Conference USA

"C-USA" redirects here. For the American soccer club, see Chivas USA.

Conference USA (C-USA)
Established	1995
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	12 full-time; 3 part-time
Sports fielded	21 (men's: 10; women's: 11)
Region	Southern United States
Headquarters	Irving, Texas
Commissioner	Britton Banowsky (since 2002)
Website	conferenceusa.com
Locations

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) 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.

In 2011 Conference USA & the Mountain West Conference announced a plan for a football only alliance. . Then on February 12, 2012,the league announced that it would dissolve in order to form an new legal entity merging its remaining members, the Mountain West and 2 to 8 more schools.

Sports sponsored

Members participate in baseball (men), basketball, cross country, football (men), golf, rowing (women), soccer, softball (women), swimming, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, and volleyball (women).

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 in all sports except men's ice hockey, competes in women's soccer as a Division I school in C-USA.

Member schools

See 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.

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Total Enrollment	Undergraduate Enrollment	Joined	Endowment
East Division
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)	Blazers	Birmingham, Alabama	1969	Public	18,000	11,681	1995	$332 million
University of Central Florida (UCF)	Knights	Orlando, Florida	1963	Public	50,000	45,398	2005	$114 million
East Carolina University (ECU)	Pirates	Greenville, North Carolina	1907	Public	27,000	20,974	1997 (football) 2001 (all other sports)	$130 million
Marshall University	Thundering Herd	Huntington, West Virginia	1837	Public	15,500	9,314	2005	$70 million
University of Memphis	Tigers	Memphis, Tennessee	1912	Public	21,400	16,719	1995	$183 million
University of Southern Mississippi (USM)	Golden Eagles	Hattiesburg, Mississippi	1910	Public	17,254	14,096	1995	$89 million
West Division
University of Houston	Cougars	Houston, Texas	1927	Public	39,820	31,764	1995 **	$622 million
Rice University	Owls	Houston, Texas	1891 (opened 1912)	Private	6,700	3,237	2005	$3.6 billion
Southern Methodist University (SMU)	Mustangs	University Park, Texas (Dallas)	1911	Private	10,600	6,000	2005	$1.37 billion
University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)	Miners	El Paso, Texas	1914	Public	20,500	17,261	2005	$151 million
Tulane University	Green Wave	New Orleans, Louisiana	1834	Private	13,359	8,338	1995	$889 million
University of Tulsa	Golden Hurricane	Tulsa, Oklahoma	1894	Private	4,170	2,987	2005	$915 million

Locations of current Conference USA full member institutions.

** – 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.

** - Light green denotes schools who will be departing in 2013

Former members

• Big East:
  • University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati Bearcats), 1995–2005
  • DePaul University non-football member (DePaul Blue Demons), 1995–2005
  • University of Louisville (Louisville Cardinals), 1995–2005
  • Marquette University non-football member (Marquette Golden Eagles), 1995–2005
  • University of South Florida (South Florida Bulls) non-football member, 1995-2005(football program started in 1996, program joined C-USA in 2003)
  • University of Memphis (Memphis Tigers), 1995-2013
  • University of Central Florida (UCF Knights), 2005-2013
  • University of Houston (Houston Cougars), 1995-2013
  • Southern Methodist University (SMU Mustangs), 2005-2013

• Atlantic 10:
  • University of North Carolina at Charlotte non-football member (Charlotte 49ers), 1995–2005
  • Saint Louis University non-football member (Saint Louis Billikens), 1995–2005
• Mountain West:
  • Texas Christian University (TCU Horned Frogs), 2001–2005*
    • *TCU will join the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2012 after seven years in the Mountain West.
• Independent:
  • United States Military Academy football only (Army Black Knights), 1998–2004
    • For all other sports, Army was a member of the Patriot League

Membership timeline

Football divisions

East East Carolina Pirates Marshall Thundering Herd Memphis Tigers Southern Miss Golden Eagles UAB Blazers UCF Knights

West Houston Cougars Rice Owls SMU Mustangs Tulane Green Wave Tulsa Golden Hurricane UTEP Miners

Soccer-only members

Because 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

• Florida International University (FIU)

Southeastern Conference Members

• University of Kentucky
• University of South Carolina

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: Colorado College, which sponsors women's soccer and men's ice hockey as Division I sports and participates in the Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in all other sports.

Rowing-only members

Because rowing is not sponsored by all NCAA Division I conferences, two schools from the Southeastern Conference are C-USA members for rowing only:

Southeastern Conference Members:

• University of Alabama
• University of Tennessee

Commissioners

• Michael Slive 1995-2002
• Britton Banowsky 2002–present

Television

In 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. Beginning in 2011-12, CBS College Sports will be joined by FSN for football and select men's & women's basketball games. Some games, including the C-USA Football Championship game may be moved to Fox or FX.

Conference facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity	Soccer stadium	Capacity
East Division
UAB	Legion Field	71,594	Bartow Arena	8,508	Jerry D. Young Memorial Field	1,000	West Campus Field	2,500
UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium	45,301	UCF Arena	10,045	Jay Bergman Field	1,980	UCF Track and Soccer Complex	2,000
East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium	50,000	Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum	8,000	Clark-LeClair Stadium	5,000	Bunting Field	3,000
Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium	38,019	Cam Henderson Center	9,048	Appalachian Power Park/Kennedy Center Field	4,500/300	Sam Hood Field	1,500
Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium	62,380	FedExForum (men) Elma Roane Fieldhouse (women)	18,400 2,500	FedExPark	2,000	Mike Rose Stadium	2,500
Southern Miss	M. M. Roberts Stadium	36,000	Reed Green Coliseum	8,095	Pete Taylor Park	5,036	USM Track & Soccer Complex	1,000
West Division
Houston	Robertson Stadium	32,000	Hofheinz Pavilion	8,479	Cougar Field	5,000	Robertson Stadium	32,000
Rice	Rice Stadium	47,000	Tudor Fieldhouse	5,208	Reckling Park	5,000	Rice Track/Soccer Stadium	5,000
SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium	32,000	Moody Coliseum	8,998	No baseball team		Westcott Field	4,000
UTEP	Sun Bowl Stadium	51,500	Don Haskins Center	12,222	No baseball team		University Field	500
Tulane	Mercedes-Benz Superdome	76,468	Avron B. Fogelman Arena	3,600	Greer Field at Turchin Stadium	5,000	Westfeldt Facility	1,500
Tulsa	H. A. Chapman Stadium	30,000	Reynolds Center	8,355	No baseball team		Hurricane Soccer & Track Stadium	2,000

• - Departing schools in 2013 highlighted in pink

School	Soccer stadium	Capacity
Soccer-Only Members
Colorado College	Stewart Field	n/a
FIU	University Park, Florida	2,000
Kentucky	UK Soccer Complex	1,500
South Carolina	Eugene E. Stone III Stadium	5,700

Championships

• Conference USA Baseball Tournament
• Conference USA Football Championship
• Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament
• Conference USA Women's Basketball Tournament

Football bowl games

Conference USA sends teams to seven different bowl games throughout the country.

From 2011 to 2013, Conference USA will send teams to the following bowls.

• Liberty Bowl
• Hawaiʻi Bowl
• Armed Forces Bowl
• New Orleans Bowl
• Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg
• Military Bowl (2012)
• TicketCity Bowl (2011 & 2013)

Pick	Name	Location	Opposing Conference	Opposing Pick
1	Liberty Bowl	Memphis, Tennessee	SEC	7/8
2	Hawai'i Bowl	Honolulu, Hawaii	WAC	3
3	Armed Forces Bowl	Fort Worth, Texas	Mountain West or Army, Navy, BYU	-
4	New Orleans Bowl	New Orleans, Louisiana	Sun Belt	2
5	Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl	St. Petersburg, Florida	Big East	6
6	Military Bowl	Washington, D.C.	ACC	8
7	TicketCity Bowl	Dallas, Texas	Big Ten	7

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External links

• Official website