West Virginia Univ. yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Big East Conference alleging that conference leaders "have failed to support football schools and asking a judge to void conference rules so WVU can join the Big 12,” according to Jared Hunt of the CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL. The lawsuit asks that a circuit judge “issue an injunction prohibiting the conference from blocking WVU's move to the Big 12 conference on July 1, 2012, and seeks compensation for damages resulting from the Big East's breach of contract with member schools.” WVU officials “lay heavy criticism over the very structure of the Big East and what they called [Big East Commissioner John] Marinatto's ‘ineffective leadership.’” The lawsuit states, “The Big East and its Commissioner failed to take proactive measures to maintain, let alone enhance, the level of competition for Big East football schools.” With 33% of the football schools withdrawing, the complaint states that “the remaining football schools were subjected to increased governance from non-football schools.” WVU contends that “all of this is the result of the Big East breaching its contract to protect the financial interests of member schools.” As a result of that breach, WVU officials said that “all bylaws and agreements made between the conference and university -- including the 27-month notice clause -- are null and void.” Hunt reports the lawsuit points out that TCU “was not held to that 27-month clause when it announced plans to depart in October.” Marinatto in a statement said, “Based on an initial review of the lawsuit, it is clear that the allegations and claims in it are false and inaccurate. Certainly there is nothing in it that would justify WVU's not fulfilling its obligations. To put it simply, a contract is a contract" (CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL, 11/1).
WAITING GAME: ESPN.com’s Andrea Adelson noted the Big East “has been adamant about holding Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia to the waiting period.” TCU accepted an invitation to join the Big East last year “but switched to the Big 12 in October and was not required to honor the 27-month notice requirement.” Big East Dir of Communications Chuck Sullivan said, “That’s basically because they never started with the Big East. Because they had not formally joined the conference, which would have been July 1, 2012, they were subject only to the financial component” (ESPN.com, 10/31).
EXCHANGING INFORMATION: In St. Louis, Vahe Gregorian writes indications from the Univ. of Missouri "continued to be that a formal announcement of the move could come within days -- a term, alas, that has been used before.” Missouri is about “the only concerned entity not to announce it’s SEC-bound.” The school has “taken a number of measures to distance itself from the Big 12 and even has acknowledged exchanging information with the SEC, but it simply hasn’t publicly filled in the blank” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 11/1).
