Big Ten

From NCAA Wiki

Big Ten

Established	1865
Past Names	Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives Big Nine Western Conference
Classification	FBS
National Titles
Commissioner
Members	11
Sports Fielded	25
States	Illinois,Indiana,Minnesota,Ohio,Pennsylvania,Wisconsin,Iowa
Headquarters	Park Ridge, IL
Website	BigTenConference

The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest college athletic conference. Its member institutions are located in the northern United States, stretching from Iowa and Minnesota in the west to Pennsylvania in the east. The conference competes in the NCAA's Division Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football. Member schools of the Big Ten are also members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a leading educational consortium. Despite the conference's name, since Penn State joined in 1990, there have been eleven schools in the Big Ten, as signified by the hidden "11" in the Big Ten Conference logo.

1 History
2 Members
3 Former Members
4 Big Ten Fight Songs
5 External Links

[edit] History

A meeting of seven Midwest university presidents on January 11, 1895 at the Palmer House in Chicago to discuss the regulation and control of intercollegiate athletics. Those seven men, behind the leadership of James H. Smart, president of Purdue University, established the principles for which the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives, more popularly known as the Big Ten Conference, would be founded on the next year 1896.

Those seven universities were: University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Lake Forest College, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin. Lake Forest was not at the 1896 meeting that established the Conference, it was replaced by the University of Michigan.

At the 1895 meeting, a blueprint for the control and administration of college athletics under the direction of appointed faculty representatives was outlined. The presidents' first-known action "restricted eligibility for athletics to bonafide, full-time students who were not delinquent in their studies." This helped limit some problems of the times, especially the participation of professional athletes and "non-students" in the university's regular sporting events.

The Big Ten was founded in 1896 as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives. The founding member schools included six current members as well as the University of Chicago.The first reference to the conference as The Big Nine was in 1899 after Iowa and Indiana had joined. The first reference to the conference as the Big Ten was in 1917 after Michigan rejoined following a 9-year absence; Ohio State had been added in 1912.

The conference was again known as the Big Nine after the University of Chicago decided to deemphasize varsity athletics just after World War II. Chicago discontinued its football program in 1939 and withdrew from the Conference in 1946. Chicago to this day continues its relationship with the conference as a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the "academic Big Ten". In 1950, Michigan State joined and the conference was again known as the Big Ten. The Big Ten's membership would remain stable for the next 40 years.

The conference's official name throughout the time was still the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives and was also known as the Western Conference. It did not formally adopt the name Big Ten until 1987 when it was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation. When Penn State joined in the early 1990s, it was decided that the conference would continue to be called the Big Ten, but its logo was modified to reflect the change; the number 11 is disguised in the white areas of the traditionally blue "Big Ten" lettering.

Following the addition of previously independent Penn State, efforts were made to encourage Notre Dame (the last remaining traditionally independent football powerhouse) to join league. The conference extended a formal invitation to Notre Dame in 1999. Although the Notre Dame faculty senate endorsed the idea, the board of trustees voted against joining the conference and Notre Dame ultimately declined the Big Ten's invitation.

also see Big Ten Network

[edit] Members

Illinois CoFounder (1896)	Indiana Joined 1899	Iowa (Joined 1899)	Michigan CoFounder 1896 Left 1908, joined 1917
Michigan State joined 1950	Minnesota CoFounder 1896	Northwestern CoFounder 1896	Ohio State joined 1912
Penn State joined 1990	Purdue CoFounder 1896	Wisconsin CoFounder 1896