/Pittsburgh Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut Miami
2002/03 Pittsburgh/Syracuse Pittsburgh Connecticut Villanova Miami
2003/04 Pittsburgh Connecticut Connecticut Boston College Miami*/West Virginia
2004/05 Boston College/Connecticut Syracuse Rutgers Connecticut Pittsburgh*/West Virginia/Boston College/Syracuse
2005/06 Connecticut/Villanova Syracuse Rutgers Connecticut West Virginia
2006/07 Georgetown Georgetown Connecticut Rutgers Louisville
2007/08 West Virginia*/Connecticut

Note: *Received the Conference's BCS (or Alliance Bowl) berth

Big East Schools Ranked by Endowment

List of U.S. colleges and universities by endowment

  1. University of Notre Dame $4.5 billion (18th Nationally)[13]
  2. University of Pittsburgh $1.802 billion (27th)[14]
  3. University of Cincinnati $1.101 billion (50th)[15]
  4. Syracuse University $818 million (70th) [citation needed]
  5. Georgetown University $741 million (78th) [citation needed]
  6. University of Louisville $607 million (89th) [citation needed]
  7. Rutgers University $494 million (113th) [citation needed]
  8. West Virginia University $396 million (148th) [citation needed]
  9. University of South Florida $330 million[16]
  10. Marquette University $266 million (178th) [citation needed]
  11. St. John's University $264 million (180th) [citation needed]
  12. University of Connecticut $261 million (183rd) [citation needed]
  13. DePaul University $285 million (188th) [citation needed]
  14. Villanova University $238 million (196th) [citation needed]
  15. Seton Hall University $181 million (231st) [citation needed]
  16. Providence College $117 million (308th) [citation needed]

References