Big East Conference

Big East Conference (Big East)
Established	July 1, 2013
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I (Non-Football)
Members	10 (All-Sports Members)
Sports fielded	22 (men's: 10; women's: 12)
Region	Northeastern and Midwestern United States
Headquarters	New York City, New York
Commissioner	Val Ackerman (since 2013)
Website	bigeast.com
Locations

The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in all sports except football, which is not sponsored. The conference has been officially recognized as a Division I multi-sport conference, effective on August 1, 2013.^[1]

Its nucleus is composed of the "Catholic Seven" members of the original Big East Conference: DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, Seton Hall University, St. John's University, and Villanova University.^[2] In December 2012, these schools chose to split from the football playing schools in order to focus on basketball, and in March 2013 reached a settlement, whereby they acquired the Big East Conference name, logos, and the rights to the men's basketball tournament. Butler University, Creighton University, and Xavier University also joined the conference on its July 1, 2013 launch date.^[3]

The football-playing members of the old Big East, along with several other schools, formed the American Athletic Conference, which retains the old Big East's charter and structure. However, both conferences claim 1979 as their founding date.^[4][5] As part of the separation agreement, the basketball schools were able to retain the basketball records while the football schools retained the football records respectively.^[6]

Val Ackerman, former WNBA president, has been commissioner since June 26, 2013. On the same day Ackerman was named as commissioner, it announced that it will be headquartered in New York City.^[7][8][9] None of the conference's schools sponsor varsity football in the top-level Division I FBS. Georgetown, Villanova, and Butler do operate football programs in the second-level Division I FCS, though only Villanova offers scholarships to its players.

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.^[10] The core of the Big East formed when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse invited Seton Hall, Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College (BC). Holy Cross turned down the invitation, as did Rutgers initially, while BC, Seton Hall, and UConn accepted.^[11][12][13] Gavitt became the Big East's first commissioner, and Villanova and Pittsburgh joined the conference shortly thereafter.^[14][15][16] PR firm Duffy & Shanley is credited with the initial branding and naming work for the conference.^[17]

The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991, when it began to sponsor football, adding Miami as a full member, and Rutgers, Temple, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia as football-only members.^[18] 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, but rejoined in 2012 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.^[19] The waves of defection and replacement brought about by the conference realignments of 2005 and the early 2010s revealed tension between the football-sponsoring and non-football schools that eventually led to the split of the conference in 2013.^[20]

The conference reorganized following the tumultuous period of realignment that hobbled the Big East between 2010 and 2013. The Big East was one of the most severely impacted conferences during the most recent conference realignment period. 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).

The present Big East

On December 15, 2012 the Big East's seven non-FBS schools, all Catholic institutions – DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova – announced that they had voted unanimously to separate from the Big East football playing schools, effective June 30, 2015.^[21] Among the many rumor-fueled news stories, it was reported that the so-called Catholic 7, in leaving the Big East, were looking for a more lucrative television deal than they would have received by remaining with the football schools.^[22] Of more concern may have been the limited window in which these non-FBS schools would hold 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—and, therefore, architect a conference future both aligned with their institutional interests and true to the basketball roots from which the Big East grew. Five of the seven schools constituted a majority of the conference during its enormously successful early years, prior to the inclusion of football as a conference sport; only one of the FBS schools that were to remain in the conference, UConn, shared this heritage. In March 2013, it was announced that the Catholic 7 were not only parting ways with the FBS schools on June 30, 2013, but that they would retain the Big East name, $10 million from the old conference's treasury, and the right to hold the conference's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.^[23]

On March 14, 2013, it was reported that the Big East would be adding members in the next seven to ten days.^[24] The following day, ESPN stated that the Big East would add Butler and Xavier from the Atlantic 10 Conference, as well as Creighton from the Missouri Valley Conference, with an official announcement to be forthcoming within the next week, although the institutions which were reportedly joining were refusing to comment.^[25]

At a news conference in New York City on March 20, 2013, the reorganized league was formally introduced with Butler, Xavier, and Creighton included as members. Additional announcements included details of new contracts for television and for the use of Madison Square Garden as site of the men's basketball tournament.^[3][26] It billed itself as a return to Gavitt's original vision of a strong, Northeast-based basketball conference.^[5]

Field Hockey and Lacrosse Associate Members

During May 2013, the conference added several associate members in lacrosse and field hockey. The University of Denver joined the men's lacrosse league and started play in the 2014 season,^[27] while Rutgers University men's lacrosse played the 2014 season in the Big East before moving to the Big Ten in 2014–15.^[28] Rutgers also housed its field hockey and women's lacrosse teams in the Big East for 2013–14 before joining the Big Ten, as did Louisville in advance of its 2014 move to the ACC.

The 2013–14 school year also saw the arrival of Connecticut and Temple for both women's lacrosse and field hockey, Old Dominion for field hockey only, and Cincinnati for women's lacrosse only;^[29] all of these schools remain Big East affiliates in those sports.

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 teams that had been ALC members, Florida and Vanderbilt, joined the Big East as associate members in that sport.^[30]

The most recent changes in Big East membership came during the 2015–16 school year. First, on December 8, 2015, the conference announced that Liberty and Quinnipiac would become associate members in field hockey effective with the 2016 season.^[31] 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).^[32] 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.^[33]

Member schools

Charter members

All full members of the Big East are private institutions, and all are Catholic except for Butler.

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors
Butler University	Indianapolis, Indiana	1855	2013	4,848	Bulldogs
Creighton University	Omaha, Nebraska	1878	2013	8,236	Bluejays
DePaul University	Chicago, Illinois	1898	2013	23,799	Blue Demons
Georgetown University	Washington, D.C.	1789	2013	17,858	Hoyas
Marquette University	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	1881	2013	11,745	Golden Eagles
Providence College	Providence, Rhode Island	1917	2013	4,533	Friars
St. John's University	New York City, New York	1870	2013	20,448	Red Storm
Seton Hall University	South Orange, New Jersey	1856	2013	9,627	Pirates
Villanova University	Villanova, Pennsylvania	1842	2013	10,735	Wildcats
Xavier University	Cincinnati, Ohio	1831	2013	6,538	Musketeers

Associate members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Sport(s)	Primary Conference
Cincinnati !University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	1819	2013	35,421	Bearcats		Women's lacrosse	American Athletic Conference
Connecticut !University of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut	1881	2013	31,624	Huskies		Field hockey, Women's lacrosse	American Athletic Conference
Denver !University of Denver	Denver, Colorado	1864	2013 (men's lacrosse) 2016 (women's lacrosse)	11,809	Pioneers		Men's lacrosse, Women's lacrosse	Summit League
Florida !University of Florida	Gainesville, Florida	1853	2014	50,350	Gators		Women's lacrosse	SEC
Liberty University	Lynchburg, Virginia	1971	2016	14,000[a 1]	Lady Flames		Field hockey	Big South Conference
Old Dominion University	Norfolk, Virginia	1930	2013	24,932	Monarchs		Field hockey	Conference USA
Quinnipiac University	Hamden, Connecticut	1929	2016	9,000	Bobcats		Field hockey	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1884	2013	37,485	Owls		Field hockey, Women's lacrosse	American Athletic Conference
Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	1873	2014	12,686	Commodores		Women's lacrosse	SEC

Notes

Former associate members

Since the American Athletic Conference did not sponsor lacrosse or field hockey, Rutgers and Louisville joined the Big East as associate members before joining the Big Ten Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference, respectively, in 2014.

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Sport(s)	Primary Conference
Rutgers University–New Brunswick	New Brunswick, New Jersey	1766	2013	48,378	Scarlet Knights		Field hockey, Men's & women's lacrosse	Big Ten Conference
Louisville !University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	1798	2013	21,562	Cardinals		Field hockey, Women's lacrosse	Atlantic Coast Conference

Membership timeline

Big East Conference (1979–2013) members Big East Conference members Associate member

Men's sports

Since the relaunch of the Big East in July 2013, it has sponsored championship competition in ten men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Initially, seven schools were associate members in three sports. Two associate members departed in 2014 and were replaced by two new associates. In 2016, two new associates joined, and an existing associate member brought a second sport into the Big East.^[34]

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total Big East Sports
Butler	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Creighton	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	N	6
DePaul	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Georgetown	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Marquette	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Providence	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	7
St. John's	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	6
Seton Hall	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N	N	6
Villanova	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Xavier	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Totals	7	10	9	9	5+1†	10	5	8	7	7	77+1

^† = Associates Denver

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big East Conference which are played by Big East schools

School	Fencing	Football	Ice Hockey	Rowing	Sailing
Butler	No	Pioneer Football League	No	No	No
Georgetown	No	Patriot League	No	Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges	Intercollegiate Sailing Association
Providence	No	No	Hockey East	No	No
St. John's	Independent	No	No	No	No
Villanova	No	Colonial Athletic Association	No	No	No

Basketball

The 2013–14 season marked the inaugural season of the reconfigured Big East. Kicking off with media day at Chelsea Piers, the season started with much fanfare and excitement around the country's elite basketball-centric conference. Aided by the lucrative TV agreement with FS1, almost all Big East games were televised, helping to maintain and grow Big East basketball as a national brand. For 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 since realignment in 2016.

Big East Champions and tournament bids

Year	Regular Season Champion	Player of the Year	Tournament Champion	Tournament MVP	NCAA Tournament Bids
2013–14	Villanova	McDermott, DougDoug McDermott (Creighton)	Providence	Cotton, BryceBryce Cotton (Providence)	Villanova #2 East, Creighton #3 West, Providence #11 East, Xavier #11 Midwest
2014–15	Villanova	Arcidiacono, RyanRyan Arcidiacono (Villanova), Dunn, KrisKris Dunn (Providence)	Villanova	Hart, JoshJosh Hart (Villanova)	Villanova #1 East, Georgetown #4 South, Providence #6 East, Butler #6 Midwest, Xavier #6 West, St. John's #9 South
2015–16	Villanova	Dunn, KrisKris Dunn (Providence)	Seton Hall	Whitehead, IsaiahIsaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall)	Villanova #2 South, Xavier #2 East, Seton Hall #6 Midwest, Providence #9 East, Butler #9 Midwest

All-time wins and NCAA appearances

This list goes through the 2015–16 season.

Team	Records	Win Pct.	NCAA Tournament	NCAA Sweet 16	NCAA Elite 8	NCAA Final Four	NCAA Runner Up	NCAA Champions
Butler	1535–1105	.581	13	5	2	2	2	0
Creighton	1496–983	.603	19	3	1	0	0	0
DePaul	1428–964	.597	22	10	3	2	0	0
Georgetown	1624–1006	.617	30	11	9	5	3	1
Marquette	1569–970	.617	31	16	7	3	1	1
Providence	1176–743	.613	18	5	4	2	0	0
St. John's	1849–981	.653	29	6	6	2	1	0
Seton Hall	1451–1046	.584	10	4	2	1	1	0
Villanova	1685–917	.648	36	17	13	5	1	2
Xavier	1418–969	.594	26	7	2	0	0	0

NCAA National Championships

School	NCAA Champion	Years	NCAA Runner Up	Years
Villanova	2	1985, 2016	1	1971
Georgetown	1	1984	3	1943, 1982, 1985
Marquette	1	1977	1	1974
Butler	0		2	2010, 2011
Seton Hall	0		1	1989
St. Johns	0		1	1952
Total	4		9

Soccer

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

Year	Regular Season	Tournament	Runner Up	NCAA Bids
2013	Georgetown	Marquette	Providence	Creighton, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. Johns
2014	Creighton	Providence	Xavier	Creighton, Georgetown, Providence, Xavier
2015	Georgetown	Georgetown	Creighton	Creighton, Georgetown
2016	Providence	Butler	Butler	Butler, Creighton, Providence, Villanova

Lacrosse

Big East men's lacrosse is made up of charter members Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, and Villanova, as well as Denver. 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, or Xavier will elevate their programs from the club level, or if any other programs will receive lacrosse-only invitations.

Year	Regular Season	Tournament	Runner-Up	NCAA Bids
2014	Denver	Denver	Villanova	Denver (Final Four)
2015	Denver	Denver	Georgetown	Denver (National Champion)
2016	Denver	Marquette	Denver	Marquette (First Round), Denver (First Round)

NCAA National Championships

School	NCAA Champion	Years	NCAA Runner Up	Years
Denver	1	2015	0	N/A

Baseball

Big East full member schools, Butler, Creighton, Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova and Xavier all field men's baseball teams. DePaul and Marquette have never fielded Big East baseball teams, while Providence fielded one until the late 1990s when it was dropped and later replaced with Lacrosse.

Year	Regular Season	Tournament	NCAA Bids
2014	Creighton	Xavier	Xavier
2015	St. John's	St. John's	St. John's
2016	Xavier	Xavier	Xavier

Swimming and Diving

Big East swimming & diving is made up of charter members Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier.

Year	Tournament Champion	Tournament Runner Up
2014	Xavier	Georgetown
2015	Xavier	Georgetown
2016	Xavier	Georgetown

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.

Year	Big East Champion	NCAA Tournament Bids
2013	Villanova	Providence, Villanova
2014	Villanova	Georgetown, Providence, Villanova
2015	Georgetown	Georgetown
2016	Georgetown	Georgetown, Providence

NCAA National Championships

School	NCAA Runner Up	Years	NCAA National Champion	Years
Villanova	2	1962, 1969	4	1966, 1967, 1968, 1970
Providence	2	1981, 1982	0	N/A

Women's sports

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Field Hockey	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball	Total Big East Sports
Butler	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Creighton	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	7
DePaul	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Georgetown	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	12
Marquette	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Providence	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
St. John's	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Seton Hall	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	8
Villanova	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Xavier	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Totals	10	10	3+5†	6	4+6††	10	8	6	10	8	8	10	93+11

^† = Associates Connecticut, Liberty, Old Dominion, Quinnipiac, and Temple.

^†† = Associates Cincinnati, Connecticut, Denver, Florida, Temple, and Vanderbilt.

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big East Conference which are played by Big East schools

School	Fencing	Ice Hockey	Rowing	Sailing	Water Polo
Creighton	No	No	West Coast Conference	No	No
Georgetown	No	No	Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges	Intercollegiate Sailing Association	No
Providence	No	Hockey East	No	No	No
St. John's	Independent	No	No	No	No
Villanova	No	No	Colonial Athletic Association	No	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Basketball

Year	Regular Season Champion	Player of the Year	Tournament Champion	Tournament MVP	NCAA Tournament Bids
2013–14	DePaul	Marissa Janning (Creighton)	DePaul	Jasmine Penny (DePaul)	DePaul
2014–15	DePaul, Seton Hall	Brittany Hrynko (DePaul)	DePaul	Megan Podkowa (DePaul)	DePaul, Seton Hall
2015–16	DePaul	Chanise Jenkins (DePaul)	St. John's	Aliyyah Handford (St. John's)	DePaul, St. John's, Seton Hall

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, Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, Syracuse, 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.^[35]

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 Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, and Temple; and Old Dominion, otherwise a member of Conference USA. 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.

Year	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion	NCAA Tournament Bids
2013	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut, Old Dominion
2014	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut
2015	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut
2016	Connecticut	Connecticut	Connecticut

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.

School	NCAA National Champion	Years	NCAA Runner-up	Years
Connecticut	2	2013, 2014	0	N/A

Soccer

Year	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion	NCAA Tournament Bids
2013	Marquette	Marquette	DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, St. John's
2014	DePaul	DePaul	DePaul, Georgetown
2015	St. John's	Butler	Butler, Georgetown, St. John's

Swimming and Diving

Big East swimming & diving is made up of charter members Butler, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier.

Year	Tournament Champion	Tournament Runner Up
2014	Villanova	Georgetown
2015	Villanova	Georgetown
2016	Villanova	Georgetown

Volleyball

All full members of the Big East sponsor women's volleyball. However, in the first season of the reconfigured Big East in 2013, Providence was an affiliate member of the America East Conference. The Friars joined Big East volleyball in 2014.

Year	Regular Season	Tournament	Runner Up	NCAA Bids
2013	Marquette	Marquette	Creighton	Creighton, Marquette
2014	Creighton	Creighton	Seton Hall	Creighton, Marquette, Seton Hall
2015	Creighton	Creighton	Villanova	Creighton, Marquette, Villanova
2016	Creighton

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.

Year	Big East Champion	NCAA Tournament Bids
2013	Providence	Butler, Georgetown, Providence, Villanova
2014	Georgetown	Georgetown, Providence
2015	Providence	Georgetown, Providence, Villanova
2016	Providence	Providence, Villanova

NCAA National Championships

School	NCAA Runner-up	Years	NCAA National Champion	Years
Villanova	1	1996	9	1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2009, 2010
Providence	2	1990, 2012	2	1995, 2013
Georgetown	0	N/A	1	2011

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, 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)^[36][37] brought their teams into the Big East. Villanova followed in the 2010 season.^[38]

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.^[38]

For the 2017 season, Butler will add varsity women's lacrosse and Denver will bring its women's lacrosse team into the league, giving the Big East 10 members in the sport.

Year	Regular Season	Tournament	Runner-Up	NCAA Bids
2014	Louisville	Louisville	Georgetown	Louisville, Georgetown (both Second Round)
2015	Florida, Georgetown	Florida	Connecticut	Florida (Second Round)
2016	Florida	Florida	Temple	Florida (Second Round)

NCAA team championships

Thru July 2, 2015 ^[39]

This list includes NCAA championships. Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including Division I FBS football titles (0), women's AIAW championships (2 by Old Dominion), equestrian titles (0), and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles (1 by St. John's).

NCAA championships won by Big East associate members in their Big East sports are also included, but those schools' championships in sports that they currently house outside the Big East are excluded. These schools are indicated in italics.

School	Total	Men	Women	Co-ed	Nickname
Villanova	20	11	9	0	Wildcats
Old Dominion	9	0	9	0	Monarchs
Connecticut	4	0	4	0	Huskies
Providence	3	1	2	0	Friars
Georgetown	2	1	1	0	Hoyas
Saint Johns !St. John's	2	1	0	1	Red Storm
Denver	1	1	0	0	Pioneers
Marquette	1	1	0	0	Golden Eagles
Butler	0	0	0	0	Bulldogs
Creighton	0	0	0	0	Bluejays
DePaul	0	0	0	0	Blue Demons
Liberty	0	0	0	0	Lady Flames
Quinnipiac	0	0	0	0	Bobcats
Seton Hall	0	0	0	0	Pirates
Xavier	0	0	0	0	Musketeers

Facilities

School	Soccer stadium	Cap.	Basketball arena(s)	Cap.	Baseball park	Cap.	Softball park	Cap.	Lacrosse stadium	Cap.
Full Members
Butler	Butler Bowl	5,647	Hinkle Fieldhouse	9,100	Bulldog Park	500	Butler Softball Field	500	Non-Lacrosse school
Creighton	Morrison Stadium	6,000	M:CenturyLink Center Omaha W:D. J. Sokol Arena	18,320 2,950	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha	24,505	Creighton Sports Complex	1,000	Non-Lacrosse school
DePaul	Wish Field	1,000	M:Allstate Arena W:Sullivan Athletic Center	17,500 3,000	Non-baseball school		Cacciatore Stadium	1,000	Non-Lacrosse school
Georgetown	Kehoe Field	1,625	M:Verizon Center W:McDonough Gymnasium	20,035 2,500	Shirley Povich Field	1,500	Guy Mason Field	200	Cooper Field	2,500
Marquette	Valley Fields	1,600	M:BMO Harris Bradley Center W:Al McGuire Center	18,850 4,000	Non-baseball school		Non-softball school		Time Warner Cable Stadium Hart Park Stadium W:Valley Fields	7,000 5,500 1600
Providence	Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium	3,000	M:Dunkin' Donuts Center W:Alumni Hall	12,400 1,854	Non-baseball school		Glay Field	500	Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium	3,000
Seton Hall	Owen T. Carroll Field	1,800	M:Prudential Center W:Walsh Gymnasium	18,711 2,600	Owen T. Carroll Field	600	Essex County Mike Shepard, Sr. Field	300	Non-Lacrosse school
St. John's	Belson Stadium	2,168	M:Madison Square Garden M&W:Carnesecca Arena [lower-alpha 1]	19,979 5,602	Jack Kaiser Stadium	3,500	Red Storm Field	250	DaSilva Memorial Field	1,200
Villanova	Villanova Soccer Complex	1,500	M&W:Wells Fargo Center M&W:The Pavilion [lower-alpha 2]	20,328 6,500	Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth	1,500	Villanova Softball Complex	250	Villanova Stadium	12,500
Xavier	Xavier University Soccer Complex	1,000	Cintas Center	10,250	J. Page Hayden Field	500	Non-softball school		Non-Lacrosse school
Associate Members
Cincinnati	Women's lacrosse-only member								Sheakley Athletics Center	1,200
Connecticut	Member only for field hockey and women's lacrosse								George J. Sherman Family-Sports Complex	2,000
Denver	Member only for men's and women's lacrosse								Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium	2,000
Florida	Women's lacrosse-only member								Donald R. Dizney Stadium	1,500
Temple	Member only for field hockey and women's lacrosse								Geasey Field	N/A
Vanderbilt	Women's lacrosse-only member								Vanderbilt Soccer/Lacrosse Complex	2,400

Notes:

See also

• Big East Conference (1979–2013)
• American Athletic Conference
• Conferences that formed under similar circumstances to the Big East:
  • Atlantic Coast Conference, formed by 7 schools that withdrew from the Southern Conference in 1953
  • Big Eight Conference and Missouri Valley Conference, both formed by schools that split from the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) in 1928, although both factions initially retained the MVIAA name
  • Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League, an NCAA Division III men's volleyball-only conference formed in 2014 by 6 schools that withdrew from the Continental Volleyball Conference, plus two other schools that had been announced as incoming CVC members
  • Mountain West Conference, formed by 8 schools that withdrew from the Western Athletic Conference in 1999
  • Southeastern Conference, formed by 13 schools that withdrew from the Southern Conference in 1932
  • Southern Athletic Association, an NCAA Division III conference formed by 7 schools that withdrew from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in 2012, plus one other invited member
• West Coast Conference, a conference with similar makeup, based in the Western United States

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Big East Conference.

• Official website