Big East Conference Set to Try Out Six-Foul Rule

The Big East Conference will experiment next season with allowing players to commit six fouls instead of five before having to leave a game.

Critics of the rule said it will hurt underdogs by making it harder to get the other teams’ star players out of the game.

The six-foul rule, long used in the NBA, and a proposal that the 45-second clock, rather than a hand count, be used to measure 10-second violations were approved by a vote of Big East coaches, league spokeswoman Chris Plonsky said today.

A third rule change, giving players three free throws instead of two if they are fouled while shooting a 3-point basket, was rejected, Plonsky said.

Experimental Rules

The league must get NCAA permission to adopt the experimental rules, which were approved by the NCAA in May, but that is “usually a formality,” Plonsky said.

Tom Niland, LeMoyne College athletic director and head of the NCAA Rules Committee’s research subcommittee, said that approval would be automatic for regular-season conference games but that the committee would have to grant a special exception for the Big East tournament. He said the new rules could be used in non-conference games with the opposing coach’s permission.

The vote tally was not released, but published accounts had predicted that the vote on the six-foul rule would be 6-3, with Pittsburgh, Boston College and Connecticut the reported opponents.

“It’s just another case of the rich getting richer,” said Boston College coach Jim O’Brien, who voted against all three rules.