The University of Miami filed suit against the Big East Conference and four of the… The University of Miami filed suit against the Big East Conference and four of the conference’s schools Monday, according to ESPN.com.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Miami, along with Virginia Tech and BostonCollege, plans to leave the Big East Conference for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami and Virginia Tech will leave the conference at the end of the current academic calendar year. BostonCollege will possibly not be leaving the conference until 2006.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt, along with the University of Connecticut, West Virginia University and Rutgers University were named in the suit, in which Miami claimed it suffered ‘substantial monetary damage by remaining in the league.’ Those schools are counter-suing Miami, claiming that it was involved in a conspiracy with the ACC to weaken the Big East.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ In a separate action, Miami filed a lawsuit against Connecticut for defamation. Both suits were filed in circuit courts in Miami.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Miami will seek an undetermined amount in damages, according to the school’s attorney Eric Isicoff.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘There’s a lot of issues here about the harm that’s been caused,’ Isicoff reportedly said. ‘It’s going to be a huge sum of money.’

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ John Paquette, a Big East spokesman, acknowledged that representatives from the conference had seen the lawsuit, but they had no comment regarding it. Pitt’s athletics department also declined to comment at the time.