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Inter-American Conference on Emergency Medicine - Conference Info international-em.org | of therapeutic space highlighted at USA conference - The Retreat theretreatyork.org.uk | Recent Past Conferences of the American Cytogenetics Conference chromophile.org |
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are located in the Las Colinas business district of the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas. C-USA was founded in 1995 by the merger of the Metro Conference and Great Midwest Conference, two Division I conferences that did not sponsor football. To even out at 12 members (because Dayton, VCU, and Virginia Tech were left out of the merger[1]) the conference invited the University of Houston, but UH could not start C-USA play for a year due to committing to being in the Southwest Conference in its final year. The conference immediately started competition in all sports, except football which started in 1996.
[edit] Sports sponsoredMembers participate in football, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, cross country, golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, women's swimming, tennis, and track and field. In men's soccer, only six of the member schools participate – Marshall, Memphis, Southern Methodist, Tulsa, UAB, and UCF. For this sport, the conference makeup consists of three other schools from other conferences – Florida International from the Sun Belt Conference and the only two Southeastern Conference schools which sponsor the sport – South Carolina (which rejoined C-USA for the sport; it had been part of the Metro (the reunification of the Metro and Great Midwest in 1995 led to C-USA) in 1983-90 and 1993-94 for the sport) and Kentucky (which joined with its SEC mate in 2005). Colorado College, normally an NCAA Division III school, competes in women's soccer as a Division I school in C-USA. [edit] Member schoolsSee also: 2005 NCAA football realignment The conference saw radical changes for the 2005–06 academic year. The stage for these changes was set in 2003, when the Atlantic Coast Conference successfully lured Miami and Virginia Tech to make a move from the Big East Conference in 2004. Boston College would later make the same move, joining the ACC in 2005. In response to that series of moves, which depleted the Big East football conference, the Big East looked to Conference USA to attract replacements. Five C-USA members departed for the Big East, including three football-playing schools (Cincinnati, Louisville, and USF) and two non-football schools (DePaul and Marquette). Another two schools (Charlotte and Saint Louis) left for the Atlantic 10; TCU joined the Mountain West; and a ninth member, Army, which was C-USA football-only, opted to become an independent in that sport again. With the loss of these teams, C-USA lured six teams from other conferences: UCF and Marshall from the MAC, as well as Rice, SMU, Tulsa, and later UTEP from the WAC. Note that UCF played in the MAC for football only; for all other sports, it was a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. With C-USA's membership now consisting of 12 schools, all of which sponsor football, the conference has adopted a two-division alignment. Notably, C-USA's membership includes the largest university campus in the United States by undergraduate enrollment in UCF, and the two smallest schools in Division I FBS by undergraduate enrollment in Tulsa and Rice.
 ** – Houston was a founding member of C-USA in 1995, but did not begin competing until 1996 because of its commitments to the final year of competition of the Southwest Conference. [edit] Former members
[edit] Membership timeline
[edit] Football divisions
[edit] Soccer-only membersBecause men's soccer is not sponsored by all NCAA Division I conferences, three schools from other conferences are C-USA members for men's soccer only: Sun Belt Conference Members Southeastern Conference Members NOTE: South Carolina had remained in the Metro for men's soccer shortly after departing the conference for the SEC in 1991, and left after the 1994-95 season when they were not permitted to join the reunified Conference USA for the sport only. The school was invited to rejoin the reunified conference in 2005, after which fellow SEC member Kentucky, the only other school that sponsors the sport, left the Mid-American Conference in that sport. Additionally there is one women's soccer only member: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Members (The SCAC is an NCAA Division 3 conference, however Colorado College sponsors women's soccer as a Division 1 sport.) [edit] Commissioners
[edit] TelevisionIn 2005, C-USA began a long-term television contract with CBS College Sports Network (then known as CSTV) to carry a variety of sports. The deal largely replaced the one it had with ESPN and ESPN Plus, though some C-USA football and men's basketball games are still carried by the ESPN networks. The college basketball men's championship game can be seen on CBS Sports. [edit] Conference facilities
[edit] Championships
[edit] Football bowl gamesConference USA sends teams to seven different bowl games throughout the country.
Starting in 2010, Conference USA will send teams to the following bowls.
[edit] Member schools ranked by endowment
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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