'' Men 's golf NCAA championship appearances ( 1 ) : 1958 '' '' Men 's gymnastics NCAA championship appearances ( 8 ) : 1956 , 1957 , 1958 , 1959 , 1960 , 1961 , 1962 , 1963 '' '' Men 's gymnastics Individual National Champions : 2 '' '' Men 's water polo NCAA championship appearances ( 1 ) : 1976 '' Pitt 's athletic teams have competed as independents or in various conferences throughout their history . Football competed as an independent until the formation of the Big East Football Conference in 1991 in which it remained a member through the 2012 season . Pitt 's men 's ice hockey team competed in the Intercollegiate League beginning with the 1909 – 1910 season . Pitt men 's basketball competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference from 1932 – 33 to 1938 – 39 and in the Eastern 8 conference from 1976 – 77 to 1981 – 82 before joining the Big East in at the beginning of the 1982 – 83 season and in which it competed through the 2012 – 13 season . Women 's basketball also joined the Big East in 1982 – 83 , having competed previously as an independent . Baseball joined the Big East when the conference began sponsoring the sport in the spring of 1985 . Men 's soccer entered the Big East in fall of 1985 . The women 's soccer program began play in 1996 as an independent and entered the Big East in 1997 . Softball began play in 1998 as an independent and entered the Big East in 1999 . All of Pitt 's Big East sports transitioned to the ACC beginning in the 2013 – 14 season . Pitt 's men 's gymnastic team competed in the Intercollegiate Gymnastic League . Pitt wrestling competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association until it entered the Eastern Wrestling League in 1976 where it competed before moving into the ACC in 2013 – 14 . The men 's swimming and diving team previously competed in the Eastern Collegiate Swimming Association . Each year the university honors student-athletes who have achieved academic success during the University of Pittsburgh Scholar-Athlete Awards Breakfast where it hands out Blue and Gold awards to student-athletes who have earned over a 3.0 GPA . The 2012 calendar year , Pitt 's last competing in the Big East Conference , out of approximately 450 Pitt athletes , 350 achieved a GPA of 3.0 or above , with 16 earning a perfect 4.0 . In addition , 148 student-athletes were named as Big East Academic All-Stars and 26 members of the football team were named to the all-academic Big East football team . This does not include 15 additional athletes from the wrestling and gymnastics teams that compete in other conferences . In 2010 , volleyball standout Meagan Dooley was named the Big East Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year , the university 's seventh male or female Big East scholar-athlete of the year winner since the award was instituted in 1985 . Dooley was also awarded one of 87 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships for women in 2010
Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Pittsburgh Panthers