Big East Snags a Big One: TCU Accepts Offer To Join Conference for All Sports

The only question remaining from my November 15, 2010 report from sources on the Fort Worth campus was whether TCU would join the Big East as a football-only or full-time member.

Well, according to the Associated Press, TCU will join the Big East as a full-time member next year and compete for the Big East football championship in football in 2012.

TCU athletic director Chris De Conte didn't directly confirm the AP report, but he did schedule a news conference later today for "a major announcement involving the TCU athletics program." (DallasNews.com, November 29, 2010)

The Big East has had a horrible football season, but along with today's announcement and yesterday's return of a Big East team to the Top 25, West Virginia, the league is at least putting on the appearance that things are getting better.

TCU is on a roll. Boise State's loss to Nevada guarantees the 12-0 Horned Frogs a BCS bowl, but De Conte knows how easy it would have been for Boise to have bumped the Frogs out of the BCS picture.

At least for now, TCU will fill a huge gap in the perception that the Big East deserves its AQ status. Pitt became a bitter disappointment as the season wore on and there is little hope that Chancellor Nordenberg and A.D. Steve Pederson are planning to take any actions to remedy it.

With the Horned Frogs there are no qualifiers, no irony like Syracuse losing to a middling Atlantic Coast Conference team or South Florida achieving one of the biggest wins in its history only to see the opponent's coach disposed of hours after the game.

The Horned Frogs baseball program will improve the quality of competition in the middling Big East baseball race.

While the Big East football teams get a power boost from TCU, the Horned Frogs basketball program just received a mega-watt upgrade by lining up with Pitt and Villanova as well as the other traditional hoops powers in the league.

According to the AP report, Division I FCS Villanova is dragging its feet responding to Big East commissioner John Marinatto's invitation to join the FBS football teams in the league. That's just fine with Central Florida fans, who are waiting anxiously for Marinatto to call, offering the Knights the 10th spot in the football conference. 

Update: Jamie Dixon, Pitt's do-everything men's basketball coach, served as go-between to initiate the TCU/Big East dialogue. This process began on September 18 at the TCU-Baylor football game. It's very encouraging to see John Marinatto being proactive on this one and actually pulling it off with Dixon's help. While we rag on Wannstedt for very good reason, we Pitt fans are very lucky to have a man of Dixon's character and ability leading our nationally ranked hoops program.