Editing Big East Conference (1979–2013) (section)

===Founding: the early years===
The Big East, often referred to as the Classic Big East, was founded in 1979 after new NCAA basketball scheduling requirements caused the athletic directors of [[NCAA Division I independent schools (basketball)|independent]] schools [[Providence Friars|Providence]], [[St. John's Red Storm|St. John's]], [[Georgetown Hoyas|Georgetown]], and [[Syracuse Orange|Syracuse]] to discuss the creation of a conference centered in the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]].<ref name=Crouthamel>{{cite web|url=http://www.suathletics.com/sports/2001/8/8/history.aspx|title=A Big East History and Retrospective, Part 1|last=Crouthamel|first=Jake|date=December 8, 2000|publisher=SUAthletics.com|access-date=October 26, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513221837/http://www.suathletics.com/sports/2001/8/8/history.aspx|archive-date=May 13, 2010}}</ref> Other schools invited were [[Seton Hall Pirates|Seton Hall]], [[Connecticut Huskies|Connecticut]], [[Holy Cross Crusaders|Holy Cross]], [[Rutgers Scarlet Knights|Rutgers]], and [[Boston College Eagles|Boston College]], with Rutgers and Holy Cross declining to join.<ref name=Crouthamel/> [[Villanova Wildcats|Villanova]] joined a year later in 1980<ref>{{cite news |title=Big East, Villanova Make It Official |agency=United Press International |date=March 13, 1980 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xBshAAAAIBAJ&pg=4471,6402629&dq=big-east-conference+villanova&hl=en }}</ref> and [[Pittsburgh Panthers|Pittsburgh]] joined in 1982.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pittsburgh To Join Big East |first= Richard F |last=Hanley |work=Record-Journal |date=November 19, 1981 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=schHAAAAIBAJ&pg=4292,2306993&dq=big-east-conference+football&hl=en }}</ref> Before the formation of the conference, many of these schools participated in the [[ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments|ECAC men's basketball tournament]] in order to receive an automatic bid for the [[NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship]].

In 1982, [[Penn State Nittany Lions|Penn State]] applied for membership, but was rejected, with only five schools in favor (Penn State needed six out of eight). It was long rumored that Syracuse cast the deciding vote against Penn State, but [[Mike Tranghese]] confirmed that this was not the case and that Syracuse had, in fact, voted for Penn State's inclusion.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/quad-qa-big-east-commissioner-mike-tranghese/ | title=Quad Q&A: Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese | work=[[The New York Times]] | first=Pete | last=Thamel |author-link=Pete Thamel | date=March 9, 2009 | access-date=April 26, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809095742/http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/quad-qa-big-east-commissioner-mike-tranghese/ | archive-date=August 9, 2010 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>  Penn State would loom large over the conference during future rounds of realignment as the Nittany Lions had the potential to shore up the conference once football members began to join.  Following the decisions by Georgetown, St. John's, and fellow Pennsylvania school Villanova to vote against Penn State's admission, then-Big Ten administrator and future-Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said the conference would "rue the day" they rejected the Nittany Lions.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/sports/ncaabasketball/big-east-pays-the-price-for-not-embracing-football.html|title=Big East Pays the Price for Not Embracing Football|first=William C.|last=Rhoden|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 4, 2012|access-date=May 8, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214021732/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/sports/ncaabasketball/big-east-pays-the-price-for-not-embracing-football.html|archive-date=December 14, 2017}}</ref>