TCU has scheduled a press conference for this afternoon to announce that it has accepted an offer to join the Big East Conference.
As first reported on AOL Fanhouse, the Horned Frogs will leave the Mountain West to join the Big East in all sports, beginning July 1, 2012. The Frogs first season of Big East football would be the 2012-2013 season.
By some estimates, TCU will be located an average of 1,140 miles from the other Big East football league members.
The move comes amid estimates that the Mountain West will not gain automatic-qualification status in the BCS during the next evaluation window, due in large part to the departures of both BYU and Utah. According to BCS spokesman Bill Hancock, teams that leave a conference take their performance during the evaluation period with them to their new conferences.
In this decade, TCU has been a member of the WAC, Conference USA and MWC.
Additional reports indicate that the Big East has also extended an offer to Villanova to become the conference's tenth football member. The Dallas News reports that Villanova"seems to be dragging its feet about a decision", a move that would bring the school up from the FCS division to FBS. Villanovais currently a member of the Big East in nearly all other conference sports.
If Villanovadoes not join the Big East for football, then the University of Central Florida is expected to receive a formal invitation to join for the 2012-2013 season.
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