Conference USA

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Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference which is now in 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.

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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 raided Conference USA. 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:

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East Division

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment
University of Central Florida (UCF) Orlando, Florida 1963 Public 45,090
East Carolina University Greenville, North Carolina 1907 Public 24,075
Marshall University Huntington, West Virginia 1837 Public 16,400
University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee 1912 Public 20,668
The University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, Mississippi 1910 Public 15,050
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Birmingham, Alabama 1945 Public 16,693
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West Division

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment
University of Houston Houston, Texas 1927 Public 35,180
Rice University Houston, Texas 1891 Private/Non-sectarian 4,835
Southern Methodist University University Park, Texas 1911 Private/Methodist 10,901
Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana 1834 Private/Non-sectarian 13,214
University of Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma 1894 Private/Presbyterian 4,174
University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) El Paso, Texas 1914 Public 18,918
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Championships

  • Football: Following the division of the conference into East and West Divisions, the conference began holding a championship game pitting the leading teams from each division against each other. The first such game was played on Dec. 3, 2005, between Tulsa and UCF, both surprising come-from-behind teams who had struggled in previous years and were new to the conference. Tulsa won the first C-USA championship game 44-27. It was held at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Conference USA Champions

  • 1996 Houston & Southern Miss
  • 1997 Southern Miss
  • 1998 Tulane
  • 1999 Southern Miss
  • 2000 Louisville
  • 2001 Louisville
  • 2002 Cincinnati & TCU
  • 2003 Southern Miss
  • 2004 Louisville
  • 2005 Tulsa
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C-USA

East Carolina Pirates
Houston Cougars
Marshall Thundering Herd
Memphis Tigers
Rice Owls
SMU Mustangs
Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Tulane Green Wave
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
UAB Blazers
UCF Golden Knights
UTEP Miners
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Former members

The schools that departed in 2005 were:

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Conference USA Men's Soccer Only Members

Because men's soccer is not sponsored by all major conferences, three schools in other conferences are C-USA members for men's soccer.

Sun Belt Conference Member

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

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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.

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Conference Stadia

School Football stadium Stadium capacity Basketball arena 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 48,000 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
Tulane Louisiana Superdome 76,791 Avron B. Fogelman Arena 3,600
Tulsa Skelly Stadium 40,385 Reynolds Center 8,355
UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium 52,000 Don Haskins Center 12,000
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External links


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