The Big East conference announced plans to expand its football members from eight to ten teams after university presidents unanimously agreed on the measure.
Big East commissioner John Marinatto said the evaluation process will begin immediately but declined to provide a timetable when invitations to join the conference would be extended.
Some possible additions include Villanova, a basketball member of the Big East and a football member of the Colonial Athletic Association in the Football Championship Subdivision.
Also mentioned as a possible addition to the Big East is Temple, a basketball member of the Atlantic 10 and a football member of the Mid-American Conference.
Other expansion targets being mentioned include TCU from the Mountain West Conference, and Central Florida and Houston from Conference USA.
The University of Memphis is also a member of Conference USA and has expressed interest in joining the Big East.
Memphis athletics director R.C. Johnson hired former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese as a consultant to assist the Tigers athletic program in its efforts to gain membership in a Bowl Championship Series conference.
However, Marinatto didn’t mention Memphis as a possible expansion candidate. Considering the Tigers woeful performance on the football field this season, inclusion into a BCS conference at this time would seem unlikely.
With the recent expansions of the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences, the move to add football playing members to the Big East became a necessity.
With the other BCS conferences having more lucrative bowl tie-ins and television deals, the Big East has to expand in an effort to keep the conference’s football members from being poached.
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