American Athletic Conference

The Big East Conference was founded in 1979 as a basketball conference and included the colleges of Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse, which in turn invited Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College to be members.[8][9] UConn and Boston College would accept the invitation, while Holy Cross soon thereafter declined the invitation, and Rutgers eventually declined and remained in the Atlantic 10 Conference (then known as the Eastern 8 Conference). Seton Hall was then invited as a replacement and the conference started play with seven members.[9]

Villanova and Pittsburgh joined shortly thereafter under the leadership of the first Big East commissioner, Dave Gavitt.[10][11][12]

The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991, when it began to sponsor football, adding Miami as a full member, and Rutgers, Temple, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia as football-only members.[13] Rutgers and West Virginia were offered full all-sports membership in 1995, while Virginia Tech waited until 2000 for the same offer. Temple football was kicked out after the 2004 season, but rejoined in 2012 and intended to become a full member in 2013.

The unusual structure of the Big East, with the "football" and "non-football" schools, led to instability in the conference.[14] The waves of defection and replacement brought about by the conference realignments of 2005 and the early 2010s revealed tension between the football-sponsoring and non-football schools that eventually led to the split of the conference in 2013.[15]

UCF

Cincinnati

East Carolina

Florida

Old Dominion

Houston

Memphis

South Florida

SMU

Tulane

Tulsa

Sacramento State

San Diego State

Temple

Navy

Vanderbilt

Wichita State

– All-sports member
– Full, non-football member
– Associate member (football)
– Associate member (women's lacrosse)
– Associate member (women's rowing)
– Associate member (women's lacrosse & rowing)

The conference was reorganized following the tumultuous period of realignment that hobbled the Big East between 2010 and 2013. The Big East was one of the most severely impacted conferences during the most recent conference realignment period. In all, 14 member schools announced their departure for other conferences, and 15 other schools announced plans to join the conference (eight as all-sports members, and four for football only). Three of the latter group later backed out of their plans to join (one for all sports, and the other two for football only).

On December 15, 2012, the Big East's seven remaining non-FBS schools, all Catholic institutions consisting of DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova announced that they voted unanimously to leave the Big East Conference effective June 30, 2015.[16][17] The "Catholic 7", by leaving, were looking for a more lucrative television deal than the one they would receive by remaining with the football schools.[18] In March 2013, representatives of the Catholic 7 announced they would leave the conference effective June 30, 2013, retaining the Big East name, $10 million, and the right to hold the conference's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.[3][19]

Following the announcement of the departure of the Catholic 7 universities, the remaining ten football-playing members started the process of selecting a new name for the conference and choosing a new site to hold its basketball tournament.[20][21] Various names were considered, with the "America 12" conference reportedly one of the finalists until rejected by college presidents sensitive of adding a number to the end of the conference name.[22] On April 3, 2013, the conference announced that it had chosen a new name: American Athletic Conference.[1] The conference also revealed that it prefers the nickname "The American" because it was thought "AAC" would cause too much confusion with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).[23]

To restate and clarify a somewhat confusing series of events: on July 1, the original Big East changed its name to the American Athletic Conference, while the "Catholic 7" split off and joined Butler, Creighton, and Xavier to form a "new" Big East. While The American is reckoned as the original conference and the "new" Big East is considered a spinoff, the "new" Big East retained the rights to the original Big East logo, trademarks, and men's basketball tournament.

Louisville and Rutgers spent one season in the newly renamed conference. On July 1, 2014, Louisville joined the ACC[24] and Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference.[25] On that same day, East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa joined The American for all sports, while Sacramento State and San Diego State joined as associate members for women's rowing.[26][27] Navy joined as an associate member in football on July 1, 2015.[26]

For the next several years, The American did not discuss the addition of any new members. However, in March 2017, media reports indicated that the conference was seriously considering adding one or more new members specifically as basketball upgrades. Wichita State, Dayton, and VCU were reportedly considered, with Wichita State being seen as the strongest candidate.[28] By the end of that month, it was reported that talks between the American and Wichita State had advanced to the point that the two sides were discussing a timeline for membership, with the possibility of the Shockers joining as a full but non-football member as early as the 2017–18 school year. The report indicated that a final decision would be made in April.[29][30][31] The conference's board of directors voted unanimously on April 7 to add Wichita State effective in July 2017, making the Shockers the league's first full non-football member since the Big East split.[32]

On June 21, 2019, a Boston-area sports news website, Digital Sports Desk, revealed that UConn was expected to announce by the end of the month that it would leave the American for the Big East Conference in 2020.[33] The story was picked up by multiple national media outlets the next day. The main issue that reportedly had to be resolved prior to any official announcement was the future of UConn football, as the Big East does not sponsor that sport, and sources indicated that the American had no interest in retaining UConn as a football-only member. Reportedly, American Conference insiders were not surprised by UConn's prospective move, as that school had been vigorously opposed to that league's most recently announced television deal.[34][35]

National media believed that should UConn leave the American, the conference's likeliest response would be to bring in two new schools—one for football only and a second in non-football sports, similar to the American's sequential additions of Navy and Wichita State. The most likely prospects for football-only membership were seen as Army (currently an FBS independent, with most of its other sports in the Patriot League), and Air Force (currently an all-sports member of the Mountain West Conference). Any of several schools could potentially fill the non-football slot, with Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports considering VCU to be "the most logical target there." Thamel dismissed the prospect of the American adding a new all-sports member, saying "there's no obvious candidate who could add value in both basketball and football."[34][35]

On June 24, 2019, it was reported that the Big East had formally approved an invitation for UConn to join the conference.[36] On June 26, 2019, the UConn Board of Trustees accepted the invitation and they are expected to join the league for the 2020–2021 season.[37] On July 26, media reports indicated that UConn and The American had reached a buyout agreement that confirmed UConn's Big East arrival date as July 1, 2020, paying the American a $17 million exit fee.[38]

It was widely reported that UConn was "rejoining" the Big East, given that the Huskies would be reunited with many of the schools against which it played for three decades in the original Big East. Indeed, UConn was the last charter member of the old Big East still playing in The American.

The American took a number of steps to stabilize the conference after the departure of UConn. The first move was the addition of Old Dominion University as an associate member in women's lacrosse for the 2020–21 season. Old Dominion was previously added to The American for women's rowing beginning in the 2018–19 season.[39]

The American moved their headquarters from Providence, Rhode Island to Irving, Texas. This was a planned move, to better centralize the conference offices with the member schools. Irving is in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, which is also home to the headquarters of the Big 12 Conference, College Football Playoff, and the National Football Foundation.[40] The conference also moved the men's basketball tournament to the region, to be played at the new Dickies Arena until 2022.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, some member schools have eliminated sports due to budget constraints. The University of Cincinnati eliminated its men's soccer program[41] while East Carolina University canceled men and women's swimming and diving teams and tennis teams.[42] Women's rowing member San Diego State University dropped that sport effective with the end of the 2020–21 season.[43]

Full members Full members (non-football) Assoc. members (football only) Assoc. member (Other sports) Other Conference

Departing associate San Diego State, which will drop women's rowing at the end of the 2020–21 season, highlighted in red.

Three full members have departed from the conference.

One associate member has left the conference.

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total
Cincinnati	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	8
East Carolina	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	Y	7
Houston	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	Y	7
Memphis	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	9
South Florida	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	9
SMU	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	6
Temple	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	6
Tulane	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	6
Tulsa	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
UCF	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	6
Wichita State	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Associate Member
Navy[note 7]	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Totals	8	11	9	11	10	6	2	8	8	8	82

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools:

School	Rifle[note 8]	Rowing[note 9]
Memphis	GARC	N
Temple	N	Independent

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Lacrosse	Rowing	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball	Total
Cincinnati	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
East Carolina	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	9
Houston	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Memphis	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
South Florida	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
SMU	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Temple	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Tulane	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Tulsa	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
UCF	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Wichita State	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Associate Members
Florida	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Old Dominion	N	N	N	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	2
Sacramento State	N	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
San Diego State	N	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Vanderbilt	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Totals	11	11	10	6	7	9	7	4	10	11	11	11	107

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools:

• Women's Bowling – The Southland Conference provides administrative support for the Southland Bowling League, but the SBL operates independently from regular conference operations.[58] The women's bowling league was established in 2015 and includes Southland Conference members Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin, plus Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, Valparaiso, Vanderbilt, and Youngstown State.

As of the conclusion of the 2019 season. Conference wins and losses are since the formation of The American.

The American Championship Game pits the Eastern Division representative against the Western Division representative in a game held following the conclusion of the regular season. The site of the Championship Game is the home stadium of the division champion with the best overall conference record. In the event that the two division champions are tied, then the head-to-head record shall be used as the tiebreaker. Prior to the 2015 season, when the conference split into two six-team divisions and created a conference championship game, The American awarded its championship to the team(s) with the best overall conference record.

• ^† BCS or NY6 Bowl Game

The American has many rivalries among its member schools, primarily in football. Some rivalries existed before the conference was established or began play in football. Recent conference realignment in 2005 and 2013 ended – or temporarily halted – many rivalries. Before their departure to other conferences, a number of former member schools held longtime rivalries within the conference.

Results as of 11/12/2020

Following the 2013 season, the BCS era came to a close and was replaced by the College Football Playoff. Four teams play in two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the College Football Playoff National Championship.[64] Six bowl games — the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Peach Bowl — will rotate as hosts for the semifinal games, and host major bowls when they do not host semifinal games (access bowls).

With the birth of the College Football Playoff, The American lost its automatic qualifying status for one of the major bowls. Instead, one automatic qualifying spot is reserved for the highest ranked team from the "Group of Five" conferences – The American, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference.

Although the pick order usually corresponds to the conference standings, the bowls are not required to make their choices strictly according to the won-lost records; many factors influence bowl selections, especially the likely turnout of the team's fans. Picks are made after any applicable College Football Playoff selections. If a team is selected for the one of the access bowls or playoff, the bowl with the No. 2 pick will have the first pick of the remaining teams in the conference.

The total pay of head coaches includes university and non-university compensation. This includes base salary, income from contracts, foundation supplements, bonuses and media and radio pay.[66]

• ^† New hire

Records as of the end of the 2019 season.

Coaches and media of The American award individual honors at the end of each football season.[67]

This list goes through the 2019–20 season.

Source[69]

This list goes through the 2019–20 season.

The American has many rivalries among its member schools, some of which existed before the conference was established. Recent conference realignment in 2005 and 2013 ended – or temporarily halted – many rivalries. Before their departure to other conferences, a number of former member schools held longtime rivalries within the conference.

Results as of the 2019–20 season.

This list goes through the 2016–17 season.[74]