The Texas Christian Horned Frogs, Pittsburgh Panthers, and Syracuse Orange have all left the Big East in recent weeks, leaving the West Virginia Mountaineers as the conference's lone credible football program. In response to the departures of Pitt and Syracuse, Big East commissioner John Marinatto endeavored to make the process of leaving the conference much more expensive.
According to Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com, Marinatto proposed to the chancellors and presidents of member schools increasing the Big East withdrawal fee "to between about $17 million and $20 million," which is more than triple the current fee of $5 million. However, the chancellors and presidents rejected Marinatto's proposal.
As McMurphy notes, the negative response to the suggestion "is another challenge to the league trying to survive the departure of TCU, Pittsburgh and Syracuse." Should the quality of the Big East continue to erode, it might behoove West Virginia to consider following its former rivals.
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