Mega Conferences

Non-revenue sports Football, of course, provides the impetus for any conference realignment. In men's basketball, coaches will lose the built-in recruiting tool of playing near home during conference play and then at Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament. But what about the rest of the sports? Here's a look at the potential Missouri Pittsburgh Syracuse Nebraska Ohio State Northwestern Minnesota Michigan St. Wisconsin Purdue State Penn Michigan Iowa Indiana Illinois future of the non-revenue sports at Rutgers if it joins the Big Ten: BASEBALL Now: Under longtime head coach Fred Hill Sr., the Scarlet Knights made the Rutgers NCAA Tournament four times last decade. The Big East Conference’s national clout was hurt by the defection of Miami in 2004. The last conference team to make the College World Series was Louisville in 2007. After: Rutgers could emerge as the class of the conference. You find the best baseball either down South or out West. The power conferences are the ACC, Pac-10 and SEC. A Big Ten team has not made the CWS since Michigan in 1984. MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY Now: At the Big East championships in October, Rutgers finished 12th out of 14 teams. Syracuse won the Big East title and finished 14th at nationals. Four other Big East schools made the Top 25. After: The conferences are similar. Wisconsin won the conference title and took seventh at nationals. Two other schools made the Top 25. MEN’S GOLF Now: The Scarlet Knights have made the NCAA Tournament twice since 1983. No Big East school has ever won the NCAA Championship. After: Minnesota won the national title in 2002. Luke Donald won the individual championship for Northwestern in 1999. THE BIG IDEA MEN’S LACROSSE By Brendan Prunty | STAR-LEDGER STAFF Now: After years of negotiating and posturing, the Big East lacrosse league began play this season. Rutgers sits in the middle of the pack, a notch lower THE INK WAS BARELY DRY ON THE BIG TEN’S CONTRACT WITH THE 1946 ROSE BOWL WHEN THE LEAGUE’S PART-TIME PUBLICITY MAN, than national powerhouse Syracuse. After: There is no Big Ten lacrosse. The Scarlet Knights would either have to WALTER BYERS, HAD AN IDEA. WHAT IF THE LEAGUE ADDED TWO MORE TEAMS AND HELD A CONFERENCE TITLE GAME AT THE ROSE BOWL? rejoin a conference like the ECAC, play as an independent or hope schools like Michigan add the sport — and Syracuse will agree to join another conference. It was a strange — but perhaps visionary — concept. The league only “Where have you heard that before?” MEN’S SOCCER had 10 teams and had just agreed to enter a deal with the Pac-10 to play Interestingly, Nebraska and Pittsburgh are still central to the Big Ten Now: Since 2000, the Scarlet Knights have had four winning seasons. They finished 14th in the conference last season. Five Big East teams made the a bowl game every year on New Year’s Day. They had to share revenue, expansion discussion — as is Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri and even NCAAs this season. Connecticut has two national titles and St. John’s one. ticket sales and attention. But if there was a way to stage the Rose Bowl Notre Dame— that could become a reality in the coming months. After: Five Big Ten teams made the tournament field in 2009. Indiana earned game themselves . Duke laughed at the notion that conference expansion is a new idea, their 34th consecutive berth. The Hoosiers have won seven national titles. MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD “Walter suggested to then-Big Ten commissioner Tug Wilson that the and, unlike Byers’ attempt, isn’t likely to be shot down. Now: The coach, Mike Mulqueen, also oversees men’s cross country. The team league take in two teams,” former Big Ten commissioner Wayne Duke The Big Ten already expanded once before, in 1990, when it added won two individual Big East titles in outdoor track last year and two more in indoor track. At the indoor championships this year, no Big East teams finished recalled. Penn State as the 11th school. in the Top 10. “He wanted Nebraska in the west and Pittsburgh in the east. With So when you hear about the possibilities of another conference After: There’s plenty of fluctuation. At the 2009 NCAA outdoor championships, no Big Ten teams finished in the Top 30. At the 2010 NCAA indoor champion- those two extra teams, they would play in two six-team divisions with expansion and the Big Ten changing the way college sports is viewed, ships, two Big Ten teams reached the Top 10. the winners playing for the conference championship in the Rose just remember — it’s in the Big Ten’s blood. WRESTLING Bowl. Now: The Scarlet Knights are competitive in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, a league of mostly private schools such as Bucknell, Franklin and Marshall and Princeton. Rutgers sent four wrestlers to the NCAA 7 7 Tournament this winter. After: The Big Ten and the Big 12 rule the collegiate mats. Iowa won its third straight team title this year. Six Big Ten wrestlers won national titles. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL mega conferences Now: After rising to the sport’s summit a few years ago, Rutgers is battling to maintain its foothold. Connecticut is the nation’s juggernaut, St. John’s could be BIG TEN EXPANSION MIGHT BE JUST THE FIRST MOVE IN A NATIONWIDE RESTRUCTURING, WITH THE PAC-10 AND SEC HINTING AT THEIR OWN ADDITIONS. Here’s A LOOK AT HOW THINGS COULD SHAKE OUT: a Top 10 team next year. It’s a deep, difficult league. After: Recruiting the Tri-State area might be tougher, with the Scarlet Knights losing games against nearby opponents. But C. Vivian Stringer dominated the Big Ten once. WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY BIG TEN SEC BIG 12 PAC-10 BIG ATLANTIC Now: At last year’s Big East championships, the Scarlet Knights finished 13th ILLINOIS OHIO STATE FLORIDA ALABAMA KANSAS ST. BAYLOR OREGON CALIFORNIA BOSTON COLLEGE WEST VIRGINIA out of 16 teams. Villanova won the national title. West Virginia finished sixth. INDIANA PENN STATE TENNESSEE LSU IOWA ST. TCU ARIZONA WASHINGTON WAKE FOREST SOUTH FLORIDA After: Illinois’ Angela Bizzarri won the individual title last year. The teams in the Big Ten could not match her pace: Only one (Minnesota) cracked the Top 10. IOWA PURDUE GEORGIA OLE MISS KANSAS TULSA OREGON STATE UCLA N.C. STATE MEMPHIS MICHIGAN WISCONSIN S. CAROLINA ARKANSAS TEXAS BYU STANFORD ARIZONA StATE MARYLAND TEMPLE WOMEN’S GOLF MICHIGAN ST. RUTGERS Now: Maura Ballard coaches the men’s and women’s teams. The Scarlet KENTUCKY AUBURN OKLAHOMA ST. UTAH USC WASHINGTON ST. N. CAROLINA CENTRAL FLORIDA MINNESOTA SYRACUSE Knights finished last in 2009’s conference championship. VANDERBILT MISS. STATE TEXAS TECH NEW MEXICO BOISE STATE COLORADO DUKE LOUISVILLE After: Neither the Big Ten nor the Big East shines on the links. But Purdue’s N’wesTERN MISSOURI Maria Hernandez won the national title last year. NEBRASKA PITTSBURGH CLEMSON GEORGIA TECH OKLAHOMA HOUSTON FRESNO STATE UNLV VIRGINIA VILLANOVA* FLORIDA ST. MIAMI TEXAS A&M COLORADO ST. NEVADA SAN DIEGO STATE VIRGINIA TECH NOTRE DAME* FIELD HOCKEY CINCINNATI GEORGETOWN* Now: After winning 14 games in 2008, the Scarlet Knights backslid last season. They dropped 10 straight to start and finished with just two victories. UCONN ST. John’s* Before 2008, Rutgers had not experienced a winning season since 1999. After: The ACC dominates. Three of their teams — Maryland, North Carolina and Wake Forest — have taken the past eight NCAA titles. Before that? Michigan in 2001. Three Big Ten teams made the Tournament last year. WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS Now: Much like with wrestling, there is no Big East gymnastics, so Rutgers helped form the East Atlantic Gymnastics League in 1995. The Scarlet Knights have never won the conference title. After: There are seven Big Ten gymnastics teams and all seven made the NCAA Regionals this year. One, Michigan, made the Nationals round of 12. No EAGL team did that. WOMEN’S LACROSSE Now: The Scarlet Knights began Big East play in 2001. They posted a winning conference record once (and went 3-3 twice). Rutgers has been excellent out of SETON HALL RHODE ISLAND DAYTON ST. BONAVENTURE UMASS LA SALLE XAVIER PROVIDENCE *basketball only conference this year, angling for a tournament berth. ATLANTIC 10 RICHMOND CHARLOTTE DUQUESNE GEORGE WASHINGTON SAINT JOseph’S FORDHAM MARQUETTE DEPAUL After: Northwestern built a dynasty — five straight national titles — in the American Lacrosse Conference. There is no Big Ten league, but with Rutgers and a few potential others, one could be formed. BIG WOMEN’S ROWING TEN UNIVERSITY LOCATION PUBLIC/PRIVATE UNDERGRADS (2009) GRADS University HEAD ENDOWMENT (MILLIONS) AtHLETIC DIRECTOR MEN’S TEAMS WOMEN’S FOOTBALL stADIUM (CAPACity) BASKETBALL ARENA (CAPACity) FOOTBALL COACH (SALAry) MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH (SALAry) WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACH (SALAry) AtHLETICS DEPT. EXPENSES (2008-09) Now: Rutgers competes for the Big East, while also owning membership to the ILLINOIS Champaign, Ill Public 31,173 10,709 Robert Easter $1,112,010 Ron Guenther 10 11 Memorial Stadium (70,000) Assembly Hall (16,618) Ron Zook ($1.025m) Bruce Weber ($405,000) Jolette Law ($310,000) $73,643,345 Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges. The program began competing at the varsity level in 1977. INDIANA Bloomington, Ind. Public 32,490 9,857 Michael A. McRobbie $1,226,505 Fred Glass 10 12 Memorial Stadium (52,692) Assembly Hall (17,456) Bill Lynch ($658,750) Tom Crean ($2.36m) Felisha Legette-Jack ($175,000) $55,652,636 After: The Big Ten sent four teams to the NCAAs last year.

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