Texas Christian University has accepted an invitation for full membership into the Big East Conference.
The Big East, by a vote of its Presidents and Chancellors, extended the invitation for membership.
TCU will become the 17th conference member — and ninth football program — on July 1, 2012. Its athletic teams will begin competing in the Big East in the 2012-13 academic year.
With an enrollment of 9,142 in Fort Worth, Texas, TCU competes in 20 sports. The university’s Chancellor is Dr. Victor J. Boschini, Jr. and the Athletics Director is Chris Del Conte. The university was founded in 1873.
“Our membership is genuinely excited to add an institution of the caliber of TCU to our Conference,” said Big East Conference Commissioner John Marinatto. “Chancellor Boschini and athletic director Chris Del Conte clearly share the same academic and athletic aspirations of our current members and are similarly committed to sponsoring a very highly competitive athletic program. Located in one of the top five media markets in the country, TCU also enables the Big East to extend its media footprint, which already encompasses more than a quarter of the country.”
“The addition of TCU ensures that the Big East will continue to remain one of the nation’s premier athletic conferences well into the future,” stated John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of Notre Dame and Chairman of the Big East CEO Executive Committee. “With TCU, the Big East adds an excellent academic institution that combines outstanding athletic achievement with a commitment to NCAA compliance and educational success of its student-athletes.”
The Horned Frogs have enjoyed significant recent success in the athletic arena and in the classroom. The TCU football squad finished the 2010 regular season with a 12-0 record. The Horned Frogs are ranked third in the current Bowl Championship Series standings. A year ago, the football team played in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The baseball team played in the 2010 College World Series.
Additionally, the women’s basketball team was the regular-season conference champion. The men’s and women’s tennis teams were conference tournament champions. The men’s swimming team captured a regular-season league crown. The women’s volleyball team participated in the NCAA Championship.
Overall, the Horned Frogs produced nationally-ranked programs in football, baseball, men’s golf, women’s golf, rifle and equestrian. Individually, 51 Horned Frog student-athletes earned all-America honors.
Academically, TCU student-athletes posted a departmental cumulative grade-point average of 2.98 in the 2010 spring semester, the highest since TCU began reporting scores in 1998. Fifty-three percent of the student-athletes had GPAs over 3.0 for the spring semester.
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