Question: Which year did the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football conference North Texas belonged to in 2001 start sponsoring football ?

text: 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season
Conference and program changes
One team upgraded from Division I-AA , thus increasing the number of Division I-A schools from 116 to 117 . The Big West Conference stopped sponsoring football after the 2000 season . Its remaining football-playing members departed for the WAC , the Sun Belt ( see below ) , or independence : Boise State joined the WAC Utah State opted to become an Independent . The Sun Belt Conference , previously a non-football conference , began sponsoring football during the 2001 season , absorbing many of the Big West 's former members . Arkansas State , New Mexico State and North Texas joined from the Big West . Idaho joined the Sun Belt as a football-only member Louisiana–Lafayette , Louisiana–Monroe , and Middle Tennessee joined after playing as independents . TCU joined Conference USA from the Western Athletic Conference Louisiana Tech joined the Western Athletic Conference after five years as an independent . Troy State joined Division 1-A football this season .
The 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the University of Miami winning the national title for the fifth time. The Hurricanes were led by Larry Coker, who was in his first year as head coach after five years as Miami's offensive coordinator under Butch Davis and became the first head coach since 1989's Dennis Erickson from the University of Miami to win a national title in his first season. Coker had the benefit of inheriting a star-studded program that Davis had rebuilt in the aftermath of NCAA sanctions in the mid-to-late '90s. Miami completed a perfect 12-0 season, which culminated in a 37-14 win over Nebraska in the Rose Bowl BCS National Championship Game. In yet another controversial season for the BCS, (AP) #4 Nebraska was chosen as the national title opponent despite not having even played in the Big 12 championship game. The Huskers went into their last regularly scheduled game at Colorado undefeated, but left Boulder having lost the game by a score of 62-36. The Buffaloes went on to win the Big 12 championship game. The BCS computers, among other things, didn't weigh later games any more heavily than earlier games, and one-loss Nebraska came out ahead of two-loss #3 Colorado and one-loss, #2 Oregon. Some fans chanted number 4 at the title game held at the Rose Bowl. Florida State did not win the ACC championship for the first time since joining the conference in 1991, losing out to Maryland. Steve Spurrier left the Florida Gators at the end of the season to coach the Washington Redskins, accepting what was then the largest salary for an NFL head coach. The season had one of the more competitive Heisman Trophy races with Eric Crouch of Nebraska winning by only a small margin over Rex Grossman of Florida.
School 2000 Conference 2001 Conference
Arkansas State Indians Big West Sun Belt
Boise State Broncos Big West WAC
Idaho Vandals Big West Sun Belt
Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin ' Cajuns I-A Independent Sun Belt
Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks I-A Independent Sun Belt
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs I-A Independent WAC
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders I-A Independent Sun Belt
New Mexico State Aggies Big West Sun Belt
North Texas Mean Green Big West Sun Belt
TCU Horned Frogs WAC Conference USA
Troy State Trojans I-AA Independent I-A Independent
Utah State Aggies Big West I-A Independent