Atlantic 10 Conference

Atlantic 10 Conference

File:Atlantic10 Main Logo.png
Association	NCAA
Commissioner	Bernadette McGlade
Sports fielded	21 men's: 9 women's: 12
Division	Division I
Subdivision	non-football
Region	Eastern United States Midwestern United States
Official website	http://www.atlantic10.com/
Locations

The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a college athletic conference which operates mostly on the United States' eastern seaboard. It also has two member schools in Ohio: Dayton and Xavier, located in Dayton and Cincinnati, respectively. Another member, Saint Louis is located in St. Louis, Missouri. Although some of its members are state-funded, more than half of its membership is made up of private, Catholic institutions. Despite the name, there are 16 partial or full-time members: 14 basketball and other sports, and two affiliate members that participate in women's field hockey only.

History

The Atlantic 10 Conference was founded in 1975 as the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League (ECBL), and began conference play in 1976. At that time, basketball was its only sport. After its first season, it added sports other than basketball and changed its name to the Eastern Athletic Association. However, despite its official names, it was popularly known as the Eastern 8, as it then had eight members (Villanova, Duquesne, Penn State, West Virginia, George Washington, Massachusetts, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers).

After changes in membership that saw charter members Pittsburgh and Villanova leave and new members St. Bonaventure (1979), Rhode Island (1980), Saint Joseph's (1982) and Temple (1982) enter, establishing the league with 10 members, the conference adopted the current Atlantic 10 name in 1982.

Further membership changes saw the league expand to its 14 current members. From 1997 through 2006, the league also operated a football conference; during that period, more than 20 schools were participating in A-10 competition in at least one sport. This would end when the A-10 football programs all departed to join a new football conference sponsored by the Colonial Athletic Association.

The league office headquarters has been located in Newport News, Virginia since the Fall of 2009. Prior to that, the headquarters was in Philadelphia, within a few miles of three member schools (Temple, Saint Joseph's, and La Salle).

Members

Full members

Locations of Atlantic 10 conference full member institutions.

The following is a list of the full members of the conference and the year they joined:

Institution	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Nickname
UNC Charlotte	Charlotte, NC	1946	Public	25,144	2005	49ers
University of Dayton	Dayton, OH	1850	Private	10,920	1995	Flyers
Duquesne University	Pittsburgh, PA	1878	Private	10,106	1976†	Dukes
Fordham University	New York, NY	1841	Private	14,666	1995	Rams
George Washington University	Washington, DC	1821	Private	25,116	1976	Colonials
La Salle University	Philadelphia, PA	1863	Private	6,176	1995	Explorers
University of Massachusetts	Amherst, MA	1863	Public	26,359	1976	Minutemen
University of Rhode Island	Kingston, RI	1892	Public	15,904	1980	Rams
University of Richmond	Richmond, VA	1830	Private	4,249	2001	Spiders
St. Bonaventure University	St. Bonaventure, NY	1856	Private	2,406	1979	Bonnies
Saint Joseph's University	Philadelphia, PA	1851	Private	7,900	1982	Hawks
Saint Louis University	St. Louis, MO	1818	Private	16,500	2005	Billikens
Temple University	Philadelphia, PA	1884	Public	35,490	1982	Owls
Xavier University	Cincinnati, OH	1831	Private	6,584	1995	Musketeers

† Duquesne left the A-10 for the Midwestern Collegiate Conference during the 1992-93 academic year.

Associate members

Institution	Location	Conference	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Nickname	Sport
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania	Lock Haven, Pennsylvania	PSAC	Public	5,500	2010	Bald Eagles	Field Hockey
West Chester University of Pennsylvania	West Chester, Pennsylvania	PSAC	Public	12,800	1996	Golden Rams	Field Hockey

Past members

Institution	Type	Years	Current Conference(s)
University of Connecticut	Football member	1947-1999†	Big East
University of Delaware	Football member	1986-2006†	CAA
Hofstra University	Football member	2001-2006	CAA (dropped football after 2009 season)
James Madison University	Football member	1993-2006†	CAA
University of Maine	Football member	1947-2006†	America East, CAA (football)
University of New Hampshire	Football member	1947-2006†	America East, CAA (football)
Northeastern University	Football member	1993-2006†	CAA (dropped football after 2009 season)
Pennsylvania State University	Full member (excluding football)	1976-1979, 1982-1991	Big Ten
University of Pittsburgh	Full member (excluding football)	1976-1982	Big East
Rutgers University	Full member (excluding football)	1976-1995	Big East
Towson University	Football member	2004-2006	CAA
Villanova University	Full member	1976-1980	Big East, CAA (football)
	Football only	1988-2006†
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Full member (excluding football and wrestling)	1995-2000	ACC
West Virginia University	Full member (excluding football)	1976-1995	Big East
The College of William & Mary	Football member	1993-2006†	CAA

† Includes time in Yankee Conference, which merged with the Atlantic 10 for football in 1997.

Men's Basketball Champions

Main article: Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Tournament

Women's Basketball Champions

Season	Regular Season Champion(s)	Tournament Champion	Tournament Location
1983	Penn State	Penn State	Louis Brown Athletic Center, Piscataway, New Jersey
1984	Rutgers	Penn State	Rec Hall, University Park, Pennsylvania
1985	Penn State/Saint Joseph's	Penn State	Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1986	Rutgers	Penn State	WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia
1987	Rutgers	Rutgers	First two rounds: Campus sites; Semifinals and finals: Louis Brown Athletic Center
1988	Rutgers	Rutgers	First two rounds: Campus sites; Semifinals and finals: Louis Brown Athletic Center
1989	Rutgers/Saint Joseph's	West Virginia	First two rounds: Campus sites; Semifinals and finals: Louis Brown Athletic Center
1990	Rutgers/Saint Joseph's	Penn State	First two rounds: Campus sites; Semifinals and finals: Rec Hall
1991	Penn State	Penn State	First two rounds: Campus sites; Semifinals and finals: Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse
1992	West Virginia	George Washington	Louis Brown Athletic Center
1993	Rutgers	Rutgers	Charles E. Smith Athletic Center, Washington, D.C.
1994	George Washington/Rutgers	Rutgers	Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse
1995	George Washington	George Washington	Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse
1996	East - Rhode Island, West - George Washington	George Washington	Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, Virginia
1997	East - Saint Joseph's, West - George Washington	Saint Joseph's	First two rounds: Campus sites; Semifinals and finals: Charles E. Smith Athletic Center
1998	East - Massachusetts, West - George Washington	Virginia Tech	First two rounds: Campus sites; Semifinals and finals: Mullins Center, Amherst, Massachusetts
1999	East - Saint Joseph's, West - Virginia Tech	Saint Joseph's	The Apollo of Temple, Philadelphia
2000	East - Saint Joseph's, West - George Washington	Xavier	Liacouras Center, Philadelphia
2001	Xavier	Xavier	Liacouras Center
2002	East - Temple, West - George Washington	Temple	Liacouras Center
2003	East - Saint Joseph's, West - George Washington	George Washington	First three rounds: Ryan Center, Kingston, Rhode Island; Finals: Charles E. Smith Athletic Center
2004	East - Temple, West - George Washington	Temple	Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse
2005	East - Temple, West - George Washington	Temple	Charles E. Smith Athletic Center
2006	Charlotte/George Washington	Temple	Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse
2007	George Washington	Xavier	Cintas Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
2008	George Washington/Temple	Xavier	Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse
2009	Xavier	Charlotte	Dale F. Halton Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
2010	Xavier	Xavier	The Show Place Arena, Upper Marlboro, Maryland
2011	Xavier	Xavier	Tsongas Center, Lowell, Massachusetts

Sports sponsored

There are 21 NCAA sports in the conference

• baseball
• men's basketball
• women's basketball
• men's cross country
• women's cross country
• field hockey
• men's golf
• women’s lacrosse
• men's indoor track & field
• women's indoor track & field
• men's outdoor track & field
• women's outdoor track & field
• women's rowing
• men's soccer
• women's soccer
• softball
• men's swimming & diving
• women's swimming & diving
• men's tennis
• women's tennis
• women's volleyball

Atlantic 10 Rivalries

There are a number of intense rivalries within the Atlantic 10. Rivalries that carry over from the Big 5 which includes Saint Joseph's, Temple, and La Salle include those games between La Salle and Saint Joseph's and especially Temple and Saint Joseph's, a rivalry that has intensified in recent years. Like the Big 5, Dayton and Xavier are near one another and have an intense rivalry that began in 1920. URI and UMass also maintain a long-standing rivalry. St. Bonaventure and Duquesne also maintain a rivalry that predates their affiliation with the conference. A fledgling rivalry that has spawned has been one between Temple and Xavier, two of the most consistent schools in the A-10. UMass and Temple also had a rivalry while John Chaney was coaching Temple but it has died down a bit since. Due to both teams sharing the Ram mascot, the Fordham - URI rivalry has increased in recent years as the competitions are heralded as "The Battle of the Rams."

A-10 football

Origin

The A-10 began sponsoring football in 1997 when it absorbed the Yankee Conference, a Division I-AA (now known as Division I FCS) football-only conference. The move was triggered by a change in NCAA rules that reduced the influence of single-sport conferences over NCAA legislation. The following schools were in the Yankee Conference at the time of its demise:

• Boston University
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• James Madison
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• Northeastern
• Rhode Island
• Richmond
• Villanova
• William & Mary

Boston University dropped football after the first season of A-10 football. After the 1999 season, UConn started a transition from Division I-AA to Division I-A football (now Division I FBS) that was completed in 2002. In 2004, UConn, already a member of the Big East for other sports, became a football member of that conference. The other schools all remained in the A-10 football conference until its demise after the 2006 season.

Demise/"Rename"

The 2005 move of Northeastern University, a football-only member of the A-10, to the Colonial Athletic Association for basketball and Olympic sports began a chain of events that would lead to the demise of the A-10 football conference, at least under the A-10 banner.

At that time, the CAA did not sponsor football, but five of its members in the 2004-05 academic year (Delaware, Hofstra, James Madison, Towson, and William & Mary) were football members of the A-10. The addition of Northeastern gave the CAA six schools with football programs, which under NCAA rules allows a conference to sponsor football. Northeastern agreed to join any future CAA football conference, which meant that the A-10 football conference would drop to six members once CAA football began operation.

With six football members in place, the CAA decided to start a football conference in 2007. The league then invited Richmond, a member of the CAA from 1983 to 2001, to rejoin for football only, because of UR's long-standing in-state rivalries with William & Mary and James Madison. UR accepted the invitation, taking the A-10 football conference below the NCAA minimum of six. Shortly after this, the A-10 football conference opted to disband, with all of its members becoming charter members of the CAA football conference. For all intents and purposes, including the conference's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs, the A-10 football conference became the CAA football conference.

Conference facilities

School	Basketball Arena	Capacity	Soccer Stadium	Capacity	Baseball Stadium	Capacity	Football stadium (Conference)	Capacity
Charlotte	Dale F. Halton Arena	9,105	Transamerica Field	4,000	Hayes Stadium	3,000	TBD
Dayton	University of Dayton Arena	13,435	Baujan Field	2,000	Time Warner Cable Stadium	500	Welcome Stadium (Pioneer)	11,000
Duquesne	A. J. Palumbo Center	4,406	Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field	2,200	Duquesne Baseball Field		Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field (NEC)	4,500
Fordham	Rose Hill Gymnasium	3,470	Coffey Field	7,000	Houlihan Park	1,000	Coffey Field (Patriot)	7,000
George Washington	Smith Center	5,000	Mount Vernon Athletic Fields		Barcroft Park	1,000
La Salle	Tom Gola Arena	4,000	McCarthy Stadium	7,500	Hank DeVincent Field	1,000
Massachusetts	Mullins Center	9,493	Rudd Field		Earl Lorden Field		Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium (CAA)	17,000
Rhode Island	Ryan Center	7,657	URI Soccer Complex	1,547	Bill Beck Field		Meade Stadium (CAA)	6,580
Richmond	Robins Center	9,071	Robins Stadium	8,700	Malcolm U. Pitt Field	600	University of Richmond Stadium (CAA)	22,000
St. Bonaventure	Reilly Center	5,780	McGraw-Jennings Field		Fred Handler Park
Saint Joseph's	Hagan Arena	4,200	Finnesey Field		Campbell's Field	6,425
Saint Louis	Chaifetz Arena	10,600	Robert R. Hermann Stadium	6,050	The Billiken Sports Center	1,000
Temple	Liacouras Center	10,206	Ambler Soccer Field		Skip Wilson Field	1,000	Lincoln Financial Field (MAC)	66,000
Xavier	Cintas Center	10,250	Xavier University Soccer Complex		Hayden Field

External links

• Atlantic 10 Conference
• http://www.collegechalktalk.com