November 30, 2010

TCU to join Big East Conference

The conference carousel continues to turn.

TCU announced that it will leave the Mountain West Conference and become a member of the Big East Conference, effective July 1, 2012.

While joining a BCS football conference is the reason for the move, it affects all varsity sports for the Horned Frogs, including baseball. TCU will now make conference trips to Storrs, Conn., Queens, N.Y., and Piscataway, N.J.

TCU immediately becomes the top program among the 12 others in the Big East which have baseball, surpassing Louisville and Connecticut. It parallels Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers made the decision based on football, but baseball benefits by becoming the favorite in the conference.

The Horned Frogs are 23-7 all-time in baseball against teams currently in the Big East. TCU is 8-1 vs. Cincinnati, 11-5 vs. Louisville, 2-1 vs. Notre Dame and 2-0 vs. St. John’s.

The Big East will now have 17 members. Those with baseball include Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, South Florida, Villanova and West Virginia. The four Big East schools that don’t have baseball are DePaul, Marquette, Providence and Syracuse.