Traveling across the country in a small van

The Atlantic Coast Conference Maryland was a founding member of the Southern Conference in 1921, a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1952, and is now a member of the Big Ten Conference.

Why did Maryland join the Big Ten?

Photo by Bill Bride, Inside Maryland Sports. The University of Maryland’s upcoming move from the Atlantic Coast Conference to the Big Ten Conference, contrary to popular belief, is only a minor upgrade for the football team. Big Ten football is overrated, while ACC football doesn’t get enough credit.

1. The level of athletic competition in the two conferences is about equal when looked at as a whole.
2. Maryland’s switch, to take place in 2014, is a step up for football and wresting, a lateral move for men’s basketball and a step down for lacrosse and soccer.
3. First, why did Maryland make the move? The Maryland Terrapins jumped at the chance to join the Big Ten primarily for the financial windfall it will provide and to improve the struggling football program, although the administration says the Big Ten research consortium was a major factor.

The conferences appear to be similar academically, however. Each one has 10 universities ranked in the Top 100 of the latest U.S. News rankings. Maryland is ranked 58, behind five Big Ten schools and six from the ACC. The Big Ten is expected to raise the profile of Maryland’s football program because of the Big Ten Network, higher-profile teams and additional money for a football program that has been struggling on and off the field.

• Many Big Ten teams have large alumni bases in the Washington D.C.
• Metropolitan area, three teams have football stadiums with over 100,000 seats and some of those fans will help fill Byrd Stadium.
• The Terps’ athletic program has been deep in debt, and Maryland eliminated seven varsity sports earlier this year.

It’s hoped that the conference switch will provide Maryland enough money to restore some or all of the non-revenue sports that were slashed. The Big Ten expects the additions of Maryland and Rutgers to help the conference gain entry into the coveted Washington, Baltimore and New York media markets, though Rutgers has much more of a New Jersey than New York presence.

Football As for football, the Big Ten is perceived as an elite conference, as if this were the 1970s. Meanwhile, fans and media constantly deride the ACC. But does this reflect reality, or is the Big Ten really only slightly better than the ACC? Since 1980, the ACC leads the Big Ten in national championships, three to two.

Since the advent of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998, the ACC and Big Ten are each 1-2 in national title games, with Ohio State and Florida State representing the conferences all three times. As for Maryland, the Terps also have a greater history than their national perception would indicate, perhaps in part because they have won just six games in the past two seasons.

1. But the Terps, even with their recent struggles, are 5-2 in bowl games since 2000, and Maryland finished 9-4 with a bowl win as recently as 2010.
2. Maryland also has 11 bowl wins all time.
3. That ties Wisconsin for sixth among Big Ten teams, while six Big Ten teams have fewer bowl wins than Maryland.
4. Take a look at the number of ex-Terps playing in the NFL.

After all, that’s a major factor in why football players go to college. The Terps have 23 current NFL players, which is tied with Penn State for sixth in the Big Ten. Unlike the Nittany Lions, however, the Terps have star power in the pros, with San Francisco tight end Vernon Davis, Baltimore receiver Torrey Smith and Buffalo linebacker Shawne Merriman.

1. Maryland also has a proud history, led by greats such as pro football Hall of Famer Randy White and former NFL MVP Boomer Esiason, not to mention a national title in 1953.
2. At the most important position in the game, quarterback, Maryland has had eight signal-callers drafted since 1967.
3. That’s more than were drafted from any Big Ten school except Ohio State and Purdue.

Maryland has also had two quarterbacks start in the Super Bowl, more than any other Big Ten program except Purdue. Terrapin quarterbacks to start NFL games include Jack Scarbath, Bob Avellini, All-Pros Boomer Esiason and Neil O’Donnell, Frank Reich, Scott Zolak, Stan Gelbaugh and Shaun Hill.

Since Virginia Tech joined the ACC in 2004, the Hokies have finished each season ranked in the AP Top 25, though that streak will probably be broken this year. Virginia Tech has averaged a No.13 season-ending ranking as an ACC member. Since joining the ACC in 1992, Florida State has averaged a No.10 ranking except for the three seasons the Seminoles failed to end the season in the Top 25. Clemson has finished in the Top 25 six times since 2000, averaging No.21. Ohio State has been ranked nine times since 2000, with an average of No.6, going unranked three seasons. Michigan has finished the year ranked an average of No.14 since 2000, failing to make the Top 25 four times. Wisconsin has finished ranked eight times since 2000, with an average of 14. Iowa has finished a season ranked five times since 2000, averaging number 10. From the time Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1990 until the Nittany Lions had their wins retroactively vacated starting in 1998, Penn State finished ranked seven of eight seasons, with an average ranking of nine.

So the Big Ten, like the ACC, has its powers, average teams and those at the bottom of the conference, but it’s only a notch better than the ACC at the top. NCAA Probation When it comes to running clean programs, it appears that Big Ten football teams cheat more than ACC squads, if NCAA sanctions are any indication.

1. According to www.footballgeography.com, Michigan State leads the Big Ten with 10 seasons on probation, Illinois and Wisconsin each have nine, Ohio State has seven and Penn State will have been penalized for five seasons, including the next four.
2. Meanwhile, Maryland has only been on probation for one season in its history, while the most sanctioned teams in the ACC have been penalized fewer seasons than their equivalents from the Big Ten.

Georgia Tech has been on probation for six seasons, while North Carolina is currently in the first of three years on probation. However, the short-term future of Miami football is unclear with regard to NCAA sanctions. Basketball In basketball, the move is essentially a lateral one.

The ACC has traditionally been the best basketball conference in the country, but it has often been top heavy, with Duke and North Carolina leading the pack. The Big Ten may have more balance, though. Since 2000, the ACC has won five NCAA titles; the Big Ten has one. Maryland won the national championship more recently, in 2002, than any national champ from the Big Ten (Michigan State won it in 2001).

But the Spartans have made it to the Final Four six times since 1999, and five-time champion Indiana has once again reached elite status. During the last decade, Duke and North Carolina finished fourth and seventh, respectively, among teams with the most first-round NBA draft picks.

Maryland has had 17 players drafted in the first round of the NBA draft in its history, and is one of two ACC schools to have had two overall No.1 picks. North Carolina is the other, while Michigan is the only Big Ten school to accomplish that feat. The tradition of ACC basketball is what Maryland fans will miss the most, although the league has changed in recent years anyway with the additions of Virginia Tech, Miami, Boston College and the future additions of Pitt and Syracuse.

It will be very strange in all sports for Maryland to play teams as far away as Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, but designating new ACC member Pitt as a “rival” would have been an adjustment as well. The young, talented Terps are poised to make deep runs in the NCAA tournament for years to come, and should make the Big Ten better.

Give the ACC the edge in hoops, but not by much. Lacrosse, Soccer and Wrestling The change is a huge step down for Maryland’s nationally ranked men’s lacrosse and soccer teams. The ACC has some of the best lacrosse and soccer teams in the nation. Only a handful of Big Ten teams even play lacrosse. Maryland is ranked second in the nation in soccer and won the NCAA title in 2005 and 2008.

The Terps will play next week in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament Saturday. Two other ACC teams are currently ranked in the Top 14. The ACC has won 13 national soccer championships in the last 30 years. National power Indiana has seven overall titles, but the Big Ten is not as strong top to bottom as the ACC in soccer.

1. In lacrosse, Maryland made it to the NCAA finals each of the last two seasons.
2. Three other ACC teams finished ranked among the Top 11 teams in the country in the 2012 year-end poll.
3. The Terps have appeared in the NCAA title game 11 times, winning twice, and ACC teams have won 12 national titles in the last 40 years.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten doesn’t have a lacrosse league. Ohio State and Michigan play in the ECAC, while Penn State participates in the CAA. So the move presents some serious challenges for Maryland’s lacrosse and soccer teams. Maryland may opt to become an independent in lacrosse.

One sport the Big Ten dominates is wrestling. Incredibly, the conference has five of the top six teams in the country, according to the latest poll, and nine teams in the Top 25. Maryland comes in at No.16, while two other ACC schools made the most recent poll. Big Ten vs. ACC The Big Ten excels in overall NCAA championships.

Penn State is tied for sixth in the country with 41 total titles, although the majority of them came before the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten. Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa also make the top 17. But Maryland ties Iowa with 25 championships, better than eight Big Ten teams.

1. North Carolina was the only other ACC school to make the top 17, ranking ninth in the country with 38 overall titles.
2. The Capital One Cup recognizes the best college sports programs each year based on final standings of NCAA Championships and final coaches’ polls.
3. In the current standings, the Big Ten and ACC each have one team in the top 10 for men’s sports (Wisconsin and Florida State), and two teams in the top 10 for women’s sports (Michigan, Penn State, Florida State and North Carolina).

Maryland is tied for 11 th in the women’s standings; the men’s standings don’t go beyond 10. The Director’s Cup, another ratings system that scores colleges on their complete athletic performance, shows that over the last two decades, the Big Ten has a very slight edge over the ACC.

Since 1993-94, Big Ten schools made the Top 10 a total of 32 times, while ACC schools qualified for the Top 10 28 times. Statistics don’t tell the whole story, but they are one measure to compare teams and leagues. Big Ten and ACC basketball is about even, though it will be odd and sad for Maryland to leave the ACC for the Big Ten.

In basketball, Maryland is a notch below Duke and North Carolina, much like Iowa and Wisconsin are a notch below Ohio State and Michigan in football. Football is better in the Big Ten than the ACC, though not by as much as people think. Maryland football will be in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten, much like it is in the ACC.

Nobody knows how this will turn out. There will be growing pains. The move will most likely affect the non-revenue sports the most, for teams that have to drive to games instead of fly. Fans and family who are used to driving to games will also be negatively impacted. The two conferences are very similar overall athletically and academically.

While the gap between the Big Ten and the ACC in football is smaller than most people think, perception sometimes becomes reality, and the big money from the Big Ten in football has the potential to ultimately improve Maryland’s sports if the athletic department manages it correctly.

Why did Maryland leave the ACC?

On that cold November day in 2012 — it was actually fairly warm, it just felt cold in College Park — when University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh announced that the school was leaving the Atlantic Coast Conference to join the Big Ten, there was much gnashing of teeth among Maryland alumni and fans.

Deservedly so. After all, Maryland was a founding member of the ACC in 1953 and, despite many frustrations, Terrapins fans cherished their basketball rivalries with Duke, North Carolina and, to a lesser extent, Virginia. There was no way to match the feeling in the building when the Blue Devils and Tar Heels came to town regardless of how good Michigan State, Purdue or Michigan might be.

The reason for the move, as everyone knows, was money. Maryland was broke, having been forced to jettison seven nonrevenue sports earlier that same year and it was drowning in red ink because of an ill-conceived plan to expand a football stadium that didn’t need expanding, among other mistakes.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany came to town waving a fat checkbook built on TV riches and offered Maryland a bailout. The school jumped at it and, just like that, 60 years of tradition and genuine rivalries went out the window. The sadness that fell over College Park like a heavy winter blanket was strictly about basketball.

Maryland has no real rivalries in football and, even though football money drives the college sports engine, it is basketball that drives real passion at Maryland — as in most of the ACC outside of Clemson and Florida State. But just as basketball was the reason for the anguish, five years later it could also the reason for finding some cheer.

1. In fact, the case can be made that, at least in a basketball sense, the ACC has suffered much more because of Maryland’s departure than Maryland.
2. While most in the league responded to Maryland saying sayonara with derision — “Who needs them?” was a frequently heard claim coming from the South — the absence of Maryland hasn’t worked out so well for ACC Commissioner John Swofford and his Greek chorus of presidents and athletic directors.

Why? First, hiring Louisville (hiring being the correct word here) to replace Maryland has been an utter disaster, especially in terms of basketball, and it was Louisville basketball that Swofford and company were courting. The Cardinals were a perennial national contender and were coached by Hall of Famer Rick Pitino,

The league fell all over itself boasting that it now had four Hall of Fame coaches among its 47 (okay, 15) basketball coaches: Pitino, Jim Boeheim (when Syracuse was added), Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski — who, let’s face it Maryland fans miss the chance to hate up-close-and-personal every season.

Since those breathless Hall of Fame news releases went out, Pitino has been involved in not one, but two scandals: the first may yet lead to Louisville being the first school to have a national title (2013) vacated by the NCAA; the second leading to Pitino’s firing this fall,

• How awful is Louisville’s profile these days? Well, the only important survivor in the athletic department is football coach Bobby Petrino, who was fired years ago at Arkansas after he put his mistress on the state payroll.
• Petrino is now Louisville’s symbol of integrity.
• Throw in the fact that Syracuse and Boeheim have also received NCAA sanctions since joining the ACC and North Carolina and Williams dodged major probation largely on a technicality (the school admitted to academic fraud but the NCAA didn’t have the authority to sanction it) and there’s more Hall of Shame than Hall of Fame in the ACC.

Maybe for his next trick Swofford can recruit CCNY — whose last great contribution to college hoops was the game-fixing scandal of the 1950s. He’s already got Boston College. Meanwhile, back in College Park, Mark Turgeon and his team have done just fine, thank you, since joining the Big Ten.

It’s worth remembering that after Gary Williams’s remarkable 11-year-run from 1994 through 2004 that included 11 straight NCAA bids; seven Sweet 16s; two Final Fours and a national title — the well went relatively dry. Maryland missed the NCAAs in four of Williams’s final seven seasons and then missed the tournament during Turgeon’s first three seasons — its final three in the ACC,

That made three NCAA bids in 10 years. Not good for a program as proud as Maryland’s. During Williams’s peak years, the Terrapins won 22 NCAA tournament games. During that stretch only Duke, (sorry, Maryland fans) with 29 and Arizona, with 26, had more NCAA tournament victories.

1. Syracuse had 21, North Carolina and Michigan State 20 apiece.
2. In the 13 seasons since, Maryland has six tournament victories — the last three coming since the move to the Big Ten.
3. After three years of struggle, Turgeon has the basketball program on solid ground: 79-25 the last three full seasons, three straight NCAA bids, one trip to the Sweet 16.

That’s not Williams circa ’94-04 but it’s a vast improvement on the previous 10 years. There are several reasons for this: Melo Trimble; improved recruiting decisions and playing in the Big Ten. The league is a very good one but it doesn’t have the consistent depth of the ACC.

Even now, having lost starting power forward Justin Jackson and his logical backup Ivan Bender for the season, the Terrapins are 13-4 and still in decent shape to be one of the 68 to go on the board March 11th. No.1 Michigan State drilled the Terps in East Lansing on Thursday, but outside of the Spartans and Purdue, the Big Ten isn’t very scary this winter.

Maryland football is probably going to struggle — 7-5 seasons, an occasional 8-4, may be as good as it gets. The football program was thrown to the wolves — or, more specifically, the Wolverines, Nittany Lions, Buckeyes and Spartans — when Duke, North Carolina and Virginia were replaced on the schedule by what is now an annual fall Murderer’s Row.

But Maryland plays football to make money, not to win championships. Basketball provides the drama and, while the feeling that came with wins over North Carolina and Duke will never be replaced, you can bet Cole Field House — whoops, Freudian slip, the building with the corporate name — will be rocking when Michigan State comes to town Jan.28.

And the ACC is stuck with Louisville. You can bet Swofford and his self-righteous president pals who laughed Maryland out of the Greensboro Coliseum four winters ago after the Terrapins’ final ACC tournament loss aren’t laughing quite so hard now. For more by John Feinstein, visit washingtonpost.com/feinstein,

When did Maryland join the ACC?

Rob Carr/Getty Images The University of Maryland board of regents has voted unanimously to leave the ACC for the Big Ten, according to Brett McMurphy of ESPN, Maryland’s board of regents unanimously approves move to Big Ten, source tells @ espn — Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) November 19, 2012 ESPN is reporting that the move will take effect two years from now, in time for the 2014-15 academic year.

• Maryland will leave ACC & join Big Ten for 2014-15 academic year, Rutgers expected to join Tues.
• Sources) » es.pn/TTKzoo — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 19, 2012 The Terrapins have been in the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1953.
• The loss of Maryland is the third significant move for the ACC this year.

McMurphy is also reporting that Rutgers will follow Maryland to the ACC in an announcement that will come on Tuesday. Rutgers will announce move to Big Ten on Tuesday, sources told @ espn — Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) November 19, 2012 UPDATE: Monday, November 19 at 2:05 p.m.

1. ET by Ben Chodos According to the latest news from ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, Maryland’s competition in the realigned Big Ten will be as follows: Maryland prez tells regents MD, RU in Leaders Division w/OSU, PSU, Wisconsin, Purdue & Indiana.
2. Illinois moves to Legends — Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) November 19, 2012 The Terrapins will have to fight these schools each season for a spot in the Big Ten title game.

-End of Update- Syracuse and Pittsburgh are leaving the Big East after this year to join the ACC in all sports, while Notre Dame will be joining the conference in all sports except football. The Fighting Irish football team will play five games against ACC competition each year.

1. This move was first reported over the weekend as a package deal with Maryland and Rutgers in talks with the Big Ten.
2. According to Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger, Rutgers was waiting to see what Maryland would do before making a move.
3. Rutgers’ possible move to the Big Ten Conference remains on hold until Maryland decides — perhaps as soon as Monday — whether it wants to end a 59-year association with the Atlantic Coast Conference by moving to the Big Ten.

One big hurdle Maryland will have to clear is the exit fee. According to Alex Prewitt of the Washington Post, the ACC requires a $50 million exit fee for a team to leave the conference. With the vote out of the way, the university can work on brokering a deal with the conference.

Why did Rutgers and Maryland join the Big 10?

Not long after the announcements in late 2012 that Maryland and Rutgers would join the Big Ten, I ran into NBA Commissioner David Stern, a Rutgers graduate. I asked him how he felt about his alma mater’s move. He shook his head and said: “Rutgers playing football in the Big Ten? That’s child abuse.” It was meant to be hyperbole.

But was it? Maryland and Rutgers are in their sixth seasons playing football in the Big Ten. The numbers are horrific. Rutgers has a 5-38 record in conference games not played against Maryland. This season, with games left against Ohio State, Michigan State and Penn State, the Scarlet Knights are 0-6 in conference games and have been outscored 245-24.

Their closest game was a 38-10 loss to Illinois. By comparison, Maryland is a juggernaut — even coming off a 73-14 loss at Ohio State in which the Buckeyes led 42-0 at halftime and played everyone but the guy who dotted the “I” in script Ohio at halftime.

The Terrapins have one conference win this season, 48-7 over Rutgers, and have been outscored in their six conference losses by a combined 296-73. One of those six games was competitive, the 34-28 loss at home to Indiana, Maryland has two games left, against Nebraska and Michigan State, both of whom have losing records.

Unlike Rutgers, they might be able to salvage another win before the season comes to a merciful conclusion. Rutgers’s five non-Maryland victories — the Terrapins are 4-2 in their series with the Scarlet Knights — came against a 5-7 pre-Harbaugh Michigan team and a 4-8 Indiana in 2014, Indiana again in 2015, and against Illinois (in the midst of a winless Big Ten season) and Purdue in 2017.

Maryland was 4-4 in its first conference season, able to get wins over that mediocre Michigan team that Rutgers beat and a Penn State team still in recovery after the Sandusky scandal. In the four-plus seasons after that, the Terrapins have 10 conference wins, only one over a team that finished the season with a winning record (7-6 Minnesota last year).

Are we having fun yet? Rutgers and Maryland joined the conference beginning in 2014 for one reason: money. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, who would sell his soul to anyone to make an extra buck, saw many extra bucks in getting into the New York and Washington markets — the better to enhance his Big Ten TV network.

Maryland was desperate for money, having been forced to cut seven nonrevenue sports programs while digging out from a budget hole. The Maryland administration was forced, for all intents and purposes, to sell its football players to the wolves — or, more accurately, the Wolverines, Buckeyes, Nittany Lions and Spartans — to dial for Big Ten TV dollars.

Rutgers always has had outsize ambitions for its football program. Like Maryland in the ACC, it was doing just fine in the Big East, competing with the other second-tier football schools and going to second-tier bowls on a regular basis. (Of course, the 1995 move from the Atlantic 10 to the Big East was disastrous for men’s basketball.) Maryland has done just fine in basketball in the Big Ten, although the electricity that used to pulse through the building when Duke and North Carolina came to town is long gone.

1. Football has been an unmitigated disaster.
2. Four head coaches in the six seasons since joining the Big Ten doesn’t begin to tell the story.
3. During the entire Jordan McNair tragedy — from the medical staff’s failure to prevent his death from exertional heatstroke to the Board of Trustees voting to retain DJ Durkin as coach until overwhelmingly negative public response forced them to reverse themselves and fire Durkin — if there was a way to make a terrible situation worse, Maryland found it.

Rutgers is only on its third coach — an interim at the moment — but its on-field results have been even more pathetic than Maryland’s. I shudder to think what the score will be Saturday when Ohio State shows up to play the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway.

1. The Buckeyes could probably bring their JV team and win by three touchdowns.
2. Forget for a moment about the question of whether college players should be paid.
3. In this case, the players are the ones paying for the money-grabbing and the mistakes made by the alleged adults.
4. It’s the players who are getting beaten up physically, mentally and emotionally.

It’s the players who have to walk the campus each week after losing by laughingstock scores. It’s the players who wake up Saturday mornings in the fall knowing they have just about no chance of winning that day. How do you think Maryland’s players felt Saturday being down 42-0 at the half in front of 100,000 people and a national television audience? How will the Rutgers players feel this Saturday? Maryland was doing just fine in the ACC as a football program — quite well until the incredibly shortsighted firing of Ralph Friedgen in 2010 — and surely would have remained competitive in basketball.

• In 10 seasons as Maryland’s coach, Friedgen won at least nine games on five occasions.
• Raise your hand if you think that’s going to happen once anytime soon.
• As long as Maryland and Rutgers are part of the Big Ten East, they’re going to have to play Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State every year.

Since that first outlier season when Penn State and Michigan were down, the Terrapins have one win against those four — beating that 3-9 Michigan State team. They came close against Ohio State a year ago, but this isn’t horseshoes. It’s football. The ongoing excuse this fall at Maryland has been injuries — and there have been plenty of them.

Injuries, however, are part of football and are more likely when you are physically overmatched. The Terrapins didn’t have that problem in the ACC. Except for Florida State in the old days and Clemson today, they could compete with anyone in the conference. Rutgers has one win against the Big Ten East’s big four — the 2014 victory over Michigan.

Since the Scarlet Knights beat Maryland in 2017, they have lost 18 straight Big Ten games, almost all by blowout margins. Rutgers was in a difficult situation when the Big East began to fall apart as a football conference. But it didn’t have to run after the Big Ten’s money.

It could have joined the American Athletic Conference — not the Big Ten but a competitive league — or could have played a reasonable independent schedule for a couple of years until a better conference opportunity came along. Football’s not like basketball, where an independent has no chance to play in the postseason.

The minor bowls will take just about anybody with a pulse. The money would have been less, but at least the players wouldn’t have been humiliated week after week. Stern was joking when he made his child abuse comment. Sadly, what has happened is no joke.

What was the Big 10 before?

Big Ten Conference

Formerly	Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (officially, 1896–1987) Western Conference (1896–1899) Big Nine (1899–1917, 1946–1950)
Association	NCAA
Founded	1896 ; 126 years ago
Commissioner	Kevin Warren
Sports fielded	28 men’s: 14 women’s: 14
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FBS
No. of teams	14 + 2 affiliate members (2 future members in 2024)
Headquarters	Rosemont, Illinois
Region	Midwest East North Central West North Central Northeast Mid-Atlantic Western (starting in 2024) Pacific (starting in 2024)
Official website	bigten,org
Locations

Big Ten Conference (Midwest) Location of B1G members: full and affiliate. Big Ten Conference (California) Location of B1G members: future. The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference ) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates the founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA,

It is based in the Chicago area in Rosemont, Illinois, For many decades the conference consisted of ten universities, and it currently has 14 members and two affiliate institutions. The conference competes in the NCAA Division I and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport.

Big Ten member institutions are major research universities with large financial endowments and strong academic reputations. Large student enrollment is a hallmark of its universities, as 12 of the 14 members enroll more than 30,000 students. Largely state public universities, founding member Northwestern University is currently the lone private university in the Big Ten.

Collectively, Big Ten universities educate more than 520,000 total students and have 5.7 million living alumni. The members engage in $9.3 billion in funded research each year. Big Ten universities are also members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, formerly the Committee on Institutional Cooperation.

Though the Big Ten existed for nearly a century as an assemblage of universities located in the Midwest, the conference’s geographic footprint now stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Plains and in 2024 will extend to the Pacific Ocean, The conference has maintained its historic name, while expanding to fourteen members and two affiliate members.

• 1 Member schools
  • 1.1 Current members
  • 1.2 Future members
  • 1.3 Associate members
  • 1.4 Former member
  • 1.5 Membership timeline
• 2 Sports
  • 2.1 Men’s sponsored sports by school
  • 2.2 Women’s sponsored sports by school
• 3 History
  • 3.1 Early history
  • 3.2 1990 expansion: Penn State
  • 3.3 2010–2014 expansion: Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers
    • 3.3.1 Legends and Leaders divisions
    • 3.3.2 West and East divisions
  • 3.4 UCLA and USC, future expansion
• 4 Commissioners
• 5 Schools ranked by revenue
• 6 Television and media rights
• 7 Awards and honors
  • 7.1 Big Ten Athlete of the Year
  • 7.2 Big Ten Medal of Honor
  • 7.3 NACDA Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup rankings
  • 7.4 2021–22 Capital One Cup standings
• 8 Conference records
• 9 NCAA national titles
• 10 Conference titles
• 11 Current champions
• 12 Football
  • 12.1 All-time school records
  • 12.2 Big Ten Conference champions
  • 12.3 Bowl games
    • 12.3.1 Bowl selection procedures
  • 12.4 Head coach compensation
  • 12.5 Marching bands
  • 12.6 Conference individual honors
• 13 Men’s basketball
  • 13.1 All-time school records
  • 13.2 National championships, Final Fours, and NCAA tournament appearances
  • 13.3 NCAA tournament champions, runners-up and locations
  • 13.4 Post-season NIT championships and runners-up
• 14 Women’s basketball
  • 14.1 National championships, Final Fours, and NCAA tournament appearances
  • 14.2 NCAA tournament champions, runners-up and locations
  • 14.3 Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship games
• 15 Field hockey
• 16 Men’s gymnastics

  16.1 NCAA championships and runners-up

• 17 Men’s ice hockey
  • 17.1 All-time school records
  • 17.2 Conference records
  • 17.3 Conference champions
  • 17.4 Big Ten Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament champions
  • 17.5 NCAA tournament champions, runners-up and locations
  • 17.6 Awards
• 18 Men’s lacrosse
  • 18.1 All-time school records
  • 18.2 National championships, Final Fours, and NCAA tournament appearances
  • 18.3 Big Ten Conference champions
  • 18.4 Big Ten Men’s Lacrosse Tournament champions
• 19 Women’s lacrosse

  19.1 All-time school records

• 20 Men’s soccer

  20.1 All-time school records

• 21 Rivalries
  • 21.1 Intra-conference football rivalries
  • 21.2 Extra-conference football rivalries
  • 21.3 Intra-conference basketball rivalries
  • 21.4 Extra-conference basketball rivalries
  • 21.5 Other sports
    • 21.5.1 Men’s ice hockey
    • 21.5.2 Men’s lacrosse
    • 21.5.3 Men’s soccer
    • 21.5.4 Wrestling
  • 21.6 Extra-conference rivalries
• 22 Facilities
  • 22.1 Football, basketball, and baseball facilities
  • 22.2 Ice hockey arenas
  • 22.3 Soccer stadiums
• 23 Media
• 24 See also
• 25 References
• 26 External links

What schools were originally in the Big Ten?

June 11, 2010 February 8, 1896: One faculty representative from each of seven institutions met at The Palmer House in Chicago, Ill., to establish standards and machinery for regulation and administration of intercollegiate athletics. They designated themselves as the “Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives.” The organization eventually was labeled popularly the “Big Ten” or “Western Conference,” although the original title remained the official name until the Conference was incorporated in 1987.

Original use of the word “conference” has been applied to any group of institutions for similar purposes. The seven original members of the conference were: University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Purdue University, and University of Wisconsin.

December 1, 1899: Indiana University and State University of Iowa admitted to membership. January 14, 1908: University of Michigan withdrew from the conference. April 6, 1912: Ohio State University admitted to membership. June 9, 1917: University of Michigan invited to return.

November 20, 1917: University of Michigan resumed membership in the conference. March 8, 1946: University of Chicago formally withdrew from the conference due to inability to “provide reasonable equality of competition as of June 30, 1946.” May 20, 1949: Michigan State College admitted to membership.

It was voted that conference competition by Michigan State College would begin with the 1950-51 academic year and, in the case of football, at the expiration of schedules heretofore drawn. (At the December, 1948 meeting, conference football schedules had been drawn through the 1952 season.) June 4, 1990: Council of Ten voted to confirm the earlier decision to integrate Pennsylvania State University into conference membership.

Why is it called Big 10 when there are 14 teams?

It was organized by a nine member schools conference in Illinois, which became known as the Big 9. The eventual addition of Michigan State made it the Big 10. Out of respect for the addition of Penn State, the number 11 was added to the logo.

What NFL team does Maryland root for?

Major professional teams –

Team name	League	1st MD season	Stadium/Field
Baltimore Orioles	Major League Baseball	1954	Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Baltimore Ravens	National Football League	1996	M&T Bank Stadium
Washington Commanders	National Football League	1997 (played in D.C.1937–1997)	FedExField

Maryland has major professional sports teams in the city of Baltimore and in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. Two major league teams play in Baltimore — the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens and MLB’s Baltimore Orioles, Additionally, the NFL’s Baltimore Colts played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983 before moving to Indianapolis,

Did Maryland almost join the Confederacy?

Marylanders fought both for the Union and the Confederacy – Although Maryland stayed as part of the Union and more Marylanders fought for the Union than for the Confederacy, Marylanders sympathetic to the secession easily crossed the Potomac River into secessionist Virginia in order to join and fight for the Confederacy.

During the early summer of 1861, several thousand Marylanders crossed the Potomac to join the Confederate Army, Most of the men enlisted into regiments from Virginia or the Carolinas, but six companies of Marylanders formed at Harpers Ferry into the Maryland Battalion. Among them were members of the former volunteer militia unit, the Maryland Guard Battalion, initially formed in Baltimore in 1859.

Maryland Exiles, including Arnold Elzey and brigadier general George H. Steuart, would organize a “Maryland Line” in the Army of Northern Virginia which eventually consisted of one infantry regiment, one infantry battalion, two cavalry battalions and four battalions of artillery.

Most of these volunteers tended to hail from southern and eastern counties of the state, while northern and western Maryland furnished more volunteers for the Union armies. Captain Bradley T. Johnson refused the offer of the Virginians to join a Virginia Regiment, insisting that Maryland should be represented independently in the Confederate army.

It was agreed that Arnold Elzey, a seasoned career officer from Maryland, would command the 1st Maryland Regiment. His executive officer was the Marylander George H. Steuart, who would later be known as “Maryland Steuart” to distinguish him from his more famous cavalry colleague J.E.B.

• Stuart, The 1st Maryland Infantry Regiment was officially formed on June 16, 1861, and, on June 25, two additional companies joined the regiment in Winchester.
• Its initial term of duty was for twelve months.
• It has been estimated that, of the state’s 1860 population of 687,000, about 4,000 Marylanders traveled south to fight for the Confederacy.

While the number of Marylanders in Confederate service is often reported as 20-25,000 based on an oral statement of General Cooper to General Trimble, other contemporary reports refute this number and offer more detailed estimates in the range of 3,500 (Livermore) to just under 4,700 (McKim), which latter number should be further reduced given that the 2nd Maryland Infantry raised in 1862 consisted largely of the same men who had served in the 1st Maryland, which mustered out after a year.

While other men born in Maryland may have served in other Confederate formations, the same is true of units in the service of the United States. The 1860 Census reported the chief destinations of internal immigrants from Maryland as Ohio and Pennsylvania, followed by Virginia and the District of Columbia.

A similar situation existed in relation to Marylanders serving in the United States Colored Troops. Indeed, on the whole there appear to have been twice as many black Marylanders serving in the U.S.C.T. as white Marylanders in the Confederate army. Overall, the Official Records of the War Department credits Maryland with 33,995 white enlistments in volunteer regiments of the United States Army and 8,718 African American enlistments in the United States Colored Troops.

Why was Maryland not a Confederate state?

A House Divided – During the months leading up to the Civil War, Maryland stood as a house divided. Although it was a slaveholding state, Maryland did not secede. The majority of the population living north and west of Baltimore held loyalties to the Union, while most citizens living on larger farms in the southern and eastern areas of the state were sympathetic to the Confederacy.

• On April 19, 1861.
• Just five days after the Union surrendered Fort Sumter, South Carolina, tensions in Baltimore exploded in violence.
• President Lincoln had ordered Federal troops to move to Washington, D.C.
• To defend the capital.
• Baltimore’s Confederate sympathizers attacked Massachusetts soldiers en route along the Pratt Street waterfront.

The war’s first casualties fell in Baltimore’s streets. The Baltimore: A House Divided Civil War Trail is a one-and-a-half mile walking tour that traces the steps of the Massachusetts regiment and the events that led to bloodshed. Order or view Civil War trail maps

Was Maryland part of the Union during the Civil War?

Maryland in the American Civil War Learn how both Union and Confederate regiments and commanders came from Maryland and learn about their battles in the state Discover how the socioeconomic and political divisions that contributed to the American. © Civil War Trust () During the American Civil War, Maryland was a border state.

• Maryland was a slave state, but it never seceded from the Union.
• Throughout the course of the war, some 80,000 Marylanders served in Union armies, about 10% of those in the USCT.
• Somewhere around 20,000 Marylanders served in the Confederate armies.
• It’s really difficult to ascertain because many traveled to Virginia and joined Virginia regiments.

On April 19, 1861, some of the first bloodshed of the war occurred in the streets of Baltimore during the Pratt Street Riot. Soon after, Baltimore was placed under martial law. In September of 1862, there was the Battle of South Mountain and a few days later, on September 17, 1862, was the single bloodiest day of combat during the war at Antietam Creek.

1. In 1864, there was the Battle of Monocacy.
2. Several prominent military commanders were born in Maryland, including Confederate generals James Jay Archer and Confederate General George H.
3. Steuart, both of whom commanded brigades at Gettysburg.
4. Other prominent Maryland personalities included John Wilkes Booth, who was born in Maryland, and Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman.

The term brother versus brother is bandied around in the Civil War. On May 23, 1862, at the Battle of Front Royal, the 1st Maryland Confederate Infantry actually fought against the 1st Maryland Union Infantry. And here at Gettysburg, at this very spot, Maryland soldiers from the Northern army actually fired into southern Marylanders represented by the monument behind us.

When did each school join the Big 10?

The Big Ten Conference

Year joined conference	School name	Year founded
1896	Purdue University	1869
1899	Indiana University	1820
1899	University of Iowa	1847
1912	Ohio State University	1870

Why did Michigan leave the Big 10?

The short answer is Michigan, and by Michigan I mean head coach Fielding Yost, was chafing under the Big Ten*’s heavy-handed policies. Like the Ivy League would later, the Big Ten wanted to ban all compensation, including scholarships, to preserve absolute amateurism.

Who were the original 10 teams in the Big Ten?

Ironically, there are twelve teams in the Big Ten Conference. The original teams in 1986 were Purdue, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Chicago, and Northwestern. They were followed by: Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, and Iowa.

What year did Maryland win the Big Ten?

No.7 Maryland (10-2-5, 4-0-4) vs. Indiana (9-3-6, 3-1-4) November 9, 2022 Ludwig Field 8:00 pm EDT COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The No.7 Maryland men’s soccer team, the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament, will host fourth-seeded Indiana in the semifinal round Wednesday night at Ludwig Field.

1. The match will be broadcast on BTN and WMUC Sports.
2. Student will be able to gain admission for free while the general public can buy tickets here,
3. With a win, Maryland would host the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game on Sunday, Nov.13th against either second-seeded Rutgers or third-seeded Ohio State.

Kickoff for that match is scheduled for noon. THIS WEEK’S STORYLINES

The Terrapins advanced to the semifinals after a 1-0 win over Northwestern in the the quarterfinals. Colin Griffith’s second half goal was the difference in a match that saw the Terps dominate the final 45 minutes. Maryland will look to win the Big Ten Tournament for a fourth time, having previously captured the title in 2015, 2015 and 2016. In their last trip to the semifinals, the Terps were eliminated by Indiana, 2-0, in 2020 in Bloomington. The Terrapins captured the Big Ten Regular Season Championship on a dramatic final day of conference play. Stefan Copetti’s 87th minute header gave the Terps a 1-1 draw against Indiana and lifted them to the title. The Terps finished the conference season unbeaten for the first time since 2016, which was also their last Big Ten Regular Season title. They now have won six total Big Ten trophies since entering the league in 2014. Copetti was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after his final day dramatics and goal against Delaware. Chris Rindov was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. Maryland has won eight total conference tournament championships in its history, including on five consecutive occasions between 2012-16. The Terps have not reached the Big Ten Tournament final since winning the title in 2016.

FINDING HIS VOYCE

Former Maryland players continue to thrive on and off the pitch in the professional ranks and Zack Steffen is no exception. Maryland hosted its Michigan State match in partnership with the VOYCENOW Foundations, which was founded by Steffen and former Terps’ teammate Alex Crognale. VOYCENOW was founded as a direct response to the Black community’s fight for equality after the tragic murder of George Floyd. The organization is a non-profit that unites athletes from across the world to use their platforms to advocate equality for all. Donate to VOYCENOW, The new documentary Finding His Voyce profiles Steffen’s rise through the lens of his growth as a player and person within Maryland Men’s Soccer, one of the best collegiate programs in history. Steffen, his mother Stefanie, Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski, ESPN analyst and Maryland Hall of Famer Taylor Twellman, among others, help narrate the story of Steffen remarkable assent to soccer star and societal leader. Watch the documentary here,

30 Seasons of Sasho

Hall of Fame head coach Sasho Cirovski is on the sidelines for his 30th season as the head coach of the Terps. Cirovski has led the Terps to a trio of national titles (2005, 2008, 2018) and 16 conference titles. Cirovski’s 29 NCAA Tournament appearances rank him first in the history of NCAA Division I soccer (27 at Maryland, two at Hartford). He has guided the Terps to nine appearances in the College Cup. The star players that have come through College Park during Cirovski’s tenure is a list unmatched in college soccer. He has produced 12 full USA internationals and made Maryland the only school with alums in the last four FIFA Men’s World Cups. Watch All-Access: 30 Years of Sasho

20 Seasons of the Crew

Maryland men’s soccer celebrates 20 seasons of The Crew, it’s student supporters section, in 2022. The Sept.2 match against Denver served as the “20 Seasons of The Crew” match. Fans can also get an inside look at the origin and development of the most notorious fan section in college soccer on All-Access: The Crew. The mini documentary can be seen on Maryland Athletics’ social channels, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. That piece can be watched here,

The chris Rindov story

Maryland senior center back Chris Rindov has risen from walk-on to captain and has become one of the best defenders in the country. Episode Two of All-Access goes into Rindov’s story from someone who was planning to play club soccer at Maryland to a stalwart in the Terps’ back line. Watch the piece here,