The Big East was on its way to obscurity, but the addition of Memphis will help bring the conference back towards the top.

In the past few months, the conference has lost three key schools. Syracuse and Pittsburgh are planning on moving to the ACC. The Big 12 is expecting West Virginia to be a part of the conference next season. 

To fill the rest of the conference, Commissioner John Marinatto went to work. Along with Memphis, the Big East will add Central Florida, Houston, SMU, Navy, San Diego State and Boise State in the coming years.

Will this assortment of programs replace the tradition of the schools that left? Absolutely not.

However, sports are not only about history. It is also about the future, and that looks bright for the new up-and-coming programs.

Boise State has won two BCS games in the past six seasons. The Big East has only won three times in that time, and this is with the advantage of a guaranteed representation every year.

The rest of the additions are quality teams with bright futures.

Houston was one game away from receiving an at-large bid to a BCS bowl this season, but lost in the Conference USA final. June Jones has SMU moving in the right direction and dominated Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl by a score of 28-6.

These schools will also get even better in the upcoming years, thanks to a recruiting boost each team will receive with the conference upgrade. Great players want to receive the most attention, and they will get much more now that they are in the Big East.

It is also important to note that there are still quality teams staying where they are. Cincinnati has won 10 games or more in four of the past five seasons. Rutgers put together one of the better recruiting classes in the nation this offseason by keeping the local talent in-state.

Over the past decade, more college football teams are showing that they are good enough to play with the big boys.

Chris Petersen will have to be a leader for the future of the new Big East.
Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Parity has increased, and the Big East is simply staying ahead of the curve by getting these quality programs into the conference.

It still has a long way to go in order to compete with the rest of the country, but the drop-off will not be as great as many people believe. In fact, the Big East might be stronger now in football than it was a year ago.

Either way, there should be no risk of the conference losing the prestigious status as an automatic-qualifier to the BCS bowls.

The only problem is now that it ranges coast-to-coast, we might have to see a new name for the nationwide conference.