Thee ACC has accepted Pitt and Syracuse as new members of their conference, the Trib reports. The move might have seemed to come out of nowhere in the news the past couple of days, but the Big East should have known about the possibility for a while.
[Pitt chancellor Mark A.] Nordenberg said he warned Big East Commissioner John Marinatto in writing in May, 2010, that the university would “seriously access” other opportunities.
“Any university leader involved in intercollegiate athletics really has two fundmamental responsibilities,” Nordenberg said …
“Second is to be appropriately attentive to the changing landscape and institutional opportunities that might need to be pursued. We also have been attentive to that responsibility.”
And with that, and the payment of a $5 million exit fee, Pitt and Syracuse are gone. It’s unclear how this will affect the Big East, although Nordenberg suggests that other schools will probably also leave.
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