In big-time college sports, it's all about the money. Conference executives have been poaching top schools from other conferences for several years now. School officials, not satisfied with their own conferences, are looking for new conferences to compete in.
The result? Chaos.
One of the early movers was northeast powerhouse Boston College, who joined the ACC in 2005, leaving the Big East crestfallen and scrambling. Now Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame (with the exception of football) have joined the ACC.
What's next?
Well, on Sunday, the remaining Catholic universities in the Big East (Villanova, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, Marquette, St. John's and DePaul) got together in New York City to discuss a possible move out of the Big East. One possibility is the Atlantic 10 Conference.
No decisions have been made, but you can bet that with the significant changes in the makeup of the Big East, these Catholic universities won't sit on their hands forever.
More changes are coming. Stay tuned.