Purdue staff responds to expansion

The Big Ten Conference has added two new teams in Maryland and Rutgers. The two teams will not join the Conference until 2014. Purdue's staff each shared their thoughts on the new teams coming to the Big Ten.

Acting President Timothy D. Sands
"Like Purdue and many of its Big Ten peers, Rutgers University is an internationally ranked, land grant institution with an acclaimed research reputation. We welcome Rutgers as a university that will both advance the prestige of the Big Ten and bring robust athletic competition. We look forward to many years of academic collaboration and healthy athletic competition with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights."

Athletics Director Morgan Burke
"With Rutgers, the Big Ten Conference is getting another strong academic and athletic institution while further broadening and strengthening its reach and brand. The Big Ten now spans 11 contiguous states. Piscataway is merely 40 miles from New York City, far and away the largest media market in the nation."

Football Coach Danny Hope
"Big Ten expansion provides some great potential for all of us in athletics in the Big Ten, and I think it creates some really unique opportunities for Purdue football. We do recruit on a national level, and we send coaches out to the states in the East. We have had interest from players in the East, but I assume we will have greater interest from even more players in the East now."

Women's Basketball Coach Sharon Versyp
"The addition of Maryland and Rutgers is great for the Big Ten, and it enhances an already incredibly tough women's basketball conference. Year in and year out, those two programs are among the best in the country. From a recruiting standpoint, it will help our efforts on the East Coast."

Baseball Coach Doug Schreiber
"Both Rutgers and Maryland bring competitive baseball programs and outstanding academics to the Big Ten. I have great respect for both programs and look forward to them competing as members of the Big Ten Conference."