Temple University is the newest addition to the Big East Conference, increasing all-sport member schools to 18, announced by Big East Commissioner John Marinatto on Wednesday afternoon.
"The addition of Temple University further strengthens the Big East Conference, providing the solid foundation it requires to move forward confidently and boldly," Marinatto said.
Temple is the fifth school in the past five months to join the conference as a full member along with Boise State and San Diego State joining for football only.
"This is arguably the greatest day in the history of Temple Athletics," Temple University Director of Athletics Bill Bradshaw said. "For the first time we will have all of our athletic programs playing in one conference, and there is no other conference that is a better fit for Temple than the Big East."
This is the second time that Temple will be a member of the Big East as the school from Philadelphia was a football playing member of the conference from 1991-2004, when they were kicked out of the conference.
With Temple, Memphis, SMU, Houston and UCF all set to be joining the conference in 2013, Marinatto made mention that Pittsburgh and Syracuse might be allowed to leave the conference after next year instead of waiting the required 27 months.
"We are extremely pleased with our expansion efforts and are very confident that the future of the Big East will be as bright as it has ever been," Marinatto said. "To that end we will take a pause on the expansion front, having met our expansion objectives."
With 18 basketball playing schools expected starting in the 2013-14 year, Marinatto made mention that the conference structure and championships might be changed although nothing has been finalized.
Stephen Valenti can be reached at Stephen.valenti@student.shu.edu
