The Big East Conference

The Big East Conference is a one of the major conference in D1 intercollegiate athletics. There are 16 universities in the Big East ranging from private to public state schools. “The league aims and expects to compete at the highest level and does so with integrity and sportsmanship (www.bigeast.org).” The Big East represents 18 different sports but none are bigger than Men’s Basketball. The Big East is arguably the best conference in Men’s Basketball in the country. 8 Big East teams are ranked in the top 25; 4 of which are in the top 10 (ESPN/USA today poll).

I am currently a senior at one of these Big East schools writing this blog for my PR-writing class. The organization which I am apart of has a simple mission:

“Our mission is to strive for excellence in academics, athletics, leadership, and service to others in the Jesuit tradition, while embracing equity in opportunity, good sportsmanship, and ethical conduct.”

I personally have friends who compete for my university and they are living examples that athletes at my school follow this mission. My friends that compete and represent my school are competitive, loyal and extremely genuine which not only makes them great athletes but great leaders in society.

Across the country there are stories about student-athletes who forget the real reason why they are at school… to get an education. Some student-athletes let their athletic abilities go to their head and ignore the student aspect of the meaning of student-athlete. At my university, our athletic department stresses the importance in academics and requires all students-athletes to attend mandatory study hall sessions where tutors are available to help students with homework and projects.

My school’s athletic department also devotes a lot of time and energy promoting our athletics. For every basketball game they seem to have some promotional deal which headlines the game, for example: free t-shirts for the first 10,000 fans. This is a great way of marketing our school name and attracting fans to come to our games which provides revenue for our athletic department.