By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

University of Cincinnati athletic director Bob Goin, while stressing that the school has not yet been invited to join the Big East, said this week that if an invitation materializes as expected, the school would prefer to make the move next season instead of waiting for 2005.

"If the option comes that we get invited to the Big East, obviously it makes sense for it to be as convenient and as smooth as you can and as quick as you can," Goin said. "But there are some real details that have to be worked out for that to happen."

Those details may be insurmountable.

The presidents of the Big East schools are scheduled to meet Nov. 4 in Philadelphia. They're expected to invite Conference USA members Cincinnati, Louisville, DePaul and Marquette to join the league.

Britton Banowsky, C-USA's commissioner, said Wednesday that both leagues' board of directors have voted not to take new members until 2005-06, so in order for the conference realignments to take place before then, those votes would have to be overturned.

There are also financial implications that must be resolved, including a possible renegotiation of ESPN's television contract with the league after the departure of the four schools.

"We have a variety of business relationships, some of which are predicated on the membership we have," Banowsky said. "Certainly, our business relationships get impacted, so those are issues.

"Another very important factor is to what extent if any could the conference replace members that they lost."

Banowsky declined to say whether those business relationships are being renegotiated as the C-USA schools await their Big East invitations.

"I think the people appreciate the need to try to move as expeditiously forward with this business as we can," he said. "At the same time, change that occurs over a short amount of time is by nature volatile. There's also a real sense that we need to create as much stability as possible to balance those interests."

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com