American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (also known as" The American" or" AAC" ) is a big college sports conference in the United States. Its members play in NCAA Division I. In football, they play in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; known before 2006 as Division I-A), the higher of two levels of Division I football.
The American has its roots in the original Big East Conference. That conference was started in 1979 as a basketball-first league by a group of schools in the Eastern U. S. The Big East added football in 1991. That led to years of conflict between schools that played I-A/FBS football and those that did not. In July 2013, the Big East split into two conferences. The seven schools that did not play FBS football left to form a new Big East Conference. The FBS schools that did not go to other conferences stayed in the old conference structure. Along with several new members, they began operating as the American Athletic Conference.
The American kept the original Big East charter. That makes it the legal successor of the old Big East. However, both The American and the new Big East claim 1979 as their founding dates. Both also claim the pre-split history of the old Big East, at least in corporate terms. However, both leagues agreed that the current Big East would maintain the sporting history of the original conference in most sports. The only exceptions are football and women' s rowing, the only two sports sponsored by The American but not the current Big East. In those two sports, neither offshoot league recognizes the history of the original Big East.
Of the 11 current full members (those that house most of their sports in the league), only the newest member, Wichita State, does not have a football team.
During a major conference realignment triggered in 2021 when Big 12 Conference mainstays Oklahoma and Texas announced they would move to the Southeastern Conference no later than 2025, The American was heavily affected. The Big 12 responded by raiding The American, inviting Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF to join that conference, with their arrival date eventually set for 2023. In turn, The American raided Conference USA, inviting six members of that conference to move to The American in 2023--Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA.
Members
Departing members highlighted in pink.
Future members
Associate members
As of the 2022-23 school year, The American has 12" associate members" that play one or two sports in the conference. Five of these schools are set to become full conference members in July 2023.
Former members
Two schools left The American after spending only the 2013-14 school year in the renamed conference. Before 2013, both had been members of the original Big East. A third school left The American in 2020 to rejoin most of its historic all-sports rivals in the current Big East.
Former associate members
Two other schools have been single-sport members, both in women' s rowing.
Sports
The American holds championships in 10 men' s sports and 12 women' s sports:
Baseball (men only) Basketball (both) Cross country (both) Football (men only) Golf (both) Lacrosse (women only) Rowing (women only) Soccer (both) Softball (women only) Swimming and diving (both) Tennis (both) Track and field, indoor (both) Track and field, outdoor (both) Volleyball (women only)
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