Conference USA

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Conference USA
Conference USA
Data
Classification NCAA Division I FBS
Established 1995
Members 12 full-time, 3 part-time
Sports fielded 19 (9 men's, 10 women's)
Region Southern United States
States 12 – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma,
Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia;
For men's soccer only, Kentucky
and South Carolina
For women's soccer only, Colorado College
Headquarters Irving, Texas
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 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, except football which started in 1996.

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

Contents

Members 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 UCF; three other schools—Florida International, and the two Southeastern Conference schools which sponsor the sport — Kentucky (which joined with its SEC mate in 2005), and the South Carolina (which rejoined C-USA for the sport in 2005) — compete as men's soccer only members.

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.

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.

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Joined
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Birmingham, Alabama 1969 Public 17,600 1995
University of Central Florida (UCF) Orlando, Florida 1963 Public 45,090 2005
East Carolina University (ECU) Greenville, North Carolina 1907 Public 25,990 1997 (football)
2001 (all other sports)
University of Houston Houston, Texas 1927 Public 35,180 1995 **
Marshall University Huntington, West Virginia 1837 Public 16,400 2005
University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee 1912 Public 20,668 1995
Rice University Houston, Texas 1891 Private/Non-sectarian 4,835 2005
Southern Methodist University (SMU) University Park, Texas 1911 Private/Methodist 10,901 2005
The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Hattiesburg, Mississippi 1910 Public 15,050 1995
University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) El Paso, Texas 1914 Public 20,154 2005
Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana 1834 Private/Non-sectarian 13,214 1995
University of Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma 1894 Private/Presbyterian 4,174 2005

** - Houston was a founding member of C-USA in 1995, but did not begin competing until 1996 because of it's commitments to the final year of competition of the Southwest Conference.

East

West

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.)

Additionally there is one women's soccer only member:

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Members (The SCAC is a NCAA Division 3 conference, however Colorado College sponsors women's soccer as a Division 1 sport.)

In 2005, C-USA began a long-term television contract with College Sports Television 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.

School Football stadium Capacity Basketball arena Capacity Baseball stadium Capacity Soccer stadium Capacity
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 43,000 Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum 8,000 Clark-Leclaire Stadium 6,000 Bunting Field >3,000
Houston Robertson Stadium 32,000 Hofheinz Pavilion 8,500 Cougar Field 3,500 Carl Lewis International Complex n/a
Marshall Joan C. Edwards Stadium 38,019 Cam Henderson Center 9,600 Sam Hood Field 1,500
Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 62,380 FedExForum 19,000 Mike Rose Stadium 2,500
Rice Rice Stadium 70,000 Autry Court 5,000 Reckling Park 3,500 Rice Track/Soccer Stadium 5,000
SMU Gerald J. Ford Stadium 32,000 Moody Coliseum 8,998 Westcott Field 4,000
Southern Miss M. M. Roberts Stadium 33,000 Reed Green Coliseum 8,095 USM Track & Soccer Complex n/a
UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium 51,500 Don Haskins Center 12,222 University Field 500
Tulane Louisiana Superdome 69,703 Avron B. Fogelman Arena 3,600 Turchin Stadium 5,000 Westfeldt Facility 1,500
Tulsa Skelly Stadium 35,542 Reynolds Center 8,355 Hurricane Soccer & Track Stadium 2,000
Kentucky* Plays in SEC n/a Plays in SEC n/a Plays in SEC n/a UK Soccer Complex 1,500
South Carolina* Plays in SEC n/a Plays in SEC n/a Plays in SEC n/a Stone Stadium 5,700

* - Men's soccer only member

Conference USA sends teams to seven different bowls throughout the country.

v • d • e
NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Conferences
Atlantic Coast Conference * · Big 12 Conference * · Big East Conference * · Big Ten Conference * · Conference USA · Mid-American Conference · Mountain West Conference · Pacific-10 Conference * · Southeastern Conference * · Sun Belt Conference · Western Athletic Conference · Independents
* Conference champion receives an automatic BCS bid
v • d • e
Conference USA
West Division
East Division
Soccer-Only Members
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conference_USA"
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