Conference USA

**Conference USA**, officially abbreviated CUSA, is a group of college sports teams that play each other on the NCAA Division I level.  It was formed in 1995 when the Great Midwest Conference and Metro Conference merged, and has added several members since then. Most of the new members have come from either the Western Athletic Conference or the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). From 2005 to 2014, it also lost many members, mostly to the original Big East Conference and its football-playing offshoot, the American Athletic Conference (The American). In a later wave of conference changes in the early 2020s, CUSA lost three members to the SBC in 2022 and six to The American in 2023. CUSA responded to these later moves by adding seven new members, with four joining in July 2023, one joining in July 2024, and two joining in July 2025. One school is confirmed to be leaving in 2026, and another will leave no later than 2027.

The conference sends several teams to bowl games every year, including the Liberty Bowl and New Orleans Bowl.

Memphis (now a member of The American) has been the most successful men's basketball team in the conference, reaching the national championship game in 2008. (However, the NCAA later took Memphis's wins from that season away because a Memphis player, namely Derrick Rose, had not been eligible to play.)

## Members

Conference USA now has 12 "full members" which play most of their sports in the league; Liberty (which joined in 2023) is the only fully private school. Delaware (which joined in 2025) is defined as a "privately governed, state-assisted" school.

Before 2022, the schools were split into East and West Divisions for some sports, most notably football; this allowed the football division winners to play a conference championship game. The divisional split ended with the loss of three members to the SBC. The football championship game now features the top two teams in the conference standings.

|School|Location|Founded|Type (affiliation) !! Nickname !! Joined|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Newark, Delaware|1746|Private–public hybrid|Blue Hens|2025|
|(FIU)|Miami, Florida|1965|Public|Panthers|2013|
|Jacksonville State University|Jacksonville, Alabama|1883|Public|Gamecocks|2023|
|Kennesaw State University|Kennesaw, Georgia|1963|Public|Owls|2024|
|Liberty University|Lynchburg, Virginia|1971|Private|Flames & Lady Flames || 2023||
|Louisiana Tech University|Ruston, Louisiana|1894|Public|Bulldogs & Lady Techsters || 2013||
|Middle Tennessee State University|Murfreesboro, Tennessee|1911|Public|Blue Raiders|2005|
|Missouri State University|Springfield, Missouri|1905|Public|Bears & Lady Bears|2025|
|New Mexico State University|Las Cruces, New Mexico|1888|Public|Aggies|2023|
|Sam Houston State University (Sam Houston) || Huntsville, Texas || 1879 || Public || Bearkats || 2023||||||
|(UTEP)|El Paso, Texas|1914|Public|Miners|2005|
|Western Kentucky University (WKU)|Bowling Green, Kentucky|1906|Public|Hilltoppers & Lady Toppers || 2014||

### Associate members

CUSA now has 15 "associate members"—schools that are full members of another conference who play select sports in CUSA. One plays baseball, four play women's beach volleyball, nine others compete in bowling (which the NCAA runs only for women), and one competes in both beach volleyball and bowling. Most of these schools became associate members in 2023, when CUSA expanded its beach volleyball membership and added bowling as a sponsored sport. CUSA added bowling by absorbing the Southland Bowling League, a single-sport conference founded by, but separate from, the all-sports Southland Conference.

Most recently, CUSA lost one bowling member after the 2024–25 season but gained three new associates in that sport, and also added a new beach volleyball member at that time. The baseball associate, Dallas Baptist, will leave after the 2026 baseball season to become an associate of the Pac-12 Conference.

|School|Location|Founded|Type|Nickname|CUSA Sport(s) !! Joined !! Main Conference|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Arkansas State University|Jonesboro, Arkansas|1909|Public|Red Wolves|Bowling|2023|Sun Belt|
|Dallas Baptist University|Dallas, Texas|1898|Private|Patriots|Baseball|2022|Lone Star|
|Florida Atlantic University|Boca Raton, Florida|1961|Public|Owls|Beach volleyball|2023|American|
||Lincoln, Nebraska|1869|Public|Cornhuskers|Bowling|2025|Big Ten|
|Sacred Heart University|Fairfield, Connecticut|1963|Private|Pioneers|Bowling|2025|MAAC|
||Tampa, Florida|1956|Public|Bulls|Beach volleyball|2025|American|
|Tarleton State University|Stephenville, Texas|1899|Public|Texans|Beach volleyball|2023|WAC|
|Tulane University|New Orleans, Louisiana|1834|Private|Green Wave|Beach volleyball|2022|American|
|Bowling|2023|||||||
|(UAB)|Birmingham, Alabama|199|Public|Blazers|Beach volleyball|2023|American|
|Valparaiso University|Valparaiso, Indiana|1859|Private|Beacons|Bowling|2023|MVC|
|Vanderbilt University|Nashville, Tennessee|1873|Private|Commodores|Bowling|2023|SEC|
|Wichita State University|Wichita, Kansas|1895|Public|Shockers|Bowling|2024|American|
|Wright State University|Fairborn, Ohio|1964|Public|Raiders|Bowling|2025|Horizon League|
|Youngstown State University|Youngstown, Ohio|1908|Public|Penguins|Bowling|2023|Horizon|

- Notes:

### Former full members

No fewer than 23 schools have left CUSA since it was founded. Of these schools, 11 are now members of the American Athletic Conference. Three others had been in The American before joining the Big 12 Conference in 2023, and another left The American for the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024.

|School|Location|Founded|Type|Nickname|Joined|Left|Current Conference|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|(Charlotte)|Charlotte, North Carolina|1946|Public|49ers|1995, 2013|2023||
||Cincinnati, Ohio|1819|Public|Bearcats|1995|2005|Big 12|
|DePaul University|Chicago, Illinois|1898|Private|Blue Demons|1995|2005|Big East|
|East Carolina University|Greenville, North Carolina|1907|Public|Pirates|2001|2014||
|Florida Atlantic University|Boca Raton, Florida|1961|Public|Owls|2013|2023||
||Houston, Texas|1907|Public|Cougars|1996|2013|Big 12|
||Louisville, Kentucky|1798|Public|Cardinals|1995|2005|ACC|
|Marshall University|Huntington, West Virginia|1837|Public|Thundering Herd|2005|2022|Sun Belt|
|Marquette University|Milwaukee, Wisconsin|1881|Private|Golden Eagles|1995|2005|Big East|
||Memphis, Tennessee|1912|Public|Tigers|1995|2013||
||Denton, Texas|1890|Public|Mean Green|2013|2023||
|Old Dominion University|Norfolk, Virginia|1930|Public|Monarchs|2013|2022|Sun Belt|
|Rice University|Houston, Texas|1912|Private|Owls|2005|2023||
|Saint Louis University|St. Louis, Missouri|1818|Private|Billikens|1995|2005|Atlantic 10|
|(SMU)|University Park, Texas|1911|Private|Mustangs|2005|2013|ACC|
||Tampa, Florida|1956|Public|Bulls|1995|2005||
||Hattiesburg, Mississippi|1910|Public|Golden Eagles|1995|2022|Sun Belt|
|(TCU)|Fort Worth, Texas|1873|Private|Horned Frogs|2001|2005|Big 12|
|Tulane University|New Orleans, Louisiana|1834|Private|Green Wave|1995|2014||
||Tulsa, Oklahoma|1894|Private|Golden Hurricane|2005|2014||
|(UAB)|Birmingham, Alabama|1969|Public|Blazers|1995|2023||
|(UCF)|Orlando, Florida|1963|Public|Knights|2005|2013|Big 12|
|(UTSA)|San Antonio, Texas|1969|Public|Roadrunners|2013|2023||

## Former associate members

In addition to the former full members, 21 other schools have been associate members in the past, but have moved their CUSA sports elsewhere. (This does not include the four current full members that had been associate members.) Most notably, the United States Military Academy, more often called "Army" in a sports context, was a football member from 1996 to 2005 (final CUSA season in 2004).