Big East Conference


The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in all sports except football, which is not sponsored. The conference has been officially recognized as a Division I multi-sport conference, effective on August 1, 2013. The conference was originally founded by Dave Gavitt on May 31, 1979.
Its nucleus is composed of the "Catholic Seven" members of the original Big East Conference: DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, Seton Hall University, St. John's University, and Villanova University. In December 2012, these schools chose to split from the football playing schools to focus on basketball, and in March 2013 reached a settlement, whereby they acquired the Big East Conference name, logos, history, and the rights to the men's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden. Butler University, Creighton University, and Xavier University also joined the conference on its July 1, 2013 launch date. The conference also entered into a 12-year, $500 million television contract with Fox Sports, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, and Fox Sports Networks and a 6-year television contract with CBS and CBS Sports Network. On June 24, 2019 the member schools of the Big East all voted to extend an invitation to the University of Connecticut to "rejoin" the conference, which was accepted two days later. UConn officially joined the Big East on July 1, 2020.
The football-playing members of the old Big East, along with several other schools, formed the American Athletic Conference, which is the legal successor to the first Big East Conference and retains its charter and structure. Both the new Big East Conference and the American Athletic Conference claim 1979 as their founding date. As part of the separation agreement, the basketball schools were able to retain the basketball records while the football schools retained the football records respectively.
Val Ackerman, former WNBA president, has been commissioner since June 26, 2013. On the same day Ackerman was named as commissioner, it announced that the league would be headquartered in New York City. UConn is the only member of the Big East to sponsor varsity football in the top-level Division I FBS. Georgetown, Villanova, and Butler do operate football programs in the second-level Division I FCS, though of these only Villanova offers scholarships to its players.

History

The original Big East

The original Big East Conference was founded in 1979, when Providence College basketball coach Dave Gavitt spearheaded an effort to assemble an east coast basketball-centric collegiate athletic conference. The core of the Big East formed when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse invited Seton Hall, Connecticut, Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College. Holy Cross turned down the invitation, as did Rutgers initially, while BC, Seton Hall, and UConn accepted. Gavitt became the Big East's first commissioner, and Villanova and Pittsburgh joined the conference shortly thereafter. PR firm Duffy & Shanley is credited with the initial branding and naming work for the conference. The "high point" of the original conference is widely considered to be the 1985 NCAA tournament, in which Georgetown, St. Johns, and Villanova all made the Final Four, and Villanova defeated Georgetown to win the national championship.
The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991, when it began to sponsor football, adding Miami as a full member, and Rutgers, Temple, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia as football-only members. Rutgers and West Virginia upgraded to full Big East membership in 1995, while Virginia Tech did the same in 2000. Notre Dame also joined as a non-football member effective in 1995. Temple football was kicked out after the 2004 season due to what was deemed by the other football-playing members a failure to make a strong effort to field a competitive team, but rejoined in 2012 after seriously upgrading its football program and intended to become a full Big East member in 2013.
The unusual structure of the Big East, with the "football" and "non-football" schools, led to instability in the conference. The waves of defection and replacement brought about by the conference realignments of 2005 and the early 2010s revealed tension between the football-sponsoring and non-football schools that eventually led to the split of the conference in 2013.
The conference reorganized following the tumultuous period of realignment that hobbled the Big East between 2010 and 2013. The Big East was one of the most severely impacted conferences during the most recent conference realignment period. In all, 14 member schools announced their departure for other conferences, and 15 other schools announced plans to join the conference. Three of the latter group later backed out of their plans to join.

The present Big East

On December 15, 2012 the Big East's seven non-FBS schools – DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova – announced that they had voted unanimously to separate from the Big East football playing schools, effective June 30, 2015. Among the many rumor-fueled news stories, it was reported that the so-called Catholic 7, in leaving the Big East, were looking for a more lucrative television deal than they would have received by remaining with the football schools. Of more concern may have been the limited window in which these non-FBS schools would hold a voting majority in the conference—after the defection of certain FBS schools to the ACC but before the effective inclusion of candidate FBS schools to replace them—and, therefore, architect a conference future both aligned with their institutional interests and true to the basketball roots from which the Big East grew. Five of the seven schools constituted a majority of the conference during its enormously successful early years, prior to the inclusion of football as a conference sport; only one of the FBS schools that were to remain in the conference, UConn, shared this heritage. In March 2013, it was announced that the Catholic 7 were not only parting ways with the FBS schools on June 30, 2013, but that they would retain the Big East name, logos, $10 million from the old conference's treasury, and the right to hold the conference's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.
On March 14, 2013, it was reported that the Big East would be adding members in the next seven to ten days. The following day, ESPN stated that the Big East would add Butler and Xavier from the Atlantic 10 Conference, as well as Creighton from the Missouri Valley Conference, with an official announcement to be forthcoming within the next week, although the institutions which were reportedly joining were refusing to comment.
At a news conference in New York City on March 20, 2013, the reorganized league was formally introduced with Butler, Xavier, and Creighton included as members. Additional announcements included details of new contracts for television and for the use of Madison Square Garden as site of the men's basketball tournament. It billed itself as a return to Gavitt's original vision of a strong, Northeast-based and basketball-focused conference.

Field hockey and lacrosse associate members

During May 2013, the conference added several associate members in lacrosse and field hockey. The University of Denver joined the men's lacrosse league and started play in the 2014 season, while Rutgers University men's lacrosse played the 2014 season in the Big East before moving to the Big Ten in 2014–15. Rutgers also housed its field hockey and women's lacrosse teams in the Big East for 2013–14 before joining the Big Ten, as did Louisville in advance of its 2014 move to the ACC.
The 2013–14 school year also saw the arrival of UConn and Temple for both women's lacrosse and field hockey, Old Dominion for field hockey only, and Cincinnati for women's lacrosse only.
The launch of a women's lacrosse league in the Big Ten for the 2015 season caused the American Lacrosse Conference to dissolve after the 2014 season; two Southeastern Conference teams that had been ALC members, Florida and Vanderbilt, joined the Big East as associate members in that sport.
The next changes to Big East associate membership came during the 2015–16 school year. First, on December 8, 2015, the conference announced that Liberty and Quinnipiac would become associate members in field hockey effective with the 2016 season. Then, on May 3, 2016, the Big East announced that Denver, already an affiliate in men's lacrosse, would move its women's lacrosse team into the league in the 2016–17 school year. In addition to the new associate members, full member Butler announced on October 21, 2015 that it would elevate its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status in the 2017 season and immediately begin Big East competition.
Most recently, the American Athletic Conference announced on October 11, 2017 that it would begin sponsoring women's lacrosse in the 2019 season, which led to the departure of all then-current Big East women's lacrosse associates except Denver. On that same date, the Big East announced that field hockey member Old Dominion would also become a Big East women's lacrosse member in the 2019 season, maintaining Big East women's lacrosse membership at 6 teams and preserving its automatic berth to the NCAA women's tournament.
On April 16, 2020, Old Dominion announced its women's lacrosse would join the American Athletic Conference in the 2021 season, essentially swapping places with incoming full member UConn, so both conferences maintained six members required for an automatic bid.

Return of UConn

In June 2019, various news outlets reported that UConn could soon rejoin the Big East pending a decision on the future of UConn's football program. UConn was a founding member of the original Big East, and was in the conference from 1979 to 2013. UConn's move to the American Athletic Conference in 2013, amid significant conference realignment, caused the athletic department to lose a significant amount of revenue in media rights and bowl payouts, putting its long-term association with the conference in question. Mutual interest of a potential reunion between UConn and the Big East had been reported by several sources in the preceding years
On June 24, 2019, the Big East formally approved an invitation for UConn to join the conference, and the UConn Board of Trustees accepted the invitation two days later. UConn and the American Athletic Conference reached a buyout agreement the following month that would allow UConn to become a member of the Big East on July 1, 2020. At the time the buyout agreement was reported, UConn announced that its football team would become an FBS independent upon its arrival in the Big East. UConn's men's hockey team remained a member of the Hockey East Association.

Member schools

Full members

Nine of the eleven members of the Big East are private and Catholic institutions. The exceptions are Butler, which is nonsectarian and UConn, which is the only public institution in the Big East.
InstitutionLocationFoundedEndowmentEnrollmentNicknameColors
Butler UniversityIndianapolis, Indiana1855$235,900,0005,506Bulldogs
Storrs, Connecticut1881$423,200,00032,257Huskies
Creighton UniversityOmaha, Nebraska1878$568,800,0008,910Bluejays
DePaul UniversityChicago, Illinois1898$593,400,00022,437Blue Demons
Georgetown UniversityWashington, D.C.1789$1,800,000,00019,204Hoyas
Marquette UniversityMilwaukee, Wisconsin1881$668,800,00011,605Golden Eagles
Providence CollegeProvidence, Rhode Island1917$238,500,0004,922Friars
Queens, New York1870$756,100,00021,643Red Storm
Seton Hall UniversitySouth Orange, New Jersey1856$257,700,00010,162Pirates
Villanova UniversityVillanova, Pennsylvania1842$711,500,00011,023Wildcats
Xavier UniversityCincinnati, Ohio1831$179,600,0007,132Musketeers

Associate members

InstitutionLocationFoundedJoinedEnrollmentNicknameColorsSportPrimary Conference
Denver, Colorado18642013
2016
11,952PioneersMen's lacrosse,
Women's lacrosse
Summit League
Liberty UniversityLynchburg, Virginia1971201615,000Lady FlamesField hockeyASUN Conference
Old Dominion UniversityNorfolk, Virginia1930201324,176MonarchsField hockeyConference USA
Quinnipiac UniversityHamden, Connecticut1929201610,207BobcatsField hockeyMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Temple UniversityPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania1884201339,755OwlsField hockeyAmerican Athletic Conference

;Notes

Former associate members

Because the American Athletic Conference did not sponsor lacrosse or field hockey immediately after the Big East split, several schools from The American joined the reconfigured Big East as associate members in those sports. UConn, Louisville, Rutgers, and Temple joined in both women's lacrosse and field hockey, with Rutgers also joining in men's lacrosse, while Cincinnati joined only in women's lacrosse. Among these schools, Louisville and Rutgers were associates only for one season, as both became full members of conferences that sponsored their remaining Big East sports in 2014—respectively the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten Conference. The other named schools stayed in Big East women's lacrosse until The American began a women's lacrosse league in 2018–19. UConn's women lacrosse team rejoined the Big East two years later as a full member in 2020. UConn's associate membership status in field hockey was replaced by full membership in 2020.

Membership timeline


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bar:7 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:Marquette
bar:8 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:Xavier

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    Big East Conference Men's Basketball NCAA Bids

BidsSchoolLast bidLast winLast Sweet 16Last Elite 8Last Final 4Last finalLast Championship
39Villanova2019201920182018201820182018
33UConn2016201620142014201420142014
33Marquette2019201320132013200319771977
30Georgetown2015201520072007200719851984
30St. John's201920001999199919851952
28Xavier2018201820172017
22DePaul20042004198719791979
21Creighton2018201419741941
20Providence20182016199719971987
16Butler201820182017201120112011
13Seton Hall201920182000199119891989
Total: 285Total: 9

Men's sports

Since the relaunch of the Big East in July 2013, it has sponsored championship competition in ten men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Initially, seven schools were associate members in three sports. Two associate members departed in 2014 and were replaced by two new associates. In 2016, two new associates joined, and an existing associate member brought a second sport into the Big East.
SchoolBaseballBasketballCross
Country
GolfLacrosseSoccerSwimming
& Diving
TennisTrack
& Field
Track
& Field
Total
Big East
Sports
Butler8
Creighton6
DePaul7
Georgetown10
Marquette8
Providence7
St. John's6
Seton Hall6
UConn9
Villanova10
Xavier9
Totals81110105+111698886+1

SchoolFencingFootballIce HockeyRowingSailing
ButlerNoPioneer Football LeagueNoNoNo
GeorgetownNoPatriot LeagueNoEastern Association of Rowing CollegesMiddle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association
ProvidenceNoNoHockey EastNoNo
St. John'sIndependentNoNoNoNo
UConnNoFBS IndependentHockey EastNoNo
VillanovaNoColonial Athletic AssociationNoNoNo

Basketball

The 2013–14 season marked the inaugural season of the reconfigured Big East. Kicking off with media day at Chelsea Piers, the season started with much fanfare and excitement around the country's elite basketball-centric conference. Aided by the lucrative TV agreement with FS1, almost all Big East games were televised, helping to maintain and grow Big East basketball as a national brand. For 2014–15, the Big East had four schools ranked in the top 20 and six schools in the top 30 recruiting classes nationally according to ESPN, Scout and Rivals rankings. Villanova won the conference's first national championship since realignment in 2016. The conference holds the record for the highest percentage of members ever sent to one tournament from a single conference at 70%.

Big East Champions and tournament bids

All-time wins and NCAA appearances

This list goes through the 2019–20 season.
TeamRecordsWin Pct.NCAA
Tournament
NCAA
Sweet 16
NCAA
Elite 8
NCAA
Final Four
NCAA
Runner-up
NCAA
Champions
Butler1,619–1,154.5841662220
Creighton1,586–1,027.6072131000
DePaul1,483–1,040.58822103200
Georgetown1,687–1,070.61230119531
Marquette1,651–1,019.61833167311
Providence1,443–965.5991854200
St. John's1,917–1,045.6473096210
Seton Hall1,535–1,093.5841342110
UConn1,733–9,87.637331811504
Villanova1,803–942.657391814613
Xavier1,509–1,018.5972883000

NCAA National Championships

SchoolNCAA ChampionYearsNCAA Runner-upYears
UConn41999, 2004, 2011, 20140
Villanova31985, 2016, 201811971
Georgetown1198431943, 1982, 1985
Marquette1197711974
Butler022010, 2011
Seton Hall011989
St. John's011952
Total99

Soccer

All full Big East member schools field men's soccer teams.
YearRegular SeasonTournamentRunner-upNCAA Bids
2013GeorgetownMarquetteProvidenceCreighton, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's
2014CreightonProvidenceXavierCreighton, Georgetown, Providence, Xavier
2015GeorgetownGeorgetownCreightonCreighton, Georgetown
2016ProvidenceButlerCreightonButler, Creighton, Providence, Villanova
2017ButlerGeorgetownXavierButler, Georgetown
2018CreightonGeorgetownMarquetteGeorgetown
2019GeorgetownGeorgetownProvidenceButler, Georgetown, Providence, St. John's

NCAA National Championships

SchoolNCAA ChampionYearsNCAA Runner-upYears
UConn21981, 20000N/A
Georgetown1201912012
St. John's1199612003
Creighton0N/A12000

Lacrosse

Big East men's lacrosse is made up of charter members Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, and Villanova, as well as Denver. NCAA regulations state that there must be six teams for a league to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and since Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Seton Hall, and Xavier only field club teams, the Big East had to look elsewhere. Both Denver and Johns Hopkins were rumored as targets for potential invitation and Denver was ultimately invited to join the Big East as a lacrosse-only member. Denver joined the Big East as one of the hottest teams in the country; at the time of the relaunch of the Big East in July 2013, the Pioneers had made six NCAA Tournament appearances in the previous eight seasons and had appeared in two Final Fours in the previous three seasons. The University of Denver houses most of its other sports in The Summit League; most of that league's other teams are closer to that school's Denver campus than the bulk of the Big East. There is still uncertainty to whether or not Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Seton Hall, UConn, or Xavier will elevate their programs from the club level, or if any other programs will receive lacrosse-only invitations.

NCAA National Championships

SchoolNCAA ChampionYearsNCAA Runner-upYears
Denver120150N/A

Baseball

Big East full member schools Butler, Creighton, Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John's, UConn, Villanova and Xavier all field men's baseball teams. DePaul and Marquette have never fielded Big East baseball teams, while Providence fielded one until 1999 when it was dropped and later replaced with lacrosse.

Swimming and Diving

Big East men's swimming & diving is made up entirely of charter conference members, with UConn being a charter member of the 1979 incarnation, Xavier a charter member of the 2013 incarnation, and Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, and Villanova being charter members of both versions. However, UConn announced shortly before rejoining the Big East that it would cut men's swimming & diving along with men's cross country, men's tennis, and women's rowing effective in July 2021. Butler cut men's swimming & diving in 2007, when they also cut lacrosse. St. John's cut men's swimming & diving in 2003 due to Title IX, when they also cut women's swimming & diving, football, men's cross country, men's indoor track & field, and men's outdoor track & field and added men's lacrosse. The Big East Conference originally started sponsoring men's swimming & diving in 1979.
The Big East Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships have been held at some of the most prestigious pools in the United States. These pools include: Indiana University Natatorium, which has hosted multiple NCAA Division I Men's Swimming & Diving Championships and multiple United States Olympic Swimming Trials and United States Olympic Diving Trials; Nassau County Aquatic Center, which has hosted NCAA Division I Men's Swimming & Diving Championships and the International Goodwill Games; and University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool, which hosted a total of 17 Big East Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships. Out of the current members, Xavier has won a total of five Big East Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, while Villanova and Seton Hall have each won two.
YearTournament ChampionTournament Runner-up
2014XavierGeorgetown
2015XavierGeorgetown
2016XavierGeorgetown
2017Seton HallGeorgetown
2018Seton HallVillanova
2019XavierGeorgetown
2020XavierGeorgetown

Cross Country

Villanova men's cross country team won three straight NCAA National Championships in 1966, 1967 and 1968, as well as a fourth in 1970. They also finished 2nd in 1962 and 1969. Providence men's cross country team have also finished in second in 1981 and 1982.
YearBig East ChampionNCAA Championship Team Entries
2013VillanovaProvidence, Villanova
2014VillanovaGeorgetown, Providence, Villanova
2015GeorgetownGeorgetown
2016GeorgetownGeorgetown, Providence
2017GeorgetownNone
2018GeorgetownVillanova
2019VillanovaNone

NCAA National Championships

SchoolNCAA ChampionYearsNCAA Runner-upYears
Villanova41966, 1967, 1968, 197021962, 1969
Providence0N/A21981, 1982

Women's sports

SchoolFencingIce HockeyRowingSailingWater polo
CreightonNoNoWest Coast ConferenceNoNo
GeorgetownNoNoEastern Association of Women's Rowing CollegesMiddle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing AssociationNo
ProvidenceNoHockey EastNoNoNo
St. John'sIndependentNoNoNoNo
UConnNoHockey EastColonial Athletic AssociationNoNo
VillanovaNoNoColonial Athletic AssociationNoMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Basketball

Field Hockey

The Big East began sponsoring field hockey in 1989, but conference records only indicate that a postseason tournament was held; the first recorded season of full league play was 1993, with Boston College, UConn, Georgetown, Providence, Syracuse, and Villanova participating. Georgetown left Big East field hockey after the 1994 season, and was replaced by incoming Big East member Rutgers. The next change in field hockey membership came in 2005, when BC left for the ACC and was replaced by Louisville. Georgetown returned its field hockey program to the Big East the next year, after which the conference's field hockey membership remained unchanged until the 2013 conference split. Shortly before the split, Old Dominion was set to join the original Big East as a field hockey associate.
The conference split left both successor leagues—the reconfigured Big East and The American—with too few field hockey members to qualify for an automatic NCAA tournament berth. As a result, both leagues agreed that only the "new" Big East would sponsor the sport, and that all American members with field hockey programs would become associates. Accordingly, the Big East field hockey conference would now be made up of Big East full members Georgetown, Providence, and Villanova; American members UConn, Louisville, Rutgers, and Temple; and Old Dominion, otherwise a member of Conference USA. Following the 2014 departure of Louisville and Rutgers for all-sports membership in conferences that sponsored field hockey, Big East field hockey operated with six members until Liberty and Quinnipiac joined as associate members in 2016.
YearRegular Season ChampionTournament ChampionNCAA Tournament Bids
2013UConnUConnUConn, Old Dominion
2014UConnUConnUConn
2015UConnUConnUConn
2016UConnUConnUConn
2017UConnUConnUConn
2018UConnUConnUConn
2019UConnUConnUConn

NCAA National Championships

The only honors listed here are those earned by Big East field hockey members while playing the sport in the conference. In addition to these:
  • UConn had two national titles and two runner-up finishes as a member of the original Big East, but before the conference established a field hockey league.
  • Old Dominion had nine national titles and three runner-up finishes before joining Big East field hockey.
SchoolNCAA ChampionYearsNCAA Runner-upYears
UConn32013, 2014, 20170N/A

Soccer

YearRegular Season ChampionTournament ChampionNCAA Tournament Bids
2013MarquetteMarquetteDePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, St. John's
2014DePaulDePaulDePaul, Georgetown
2015St. John'sButlerButler, Georgetown, St. John's
2016Marquette, DePaulGeorgetownGeorgetown, Marquette
2017GeorgetownGeorgetownButler, Georgetown
2018GeorgetownGeorgetownGeorgetown
2019XavierXavierGeorgetown, Xavier

Softball

Nine Big East members sponsor softball, with Marquette and Xavier as the exceptions. The original Big East first sponsored the sport in the 1990 season.

Swimming and Diving

Big East women's swimming & diving is made up of charter members Butler, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, UConn, Villanova and Xavier. St. John's cut women's swimming & diving in 2003 due to Title IX, when they also cut men's swimming & diving, football, men's cross country, men's indoor track & field, and men's outdoor track & field and added men's lacrosse. The Big East Conference originally started sponsoring women's swimming & diving in 1981–82, the same season in which the NCAA began sponsoring women's sports.
The Big East Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships have been held at some of the most prestigious pools in the United States. These pools include: Indiana University Natatorium, which has hosted multiple NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships and multiple United States Olympic Swimming Trials and United States Olympic Diving Trials; Nassau County Aquatic Center, which has hosted NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships and the International Goodwill Games; and University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool, which hosted a total of 17 Big East Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. Out of the current members, Villanova has won a total of twelve Big East Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships.
YearTournament ChampionTournament Runner-up
2014VillanovaGeorgetown
2015VillanovaGeorgetown
2016VillanovaGeorgetown
2017VillanovaGeorgetown
2018VillanovaGeorgetown
2019VillanovaXavier
2020VillanovaGeorgetown

Volleyball

All full members of the Big East sponsor women's volleyball. However, during the first season of the reconfigured Big East in 2013, Providence was an affiliate member of the America East Conference. The Friars joined Big East volleyball in 2014 after completing their contractual obligation to the America East.
YearRegular SeasonTournamentRunner-upNCAA Bids
2013MarquetteMarquetteCreightonCreighton, Marquette
2014CreightonCreightonSeton HallCreighton, Marquette, Seton Hall
2015CreightonCreightonVillanovaCreighton, Marquette, Villanova
2016CreightonCreightonXavierCreighton, Marquette
2017CreightonCreightonMarquetteCreighton, Marquette
2018CreightonCreightonMarquetteCreighton, Marquette
2019CreightonSt. John'sMarquetteCreighton, Marquette, St. John's

Cross Country

The Providence women's cross country team have been crowned NCAA National Champions in 1995 and 2013, as well as finishing 2nd in 1990 and 2012. The Villanova women's cross country team won two straight NCAA National Championships in 2009 and 2010 and six straight NCAA National Championships in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994. Villanova runners also won an individual NCAA National Championship in 1998, as well as placing 3rd in 1995, 2nd in 1996 and 3rd in 2011. The Georgetown women's cross country team were NCAA National Champions in 2011.
YearBig East ChampionNCAA Championship Team Entries
2013ProvidenceButler, Georgetown, Providence, Villanova
2014GeorgetownGeorgetown, Providence
2015ProvidenceGeorgetown, Providence, Villanova
2016ProvidenceProvidence, Villanova
2017VillanovaProvidence, Villanova
2018VillanovaNone
2019ButlerNone

NCAA National Championships

Lacrosse

The Big East began sponsoring women's lacrosse in the 2001 season with Boston College, UConn, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech. The original lineup stayed in place until Virginia Tech and BC left for the ACC, respectively in 2004 and 2005. The conference replaced BC with Loyola for the 2006 season, and the Greyhounds remained an associate member until the school joined the Patriot League, which already sponsored women's lacrosse, in 2013. Originally, the conference championship was decided solely by league play; a postseason tournament was added starting in the 2007 season with the top four teams qualifying, a format that exists to this day. The next changes in women's lacrosse membership came in the 2009 season, when Cincinnati and Louisville brought their teams into the Big East. Villanova followed in the 2010 season.
As in the case of field hockey, the 2013 conference split left the Big East and The American with too few lacrosse teams for an automatic NCAA bid. Also in a parallel with field hockey, the two conferences agreed that only the reconfigured Big East would sponsor the sport, with all women's lacrosse teams from The American becoming associate members. The first season of women's lacrosse in the reconfigured league in 2014 would thus include Cincinnati, UConn, Georgetown, Louisville, new varsity team Marquette, Rutgers, Temple, and Villanova. The Big East would lose Louisville and Rutgers after that season, respectively to the ACC and Big Ten, replacing them with Florida and Vanderbilt after the demise of the American Lacrosse Conference.
For the 2017 season, Butler added varsity women's lacrosse and Denver brought its women's lacrosse team into the league, giving the Big East 10 members in the sport. However, after the 2018 season, the Big East lost all of its women's lacrosse associate members except Denver to the new women's lacrosse conference of The American. The Big East retained its automatic NCAA tournament bid for the 2019 season and beyond by adding Old Dominion, already an associate member in field hockey.
On April 16, 2020, Old Dominion announced its women's lacrosse would join the American Athletic Conference in the 2021 season, essentially swapping places with incoming full member UConn. Both conferences thus maintained the six members required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

NCAA Team Championships

This list includes NCAA championships won by members of the Big East. Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including ICSA sailing championships, women's AIAW championships, equestrian titles, and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles.
SchoolNicknameTotalMenWomenCo-ed
UConnHuskies226160
VillanovaWildcats201190
GeorgetownHoyas3210
ProvidenceFriars3120
Red Storm2101
DenverPioneers1100
MarquetteGolden Eagles1100
ButlerBulldogs0000
CreightonBluejays0000
DePaulBlue Demons0000
Seton HallPirates0000
XavierMusketeers0000

Facilities

Notes: