New Big East

[sebastianc]

Understand the "new" Big East will be a basketball conference ? which is not a bad thing. But what about track & field? Where are the track powers?

Of the original schools, St. John's and Seton Hall no longer have men's track. Creighton only has XC. Marquette, DePaul, Butler and Xavier …? That apparently leaves just three schools devoted to track & field: VU, Georgetown & Providence. How does this affect recruiting? Big East Track championships mean exactly what?

How does Notre Dame play in this drama? They are supposedly headed to the ACC, but may stopover in the new Big East for a year. They are a better fit with the new Big East. All seems slightly bizarre to accommodate football $.
This post was edited on 3/3 11:43 AM by sebastianc

 

[novaclassof90]

I do not think conference affiliation is a big deal in track and XC. Only really see all conf teams together at the conf meets. Nova runs in most of the premier national meets now and will in future. Our emphasis is penn relays and national meets. Northern Arizona is a top 5 cross country program and they are in big sky conference. Being at 7000 feet of altitude makes them. emphasis of program will continue to be middle distance and distance.

 

[Thorvac]

I agree. Conference affiliation is important for scheduling in some sports and where automatic qualifying for NCAA championships. Neither really impact track/xc. There have been constant changes in BE, but top programs like Nova have always been able to sell recruits on tradition, coaching and running against best competition. That won't change.

This post was edited on 3/4 8:41 AM by Thorvac