Feature Stories:

Related Links:

News at USF
USF Alumni Association
University Relations

Send this Article to a Friend:

Fall 2003, Volume 45, Number 3

Big East... Big News

By Ann Carney, Photography by Jason Marsh

President Judy Genshaft and Athletics Director Lee Roy Selmon were all smiles during the event held at USF Tampa Nov. 4. The crowd included athletes, coaches, staff, administrators, cheerleaders and even Rocky the Bull, who screamed their support for USF as commissioner Michael A. Tranghese announced that USF had been invited to join the Big East.

USF accepts an invitation to join the Big East, aligning itself with academic and athletic heavyweights like Syracuse, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Pittsburgh.

IF THERE WERE ANY questions about it, they were put to rest today: USF has arrived!" President Judy Genshaft beamed as she accepted Commissioner Mike Tranghese’s invitation to join the Big East Conference. Amidst a gold and green sea of applause, with Athletics Director Lee Roy Selmon at her side, Genshaft stepped the university onto a national stage that’s as much about scholarship as it is about sportsmanship.

"This is a very exciting day in the history of the Big East," said Commissioner Tranghese speaking from New York City. "We are thrilled to be joined by five great institutions, all of which exemplify the characteristics, the sportsmanship and scholarship that are central to the Big East tradition."

USF, University of Cincinnati, DePaul University, University of Louisville and Marquette University—which all currently compete in Conference USA—will begin Big East Conference play in 2005. They join academic and athletic heavyweights like Syracuse, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Pittsburgh.

Watching via satellite at the Phyllis P. Marshall Center, university administrators, trustees, USF foundation board members, coaches, student athletes, cheerleaders and Rocky the Bull broke into thunderous applause drowning out Tranghese’s comments after his official announcement of the USF invitation. Genshaft was clearly moved.

"I am so proud, just so proud of this institution," she said. "It’s a great opportunity to be affiliated with great institutions that see USF the way I see USF. These are universities that will be solid university partners over the next decades, and I believe our affiliation with them will advance our brand as a national research university. Academically and athletically, it’s strategic positioning."

For sports fans, USF’s move into the Big East speaks volumes about the quick progress of athletics at the university. But the move is every bit as important to the entire institution. After meeting with Big East officials last month, Genshaft knew where USF belonged. "It was clear to me that if we were to join the Big East, we would be in the company of universities that represent who we are and who we aspire to be. If you compare our strategic plan and the goals we have for ourselves with the profiles of these universities, you will see that they are institutions that have values and commitments to excellence in academics as well as athletics."

It’s been a whirlwind season for the Bulls, who stepped up to Conference USA play just this season. Selmon believes that new level of play helped garner the attention of the Big East.

"Conference USA has been a great conference for us. The commissioner and member institutions have all been fantastic," he said. "Because of Conference USA, we had the opportunity to shine and get the attention of the Big East, and we will never forget that. I am humbled to be a very small part of this very great day in USF history."

University Vice President Michael Rierson, who joined Genshaft and Selmon in the meeting with conference officials last month, rallied a troop of VIPs into the press conference. He played a major role in helping secure the invitation that has huge implications for the entire university.

"I never thought we’d get here," Rierson said. "We’ve come further and faster than any university in the country."

Rierson, like all university officials, sees the move as a major opportunity to raise the university to even greater heights than it already has achieved in its very short history. Recruitment efforts, for one, will undoubtedly notice a positive impact from the new link. And increased television exposure at the national level means increased opportunities for generating awareness about the research powerhouse USF has become. USF now has access to spread its message in New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and much of the Eastern Seaboard.

Athletically, USF started with humble aspirations, fielding soccer, tennis, golf and baseball in the early stages. By 1976, the University was a founding member of the Sun Belt Conference, where it remained until 1991, when the Bulls moved up to the Metro Conference. By 1995, the neighborhood became even more affluent when USF joined Conference USA as a charter member. In moving to the Big East, USF is climbing two rungs in the nation’s athletic ladder.

USF enjoys broad-based excellence in athletics, winning 23 conference championships in the past eight years alone. In that same span of time, USF teams competed in 43 NCAA Championships—more than any current member of Conference USA. Today, the university sponsors 18 sports, all which will now compete in the Big East, most notably football and men’s and women’s basketball.

"Our goals are set high at USF," says Selmon. "We aim to remain focused on doing our very best in every endeavor we undertake, and we aspire to build even further on our past successes."

>> A Quick Look at the Big East
>> In Good Company - other Big East schools