Rutgers Joins the Big Ten, Leaving Big East Behind Rutgers is joining the Big Ten, leaving the Big East behind and cashing in on the school's investment in a football program that only 10 years ago seemed incapable of competing at the highest level. The school announced its decision Tuesday at a campus news conference attended by Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, Rutgers President Robert Barchi and athletic director Tim Pernetti. "The Big Ten is really where Rutgers belongs," Barchi said. Rutgers has been competing in the Big East since 1991. But the league has been picked apart by conference realignment, and the Scarlet Knights were looking for a way out. They landed in the best possible spot. A spot that seemed unthinkable a decade ago when Rutgers football was a Big East cellar-dweller. "It's a transformative day for Rutgers University," Pernetti said. The move follows Maryland's announcement Monday that it was joining the Big Ten in 2014. Rutgers left its entry date ambiguous, though clearly the Big Ten and the school would like it to line up with Maryland. The Big East requires 27 months' notification for departing members. The Scarlet Knights will have to negotiate a deal with the Big East to leave early, the way Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia have done. "Although we are disappointed that Rutgers has decided to leave the Big East Conference, we wish them well," Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement. They have been a valued member of the Conference for many years. The Big East is trying to rebuild itself as a 12-team football conference next season, with the addition of Boise State and five other schools. Now the conference is again on the defensive. Connecticut or Louisville could be next to go with the ACC looking for a replacement for Maryland. "We remain committed to, and confident in, the continued growth and vitality of the Big East Conference," Aresco said. In 2002, the Scarlet Knights football team went 1-11 under second-year coach Greg Schiano, who then seemed like the latest coach incapable of reviving a program that had been a college football laughingstock for more than a decade. The team, however, steadily improved as the university made the huge financial commitment necessary to support major college football. Not everyone on campus embraced the idea of turning Rutgers into a big-time football school, and it did come with a big price tag. As the football team has become a consistent winner - Rutgers has gone to a bowl six of the last seven years - the athletic department has received tens of millions in subsidies from the university. Schiano left for the NFL last year, and Rutgers hired longtime assistant Kyle Flood, who has the Scarlet Knights poised to take make another big step. 21 Rutgers (9-1) is in position to win its first Big East championship and go to a BCS game for the first time. In the Big Ten, the revenue Rutgers receives from the league's television and media deals should quadruple in the short term and could be even more than that in years to come. The Big Ten reportedly paid its members about $24 million last year.