Big East to invite Boise State

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

The Big East is ready to start adding members after spending the last month and a half losing them.

A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press the Big East will invite Boise State, Navy and Air Force for football only and SMU, Houston and Central Florida for all sports in upcoming days.

Commissioner John Marinatto declined to elaborate on the Big East’s next moves after meeting with the league’s presidents at a Philadelphia hotel Tuesday. He said he expected the targeted schools to accept, but details still must be worked out with each.

“As we’ve learned over the last two months, don’t believe anything anybody tells you. Nothing’s done until it is over. So I’m obviously being very cautious and that’s why I’m reluctant to say names of schools,” he said.

Boise State and Air Force, both in the Mountain West Conference, and SMU and Houston, members of Conference USA, would be in the Big East’s western division, along with Louisville and Cincinnati. Navy, an independent, and UCF, also from CUSA, would be part of the league’s eastern division with Connecticut, South Florida, Rutgers and another school. The league would then likely play a conference championship game.

The Big East has been working on a plan to add those six schools and reconfigure as a 12-team football conference since not long after Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced Sept. 18 they would be leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“We got reaffirmation from our members that that was the way we wanted to go,” Marinatto said. “It was probably a very small part of our meeting today, where they just reaffirmed everything we had been talking about and authorized me to move forward.”