2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment

The 2010–11 NCAA conference realignment refers to several proposed and actual conference expansion plans among various NCAA Division I conferences beginning in the 2010-11 academic year and continuing into fall 2011. Most of these changes involved conferences in the top Football Bowl Subdivision, with ten of the current eleven FBS conferences, as well as the ranks of FBS independents, either gaining or losing football members. The eleventh FBS conference lost one non-football member.

The second-tier Football Championship Subdivision also saw changes, with nine schools changing their football affiliation, and two other schools announcing that they would establish football programs at that level. The most significant change to the FCS landscape will be the demise of the Great West Conference as a football entity, as all five of its football members will depart for more established conferences. Four schools accepted invitations to join the Big Sky Conference—two as full members and two as affiliate members in football only. The other, which had already announced its intent to join The Summit League (which does not sponsor football), opted to join the Missouri Valley Football Conference. In other significant changes, two members of the Southland Conference will upgrade their football programs to FBS level to facilitate their move to the Western Athletic Conference, and one football-only member of the Colonial Athletic Association will upgrade to FBS and become a football-only member of the Mid-American Conference. One non-football school moved from the non-football Atlantic Sun Conference to the football-sponsoring Ohio Valley Conference, but will not add the sport.

Additionally, Division I Ice Hockey underwent major realignment, with the Big Ten beginning sponsorship of men's hockey and the formation of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Four other hockey conferences were also impacted.

Background

Talk of conference expansion began in December 2009, when Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany announced that the league would consider adding one or more teams. Media reports indicated that the Big Ten had two major motives for expansion. First, adding one or more schools would increase the reach of the conference's cable network, the Big Ten Network. The conference reportedly receives as much as 88 cents per month for every subscriber to the network in the Big Ten member states, and in the 2008–09 fiscal year, the Big Ten Network alone distributed $6.4 million to each of the conference's 11 schools. Second, expanding to 12 or more schools would allow the conference to launch a potentially lucrative conference championship game in football.

Shortly after the Big Ten announced its intention to explore expansion, the Pacific-10 Conference, under new commissioner Larry Scott, announced similar plans. As with the Big Ten, television played a major role in the Pac-10's plans, although for a different reason. The conference's then-current deal with Fox Sports Net was set to expire at the end of the 2010–11 school year, and in the wake of lucrative TV deals recently signed by the ACC and SEC, the Pac-10 apparently felt a need to expand its footprint to gain more leverage in broadcast negotiations.

Ironically, the conference realignment means that, for the time being, the Big Ten Conference will have 12 teams while the Big 12 Conference will have ten teams.

While television was undeniably a factor in the realignment speculation, it was not the only one. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick stated in an interview with Pat Forde of ESPN.com that at most schools, realignment was being driven primarily by university administrators who saw an opportunity to improve the academic image of their schools—not by athletic directors. Also, for at least two schools—Hawaiʻi and Belmont—travel costs played a major role in their decisions to change conferences; both cases are discussed in greater detail later.

Men's ice hockey

Division I men's ice hockey, as a highly regionalized sport with fewer than 60 teams participating, has traditionally maintained a structure of hockey-only conferences with little relationship to the all-sports conferences. The decision by Penn State to add varsity ice hockey starting in 2012 triggered a series of changes in the conference alignment.

Most significantly, the number of Big Ten universities with men's ice hockey programs will reach six when Penn State takes the ice. As six is the minimum number of teams needed to receive an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, the Big Ten member institutions voted to begin sponsoring ice hockey in 2013. This required the existing ice hockey programs to leave their current conferences to compete in the Big Ten. Minnesota and Wisconsin will leave the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State will leave the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

In response to the departures of those programs—with a total of 23 national championships among them—the members of the WCHA and CCHA feared a loss of national influence and conference strength. In an attempt to create a conference perceived as competitive with the Big Ten, five additional members of the WCHA (and one from the CCHA) decided to break away and form a new conference, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which will also begin play in 2013.

With the departures of Denver, North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha, and Colorado College, the WCHA would have been reduced to just 5 members (from their current 12), all of which are Division II universities. To avoid losing their Division I status, not to mention their automatic bid, the remaining members of the WCHA invited six of the seven remaining members of the CCHA to join the conference.

The situation finally settled out in Autumn 2011, with one additional WCHA and one additional CCHA team each joining the new NCHC and remaining CCHA members Bowling Green and Notre Dame joining the revamped WCHA and Hockey East respectively.

Conferences affected

Big Ten Conference

See also: Big Ten Conference

After Delany's initial announcement that the Big Ten was looking at expansion, rumors about possible expansion targets began to circulate, and by April 2010, it was reported that the Big Ten was considering expanding to as many as 14 or 16 teams.

On June 11, 2010, the University of Nebraska applied for membership in the Big Ten and was unanimously approved as the conference's 12th school. Its membership became effective July 1, 2011.

Big Ten officials later stated that they had no plans to expand beyond 12 teams in the near future.

Pacific-10 Conference

See also: Pacific-12 Conference

On June 7, 2010, the universities that comprise the Pac-10 approved potential expansion plans and authorized commissioner Larry Scott to move ahead with expansion and issue invitations to six prospective teams: Baylor/Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

On June 10, 2010, the Pac-10 announced that Colorado would be joining the conference in 2012. For several days, rumors circulated that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State might follow suit and join the Pac-10 as soon as June 15, 2010, though Texas had not yet made a final decision and Texas A&M was continuing to consider a move to the SEC.

On June 14, Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott revealed that Texas had rejected the offer to join the conference. Shortly thereafter Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M pledged to stay in the Big 12 conference. This led to widespread belief that Utah would be offered an invitation to become the 12th member of the Pac-10 in order to even out the conference and allow the Pac-10 to have a football conference championship game.

On June 17, Utah accepted an invitation to join the conference as its 12th member.

On September 21, 2010, Colorado and the Big 12 reached an agreement to allow Colorado to join the Pac-10 a year earlier in 2011.

Big 12 Conference

See also: Big 12 Conference

First wave

Colorado was originally going to transfer to the Pac-10 for the 2012-13 season, but agreed to depart a year early. Nebraska announced that it would leave the Big 12 Conference for the Big Ten Conference effective 2011, becoming the second Big 12 member to leave the conference in 2010. With the loss of Colorado (who had been a member of the Big 12 and its predecessor the Big Eight Conference since 1947) to the Pac-10 and Nebraska (whose association with the Big 12 dates back to the 1907 founding of what was to become the Big Eight) to the Big Ten, the Big 12 was reduced to ten teams, and faced more possible attrition.

Other Big 12 schools were rumored to be candidates for expansion by other conferences, including further expansion by the Pac-10 or Big Ten. Speculation and rumors centered on Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State following Colorado to the Pac-10. Texas A&M was reportedly considering a move to the SEC.

ESPN reported on June 11 that Texas, Texas Tech, and the two Oklahoma schools were prepared to accept an invitation from the Pac-10. The report also indicated that Texas A&M was torn between the Pac-10 and SEC and was given a 72-hour deadline to decide on its future destination. Meanwhile, Baylor announced that it would wait and see what the final outcome of the Big 12's realignment would be before making any final decision concerning where they would go if the Big 12 dissolved. On June 14, ESPN, citing sources within the Big 12, initially reported that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State would join the Pac-10 no later than June 15, while Texas A&M was now most likely to opt for the SEC. The remaining Big 12 schools Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri may have been left to find new leagues, with early speculation pointing to a possible move for some of those schools to the Mountain West or Big East conferences. Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self stated, on the day that TCU announced its entry into the Big East, that had the Big 12 collapsed the Big East would have offered membership to Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Missouri.

On June 14, reports started surfacing that the almost certain departure of Texas (and, along with them, several other schools) from the Big 12 would not happen. Indications were that a last-minute effort by Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe to hold the 10-remaining Big 12 teams together might be successful. Beebe's plan showed that the remaining 10 schools could nearly double their television revenue if they stick with the Big 12. In addition, Beebe said that Texas would be allowed to start its own network if the school stayed with the Big 12—a business move that Texas has wanted to do that would not be allowed in the Pac-10. If Texas decided to stay with the Big 12, that had the potential to effectively end any further realignment in the NCAA, save for one or two moves in the Pac-10 and Mountain West Conference. However, others were saying that while Texas might want to keep the Big 12 together with this deal, the remaining Big 12 South teams that were considering departing the Big 12 (Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) would not be interested in a deal that would give a school that already has a competitive advantage an even larger one.

Later that day, Andy Katz of ESPN.com, citing an NCAA source with direct knowledge of the negotiations, reported that many prominent figures inside and outside of college athletics, many of whom had no direct stake in their outcome, had worked to broker a deal that would satisfy Texas and keep the Big 12 viable with 10 members. The group believed that the Pac-10 approach was not in the best interest of the schools involved. In the end, Texas would decide to stay in the truncated Big 12, with the remaining Big 12 South schools pledging their support for the conference shortly thereafter. The Pac-10 was still seeking a 12th member to join with Colorado; early speculation focused on Mountain West member Utah as the next Pac-10 expansion target.

Arkansas is also rumored to have expressed interest in the Big 12. Arkansas was formerly a member of the Southwest Conference, has a rivalry with Texas A&M, and is the alma mater of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The Arkansas campus in Fayetteville is closer geographically to Big 12 members Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State than it is to the nearest SEC campus, Ole Miss, which is 400 miles (640 km) away.

On June 17, twenty-six Texas legislators, spearheaded by Garnet Coleman and Bill Callegari, from the Houston area co-authored an open letter to the Big 12 that asked the conference to consider adding the University of Houston as a member.

Second wave

On August 31, 2011, Texas A&M University announced they would leave the Big 12 in June 2012 to join the Southeastern Conference.

On October 6, 2011, the conference announced that it had invited TCU to join the conference to replace the departing Texas A&M. On October 10, TCU announced that it had accepted the invitation and would be joining the Big 12, effective July 1, 2012.

On October 28, 2011, the conference formally invited West Virginia University to join. The university accepted the invitation the same day, and will become a full member effective July 1, 2012. The conference's press release also hinted at Missouri's imminent departure, as it was not listed among the "expected" ten members for the 2012–13 school year.

Nine days later, on November 6, 2011, the SEC officially announced that it had added Missouri as its 14th member.

Mountain West Conference

See also: Mountain West Conference

First wave

The Mountain West, which had previously announced that their plans for expansion were on hold for a potential expansion including Boise State University, announced on June 11, in advance of a July 1 deadline for WAC teams to withdraw from their conference, that Boise State had joined the conference, and would begin play for the 2011–2012 season. Speculation at the time indicated that the conference would continue to expand if the Big 12 dissolved, in hopes of securing an automatic bid to the BCS. If Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State had left the Big 12 to join the Pac 10, presumably a fatal blow to the Big 12, the MWC would likely attempt to add any combination (or all) of the remaining Big 12 teams (Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri).

On the same day that Boise State was announced as the MWC's newest member, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, citing sources within the conference, reported that the MWC had been in communication with several of the leftover Big 12 schools, most notably Kansas and Missouri. The report indicated that Kansas State was another option, but that Baylor was not. According to the Star-Telegram, TCU would lobby strongly against Baylor because some school officials and prominent alumni were still angry over Baylor being invited into the Big 12 at TCU's expense when the Southwest Conference broke up in the mid-1990s.

With the decision of the Big 12's Texas and Oklahoma public schools to stay in that conference, the Mountain West then became an expansion target, with the Pac-10 reportedly focusing on Utah. On June 16, ESPN announced that the Pac-10 had extended an invitation to Utah to join the conference and the Utes accepted the following day.

Second wave

The June 2010 activity proved to be only the beginning of movement in the Mountain West. On August 18, Andy Katz of ESPN.com, citing multiple sources, reported that Brigham Young University was considering leaving the MWC to become an independent in football, while its other sports would rejoin the WAC. According to Katz' sources, BYU was stunned that it did not receive an invitation during the earlier conference shuffle, and the school wanted to further differentiate itself from its archrival Utah. More to the point, some see the school as a potential "Notre Dame of the West". A follow-up report from Katz later that day indicated that such a move was likely, with one source saying, "I'm not sure how it could stop now unless BYU gets nervous." On August 31, the school announced it would indeed leave the MWC in all sports, becoming independent in football, as expected, but would instead join the West Coast Conference in all other sports starting with the 2011–12 academic year.

BYU and Notre Dame share some key similarities. Both are religiously affiliated schools—BYU with the LDS Church, and Notre Dame with the Catholic Church. Both also have their own television affiliations, with BYU owning a cable channel and Notre Dame having its own network deal with NBC. With BYU's move to football independence, its arrangement with the WCC will be similar to Notre Dame's current status as a non-football member of the Big East Conference (although unlike the Big East, the WCC does not sponsor football). Katz reported that BYU is in discussions with ESPN for its football rights.

These reports were not the first to involve a possible affiliation change by BYU; local media in Utah had reported in 2007 that BYU had long considered going independent in all sports, but ultimately decided against it. The current story began to emerge in July 2010, when BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said that the school would consider going independent in football in the wake of not being invited in the earlier conference shuffle. He told reporters at that time, "We have a national base. We can go all over the country and people can see that. That is a very important thing to us right now — exposure." The story, bubbling under the surface for several weeks, erupted when hackers reportedly broke into the Twitter account of the athletic department of another MWC member, Colorado State University, and said that an announcement of BYU's plans was imminent, leading the Salt Lake Tribune to publish Holmoe's remarks on August 18.

While Katz' first report indicated that such a move by BYU was unlikely unless it gets access to the BCS similar to that of Notre Dame, his follow-up report noted that this was not a major concern for the school, and that BYU was well aware that it would not likely receive a similar arrangement to Notre Dame from the BCS. BYU had to receive approval for its move from the leadership of the LDS Church, which presumably occurred.

In the wake of BYU's potential move, the MWC responded the same day by inviting WAC members Utah State, Fresno State and Nevada to move to the MWC. The MWC also reportedly studied the feasibility of inviting Houston and UTEP, currently in Conference USA. By the end of the day, Utah State declined while Fresno State and Nevada accepted the MWC's invitations.

The one stumbling block to the departures of Nevada and Fresno State was a buyout provision agreed to by the remaining WAC schools after Boise State's departure. Under its terms, any school leaving the conference in the next five years must pay a $5 million buyout. All reports indicated that Fresno State had signed the agreement, but reports varied as to whether Nevada had done so. Reports also began to surface that BYU might reconsider leaving the MWC, and ESPN also reported that the West Coast Conference had shown interest in inviting BYU's non-football sports.

The WAC buyout agreement, however, included a number of provisions that were initially considered likely to spark legal action.

• The agreement specifically states, "In the event that no written agreement [to join the WAC] is executed by BYU on or before Sept. 1, 2010 ... then this resolution is terminated."
• The agreement reportedly called for only the first school that left the WAC to be penalized. Since Fresno State and Nevada announced their departures at essentially the same time, Fresno State claimed it owed at most half of the $5 million. Nevada claimed it owed nothing.

Although not at issue in the context of Fresno State and Nevada, it is also of note that the agreement also allowed any WAC school to leave for a conference that has an automatic BCS berth without penalty, and the WAC has long said that Louisiana Tech is free to leave the conference if it receives an invitation from C-USA.

Ultimately, the two schools and the WAC came to a settlement, with Fresno State and Nevada agreeing to remain in the conference through the 2011–12 academic year in exchange for a reduced exit fee.

Nevada's move also puts them in the same conference as their in-state rivals, the UNLV Rebels, for the first time since the 1995–96 academic year, in which they were both part of the Big West Conference. As such, this move has made the Battle for the Fremont Cannon all the more significant.

With BYU's pending defection, the Mountain West is two members shy of the twelve required to stage a Conference Championship Game; many are speculating that any combination of Utah State, UTEP, or Houston will join the Mountain West Conference.

Utah State has been rumored to have changed its mind since originally declining its invitation and is now actively seeking acceptance into the Mountain West. The Aggies feature solid programs in both men's and women's basketball, and also fit in well with the MWC's geographic footprint. Had BYU stayed in the MWC, Utah State's presence would have given the Cougars a new in-conference local rival to supplement their historic rivalry with Utah. With BYU's departure now confirmed, Utah State would secure the state's media market for the MWC.

Third wave

See also: Big West Conference

On November 19, media reports indicated that the University of Hawaiʻi was nearing a deal to join the MWC for football only, with the remainder of its sports joining the Big West Conference—a league which was once home to the school's women's sports. With respect to the MWC, UH system president M. R. C. Greenwood stated in a news conference, "We have a handshake but we have yet to agree on the details." On December 10, Hawaii accepted football-only membership in the MWC, beginning with the 2012 season. Its other sports will compete in the Big West.

Hawaiʻi began seriously looking at its options, including going independent, once Fresno State and Nevada left the WAC. With two schools on or near the West Coast leaving the conference, ultimately being replaced by two Texas schools, travel costs became an increasing concern for Hawaiʻi. A move to the MWC for football would enable the Warriors to maintain a number of existing regional rivalries. The school's other sports, and its athletic budget, were seen as likely to benefit from a move to the Big West; because all current BWC members are in California and either in or near the Los Angeles and Bay Areas (with the exception of Cal Poly), Hawaiʻi could reach all of its conference opponents by flying only to those two metropolitan areas. The application of CSU Bakersfield and UC San Diego for BWC membership alongside Hawaiʻi did not significantly change the equation, with only the San Diego area added as a potential flight destination.

The overtures toward Hawaiʻi were at least partially driven by the prospect that TCU would receive an invitation to the Big East Conference, which ultimately came on November 29. Following TCU's impending departure, several current Conference USA members in Texas, especially Houston alongside either UTEP or SMU, as well as current WAC member Utah State, were seen as potential MWC targets.

In January 2011, rumors spread that the MWC was considering further expansion. In addition to Utah State (for the second time) and the aforementioned C-USA schools in Texas, San Jose State emerged as a possible candidate. The MWC's board of directors met in Las Vegas on January 23 with expansion on the agenda, although no invitations were expected to be issued. On January 25, the board issued a statement unequivocally denying any interest in further expansion.

Football alliance

On October 14, 2011 Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference announced they have a football only alliance forming a 22 team league. The league will span 15 states and 5 time zones.

Western Athletic Conference

See also: Western Athletic Conference

During the week of June 7, amid the rumors surrounding Boise State, the WAC held a meeting of its athletic directors and university presidents in Las Vegas to discuss contingency options. The conference fully expected to lose Boise State, and according to WAC commissioner Karl Benson, there was no bitterness toward BSU by the rest of the current membership. Benson also added that the WAC was considering expanding itself, with the conference eyeing up to six current members of the second-tier Football Championship Subdivision.

Boise State left the WAC for the Mountain West at the end of the 2010–2011 season. On August 18, 2010, Nevada (Reno) and Fresno State were both extended invitations to join the Mountain West Conference, and subsequently accepted.

Four months later, Hawaiʻi also left for the Mountain West, but as a football-only member. Hawaiʻi's other sports joined the Big West. The most dominant football member of the remaining WAC had been considering football independence. With a guaranteed bowl berth into the Hawaiʻi Bowl each year, the Warriors could have negotiated their own TV deal and kept all of the profits. An NCAA rule that allows any team willing to travel to Hawaiʻi to play a 13th regular-season game (which, in practice, means an extra home game) makes it easier for the Warriors to schedule other opponents.

Since the departure of Nevada, Fresno State, and Hawaiʻi, the WAC is on shaky ground. While Idaho, San Jose State, and New Mexico State seem to be fully committed to the conference; Utah State and Louisiana Tech are exploring other options.

Utah State turned down an offer from the Mountain West at the same time that Fresno State and Nevada accepted theirs, believing that the WAC schools were going to stay together and even be stronger with the possible addition of BYU. However shortly after receiving word of the other schools' departure, Utah State has now begun to reevaluate its position. There is no solid news yet; however many expect the Aggies to try to join the Mountain West if the offer is still available.

Louisiana Tech is the easternmost school in the WAC and has very high travel costs due to the great distance between them and their conference opponents. As mentioned above, now that the Mountain West is two teams shy of being able to stage its own conference championship game, they are looking at many options. One possibility is a move to Conference USA, a conference that currently has 12 teams and a conference championship game, either as a replacement for Houston and/or UTEP, or as a 13th team. The WAC (as noted above) has long been willing to allow Louisiana Tech to leave for C-USA. Louisiana Tech could fit right in the C-USA West without having to redivide the conference. This would give Tulane an instate rival and greatly reduce LA Tech's travel cost, as all but four of the C-USA's current members are located in Gulf Coast states. LA Tech Athletics Director Bruce Van De Velde stated that LA Tech will not entertain the option of joining the Sun Belt Conference.

On Sep. 28, 2010, the WAC heard presentations from five schools in an effort to replenish their ranks after Boise State, Fresno State, and Nevada leave for the Mountain West. The schools that made presentations were:

• Three schools with FCS football programs—Texas State University–San Marcos (Texas State), a full member of the Southland Conference; the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), a non-football member of the Southland Conference that was originally scheduled to start FCS football in that conference in 2011; and the University of Montana from the Big Sky Conference. All three were being considered as football members.
• Two schools that do not sponsor varsity football—Seattle University, a Division I independent, and the University of Denver from the Sun Belt Conference.

The WAC stated at the time that they planned to issue invitations within 30 to 60 days of hearing the presentation. On November 11, the WAC announced that Denver, UTSA, and Texas State would join the WAC for the 2012–13 season for all sports (with the exception of Denver, which does not sponsor varsity football).

During a September interview with WAC commissioner Karl Benson the only school invited to a private meeting for possible expansion of teams was Montana. However, on November 11, Montana decided to remain a Football Championship Subdivision school in the Big Sky Conference.

On June 14, 2011, the WAC added Division I independent Seattle University, who had been seeking membership to the WCC in the past. Exactly one month later on July 14, the WAC added UT-Arlington from the Southland Conference.

This puts the WAC at 10 full members, 7 football and 3 non-football (Seattle, Denver, and UT-Arlington), 1 football team short of the 8 required for FBS conferences.

Big Sky Conference

See also: Big Sky Conference

Conference realignment came to the second-tier Division I FCS in September 2010, when the Big Sky Conference increased its profile in California by inviting two schools from that state—California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly SLO) and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis)—to join as football-only members. Both schools accepted; no firm date was set at that time, but both are expected to play a full Big Sky schedule starting in 2013.

Cal Poly SLO and UC Davis are currently full members of the non-football Big West Conference, with associate football-only memberships in the Great West Conference. Their move to the Big Sky gives them the chance to compete for an automatic bid in the FCS playoffs, which the Great West does not currently have. From the Big Sky's perspective, the move expands their presence in California (Sacramento State is currently a full member), and also gives the conference the ability to contend for more at-large berths in the FCS playoffs. In order to accommodate this move, the Big Sky school presidents approved an exception to the league bylaws, which normally require member schools to compete in all conference sports. The addition of Cal Poly SLO and UC Davis tentatively gave the Big Sky 11 football members; at that time, the conference was reportedly planning to expand to 12 football members in the future.

As it turned out, the conference would expand even further, issuing invitations to the University of North Dakota and Southern Utah University to become full members on October 29. On November 1, the Big Sky announced that both schools had accepted and would join effective with the 2012–13 academic year. Southern Utah is moving from The Summit League, in which it was a full member, and the Great West football conference. North Dakota currently competes in the Great West for most sports, but is not eligible for Division I postseason competition (except in ice hockey) because it has been in transition from Division II since the 2007–08 academic year. UND will complete its transition in 2012, at the same time it joins the Big Sky. The conference also announced that the University of South Dakota was on the verge of becoming a full member as well. South Dakota, currently a Great West member, also began its transition to Division I in 2007–08.

A report by the Grand Forks Herald on October 29 shed more light on the second round of Big Sky expansion. Both UND and USD were seeking a stable home for their respective football programs. USD had accepted an invitation to join The Summit League in 2011, and UND was seeking membership in that conference as well. There had been speculation for several months that The Summit League would merge with the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), which would have provided both schools a football home alongside their respective in-state rivals, North Dakota State and South Dakota State. However, no momentum had developed for such a move in fall 2010, which led both UND and USD to reevaluate their options.

Missouri Valley Football Conference

See also: Missouri Valley Football Conference

Ultimately, South Dakota decided to turn down the offer of Big Sky membership after receiving an invitation to join the MVFC on November 3. Their acceptance, which was officially announced the following day, will take effect in 2012, when USD becomes fully eligible for Division I postseason competition. This move also means that USD will follow through with its announced plans to join The Summit League in 2011.

Big East Conference

See also: Big East Conference

On November 2, 2010, the Big East Conference officially announced its plans to expand from 8 to 10 football-playing schools. ESPN.com named TCU and UCF as leading candidates, along with the upgrade of current member Villanova's FCS football program to the FBS level. Other candidates include former Big East member and current football-only MAC member Temple and C-USA members Houston and Marshall.

On November 29, 2010, TCU officially announced that it would be joining the Big East Conference as an all-sports member starting in 2012. TCU will not be subject to an exit fee from the Mountain West; under MWC bylaws, a member is allowed to leave with no penalty if it registers its intention to leave with the conference office by September 1 of the calendar year before its departure.

The original idea that TCU should join the Big East came from a somewhat unexpected source—Pitt men's basketball coach Jamie Dixon. On September 18, Dixon, a former basketball player at TCU, attended the TCU–Baylor football game and suggested the idea to TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte. After the discussion, Dixon then went to Big East commissioner John Marinatto, which started the league's expansion talks. Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti pushed especially hard for the conference to invite TCU.

At first glance, the entry of TCU—a school located more than 750 miles (1100 km) from its nearest Big East neighbor in Louisville—would put huge financial pressure on both its athletic program and those of other Big East schools, specifically with regard to travel expenses for non-revenue sports. However, Marinatto pointed out to ESPN.com Big East reporter Brian Bennett that this issue was less serious than perceived. The Big East does not require that its member schools play other league schools in the regular season in sports based on individual competition (such as swimming and diving, track, golf, and tennis). Conference teams in those sports can compete against local schools or in meets in their region and still compete in the Big East tournament. The conference only requires travel to other league schools in pure team sports (such as football, basketball, and soccer). By contrast, the MWC has such a requirement in all sports. The distance between TCU and the other conference members is less than the 1,300 miles between football members South Florida and Syracuse and comparable to the distance between Louisville and Providence.

The TCU move put pressure on Villanova to decide whether to accept its invitation to join the Big East in football. Marinatto indicated that he expects word from Villanova no later than the school's next scheduled board meeting in April 2011, and would prefer to see a decision by the end of 2010. If Villanova decides not to upgrade to FBS, UCF and Houston are seen as leading candidates for future expansion.

On September 18, 2011, the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University submitted applications to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, which were accepted later that day.

On October 10, 2011, TCU reversed its acceptance and decided not to join the Big East. Instead, TCU announced that it would accept a new invitation from the Big 12 Conference. The Big 12 is home to several former conference rivals of TCU from the Southwest Conference.

On October 28, 2011, West Virginia University was officially invited to join the Big 12 and accepted the same day. They aim become a full member effective July 1, 2012. To enforce this move, the university filed a lawsuit against the Big East, and blamed Marinatto for the departures of Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and TCU. The Big East has also filed a counter-suit against WVU to enforce the 27-month waiting period.

The Big East has invited six schools - three (Southern Methodist University, University of Houston, University of Central Florida) as full members, three as football-only members (United States Air Force Academy, United States Naval Academy, Boise State University).

Mid-American Conference

See also: Mid-American Conference

On April 19, 2011, several media outlets reported that the University of Massachusetts Amherst (also known as UMass) would upgrade its football program to FBS level and become an affiliate member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), effective in 2013, for that sport only. The formal announcement came the following day at a joint UMass–MAC press conference; the effective date of UMass' move will be 2012, with full FBS membership and eligibility for the conference championship coming in 2013. The school will continue to maintain all other current conference affiliations, mostly in the Atlantic 10 Conference, also the home of fellow MAC football-only member Temple University.

As a part of this football upgrade, the Minutemen will move from the 17,000-seat Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium on its Amherst campus, whose capacity is only modestly above the NCAA's requirement of 15,000 average attendance for FBS football. Starting in 2012, they will play their home games 93 miles (150 km) away at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, the 69,000-seat home of the NFL's New England Patriots and the New England Revolution of MLS.

Ohio Valley Conference

See also: Ohio Valley Conference

On May 13, 2011, the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and Belmont University jointly announced that Belmont would leave the non-football Atlantic Sun Conference to become the 12th member of the OVC in July 2012. Belmont becomes the second OVC member in Nashville, joining Tennessee State; the OVC headquarters are in the suburb of Brentwood. Three other member schools are located in Tennessee (Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, and UT–Martin), and a fourth (Murray State) is in a Kentucky county that borders Tennessee.

Belmont had aspirations of joining the OVC while it was transitioning from NAIA to NCAA Division I, but could not at the time because the OVC then required all members to sponsor football. This rule does not exist today—one member, Morehead State, plays non-scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League, and another member, SIU Edwardsville, does not sponsor the sport. Belmont president Dr. Robert C. Fisher unequivocally denied any interest in starting a football program, stating "Football is not on the back burner. It’s not on any burner."

Belmont must pay a $200,000 exit fee to the Atlantic Sun. However, Belmont AD Mike Strickland said, "...ballpark, I think it is going to be well over $250,000 a year in savings because we fly a lot in the Atlantic Sun. Half the places in the OVC we won’t spend the night, so it will be a great savings and hopefully we can reinvest that in our programs." Fisher shared that sentiment, adding, "We will more than make that up in travel costs the first year. We don’t have to get on an airplane. The longest trip we have to take in the OVC is about the same distance as our shortest trip outside of Nashville to play an A-Sun team." Although Belmont will leave behind an in-city rival in Lipscomb, all involved with the move are adamant that they wish that rivalry to continue.

Belmont also becomes the first private school in the OVC since Samford University left for the Southern Conference in 2008, and only the third ever to compete in the conference (University of Evansville was the first).

Atlantic Coast Conference

See also: Atlantic Coast Conference

Multiple schools were rumored as possibilities to join the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). On September 18, 2011, the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University officially applied to join the ACC. The applications were accepted later that day. Both teams were from the Big East Conference. Even Jim Boeheim, who has played or coached men's basketball at Syracuse for 50 years, did not know about the change in affiliation before it occurred.

Southeastern Conference

See also: Southeastern Conference

As with the ACC, multiple schools were rumored to be considering joining the Southeastern Conference (SEC). On August 31, 2011, Texas A&M University announced it would leave the Big 12 Conference to join the SEC. More than two months later, on November 6, 2011, the University of Missouri announced that it would be following Texas A&M from the Big 12 to the SEC.

Southland Conference

See also: Southland Conference

On October 25, 2011, the conference announced Oral Roberts University would join in 2012.

Membership changes

Full membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference	Date move was announced	Expected year move takes effect
South Dakota Coyotes	Great West	The Summit	April 15, 2010	2011
Colorado Buffaloes	Big 12	Pac-12	June 10, 2010	2011
Boise State Broncos	WAC	Mountain West	June 11, 2010	2011
Nebraska Cornhuskers	Big 12	Big Ten	June 11, 2010	2011
Utah Utes	Mountain West	Pac-12	June 17, 2010	2011
Fresno State Bulldogs	WAC	Mountain West	August 18, 2010	2012
Nevada Wolf Pack	WAC	Mountain West	August 18, 2010	2012
BYU Cougars	Mountain West	WCC (non-football)	August 31, 2010	2011
North Dakota Fighting Sioux	Great West	Big Sky	November 1, 2010	2012
Southern Utah Thunderbirds	The Summit (Great West for football)	Big Sky (all sports)	November 1, 2010	2012
UTSA Roadrunners	Southland	WAC	November 10, 2010	2012
Texas State Bobcats	Southland	WAC	November 10, 2010	2012
Denver Pioneers	Sun Belt (non-football)	WAC (non-football)	November 10, 2010	2012
TCU Horned Frogs	Mountain West	Big East	November 29, 2010	2012
Hawaiʻi Warriors	WAC	Big West	December 10, 2010	2012
Nebraska–Omaha Mavericks	MIAA (Division II)	The Summit	March 12, 2011	2012
Belmont Bruins	Atlantic Sun (non-football)	OVC (non-football)	May 13, 2011	2012
Seattle Redhawks	Division I Independent (non-football)	WAC (non-football)	June 14, 2011	2012
UT Arlington Mavericks	Southland (non-football)	WAC (non-football)	July 14, 2011	2012
Texas A&M Aggies	Big 12	SEC	August 31, 2011	2012
Syracuse Orange	Big East	ACC	September 18, 2011	2014
Pittsburgh Panthers	Big East	ACC	September 18, 2011	2014
TCU Horned Frogs	Mountain West/Big East	Big 12	October 10, 2011	2012
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles	The Summit (non-football)	Southland (non-football)	October 25, 2011	2012
West Virginia Mountaineers	Big East	Big 12	October 28, 2011	2012
Missouri Tigers	Big 12	SEC	November 6, 2011	2012

Affiliate/single sport changes

School	Sport(s)	Former conference	New conference	Date move was announced	Expected year move takes effect
Creighton Bluejays	Women's Rowing	Independent	WCC	August 16, 2010	2010
Seattle Redhawks	Women's Golf	Independent	WCC	August 26, 2010	2010
BYU Cougars	Football	Mountain West	Independent	August 31, 2010	2011
Cal Poly SLO Mustangs	Football	Great West	Big Sky	September 7, 2010	2012
UC Davis Aggies	Football	Great West	Big Sky	September 7, 2010	2012
Penn State Nittany Lions	Men's ice hockey	No hockey program	Independent	September 17, 2010	2012
BYU Cougars	Men's and women's swimming and diving	Mountain West	MPSF	October 19, 2010	2012
South Dakota Coyotes	Football	Great West	MVFC	November 3, 2010	2012
Mercer Bears	Football	No football program	Pioneer	November 20, 2010	2013
Rhode Island Rams	Football	CAA	NEC	November 22, 2010	2013
Hawaiʻi Warriors	Football	WAC	Mountain West	December 10, 2010	2012
BYU Cougars	Softball	Mountain West	WAC	January 27, 2011	2012
Stetson Hatters	Football	No football program	Pioneer	March 14, 2011	2013
BYU Cougars	Men's and women's indoor track and field	Mountain West	MPSF	March 17, 2011	2012
Minnesota Golden Gophers	Men's ice hockey	WCHA	Big Ten	March 21, 2011	2013
Wisconsin Badgers	Men's ice hockey	WCHA	Big Ten	March 21, 2011	2013
Michigan Wolverines	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	Big Ten	March 21, 2011	2013
Michigan State Spartans	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	Big Ten	March 21, 2011	2013
Ohio State Buckeyes	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	Big Ten	March 21, 2011	2013
Penn State Nittany Lions	Men's ice hockey	Independent	Big Ten	March 21, 2011	2013
UMass Minutemen	Football	CAA	MAC	April 20, 2011	2012
Sacramento State Hornets	Men's soccer	MPSF	Big West	May 24, 2011	2012
North Dakota Fighting Sioux	Women's swimming and diving	Great West	WAC	June 15, 2011	2012
Boise State Broncos	Women's gymnastics	WAC	Independent	July 1, 2011	2011
North Dakota Fighting Sioux	Men's ice hockey	WCHA	NCHC	July 13, 2011	2013
Miami RedHawks	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	NCHC	July 13, 2011	2013
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks	Men's ice hockey	WCHA	NCHC	July 13, 2011	2013
Denver Pioneers	Men's ice hockey	WCHA	NCHC	July 13, 2011	2013
Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs	Men's ice hockey	WCHA	NCHC	July 13, 2011	2013
Colorado College Tigers	Men's ice hockey	WCHA	NCHC	July 13, 2011	2013
Northern Michigan Wildcats	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	WCHA	July 20, 2011	2013
Ferris State Bulldogs	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	WCHA	August 27, 2011	2013
Alaska Nanooks	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	WCHA	August 27, 2011	2013
Lake Superior State Lakers	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	WCHA	August 27, 2011	2013
Penn State Nittany Lions	Women's ice hockey	No hockey program	CHA	September 6, 2011	2012
CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners	Men's and women's outdoor track & field, women's tennis	Independent	Great West	September 16, 2011	2013
CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners	Baseball	Independent	WAC	September 19, 2011	2013
Dallas Baptist Patriots	Baseball	Independent	WAC	September 19, 2011	2013
Western Michigan Broncos	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	NCHC	September 22, 2011	2013
St. Cloud State Huskies	Men's ice hockey	WCHA	NCHC	September 22, 2011	2013
Bowling Green Falcons	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	WCHA	October 4, 2011	2013
Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Men's ice hockey	CCHA	Hockey East	October 5, 2011	2013
All Mountain West schools	Football	Mountain West	New conference	October 14, 2011	2013
All Conference USA schools	Football	C-USA	New conference	October 14, 2011	2013
Alabama-Huntsville Chargers	Men's ice hockey	Independent	No hockey program	October 24, 2011	2012

Rumored and possible changes

Below is a list of schools that reportedly considered changing conferences during the 2010–11 conference realignment.

School	Current conference	Most likely new conference	Other possible conferences
Texas Longhorns	Big 12	Pac-12	Big Ten; Independent
Texas Tech Red Raiders	Big 12	Pac-12	SEC
Oklahoma Sooners	Big 12	Pac-12	SEC
Oklahoma State Cowboys	Big 12	Pac-12	SEC
Baylor Bears	Big 12	Mountain West	Big East
Iowa State Cyclones	Big 12	Big East	Mountain West
Kansas State Wildcats	Big 12	Mountain West	Big East
Kansas Jayhawks	Big 12	Big East	Pac-12,Mountain West
Boise State Broncos	Mountain West	Big East (football only)	Big West, WAC, or Big Sky for non-football
Air Force Falcons	Mountain West	Big East (football only)	MVC, WCC, or WAC for non-football
Navy Midshipmen	Patriot League (Independent in football)	Big East (football only)	None
UCF Knights	Conference USA	Big East (all sports)	None
Houston Cougars	Conference USA	Big East (all sports)	Mountain West, Big 12
SMU Mustangs	Conference USA	Big East (all sports)	Mountain West, Big 12
BYU Cougars	WCC (Independent in football)	Big East (football only)	Big 12
Army Black Knights	Patriot League (Independent in football)	Big East (football only)	None
East Carolina Pirates	Conference USA	Big East (all sports)	None
Temple Owls	Atlantic 10 (MAC for football)	Big East (football only or all sports)	None
Memphis Tigers	Conference USA	Big East (all sports)	Big 12
Villanova Wildcats	Big East (CAA in football)	Big East (all sports)	None
San Diego State Aztecs	Mountain West	Big East (football only)	Big 12
Richmond Spiders	Atlantic 10 (CAA in football)	Big East (football only or all sports)	None
Connecticut Huskies	Big East	ACC	None
Louisville Cardinals	Big East	Big 12	None
Cincinnati Bearcats	Big East	Big 12	None
Rutgers Scarlet Knights	Big East	Big Ten	ACC
Maryland Terrapins	ACC	Big Ten	SEC
Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Big East (Independent in football)	Independent	ACC, Big East, (all sports) Big 12 (all sports)
Utah State Aggies	WAC	Mountain West	None
San Jose State Spartans	WAC	Mountain West	None
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs	WAC	Conference USA	Sun Belt
New Mexico State Aggies	WAC	Sun Belt	Conference USA
Marshall Thundering Herd	Conference USA	Big East (football only)	None
UTEP Miners	Conference USA	Mountain West	None
Utah Valley Wolverines	Great West (non-football)	WAC (non-football)	None
Sam Houston State Bearkats	Southland	WAC	None
Lamar Cardinals	Southland	WAC	None
Montana Grizzlies	Big Sky	WAC	None
Montana State Bobcats	Big Sky	WAC	None
Sacramento State Hornets	Big Sky	WAC	None
Cal Poly Mustangs	Big West (Big Sky for football)	WAC	None
UC Davis Aggies	Big West (Big Sky for football)	WAC	None
North Texas Mean Green	Sun Belt	Conference USA	None
Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns	Sun Belt	WAC	None
CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners	Division I Independent (non-football)	Big West (non-football)	WAC
UC San Diego Tritons	CCAA (non-football, Division II)	Big West (non-football)	None
Tennessee State Tigers	OVC	SWAC	None
North Alabama Lions	Gulf South (Division II)	OVC	None
Northern Kentucky Norse	GLVC (Division II)	The Summit	A-Sun, OVC
Jacksonville State Gamecocks	OVC	Sun Belt	WAC
Clemson Tigers	ACC	SEC	None
Florida State Seminoles	ACC	SEC	None
Appalachian State Mountaineers	SoCon	Conference USA	None
UIW Cardinals	LSC (Division II)	Southland	None
Houston Baptist Huskies	Great West (non-football)	Southland (non-football)	None

See also

• NCAA conference realignment
• 2005 NCAA conference realignment
• 1996 NCAA conference realignment

External links

• CollegeSportsInfo.com Conference realignment news and updates
• Conference realignment historical grid