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

===Turmoil and realignment===
{{See also|2005 NCAA conference realignment}}

Some have argued that the unusual structure of the Big East, with the "football" and "non-football" schools, led to instability in the conference. In 2003, the ongoing press reports of tensions between the football schools and the basketball-only schools finally exploded into a months-long public tug-of-war between the Big East and the [[Atlantic Coast Conference]] over several Big East members. The result was that three Big East schools—Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College—moved to the ACC, while five schools moved to the Big East from [[Conference USA]]—[[Louisville Cardinals|Louisville]], [[Cincinnati Bearcats|Cincinnati]], [[South Florida Bulls|South Florida]], [[Marquette Golden Eagles|Marquette]], and [[DePaul Blue Demons|DePaul]].

The addition of the three football schools, along with Big East non-football member Connecticut moving up to the Big East football conference, ensured that the league would keep the minimum eight teams needed to keep its BCS bid. In addition, two traditional basketball teams, DePaul and Marquette, were added to gain the Chicago and [[Milwaukee]] television markets and help the already solid basketball status of the conference.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

Meanwhile, [[Loyola University Maryland]] (then Loyola College in Maryland) also joined the Big East as an associate member in [[women's lacrosse]] for the 2005–06 academic year.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.laxpower.com/laxnews/news.php?story=228 |title=Loyola Joins the Big East as an Associate Member in WLax |publisher=LaxPower |date=January 5, 2005 |access-date=October 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407124759/http://www.laxpower.com/laxnews/news.php?story=228 |archive-date=April 7, 2012  }}</ref>