This category includes institutions that were once members of the "Big East Conference". It is intended to include subcategories for the following:

• Institutions that left the original Big East before the 2013 conference split.
• Institutions that remained in the American Athletic Conference, the football-sponsoring conference that inherited the original Big East's charter and structure, after the 2013 split.
• Any Institutions that may leave the current Big East in the future.

The University of Connecticut, which left the original Big East in 2013, was removed from this category when it joined the current Big East in 2020.

For athletic programs that left any incarnation of the Big East, see Category:Former Big East Conference teams.