Conference USA

Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a group of college sports teams that play each other on the NCAA Division I level. It was formed in 1995 when the Great Midwest Conference and Metro Conference merged, and has added several members since then. Most of the new members have come from either the Western Athletic Conference or the Sun Belt Conference. From 2005 to 2014, it also lost many members, mostly to the original Big East Conference and its football-playing offshoot, the American Athletic Conference.

The conference sends several teams to bowl games every year, including the Liberty Bowl and New Orleans Bowl.

Memphis (now a member of The American) has been the most successful men's basketball team in the conference, reaching the national championship game in 2008. (However, the NCAA later took Memphis's wins from that season away because a Memphis player, namely Derrick Rose, had not been eligible to play.)

Members

University of Tulsa playing basketball against the University of Alabama at Birmingham

Conference USA now has 14 "full members" which play most of their sports in the league; all except Rice are public schools. Also, 13 of the 14 schools play football in the top-level Division I FBS. The one non-football member, Charlotte, only started playing football in 2013, and will join the C-USA football league in 2015.

In football only, the schools are split into East and West Divisions. This allows the division winners to play a conference championship game.

School	Location	Founded	Type (affiliation)	Nickname	Joined	Football Division
Charlotte University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte)	Charlotte, North Carolina	1946	Public	49ers	1995, 2013	0 N/A
FIU Florida International University (FIU)	Miami, Florida	1965	Public	Panthers	2013	East
Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton, Florida	1961	Public	Owls	2013	East
Louisiana Tech University	Ruston, Louisiana	1894	Public	Bulldogs & Lady Techsters	2013	West
Marshall University	Huntington, West Virginia	1837	Public	Thundering Herd	2005	East
Middle Tennessee State University	Murfreesboro, Tennessee	1911	Public	Blue Raiders	2005	East
North Texas University of North Texas	Denton, Texas	1890	Public	Mean Green	2013	West
Old Dominion University	Norfolk, Virginia	1930	Public	Monarchs & Lady Monarchs	2013	East
Rice University	Houston, Texas	1912	Private	Owls	2005	West
Southern Miss University of Southern Mississippi	Hattiesburg, Mississippi	1910	Public	Golden Eagles & Lady Eagles	1995	West
UAB University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)	Birmingham, Alabama	1969	Public	Blazers	1995	East
UTEP University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)	El Paso, Texas	1914	Public	Miners & Lady Miners	2005	West
UTSA University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)	San Antonio, Texas	1969	Public	Roadrunners	2013	West
Western Kentucky University (WKU)	Bowling Green, Kentucky	1906	Public	Hilltoppers & Lady Toppers	2014	East

Associate members

C-ISA now has three "associate members", all of which play men's soccer in the conference.

School	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	C-USA Sport	Joined	Main Conference
Kentucky University of Kentucky	Lexington, Kentucky	1865	Public	Wildcats	Men's soccer	2005	SEC
New Mexico University of New Mexico	Albuquerque, New Mexico	1889	Public	Lobos	Men's soccer	2013	Mountain West
South Carolina University of South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	1801	Public	Gamecocks	Men's soccer	2005	SEC

Former full members

No fewer than 14 schools have left C-USA since it was founded. Most of these schools are now members of the American Athletic Conference.

School	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current Conference
Cincinnati University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	1819	Public	Bearcats	1995	2005	American The American
DePaul University	Chicago, Illinois	1898	Private	Blue Demons	1995	2005	Big East
East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina	1907	Public	Pirates	2001	2014	American The American
Houston University of Houston	Houston, Texas	1907	Public	Cougars	1996	2013	American The American
Louisville University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	1798	Public	Cardinals	1995	2005	ACC
Marquette University	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	1881	Private	Golden Eagles	1995	2005	Big East
Memphis University of Memphis	Memphis, Tennessee	1912	Public	Tigers	1995	2013	American The American
Saint Louis University	St. Louis, Missouri	1818	Private	Billikens	1995	2005	Atlantic 10
SMU Southern Methodist University (SMU)	University Park, Texas	1911	Private	Mustangs	2005	2013	American The American
South Florida University of South Florida	Tampa, Florida	1956	Public	Bulls	1995	2005	American The American
TCU Texas Christian University (TCU)	Fort Worth, Texas	1873	Private	Horned Frogs & Lady Frogs	2001	2005	Big 12
Tulane University	New Orleans, Louisiana	1834	Private	Green Wave	1995	2014	American The American
Tulsa University of Tulsa	Tulsa, Oklahoma	1894	Private	Golden Hurricane	2005	2014	American The American
UCF University of Central Florida (UCF)	Orlando, Florida	1963	Public	Knights	2005	2013	American The American

Former associate members

In addition to the former full members, 14 other schools have been associate members in the past, but have moved their C-USA sports elsewhere. Most notably, the United States Military Academy, more often called "Army" in a sports context, was a football member from 1996 to 2005 (final C-USA season in 2004).

References

• "Conference USA". conferenceusa.cstv.com. http://conferenceusa.cstv.com/. Retrieved 2014-07-10.