American Athletic Conference

American Athletic Conference (The American)
Established	May 31, 1979[note 1]
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	15 (11 Full, 4 Associate)
Sports fielded	21 (men's: 10; women's: 11)
Region	Southern (8 schools) South Atlantic East South Central West South Central Northeastern (4 schools) New England Mid-Atlantic Midwestern (1 school) East North Central Western (2 schools) Pacific
Former names	Big East (1979–2013)[note 2]
Headquarters	Providence, Rhode Island
Commissioner	Michael Aresco (since 2012)
Website	www.theamerican.org
Locations

The American Athletic Conference (also known as The American) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and four associate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, with its football teams competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Member universities represent a range of private and public universities of various enrollment sizes located primarily in urban metropolitan areas in the Northeastern, Midwestern, Western, and Southern regions of the United States.^[1][2]

The American was considered one of the six collegiate power conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era.^{[note 3][3]} With the advent of the College Football Playoff, The American became a "Group of Five" conference, which shares one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games.^{[note 4][4]}

The league is the product of substantial turmoil in the original Big East Conference during the 2010–14 conference realignment period. It is one of two conferences to emerge from the all-sports Big East in 2013. While the other successor, which does not sponsor football, purchased the Big East Conference name, The American inherited the old Big East's structure and is that conference's legal successor. However, both conferences claim 1979 as their founding date, and the same history up to 2013.^[5][6] The American is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, and led by Commissioner Michael Aresco.^[2][7]

History

The original Big East

The original 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 Big East's first 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 upgraded to full Big East membership in 1995, while Virginia Tech did the same in 2000. Temple football was kicked out after the 2004 season, but rejoined in 2012 and intended to become a full Big East 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 2010–13 revealed tension between the football-sponsoring and non-football schools that eventually led to the split of the conference in 2013.^[15]

Realignment and reorganization

UCF

Cincinnati

Connecticut

East Carolina

Houston

Memphis

South Florida

SMU

Tulane

Tulsa

Sacramento State

San Diego State

Villanova

Temple

Navy

– All sports member
– Associate member (women's rowing)
– Associate member (football)

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 – 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]

Louisville and Rutgers spent one season in the 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]

Commissioners

Name	Term
Michael Aresco	2013–present[7]

Membership timeline

 All-sports member

 Football-only member

Member universities

The conference currently has eleven full member institutions – and four associate members – in eleven states, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

Current members

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors
University of Central Florida	Orlando, Florida (262,372)	1963	2013	Public (SUSF)	60,810	Knights	Black & Gold
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio (298,165)	1819	2005	Public (USO)	43,691	Bearcats	Black and Red[28]
University of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut (15,344)	1881	1979[note 5]	Public	31,119	Huskies	Navy blue and White[29]
East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina (89,852)	1907	2014	Public (UNC)	27,511	Pirates	Purple & Gold[30]
University of Houston	Houston, Texas (2,239,558)	1927	2013	Public (UH System)	42,704	Cougars	Red & White[31]
University of Memphis	Memphis, Tennessee (653,450)	1912	2013	Public (TBR)	21,480	Tigers	Blue & Gray[32]
University of South Florida	Tampa, Florida (358,699)	1956	2005	Public (SUSF)	48,353	Bulls	Green & Gold[33]
Southern Methodist University	Dallas, Texas (1,281,047)	1911	2013	Private (Methodist)	10,929	Mustangs	Red & Blue[34]
Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1,560,297)	1884	1991, 2012[note 6]	Public (CSHE)	37,788	Owls	Cherry & White[35]
Tulane University	New Orleans, Louisiana (384,320)	1834	2014	Private	13,531	Green Wave	Olive green & Sky blue[36]
University of Tulsa	Tulsa, Oklahoma (399,682)	1894	2014	Private (Presbyterian)	4,682	Golden Hurricane	Royal blue and Old gold[37]

Associate members

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Sport	Primary Conference
California State University, Sacramento	Sacramento, California (466,488)	1947	2014	Public (CSU)	28,811	Hornets		Rowing	Big Sky
San Diego State University	San Diego, California (1,345,895)	1897	2014	Public (CSU)	29,392	Aztecs		Rowing	Mountain West
United States Naval Academy	Annapolis, Maryland (38,394)	1845	2015	Federal	4,576	Midshipmen		Football	Patriot League

Former members

Two members have departed from the conference.

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Current Conference
Rutgers University	New Brunswick, New Jersey (55,181)	1766	1991[note 7]	2014	Public (RU)	38,912	Scarlet Knights		Big Ten
University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky (756,832)	1798	2005	2014	Public	22,529	Cardinals		ACC

Sports

The American sponsors championship competition in ten men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Sacramento State, San Diego State University, and Villanova University are associate members for women's rowing.^[38] Conference members who sponsor women's lacrosse and field hockey compete as associate members of the Big East.^[39] Under NCAA rules reflecting the large number of male scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX), each member institution is required to provide more women's varsity sports than men's.^{[note 8]}

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	8	–
Basketball	11	11
Cross Country	9	11
Football	12	–
Golf	10	9
Rowing	–	8
Soccer	8	10
Softball	–	7
Swimming & Diving	4	6
Tennis	9	11
Track and Field (Indoor)	9	11
Track and Field (Outdoor)	9	11
Volleyball	–	11

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total
Cincinnati								N			9
Connecticut											10
East Carolina						N					9
Houston						N	N	N			7
Memphis							N				9
South Florida							N				9
SMU	N		N						N	N	6
Temple	N						N		N	N	6
Tulane					N	N	N				7
Tulsa	N						N				8
UCF			N				N		N	N	6
Associate Member
Navy[note 9]	N	N	N		N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Totals	8	11	9	12	10	8	4	9	8	8	87

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

School	Ice hockey	Rifle[note 10]	Rowing[note 11]
Connecticut	HEA	N	N
Memphis	N	GARC	N
Temple	N	N	Independent

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Rowing	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball	Total
Cincinnati				N		N						9
Connecticut			N									10
East Carolina				N								10
Houston				N								10
Memphis				N			N					9
South Florida				N			N					9
SMU						N						10
Temple			N			N	N					8
Tulane				N	N	N						8
Tulsa							N					10
UCF							N					10
Associate Members
Sacramento State	N	N	N		N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
San Diego State	N	N	N		N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Villanova	N	N	N		N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Totals	11	11	9	8	10	7	6	11	11	11	11	106

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

School	Beach Volleyball	Bowling	Fencing	Field Hockey	Equestrian	Gymnastics	Ice hockey	Lacrosse	Rifle[note 10]	Sailing
Cincinnati	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Big East	—	—
Connecticut	—	—	—	Big East	—	—	Hockey East	Big East	—	—
Memphis	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	GARC	—
South Florida	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	SAISA
SMU	—	—	—	—	Independent	—	—	—	—	—
Temple	—	—	NIWFA	Big East	—	Independent	—	Big East	—	—
Tulane	Independent	Southland	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

• Women's Bowling - The Southland Conference provides administrative support for the Southland Bowling League, but the SBL operates independently from regular conference operations.^[40] 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, Monmouth, Tulane, Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.
• East Carolina will elevate its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status in the 2018 season (2017–18 school year).^[41]

National team championships

Thru July 2, 2015^[42]

Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including Division I FBS football titles, women's AIAW championships, equestrian titles, and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles.

School	Total	Men	Women	Co-ed	Nickname
University of Connecticut	21	6	15	0	Huskies
University of Houston	17	17	0	0	Cougars
U.S. Naval Academy	5	5	0	0	Midshipmen
Southern Methodist University	4	4	0	0	Mustangs
Temple University	3	1	2	0	Owls
University of Cincinnati	2	2	0	0	Bearcats
Tulane University	1	1	0	0	Green Wave
University of Tulsa	1	0	1	0	Golden Hurricane
University of South Florida	0	0	0	0	Bulls
University of Central Florida	0	0	0	0	Knights
East Carolina University	0	0	0	0	Pirates
University of Memphis	0	0	0	0	Tigers

Football

The conference began football during the 1991–92 season, and was a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series.^[43] Previously conference opponents operated on a two-year cycle, as a home-and-home series.^[44]

West Division	East Division
Houston	Cincinnati
Memphis	Connecticut
Navy	East Carolina
SMU	South Florida
Tulane	Temple
Tulsa	UCF

The conference previously did not have enough teams to form divisions, but now does after Navy joined the conference in 2015.^{[note 12]} When Navy joined in 2015 and divisions were created, Navy was placed in the West division along with Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, and Tulsa. Teams play eight conference games a season. Beginning in 2015, each team will face the other five teams in its own division, as well as three teams from the other division, operating in a four-year cycle ensuring that each school will play every conference opponent at home and on the road at least once in the four-year cycle.^[45] The East and West division winners, determined by final conference record, will meet in the first American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game, which will be played at the home site of one of the division winners.

Like the conference itself, football experienced much transition through its history – in fact it was the main force behind such departures and expansion. In 2003, the BCS announced that it would adjust the automatic bids granted to its six founding conferences based on results from 2004 to 2007. With the addition of Cincinnati, Louisville, and South Florida in 2005, the conference retained its BCS automatic-qualifying status. In 2007, South Florida rose to No. 2 in the BCS rankings, but finished No. 21 in the final poll. Cincinnati finished the 2009 regular season undefeated at 12–0, and ranked No. 3 in the final BCS standings, barely missing the opportunity to play for the BCS National Championship. The conference was 9–7 (.563) in BCS bowl games, the third highest winning percentage amongst the AQ conferences.

All-time school records by winning percentage

As of December 2015.

No.	Team	Overall Record	Win Pct.	Conference Record	Conf. Win Pct.	First Year	The American Championships	National Championships
1	Tulsa	600–477–28	.556	2–6	.250	1895	0	0
2	Navy	682–545–57	.553	7–1	.875	1879	0	1
3	South Florida	117–96–0	.549	11–13	.464	1997	0	0
4	UCF	225–190–1	.542	15–9	.625	1979	2	0
5	Houston	416–352–15	.541	17-7	.708	1946	1	0
6	East Carolina	426–385–11	.525	5–3	.625	1932	0	0
7	Cincinnati	592–568–50	.510	17–7	.708	1885	1	0
8	Connecticut	502–541–38	.482	4–12	.250	1896	0	0
9	SMU	475–518–54	.479	5–11	.313	1915	0	3
10	Memphis	455–504–33	.475	8–8	.500	1912	1	0
11	Tulane	505–618–38	.451	2–6	.250	1893	0	0
12	Temple	438–574–53	.436	5–11	.313	1894	0	0

Conference champions

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.

		Record		Ranking
Year	Champions	Conference	Overall	AP	Coaches'	Bowl result	Head coach
2013	UCF	8–0	12–1	#10	#12	W Fiesta Bowl 52–42 vs. Baylor^†	George O'Leary
2014	UCF	7–1	9–4	N/A	N/A	L St. Petersburg Bowl 27–34 vs. NC State	George O'Leary
	Cincinnati	7–1	9–4	N/A	N/A	L Military Bowl 17–33 vs. Virginia Tech	Tommy Tuberville
	Memphis	7–1	10–3	#25	#25	W Miami Beach Bowl 55–48 vs. BYU	Justin Fuente
2015	Houston	7–1	13–1	#8	#8	W Peach Bowl 38–24 vs. Florida State^†	Tom Herman

• ^† BCS or CFP Bowl Game

Rivalries

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.

Teams	Rivalry Name	Trophy	Meetings	Began	Record	Series leader	Current Streak
Memphis-Cincinnati	—	—	32	1966	20–13–0	Memphis	Memphis won 2
Connecticut–UCF	Civil Conflict	---	3	2013	2–1–0	Connecticut	Connecticut won 2
East Carolina–UCF	—	—	13	1991	9–4–0	East Carolina	ECU won 1
Navy–Southern Methodist	—	Gansz Trophy	16	1930	9–7–0	Navy	Navy won 5
Houston–Southern Methodist	—	—	31	1975	20–10–1	Houston	Houston won 3
South Florida–UCF	War on I–4	—	7	2005	5–2–0	South Florida	USF won 1
Tulsa–UCF	—	—	8	2005	5–3–0	Tulsa	UCF won 1
Houston-Tulsa	—	—	39	1950	21-18	Houston	Houston won 2

Bowl games

Following the 2013 season, the BCS era came to a close and was replaced by the College Football Playoff. Four teams will play in two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the new College Football Championship Game.^[46] 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.

Year[47]	Name	Location	Opposing Conference
2014–19	Cotton, Peach, Fiesta, or Playoff[note 13]	Dallas, Atlanta, Glendale, or Playoff Site	CFP At-Large
2014–19	Birmingham Bowl	Birmingham, Alabama	SEC
2014–19	St. Petersburg Bowl	St. Petersburg, Florida	ACC or C-USA
2014–19	Miami Beach Bowl	Miami, Florida	BYU (2014), C-USA, MAC, or Sun Belt
2014–19	Military Bowl	Annapolis, Maryland	ACC
2014/16/17/19	Armed Forces Bowl	Fort Worth, Texas	Big 12 or Army
2016/18	Bahamas Bowl	Nassau, Bahamas	MAC or C-USA
2015–19	Cure Bowl	Orlando, Florida	Sun Belt
2015/17/19	Hawaiʻi Bowl	Honolulu, Hawaii	MWC or BYU
2015/16/17/19	Boca Raton Bowl	Boca Raton, Florida	MAC or C-USA
2018/19	New Orleans Bowl	New Orleans, Louisiana	MAC or Sun Belt
2014–19	Liberty, Independence, and Poinsettia Bowls	Memphis, Shreveport, and San Diego	ACC or SEC (Backup Agreement)

Head football coach compensation

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.^[48]

Conf. Rank	University	Head Coach	Salary[48]
1	University of Cincinnati	Tuberville, TommyTommy Tuberville	$3,200,000
2	University of Houston	Herman, TomTom Herman	$3,000,000
3	Southern Methodist University	Morris, ChadChad Morris	$2,000,000
4	University of South Florida	Taggart, WillieWillie Taggart	$2,000,000
5	University of Memphis	Norvell, MikeMike Norvell	$1,900,000^+
6	University of Central Florida	Frost, ScottScott Frost	$1,700,000^+
7	United States Naval Academy	Niumatalolo, KenKen Niumatalolo	$1,700,000
8	University of Connecticut	Diaco, BobBob Diaco	$1,600,000
9	Temple University	Rhule, MattMatt Rhule	$1,300,000
10	East Carolina University	Montgomery, ScottieScottie Montgomery	$1,000,000^+
11	University of Tulsa	Montgomery, PhilipPhilip Montgomery	$800,000
12	Tulane University	Fritz, WillieWillie Fritz	TBA^+

• ^† New hire

Conference individual honors

Coaches and media of The American award individual honors at the end of each football season.^[49]

Men's basketball

In June 2013, it was announced that the inaugural men's basketball tournament will take place at FedExForum in Memphis.^[50] FedExForum had previously hosted eight Conference USA basketball tournaments.

Even though the Big East Conference was meant to be a basketball-oriented conference, UConn, a member of The American, won the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (the first after the conferences split).

All-time school records by winning percentage

This list goes through the 2014-2015 Season

No.	Team	Records	Win Pct.	The American Tournament Championships	The American Regular Season Championships	Final Fours	National Championships
1	Temple	1,840–933	.664	0	1	2	0
2	Connecticut	1,609–903	.641	1	0	5	4
3	Memphis	1,459–852	.631	0	0	3	0
4	Cincinnati	1,669–974	.631	0	1	6	2
5	Houston	1,165–805	.591	0	0	5	0
6	Tulsa	1,362–1,092	.555	0	0	0	0
7	UCF	665–549	.548	0	0	0	0
8	SMU	1,232–1,172	.512	1	1	1	0
9	Tulane	1,166–1,191	.495	0	0	0	0
10	East Carolina	1,018–1,055	.491	0	0	0	0
11	South Florida	584–664	.468	0	0	0	0

Conference champions

	Regular Season					Tournament
Year	Champions	Record	AP	Coaches'	Postseason	Champions	Record	AP	Coaches'	Postseason
2013-14	Louisville	31–6 (15–3)	#5	#9	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	Louisville	31–6	#5	#9	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
	Cincinnati	27–7 (15–3)	#15	#22	NCAA Second Round
2014-15	SMU	27–7 (15–3)	#18	RV	NCAA First Round	SMU	27–7	#18	RV	NCAA First Round
2015-16	Temple	21–12 (14–4)	NR	TBA	NCAA First Round	Connecticut	25–10 (11–7)	RV	TBA	NCAA Second Round

• Connecticut, after being eliminated form the Conference Championship Tournament, went on to become the National Champions after beating the University of Kentucky 60 - 54 in the 2014 Men's NCAA Basketball Championships

Women's basketball

In June 2013, it was announced that the inaugural women's basketball tournament would take place at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.^[51] Women's basketball teams have played a total of eighteen times in the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship (since 1982), with UConn winning 10 national championships under head coach Geno Auriemma since 1995. Women's national championship tournaments prior to 1982 were run by the AIAW.

All-time school records by winning percentage

This list goes through the 2013–14 season.^[52]

No.	Team	Records	Win Pct.	The American Tournament Championships	The American Regular Season Championships	Final Fours	National Championships
1	Connecticut	1,047–296	.780	3	3	17	11
2	Tulane	511–360	.587	0	0	0	0
3	Memphis	693–521	.571	0	0	0	0
4	Temple	762–628	.548	0	0	0	0
5	Houston	625–536	.538	0	0	0	0
6	SMU	591–519	.532	0	0	0	0
7	East Carolina	549–497	.525	0	0	0	0
8	Cincinnati	591–551	.518	0	0	0	0
9	UCF	499–535	.483	0	0	0	0
10	South Florida	564–652	.464	0	0	0	0
11	Tulsa	286–490	.369	0	0	0	0

Conference champions

	Regular Season					Tournament
Year	Champions	Record	AP	Coaches'	Postseason	Champions	Record	AP	Coaches'	Postseason
2013–14	Connecticut	40–0 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion	Connecticut	40–0 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion
2014–15	Connecticut	38–1 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion	Connecticut	38–1 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion
2015–16	Connecticut	38–0 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion	Connecticut	38–0 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion

Facilities

Institution	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity
Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium	40,000	Fifth Third Arena	13,176	Marge Schott Stadium	3,085
Connecticut	Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field	42,704	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion XL Center	10,167 16,294	J. O. Christian Field	2,000
East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium	50,000	Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum	8,000	Clark-LeClair Stadium	5,000
Houston	TDECU Stadium	40,000	Hofheinz Pavilion	8,479	Cougar Field	5,000
Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium	59,308	FedExForum (men) Elma Roane Fieldhouse (women)	18,119 2,565	FedExPark	2,000
South Florida	Raymond James Stadium	65,908	USF Sun Dome	10,411	USF Baseball Stadium	3,211
SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium	32,000	Moody Coliseum	7,000	Non-baseball school
Temple	Lincoln Financial Field	68,532	Liacouras Center	10,206	Skip Wilson Field	1,000
Tulane	Yulman Stadium	30,000	Smoothie King Center (men) Devlin Fieldhouse (men/women)	17,003 4,100	Turchin Stadium	5,000
Tulsa	H. A. Chapman Stadium	30,000	Reynolds Center	8,355	Non-baseball school
UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium	45,323	CFE Arena	9,465	Jay Bergman Field	3,600
Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium	34,000	Associate member

Academics

One of the current member schools, Tulane University, is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada.^[53] Six members are doctorate-granting universities with "very high research activity," the highest classification given by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.^[54] Member schools are also highly ranked nationally and globally by various groups, including U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly, and Times Higher Education.

University	Location	Affiliation	Carnegie[54]	Endowment[55]	USN Nat.[56]	WM Nat.[57]	URAP U.S.[58]
University of Central Florida	Orlando, Florida	Public (SUSF)	Research (VH)	$135,500,000	168	211	114
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	Public (USO)	Research (VH)	$1,183,922,000	140	191	57
University of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut	Public	Research (VH)	$436,900,000	57	81	94
East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina	Public (UNC)	Doctoral	$164,065,000	194	171	69
University of Houston	Houston, Texas	Public (UH System)	Research (VH)	$789,700,000	187	68	104
University of Memphis	Memphis, Tennessee	Public (TBR)	Research (H)	$200,750,000	RNP	37	188
University of South Florida	Tampa, Florida	Public (SUSF)	Research (VH)	$447,000,000	156	78	72
Southern Methodist University	University Park, Texas	Private (Methodist)	Research (H)	$1,466,258,000	61	260	164
Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Public (CSHE)	Research (H)	$374,758,000	115	195	108
Tulane University	New Orleans, Louisiana	Private	Research (VH)	$1,183,924,000	41	100	112
University of Tulsa	Tulsa, Oklahoma	Private (Presbyterian)	Doctoral	$1,015,474,000	86	164	297

Media

As of 2014, The American has carriage agreements with the following broadcast and cable networks.^[59][60][61]

Television

• ABC broadcasts select football games.
• CBS broadcasts up to 12 appearances for men's and women's basketball games.
• CBS Sports Network broadcasts football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball.
• ESPN broadcasts football, men's and women's basketball, across its networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews, and ESPNU). ESPN broadcasts the men's and women's basketball tournament, and the football championship game.
• Fox Sports Ohio broadcasts select men's basketball and football games for the University of Cincinnati.
• SportsNet New York broadcasts select men's basketball, women's basketball, and football games for the University of Connecticut.

Internet

• American Digital Network broadcasts women's basketball games, most conference events otherwise not televised, baseball championship game, championship games for select olympic sports

See also

• List of NCAA conferences
• Big East Conference (2013–present)
• Big East Conference (1979–2013)

Notes

1. The American is the legal all-sports successor to the Big East Conference (1979–2013). The Big East was rebranded and reorganized as the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2013.
2. The American is the legal successor to the Big East Conference (1979–2013) and retains its charter. The current Big East Conference purchased the "Big East" name during the 2013 conference breakup.
3. The American inherited the Big East's automatic berth to a BCS game for the 2013 season.
4. The other conferences in the "Group of Five" are Conference USA (C-USA), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference.
5. Connecticut's football program did not join the conference until 2004.
6. Temple was not a Big East football member between the 2005 and 2011 seasons, most of this time being spent in the Mid-American Conference. Temple joined as a football only member in 2012, and as an all-sports member in 2013.
7. Rutgers joined the conference in 1991 as a football only member, and joined in all-sports in 1995.
8. Under NCAA Bylaw 20.9.4, all Division I schools are required to sponsor a minimum of seven men's and seven women's sports, or six men's and eight women's sports. Bylaw 20.9.7.1 imposes the latter requirement on FBS schools. FCS schools, under Bylaw 20.9.8.1, may use either requirement. Note that this does not explicitly require that a school sponsor two more women's sports than men's sports. See "2012–13 NCAA Division I Manual" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
9. Navy will continue to field its other sports in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.
10. Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other.
11. The only category of rowing that the NCAA governs is women's heavyweight rowing. All men's rowing is governed by the Intercollegiate Rowing Association.
12. The NCAA currently requires 12 teams for a conference to conduct divisional play and stage a championship game.
13. If The American's champion is the highest ranked from among the "Group of Five" conferences, it will receive a bid to either the Cotton Bowl, the Peach Bowl, or the Fiesta Bowl. If the team is ranked in the top four at the end of the regular season, it will take part in the College Football Playoff.

References

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2. Katz, Andy (2013-03-15). "What's next for the 'old Big East'". ESPN. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
3. McMurphy, Brett (2013-03-01). "Catholic 7 to keep 'Big East' name for new league next season, according to sources". ESPN. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
4. Mandel, Stewart (2012-11-12). "Big East, rest of 'Group of Five' score win with six-bowl decision". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2013-03-08.
5. "About the American Athletic Conference". American Athletic Conference. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
6. "(New) Big East Conference history". Big East Conference. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
7. Russo, Ralph (2013-03-08). "Big East completes official split of football, basketball". Associated Press. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
8. Blaudschun, Mark (2013-03-08). "Naming original Big East was simple". AJerseyGuy.com. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
9. Crouthamel, Jake (2000-12-08). "A Big East History and Retrospective, Part 1". SUAthletics.com. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
10. Sarah Maslin Nir (2011-09-17). "Dave Gavitt, the Big East's Founder, Dies at 73". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
11. "Big East, Villanova Make It Official". The Pittsburgh Press. United Press International. 1980-03-13. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
12. Hanley, Richard F (1981-11-19). "Pittsburgh To Join Big East". Record-Journal. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
13. "Big East Football Timeline". Philadelphia Inquirer. 2008-03-08. Archived from the original on 2012-08-27. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
14. Thamel, Pete (2012-05-07). "Commissioner John Marinatto Steps Down Amid Big East's Instability". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
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17. "Seven schools leaving Big East". ESPN. 2012-12-15. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
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19. Harten, David (2013-03-05). "Catholic 7 has framework to keep Big East name, MSG as tourney site". NBC Sports. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
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22. Former Big East to be named American Athletic Conference. ESPN (2013-04-04). Retrieved on 2013-07-15.
23. Wolken, Dan (2013-05-29). "American Athletic Conference unveils its primary logos". USA Today. Beyond the challenge of avoiding something that looked corporate, the league also couldn't build the logo around an acronym. From the very beginning, the conference office has been adamant that it wants to be known as The American instead of the AAC to avoid confusion with the Atlantic Coast Conference.
24. http://www.theacc.com/genrel/112812aaa.html
25. Rutgers Scarlet Knights accept invitation to join Big Ten as Board of Governors gives go-ahead to athletic director Tim Pernetti. NY Daily News (2012-11-19). Retrieved on 2013-07-15.
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27. "The American adds Associate Members for Women's Rowing" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. March 25, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
28. UC Branding Standards. UC.edu. Retrieved on 2014-09-11.
29. UCONN Brand Colors. uconn.edu. Retrieved on 2014-09-11.
30. ECU Graphics and Licensing Standards. ecu.edu. Retrieved on 2014-09-11.
31. UH Graphic Standards. uhcougars.com. Retrieved on 2015-06-15.
32. Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
33. USF Color Palettes. usf.edu. Retrieved on 2015-06-15.
34. SMU Color Palette. smu.edu. Retrieved on 2015-06-15.
35. TU Graphic Standards. temple.edu. Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
36. American Athletic Conference Brand Standards Guide. Retrieved on 2015-06-15.
37. TU Color Palette. Retrieved on 2015-06-15.
38. The Official Site of The American Athletic Conference - Sponsored Sports. American Athletic Conference. Retrieved on 2014-06-10.
39. "Temple Joins New Big East In Lacrosse, Field Hockey". Retrieved 29 June 2013.
40. "New Southland Bowling League Established". Southland Conference. January 20, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
41. "East Carolina Athletics To Add Women's Lacrosse" (Press release). East Carolina Pirates. March 16, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
42. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/champs_records_book/Overall.pdf
43. "BCS Chronology". bcsfootball.org. Fox Sports. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. Retrieved November 12, 2008.
44. Myerberg, Paul (2012-11-13). "Big East announces divisions, adds conference title game". USA Today. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
45. "American Announces Football Schedule Format for 2015-18". USA Today. 2012-12-18. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
46. Wolken, Dan (April 25, 2013). "Questions and answers for the College Football Playoff". USA Today. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
47. "American Bowl Lineup 2014-19". sidearm sports. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
48. "Salaries & Contracts". Coaches Hot Seat. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
49. American Athletic Conference (December 11, 2013). "American Athletic Conference Announces 2013 Postseason Football Honors". Retrieved December 31, 2013.
50. "American Athletic Conference picks Memphis to host league's 1st men's basketball tournament". Washington Post.
51. "AAC tournament host site picked". ESPN. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
52. "NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Records Through 2012-13" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
53. "AAU Member Institutions and Years of Admission". Association of American Universities. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
54. "Carnegie Classifications Institution Lookup". Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 2014. Retrieved 2015-04-30.
55. "National Association of College and University Business Officers" (PDF). National Association of College and University Business. 2014. Retrieved 2015-04-30.
56. "Best College Rankings and Lists". U.S. News & World Report. 2014. Retrieved 2014.
57. "Washington Monthly College Guide 2012 National Universities". Washington Monthly. 2013. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
58. "University Ranking by Academic Performance - United States of America 2013-2014". Informatics Institute, Middle East Technical University. 2013. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
59. "American Athletic Conference on TV". American Athletic Conference. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
60. "CBS Sports Network Lands Rights to American Athletic Conference". CBS Sports. 2013-08-21. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
61. "American Athletic Conference Announces American Digital Network". American Athletic Conference. Retrieved 2014-06-30.

External links

• Official website