After months of speculation and rampant rumors on the future of the UCF athletics program, the Big East has reportedly finally extended an invite for the University of Central Florida to join the conference in all sports.
This comes a week after the Big East denied ESPN reports about the conference’s expansion plans.
Now, according to sources from the Orlando Sentinel, the Big East will invite UCF, SMU and Houston, all Conference-USA competitors, to join the conference in all sports, while they are inviting Boise State, Air Force and Navy for football only.
SMU and Houston are expected to accept immediately, while Boise State, Air Force and Navy still are mulling the decision.
Despite the breaking news, UCF officials are stating that no formal invite has been received yet.
“We have not received an invitation from the Big East. However, we understand that things are moving in that direction,” Assistant Vice President of News & Information Grant J. Heston said Tuesday.
Over the past few weeks, numerous reports surfaced that the Knights were extremely close to receiving an invite, and that they were the Big East’s top target. However, talks simmered down recently as the status of the Big East remains in the air.
Still, with the Big East losing four schools to different conferences recently, they are in need of adding new programs.
Big East Commissioner John Marinatto told reporters the league’s presidents voted to add new programs during its annual meeting in Philadelphia Tuesday.
“Our presidents voted unanimously to extend invitations to specific institutions, including both football-only and all-sport members to join the Big East Conference,” Marinatto said in a statement released by the league office in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel. “I will be speaking to representatives of those schools shortly and look forward to announcing with them their acceptance into the Big East.”
He went on to add:
“The addition of these members will extend our reach, bring us to exciting new markets, strengthen our status within the BCS, and lay the foundation for possible further expansion, all while maintaining the high quality and standards our conference is known for.”
The Big East received another blow last week when West Virginia decided to bolt for the Big 12, following in the footsteps of Syracuse and Pittsburgh, who left for the ACC, and TCU, who also left for the Big 12. However, Big East officials will hold West Virginia to the rules of leaving the conference, which requires schools give 27 months notice before departure.
That leaves the Big East with five football playing schools, including USF, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Rutgers and Louisville.
Regardless of the reports, UCF officials told the Orlando Sentinel: “They had no timeline for when the Big East may extend an invitation to the school, saying any date they offered would be a guess because so many parties are involved in the discussions.”
Since their has been no formal invite yet, UCF could be experiencing the same back-and-forth game as last week, when all the reports that were released still weren’t “official.”
Regardless, the Knights are among the Big East’s wish list as the conference continues to dwindle. It is still unknown if UCF would immediately accept the invitation.
Keeping checking back to KnightNews.com’s sports section, as we will keep you updated as news continues to roll in.
E-mail us at athletics@knightnews.com.
