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Report: Notre Dame to stay in the Big East for one more season

Mike Brey

It seems to be official now that Notre Dame will be playing at least one more season in the Big East.

It was announced back in September that the Irish would be taking their non-football talents to the ACC, but it wasn’t clear when that change was actually going to be made and when a decision was going to become official.

Well, apparently all of that happened last Friday.

Only no one knew about it until Mike Brey spilled the beans on a conference call this morning.

The Chicago Tribune has the details:

“We do know we’ll be in the Big East next season,” Brey said. “That decision was made last Friday. ...The last hurrah will be next year, not this year.”

[...]

Big East bylaws mandated a 27-month waiting period before departure and there was some thought that Notre Dame -- which wouldn’t owe the league a penny of relocation fees if it waited that long -- would negotiate an early exit to jump in with fellow Big East exports Syracuse and Pittsburgh for the 2013-14 athletic calendar.

That, evidently, is not to be. And Brey said he’s fine with it, citing a bit of “buyer’s remorse” in shifting to the ACC.


Perhaps what’s more interesting is that Brey insinuated part of the decision hinged on the fact that he felt that the Catholic 7 would be spending at least one more season as a member of the Big East.

“I feel strongly that the Cathiclic schools are going to be there with us,” Brey said. “That’s one of the reasons we decided to sit tight. It looked like the Catholic schools were not going to be able to formulate the league they’re going to put together.”

So based on what Brey is telling us, the Big East will have 18 teams next season, as Syracuse and Pitt depart for the ACC:

Joining in 2013:

Central Florida
Houston
Memphis
SMU
Temple

Leaving with the Catholic 7:

DePaul
Georgetown
Marquette
Providence
Seton Hall
St. John’s
Villanova

Leaving in 2014:

Louisville (ACC)
Notre Dame (ACC)
Rutgers (Big Ten)

Staying because they have no place better to go:

Cincinnati
Connecticut
South Florida