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West Virginia, a member of the Big East since 1995, will leave the conference after being formally invited Friday to join the Big 12.
The Big 12, meanwhile, plans to remain at 10 schools and is waiting on the departure of Missouri -- which has yet to receive a formal invitation to join the Southeastern Conference.
"This move by West Virginia does not come as a surprise," Big East commissioner John Marinatto said in a statement Friday. "League officials, members of our conference and the candidate schools to whom we have been talking were aware of this possibility. We have taken West Virginia's possible departure into account as we have moved forward with our own realignment plans."
Marinatto also said Friday that West Virginia is aware that the conference will enforce the 27-month notification period to leave the Big East -- the same rule applied to Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who have agreed to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"The Big 12 is a perfect fit for West Virginia University," university president James P. Clements said in a statement. "This is a very exciting time for WVU and Mountaineer nation. I am confident that the future of WVU athletics has never been more promising."
The Big 12, meanwhile, is still waiting for the SEC to move on Missouri. The SEC said Friday that an announcement that Missouri was joining the league was inadvertently posted on the league's website Thursday night and that no agreement has been reached.
The only thing holding up Missouri's departure is legal concerns, according to multiple reports.
In a news release Friday announcing the addition of West Virginia, the Big 12 said that "beginning with the 2012-13 season it is expected that the Big 12 will be comprised of 10 universities -- Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia." Missouri was not included in the release.
The Big 12's decision to remain at 10 -- it lost Texas A&M to the SEC and Colorado to the Pac-12, then added TCU before it ever played in the Big East, and now WVU -- will prevent Louisville from potentially joining. Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino said Friday that Marinatto was disappointed in WVU's decision.
"I told him to stop taking that attitude," Pitino told ESPN.com's Andy Katz. "If Louisville had left the Big East was over. Nobody was going to come in. I told him to be fired up and go get those teams."
The teams Pitino is referring to are potential Big East invitees Boise State, Air Force, Navy, BYU, Central Florida, Houston and SMU. Marinatto has told Pitino that he has visited with or spoken to officials from each of the schools about joining the conference, Pitino said.
"We are confident that in the coming weeks we will complete our own realignment program, adding a number of high-quality members to remain among the top conferences in both football and basketball," Marinatto said in his statement.
Central Florida's board of trustees voted unanimously Friday to give school president John Hitt the authority to negotiate a contract for its athletics programs to join a new league. The vote came during a brief meeting Friday.
Pitino has expressed an opinion that the Big East should strongly consider inviting Memphis and Temple to keep the Big East as strong a basketball conference as possible.
"I told (Marinatto) we have to make sure this is a basketball conference, too. Take them all," Pitino said. "I told him that the only school that would leave now if it could is Connecticut. They want to go to the ACC. So plan for that."
Pitino said that Marinatto told him he was confident that invitations would be accepted by the schools save BYU; the Cougars have yet to indicate where their future lies.
Pitino would like to see football schools Louisville, Rutgers, UConn (for now), Cincinnati and South Florida remain with the Big East and the conference to add Navy, Boise State and Air Force for football and Memphis, Temple, Houston, SMU and Central Florida in all sports.
In Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia, the Big East loses three traditionally strong basketball programs, with the latter being the only consistent winner in football.
"We can have a helluva basketball conference if we add Memphis and Temple, build ourselves, go to divisions," Pitino said Friday. "We can't lose our identity. I'll be so disappointed if it doesn't happen."
Senior writer Andy Katz covers men's college basketball for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
The Big 12, meanwhile, plans to remain at 10 schools and is waiting on the departure of Missouri -- which has yet to receive a formal invitation to join the Southeastern Conference.
"This move by West Virginia does not come as a surprise," Big East commissioner John Marinatto said in a statement Friday. "League officials, members of our conference and the candidate schools to whom we have been talking were aware of this possibility. We have taken West Virginia's possible departure into account as we have moved forward with our own realignment plans."
Marinatto also said Friday that West Virginia is aware that the conference will enforce the 27-month notification period to leave the Big East -- the same rule applied to Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who have agreed to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"The Big 12 is a perfect fit for West Virginia University," university president James P. Clements said in a statement. "This is a very exciting time for WVU and Mountaineer nation. I am confident that the future of WVU athletics has never been more promising."
The Big 12, meanwhile, is still waiting for the SEC to move on Missouri. The SEC said Friday that an announcement that Missouri was joining the league was inadvertently posted on the league's website Thursday night and that no agreement has been reached.
The only thing holding up Missouri's departure is legal concerns, according to multiple reports.
In a news release Friday announcing the addition of West Virginia, the Big 12 said that "beginning with the 2012-13 season it is expected that the Big 12 will be comprised of 10 universities -- Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia." Missouri was not included in the release.
The Big 12's decision to remain at 10 -- it lost Texas A&M to the SEC and Colorado to the Pac-12, then added TCU before it ever played in the Big East, and now WVU -- will prevent Louisville from potentially joining. Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino said Friday that Marinatto was disappointed in WVU's decision.
"I told him to stop taking that attitude," Pitino told ESPN.com's Andy Katz. "If Louisville had left the Big East was over. Nobody was going to come in. I told him to be fired up and go get those teams."
The teams Pitino is referring to are potential Big East invitees Boise State, Air Force, Navy, BYU, Central Florida, Houston and SMU. Marinatto has told Pitino that he has visited with or spoken to officials from each of the schools about joining the conference, Pitino said.
"We are confident that in the coming weeks we will complete our own realignment program, adding a number of high-quality members to remain among the top conferences in both football and basketball," Marinatto said in his statement.
Central Florida's board of trustees voted unanimously Friday to give school president John Hitt the authority to negotiate a contract for its athletics programs to join a new league. The vote came during a brief meeting Friday.
Pitino has expressed an opinion that the Big East should strongly consider inviting Memphis and Temple to keep the Big East as strong a basketball conference as possible.
"I told (Marinatto) we have to make sure this is a basketball conference, too. Take them all," Pitino said. "I told him that the only school that would leave now if it could is Connecticut. They want to go to the ACC. So plan for that."
Pitino said that Marinatto told him he was confident that invitations would be accepted by the schools save BYU; the Cougars have yet to indicate where their future lies.
Pitino would like to see football schools Louisville, Rutgers, UConn (for now), Cincinnati and South Florida remain with the Big East and the conference to add Navy, Boise State and Air Force for football and Memphis, Temple, Houston, SMU and Central Florida in all sports.
In Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia, the Big East loses three traditionally strong basketball programs, with the latter being the only consistent winner in football.
"We can have a helluva basketball conference if we add Memphis and Temple, build ourselves, go to divisions," Pitino said Friday. "We can't lose our identity. I'll be so disappointed if it doesn't happen."
Senior writer Andy Katz covers men's college basketball for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
This is pretty much the death of the Big East.
)... this move, coupled with our new, mullet-bearing HC, means a brighter future for WVU sports in general... im happy to gtfo of the BE...
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