The Atlantic Coast Conference officially extended formal invitations to Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh to join the conference from the Big East Conference Sunday, bringing the amount of schools in the conference to 14.
This is not the first time that the Big East and ACC have had relations in terms of membership. Boston College and Virginia Tech left the Big East to join the ACC in 2004. The University of Miami joined in 2005.
“This was a very difficult decision for both Syracuse and Pittsburgh,” Nancy Kanter , Chancellor of Syracuse University, said. “The two schools that have tremendous connections and long history with the Big East. Although our university has conference realignment and some instability in the landscape, we look forward to wonderful stability in the ACC and nurturing that stability.”
Friday afternoon, the two schools officially applied for membership to the conference. Syracuse was one of the founding schools of the Big East. Pittsburgh was added to the conference in 1982. Syracuse will bring 13 total national championships in the school’s team sports.
“The Big East has been Pitt’s conference home for nearly 30 years,” Mark Nordenberg , University of Pittsburgh Chancellor, said. “It has been a good home that we will leave with many fond memories and many great friendships.”
According to ACC Commissioner John Swofford , the move to the ACC is the best long-term solution for maintaining the strength of the conference.
“We are constantly evaluating the competitive landscape to ensure the conference’s viability for years to come,” Swofford said. “This, we believe, has staying power.”
Also, according Nortinberg , athletic performance was not the only initiative for conference realignment. Existing academic ties between the two conferences also propelled the decision to leave the Big East.
“We already have very strong links to the ACC community, certainly that is true on the academic side,” Nortinberg said. “Just to give a few examples, Wake Forest and Pitt are national leaders in the field of tissue engineering and regularly partner on grants and research projects. Virginia Tech and Pitt are partners in a major national energy research initiative.”
The addition of the two schools will also expand the influence of the ACC to cover nearly the entire east coast of the United States.
“Both universities will enhance the ACC’s reach into the states of New York and Pennsylvania, which will geographically enhance our footprint between Maryland and Massachusetts,” Swofford said.
From an outside prospective, it would seem as if this is a sudden move in response to the conference realignment that has been dominating the college athletics landscape, but this move has been in the works for over a year.
“I think it’s important to know that we have been quietly active in evaluating the landscape and what it might mean to our conference for the last year and a half when we established what we call a 4-4-4 committee of presidents, athletic directors, and faculty representatives,” Swofford said. “That analysis has been going on for that period of time.”
According to the bylaws of the Big East Conference, the leaving school is required to give at least 27 months notice prior to moving to another conference. According to Swofford , the ACC will oblige with those rules.
“We will fully respect the bylaws of the Big East Conference in terms of Syracuse and Pitt’s departure,” Swofford said.