TCU has formally accepted an invitation to join the Big East conference for all sports on Monday, according to ESPN.com.
The No. 3-ranked Horned Frogs will join the Big East as the ninth football member starting on July 1, 2012. They will start playing play in the Big East in the 2012-13 season. The conference is expecting to expand to 10 members in football, which was announced back on Nov. 2 in a meeting between presidents and athletic directors. TCU will join as a basketball school as well, making it the 17th member as a basketball team in the conference.
With the Horned Frogs joining for the 2012-13 school year, the Horned Frogs would take “all of their data to their new league,” BCS spokesman Bill Hancock told FanHouse.com, which means that TCU’s top BCS rankings over the past couple of years will transfer over to the Big East.
TCU and UCF were the rumored front runners to join the Big East. Both expressed interest that they did not want to join the league as football invitations only.
Villanova has been rumored to have already been offered the 10th spot as a football member to move into the Big East, according to ESPN.com. They are already in the conference in basketball as well as all other sports. Villanova has currently been playing in the Football Champion Subdivision. Villanova won the FCS championship in 2009. If the Wildcats decide not to join, UCF would be the next choice to get into the league as the 10th football member, according to Fanhouse.com.
A decision on whether UCF would be offered an invitation to the league would not come until after the Conference USA championship game on Saturday and possibly well into May.
The Knights take on SMU on Saturday at 12 p.m. for the C-USA championship.
More details to come.
