Movin’ on up

Seven years after Memphis' historic rivals jumped ship for the Big East, The University of Memphis is finally rejoining them.

President Shirley Raines and Athletic Director R.C. Johnson announced at a press conference Wednesday that The U of M had been formally invited to join the Big East Conference in 2013 after a unanimous vote by the member presidents.

"We look forward to serving with the Big East," Raines said. "We join several rivals from the past that we've missed, frankly, over the last few years, and we look forward to developing new rivalries, working together to benefit the Big East Conference."

Memphis will officially join as an all-sports member on July 1, 2013. After receiving invites in December, current Conference USA schools Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida will also join on that date.

The move is the culmination of years of behind-the-scenes efforts by Raines, Johnson and high-level donors and boosters, including "secret meetings" with Big East officials, Johnson said.

"We have worked long and hard to get into a BCS conference and become a member of the Big East," he said. "By golly, we did it. We did it!"

The switch to the Big East, a Bowl Championship Series conference, could provide a financial windfall for The U of M. According to Johnson, Conference USA schools will receive around two million dollars this season from TV deals and other sources of revenue. At the same time, current Big East schools will receive upwards of $8 million each.

"It's not often something so good happens for a city, an area, a community, a university and an athletic department all in one fell swoop," Johnson said. "We have given our coaches a BCS conference to recruit to, and we have given our fan base a BCS conference to watch."

Johnson said academic improvement by The U of M in recent years was a major talking point in the negotiations. Memphis athletes had an overall grade point average of 3.0 in the spring of 2011, with women's golf leading the way with 3.7 for the team. Johnson said the school surpassed that last semester with a school-record 3.1 overall GPA.

"That was brought up time after time by the Big East people," he said.

Head football coach Justin Fuente said other schools would no longer be able to use Memphis' conference against them when recruiting.

"It's a card that's no longer on the table," he said. "I don't think you can just kick back and relax and expect people to start walking in the front door, but I do think it's a good thing. It's a big commitment for The University, for the community and the athletic department and for our football team."

When Memphis kicks off the 2013 football season as a member of the Big East, it will reunite with several old foes. Rivals Louisville and Cincinnati will return to the schedule, as will as another former C-USA school, South Florida. Boise State and San Diego State from the Mountain West Conference will join in 2013 as well, with Navy set to enter the league in 2015. Rutgers and Connecticut round out the football-playing schools in the Big East.

"There's better competition and everybody is going to have to raise their commitment level, their expectation level and their work level," Fuente said. "I know we're excited."

Women's basketball coach Melissa McFerrin said all athletics will have to elevate everything they do, particularly her own sport.

McFerrin's program will enter a strong women's basketball league when the Tigers officially begin Big East play in 2013. Big East schools have won eight national championships in the last 16 years, including five straight years from 2000-2004.

In the last 12 years, four schools have combined to send 14 teams to the Women's Final Four. McFerrin said she is excited about the challenge it will be to compete in the new conference.

"It's very exciting," she said. "But I always tell people, ‘Be careful what you wish for,' because now we're there, and we have to compete at the level. Our recruiting, the way that we coach, the things that we learn—we've got to do everything incredibly well. To compete with the likes of UCONN, Notre Dame, Rutgers—they have established programs for the last 20 years—we've got a lot of work to do."