The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...

that competes in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the 11 full-member schools are primarily located in

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

and

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

metropolitan areas. The conference was officially recognized as a Division I multi-sport conference on August 1, 2013, and since then conference members have won NCAA national championships in men's basketball, women's cross country, field hockey, men's lacrosse, and men's soccer. Val Ackerman is the commissioner. The conference was formed after the "Catholic Seven" members of the original Big East Conference elected to split from the football-playing schools in order to start a new conference focused on basketball. These schools ( DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence,

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

, St. John's, and Villanova) had announced their decision in December 2012. In March 2013, the new conference purchased the Big East Conference name, logos, basketball records, and the rights to the

Big East Men's Basketball Tournament The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is the championship tournament of the Big East Conference in men's basketball. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As part of the 2013 deal in which seven schools ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

from the football-playing members of the old Big East, who formed the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

(AAC), which is the old conference's legal successor. Both conferences share 1979 as their founding date, when the original conference was founded by Dave Gavitt, and the same history through 2013. Three more schools,

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

, Creighton, and Xavier, joined the conference on its July 1, 2013, launch date. In June 2019, the Big East invited the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

(UConn) to "re-join" the conference from the AAC, which they did on July 1, 2020. Football is not a sponsored sport, and UConn is the only member with a varsity football team in the top-level Division I FBS.

, Georgetown, and Villanova do operate football programs in the second-level Division I FCS. The conference also has four associate members in field hockey, and one in men's and women's lacrosse.

History

The original Big East

The original Big East Conference was founded in 1979, when Providence College basketball coach Dave Gavitt spearheaded an effort to assemble an east coast basketball-centric collegiate athletic conference. The core of the Big East formed when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

invited

, Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross,

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

, and Boston College (BC). Holy Cross turned down the invitation, as did Rutgers initially, while BC, Seton Hall, and UConn accepted. Gavitt became the Big East's first commissioner, and Villanova and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

joined the conference shortly thereafter. PR firm Duffy & Shanley is credited with the initial branding and naming work for the conference. The "high point" of the original conference is widely considered to be the 1985 NCAA tournament, in which Georgetown, St. Johns, and Villanova all made the Final Four, and Villanova defeated Georgetown to win the national championship. The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991, when it began to sponsor football, adding

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

as a full member, and Rutgers,

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, and

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

as football-only members. Rutgers and West Virginia upgraded to full Big East membership in 1995, while Virginia Tech did the same in 2000. Notre Dame also joined as a non-football member effective in 1995. Temple football was kicked out after the 2004 season due to what was deemed by the other football-playing members a failure to make a strong effort to field a competitive team, but rejoined in 2012 after seriously upgrading its football program and intended to become a full Big East member in 2013. The unusual structure of the Big East, with the "football" and "non-football" schools, led to instability in the conference. The Big East was one of the most severely impacted conferences during conference realignment of 2005 and the early 2010s. In all, 14 member schools announced their departure for other conferences, and 15 other schools announced plans to join the conference (eight as all-sports members, and four for football only). Three of the latter group later backed out of their plans to join (one for all sports, and the other two for football only). These waves of defection and replacement revealed tension between the football-sponsoring and non-football schools that eventually led to the split of the conference in 2013.

Split and re-founding

On December 15, 2012, the Big East's seven non-FBS schools – DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's,

, and Villanova – announced that they had voted unanimously to separate from the Big East football-playing schools. The schools splitting away were referred to as the "Catholic 7" due to their common religious background, and were motivated in part by a desire to return to Gavitt's original vision of a strong,

-based and basketball-focused conference, and by prospects of a better television deal than they would have received by remaining with the football schools. The move occurred during a limited window in which these non-FBS schools held a voting majority in the conference—after the defection of certain FBS schools to the ACC but before the effective inclusion of candidate FBS schools to replace them. Negotiations with the other member schools continued in early 2013, and in March, it was reported that the "Catholic 7" schools would leave the conference on June 30, 2013, but that they would retain the Big East Conference name, logos, $10 million from the old conference's treasury, and the right to hold their

. At a March 20 news conference in New York City, Georgetown President John J. DeGioia, representing this new conference, announced that

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

and

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...

, both then members of the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

, as well as

Creighton University Creighton University () is a private research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate ...

in the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

would also join the new league at its launch. Additional announcements confirmed their headquarters in New York City, and a 12-year, $500 million television contract with

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

and its networks, and a 6-year television contract with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and its

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

. On June 26, 2013, the new conference hired Val Ackerman, former WNBA president, as the conference's first commissioner.

Field hockey and lacrosse associate members

The remaining members of the old conference later announced they would continue as the

(AAC). Several AAC and former Big East schools however continued playing lacrosse and field hockey with the new Big East Conference in 2013, including

and

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, before moving their programs to the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

and

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

s respectively in 2014–15. AAC members UConn and

also both joined the new Big East for women's lacrosse and field hockey, while

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

joined the women's lacrosse league,

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

joined the men's lacrosse league, and Old Dominion joined the field hockey league. The launch of a women's lacrosse league in the Big Ten for the 2015 season caused the American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) to dissolve after the 2014 season; two

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

teams that had been ALC members,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and Vanderbilt, joined the Big East as associate members in that sport. The next changes to Big East associate membership came during the 2015–16 school year. First, on December 8, 2015, the conference announced that

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

and

Quinnipiac The Quinnipiac were a historical Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They lived in present-day New Haven County, Connecticut, along the Quinnipiac River. Their primary village, also called Quinnipiac, was where New Haven, Connect ...

would become associate members in field hockey effective with the 2016 season. Then, on May 3, 2016, the Big East announced that Denver, already an affiliate in men's lacrosse, would move its women's lacrosse team into the league in the 2016–17 school year (2017 season). In addition to the new associate members, full member Butler announced on October 21, 2015, that it would elevate its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status in the 2017 season and immediately begin Big East competition. The American Athletic Conference began sponsoring women's lacrosse in the 2019 season (2018–19 school year), which led to the departure of all then-current Big East women's lacrosse associates except Denver. On that same date, the Big East announced that field hockey member Old Dominion would also become a Big East women's lacrosse member in the 2019 season, maintaining Big East women's lacrosse membership at 6 teams and preserving its automatic berth to the NCAA women's tournament.

Return of UConn

In June 2019, various news outlets reported that UConn would soon leave the AAC for the Big East, pending a decision on the future of the school's football program. Many news stories described UConn as "rejoining" the Big East, because UConn was a founding member of the original Big East, but remained with the football-playing members when the conference reorganized as the AAC in 2013. By 2018 however, UConn had seen a dramatic decline in athletic department revenues. Mutual interest between UConn and the new Big East had been reported by several sources starting in 2016. On June 24, 2019, the Big East formally approved an invitation for UConn to join the conference. The UConn Board of Trustees accepted the invitation two days later, thus reuniting UConn with several of the schools against whom it competed for 34 years in the old Big East. UConn and the AAC reached a buyout agreement the following month, clearing the way for UConn to become a member of the Big East on July 1, 2020. At the time the buyout agreement was reported, UConn announced that its football team would become an FBS independent upon its arrival in the Big East, leaving Temple as the only AAC member in the northeast. UConn's men's & women's hockey teams remain a member of the Hockey East Association. In 2020, Old Dominion's women's lacrosse left the Big East for the AAC, essentially swapping places with UConn, so both conferences maintained the six members required for an automatic bid. This led to CUSA eventually adding

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

from the CAA in 2025.

Commissioners

The office of the commissioner of athletics was created in 1979

Academics

The following table shows National University rank by U.S. News & World Report as of 2023. Also indicated is membership in the

Association of American Universities The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of predominantly American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 69 public and private ...

Apparel

Member schools

Full members

Nine of the eleven members of the Big East are

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

institutions. The exceptions are Butler, which is

nonsectarian Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. Academic sphere Many North American universities identify themselves as being nonsectarian, such as B ...

(although it was founded by the

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

) and UConn, which is the only

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

institution. ;Notes:

Associate members

;Notes:

Former associate members

Because the American Athletic Conference did not sponsor lacrosse or field hockey immediately after the Big East split, several schools from The American joined the reconfigured Big East as associate members in those sports. UConn, Louisville, Rutgers, and Temple joined in both women's lacrosse and field hockey, with Rutgers also joining in men's lacrosse, while Cincinnati joined only in women's lacrosse. Among these schools, Louisville and Rutgers were associates only for one season, as both became full members of conferences that sponsored their remaining Big East sports in 2014—respectively the

and

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. The other named schools stayed in Big East women's lacrosse until The American began a women's lacrosse league in 2018–19. ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2013 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.9) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.631,0.616,0.741) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: Georgetown (2013–present) bar:2 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: Providence (2013–present) bar:3 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: St. John's (2013–present) bar:4 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:

(2013–present) bar:5 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: Villanova (2013–present) bar:6 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: DePaul (2013–present) bar:7 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: Marquette (2013–present) bar:8 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: Xavier (2013–present) bar:9 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:

(2013–present) bar:10 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: Creighton (2013–present) bar:11 color:AssocOS from:2013 till:2020 text: UConn (Field hockey, 2013–present; Women's lacrosse, 2013–2018) bar:11 color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text: (2020–present) bar:12 color:AssocOS from:2013 till:end text: Old Dominion (Field hockey, 2013–present; Women's lacrosse, 2018–2020) bar:13 color:AssocOS from:2013 till:end text:

(Men's lacrosse, 2013–present; Women's lacrosse, 2016–present) bar:14 color:AssocOS from:2013 till:end text:

(Field hockey, 2013–present; Women's lacrosse, 2013–2018) bar:15 color:AssocOS from:2013 till:2018 text:

(Women's lacrosse, 2013–2018) bar:16 color:AssocOS from:2014 till:2018 text:

(Women's lacrosse, 2014–2018) bar:17 color:AssocOS from:2014 till:2018 text: Vanderbilt (Women's lacrosse, 2014–2018) bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:end text:

(Field hockey, 2016–present) bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:end text:

(Field hockey, 2016–present) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2023 till:end text:

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

(Men's soccer, 2023–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2013 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(500-center) text:^"Big East Membership History" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

Men's sports

Basketball

Despite the reconfiguration of the conference, the Big East has still been widely considered as one of the "Power 5" basketball conferences. The

is considered by some to be the most prestigious conference tournament in

Division I. The Tournament has been played at

, "The World's Most Famous Arena," since 1983, the longest-running conference tournament at any one site in all of

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

. Beginning with the inaugural 2013–14 season, the conference signed a 12-year deal with

to televise Big East Conference games, with

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...

also sublicensing select games from Fox. In 2014–15, the Big East had four schools ranked in the top-20 and six schools in the top-30 recruiting classes nationally according to ESPN, Scout, and Rivals rankings. Villanova won the conference's first

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

since realignment in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. One year later, in the 2016–17 season, seven of the ten schools (70%) received bids to that year's NCAA Tournament, a record for the highest percentage of members ever sent to one tournament from a single conference. Since realignment, Big East schools have combined for a total of 50 NCAA Tournament bids, five Final Four appearances, and four national championships.

Big East Champions and tournament bids

All-time wins and NCAA appearances

''As of 2023–24 season''

NCAA National Championships

Soccer

All full Big East member schools field men's soccer teams.

became an associate member in 2023.

NCAA National Championships

Lacrosse

Big East men's lacrosse is made up of charter members Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, and Villanova, as well as

. NCAA regulations state that there must be six teams for a league to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and since Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Seton Hall, and Xavier only field club teams, the Big East had to look elsewhere. Both Denver and Johns Hopkins were rumored as targets for potential invitation and Denver was ultimately invited to join the Big East as a lacrosse-only member. Denver joined the Big East as one of the hottest teams in the country; at the time of the relaunch of the Big East in July 2013, the Pioneers had made six NCAA Tournament appearances in the previous eight seasons and had appeared in two Final Fours in the previous three seasons. The University of Denver houses most of its other sports in The Summit League; most of that league's other teams are closer to that school's Denver campus than the bulk of the Big East. There is still uncertainty to whether or not Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Seton Hall, UConn, or Xavier will elevate their programs from the club level, or if any other programs will receive lacrosse-only invitations.

NCAA National Championships

Baseball

Big East full member schools Butler, Creighton, Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John's, UConn, Villanova and Xavier all field men's baseball teams. DePaul and Marquette have never fielded Big East baseball teams, while Providence fielded one until 1999 when it was dropped and later replaced with lacrosse.

Swimming and Diving

Big East men's swimming & diving is made up entirely of charter conference members, with UConn being a charter member of the 1979 incarnation, Xavier a charter member of the 2013 incarnation, and Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, and Villanova being charter members of both versions. However, UConn announced shortly before rejoining the Big East that it would cut men's swimming & diving along with men's cross country, men's tennis, and women's rowing effective in July 2021. Butler cut men's swimming & diving in 2007, when they also cut lacrosse. St. John's cut men's swimming & diving in 2003 due to

Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...

, when they also cut women's swimming & diving,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, men's cross country, men's indoor track & field, and men's outdoor track & field and added men's lacrosse. The Big East Conference originally started sponsoring men's swimming & diving in 1979. The Big East Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships have been held at some of the most prestigious pools in the United States. These pools include: Indiana University Natatorium, which has hosted multiple NCAA Division I Men's Swimming & Diving Championships and multiple United States Olympic Swimming Trials and United States Olympic Diving Trials; Nassau County Aquatic Center, which has hosted NCAA Division I Men's Swimming & Diving Championships and the International Goodwill Games; and

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

's Trees Pool, which hosted a total of 17 Big East Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships. Out of the current members, Xavier has won a total of six Big East Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, Georgetown has won four, while Seton Hall and Villanova have each won two.

Cross Country

Villanova men's cross country team won three straight NCAA National Championships in 1966, 1967 and 1968, as well as a fourth in 1970. They also finished 2nd in 1962 and 1969. Providence men's cross country team have also finished in second in 1981 and 1982.

NCAA National Championships

Tennis

Women's sports

Basketball

Field Hockey

The Big East began sponsoring field hockey in 1989, but conference records only indicate that a postseason tournament was held; the first recorded season of full league play was 1993, with Boston College, UConn, Georgetown, Providence,

, and Villanova participating. Georgetown left Big East field hockey after the 1994 season, and was replaced by incoming Big East member Rutgers. The next change in field hockey membership came in 2005, when BC left for the ACC and was replaced by Louisville. Georgetown returned its field hockey program to the Big East the next year, after which the conference's field hockey membership remained unchanged until the 2013 conference split. Shortly before the split, Old Dominion was set to join the original Big East as a field hockey associate. The conference split left both successor leagues—the reconfigured Big East and The American—with too few field hockey members to qualify for an automatic NCAA tournament berth. As a result, both leagues agreed that only the "new" Big East would sponsor the sport, and that all American members with field hockey programs would become associates. Accordingly, the Big East field hockey conference would now be made up of Big East full members Georgetown, Providence, and Villanova; American members UConn, Louisville, Rutgers, and Temple; and Old Dominion, otherwise a member of

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. Following the 2014 departure of Louisville and Rutgers for all-sports membership in conferences that sponsored field hockey (respectively the ACC and Big Ten), Big East field hockey operated with six members until Liberty and Quinnipiac joined as associate members in 2016.

NCAA National Championships

The only honors listed here are those earned by Big East field hockey members while playing the sport in the conference. In addition to these: * UConn had two national titles and two runner-up finishes as a member of the original Big East, but before the conference established a field hockey league. * Old Dominion had nine national titles and three runner-up finishes before joining Big East field hockey.

Soccer

Softball

Nine Big East members sponsor softball, with Marquette and Xavier as the exceptions. The original Big East first sponsored the sport in the 1990 season.

Swimming and Diving

Big East women's swimming & diving is made up of charter members Butler, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, UConn, Villanova and Xavier (UConn was a charter member of the original Big East, but not of its 2013 version). St. John's cut women's swimming & diving in 2003 due to

, when they also cut men's swimming & diving,

, men's cross country, men's indoor track & field, and men's outdoor track & field and added men's lacrosse. The Big East Conference originally started sponsoring women's swimming & diving in 1981–82, the same season in which the NCAA began sponsoring women's sports. The Big East Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships have been held at some of the most prestigious pools in the United States. These pools include: Indiana University Natatorium, which has hosted multiple NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships and multiple United States Olympic Swimming Trials and United States Olympic Diving Trials; Nassau County Aquatic Center, which has hosted NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships and the International Goodwill Games; and

's Trees Pool, which hosted a total of 17 Big East Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. Out of the current members, Villanova has won a total of 17 Big East Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. This includes a current streak of 12 in a row, which is tied for the second longest active NCAA conference championship win streak.

Volleyball

All full members of the Big East sponsor women's volleyball. However, during the first season of the reconfigured Big East in 2013, Providence was an affiliate member of the

America East Conference The America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachu ...

. The Friars joined Big East volleyball in 2014 after completing their contractual obligation to the America East.

Cross Country

The Providence women's cross country team have been crowned NCAA National Champions in 1995 and 2013, as well as finishing 2nd in 1990 and 2012. The Villanova women's cross country team won two straight NCAA National Championships in 2009 and 2010 and six straight NCAA National Championships in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994. Villanova runners also won an individual NCAA National Championship in 1998, as well as placing 3rd in 1995, 2nd in 1996 and 3rd in 2011. The Georgetown women's cross country team were NCAA National Champions in 2011.

NCAA National Championships

Lacrosse

The Big East began sponsoring women's lacrosse in the 2001 season with Boston College, UConn, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech. The original lineup stayed in place until Virginia Tech and BC left for the ACC, respectively in 2004 and 2005. The conference replaced BC with Loyola (Maryland) for the 2006 season, and the Greyhounds remained an associate member until the school joined the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

, which already sponsored women's lacrosse, in 2013. Originally, the conference championship was decided solely by league play; a postseason tournament was added starting in the 2007 season with the top four teams qualifying, a format that exists to this day. The next changes in women's lacrosse membership came in the 2009 season, when Cincinnati and Louisville (both of which had only added varsity lacrosse for the 2008 season) brought their teams into the Big East. Villanova followed in the 2010 season. As in the case of field hockey, the 2013 conference split left the Big East and The American with too few lacrosse teams for an automatic NCAA bid. Also in a parallel with field hockey, the two conferences agreed that only the reconfigured Big East would sponsor the sport, with all women's lacrosse teams from The American becoming associate members. The first season of women's lacrosse in the reconfigured league in 2014 would thus include Cincinnati, UConn, Georgetown, Louisville, new varsity team Marquette, Rutgers, Temple, and Villanova. The Big East would lose Louisville and Rutgers after that season, respectively to the ACC and Big Ten, replacing them with Florida and Vanderbilt (the only two SEC schools sponsoring the sport) after the demise of the American Lacrosse Conference. For the 2017 season, Butler added varsity women's lacrosse and Denver brought its women's lacrosse team into the league, giving the Big East 10 members in the sport. However, after the 2018 season, the Big East lost all of its women's lacrosse associate members except Denver to the new women's lacrosse conference of The American. The Big East retained its automatic NCAA tournament bid for the 2019 season and beyond by adding Old Dominion, already an associate member in field hockey. On April 16, 2020, Old Dominion announced its women's lacrosse would join the American Athletic Conference in the 2021 season (2020–21 school year), essentially swapping places with incoming full member UConn. Both conferences thus maintained the six members required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Xavier added women's lacrosse in the 2023 season, playing as an independent for its first season before starting full Big East play in 2024.

NCAA Team Championships

This list includes NCAA championships won by members of the Big East. Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including ICSA sailing championships (14 by Georgetown), women's AIAW championships (2 by Old Dominion), equestrian titles (0), and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles (1 by St. John's). Associate members, indicated in ''italics'', are listed with NCAA championships won in their Big East sports while competing in the conference.

Facilities

Notes:

Notes

References

External links

* {{NCAA nonfootball Div1 conferences Sports in the Eastern United States Sports in the Midwestern United States Sports leagues established in 2013 Articles which contain graphical timelines Organizations based in New York City

History

The original Big East

Split and re-founding

Field hockey and lacrosse associate members

Return of UConn

Commissioners

Academics

Apparel

Member schools

Full members

Associate members

Former associate members

Membership timeline

Men's sports

Basketball

Big East Champions and tournament bids

All-time wins and NCAA appearances

NCAA National Championships

Soccer

NCAA National Championships

Lacrosse

NCAA National Championships

Baseball

Swimming and Diving

Cross Country

NCAA National Championships

Tennis

Women's sports

Basketball

Field Hockey

NCAA National Championships

Soccer

Softball

Swimming and Diving

Volleyball

Cross Country

NCAA National Championships

Lacrosse

NCAA Team Championships

Facilities

See also

Notes

References

External links