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Conference USA

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Conference USA
Conference USA
Data
Classification NCAA Division I-A
Established 1995
Members 12 full-time, 3 part-time
Sports fielded 19 (9 men's, 10 women's)
Region Southern United States
States 11 – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma,
Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia;
For men's soccer only, Kentucky and South Carolina
Headquarters Irving, Texas

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, and in Division I-A for football. C-USA was generally considered to be among the best mid-major (non-BCS) conferences in the country before it was affected by conference realignment in 2005.

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. The conference immediately started competition in all sports, including football.

C-USA's offices are located in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas, specifically in the Las Colinas business district.

Sports sponsored

Member schools 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.

Men's soccer is only sponsored by Marshall, Memphis, Southern Methodist, Tulsa, UAB, and Central Florida; three other schools—Florida International University, and the two Southeastern Conference schools which sponsor the sport -- University of Kentucky (which joined with its SEC mate in 2005), and the University of South Carolina (which rejoined C-USA for the sport in 2005) -- compete as men's soccer only members.

Member schools

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) - the other two were non-football programs, (DePaul and Marquette). Another two schools, (Charlotte and Saint Louis) left for the Atlantic 10; Texas Christian University joined the Mountain West; and a ninth member, Army, which was C-USA football-only, opted to become an independent in that sport.

With the loss of these teams, C-USA was forced to lure six teams from other conferences: Central Florida 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:

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Birmingham, Alabama 1969 Public 17,600
University of Central Florida (UCF) Orlando, Florida 1963 Public 45,090
East Carolina University (ECU) Greenville, North Carolina 1907 Public 24,075
University of Houston Houston, Texas 1927 Public 35,180
Marshall University Huntington, West Virginia 1837 Public 16,400
University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee 1912 Public 20,668
Rice University Houston, Texas 1891 Private/Non-sectarian 4,835
Southern Methodist University (SMU) University Park, Texas 1911 Private/Methodist 10,901
The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Hattiesburg, Mississippi 1910 Public 15,050
University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) El Paso, Texas 1914 Public 18,918
Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana 1834 Private/Non-sectarian 13,214
University of Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma 1894 Private/Presbyterian 4,174

C-USA Football Divisions

East

West

Former members

The schools that departed in 2005 were:

Conference USA men's 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

Southeastern Conference Members (Both members are the only SEC schools which play the sport)

Television

In 2005, C-USA began a long-term exclusive television contract with College Sports Television to carry a variety of sports. The deal replaced one it had with ESPN and ESPN Plus. The college basketball men's championship game can be seen on CBS Sports.

Conference facilities

School Football stadium Capacity Basketball arena Capacity
UAB Legion Field 71,594 Bartow Arena 8,508
UCF Citrus Bowl* 65,438 UCF Arena* 5,300
East Carolina Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium 43,000 Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum 8,000
Houston Robertson Stadium 33,000 Hofheinz Pavilion 8,500
Marshall Joan C. Edwards Stadium 38,019 Cam Henderson Center 9,600
Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 62,380 FedExForum 19,000
Rice Rice Stadium 72,000 Autry Court 5,000
SMU Gerald J. Ford Stadium 32,000 Moody Coliseum 8,998
Southern Miss. M. M. Roberts Stadium 33,000 Reed Green Coliseum 8,095
UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium 52,000 Don Haskins Center 12,000
Tulane Louisiana Superdome 76,791 Avron B. Fogelman Arena 3,600
Tulsa Skelly Stadium 35,542 Reynolds Center 8,355

* - Last Season

Championships

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