Big East football suffered an enormous loss when Miami and Virginia Tech opted to depart for… Big East football suffered an enormous loss when Miami and Virginia Tech opted to depart for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The question on the minds of all Big East football fans is: What will become of the conference?

What this will mean for the Pitt football program in the long run remains to be seen, but the coaching staff and administration are confident and optimistic.

Recruiting coordinator Bryan Deal emphasized that last week and said that, while the situation has had “a little bit of an impact … it’s in great hands with Chancellor [Mark] Nordenberg.”

“We have full confidence in our administration, and this is going to work out in the long run,” Deal added.

Chancellors and presidents of the other Big East football schools echoed Deal’s positive attitude in a statement they made, vowing that the Big East would become “even stronger.”

“The Big East remains a strong, elite conference comprising some of the finest universities in the country,” the statement read. “[We] will continue to approach [competition] with commitment, creativity and a sense of urgency.”

Virginia Tech and Miami are two of the most powerful football programs in the country. Miami has the best record among all Division-I football teams over the past three years. Together, the two defecting schools account for nine of the 12 Big East football championships.

With the departure of Virginia Tech and Miami, the Big East football conference is in danger of losing all of its credibility. When the move is made before the 2004 season, the only teams remaining in the conference will be Pitt, West Virginia, Boston College, Syracuse and Rutgers, while Connecticut is scheduled to join in 2005. There has been some speculation that the replacement teams might include Louisville and Cincinnati.

The loss of Miami and Virginia Tech will almost certainly have an effect on Pitt’s recruiting, but Deal feels confident that this recruiting class will remain strong.

“It’s amazing, kids are very resilient,” Deal said. “They’ve been interested in it when they’re here, they may ask a question or two, but they see the sincerity in our eyes and in our voices that we’re committed to playing football at the highest level.”

The resilience of the recruits will be tested, and only time will tell what the future holds for the Big East football conference. It will undoubtedly be a challenging time, with many questions to be answered over the next few months, but the leaders of the Big East and Pitt coaches alike have maintained their positive outlooks.

“We have a great university and a great football program, and we’re going to continue to build and just continue to rise the way we have the last four or five years, and [the recruits] said they wanted to be a part of that,” Deal said.