Metro Conference The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference , popularly known as the Metro Conference , was an NCAA Division I athletics conference , so named because all of its charter members were in urban metropolitan areas in , or at least on the fringes of , the Southern United States . The conference never sponsored football , although most of its members throughout its history had Division I - A football programs ( from 1983 – 91 , all Metro schools had independent football programs ) . In 1995 it merged with the Great Midwest Conference to form Conference USA . The merger was driven mainly by football , as several Metro Conference members had been successfully lured to larger conferences that sponsored the sport . The conference was popularly known as the " Metro 6 " during its first season , then as the " Metro 7 " during the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s . For most of its existence , it was considered a " major " conference . History . In 1978 , Georgia Tech left the Metro for the Atlantic Coast Conference . In 1982 , Saint Louis left to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference , now known as the Horizon League . In 1991 , Florida State joined the ACC , and then South Carolina joined the Southeastern Conference . However , South Carolina rejoined the Metro for 1993 and 1994 men ' s soccer seasons in that sport only , because the SEC does not offer the sport for men ( four schools are required to sponsor a sport ; the SEC had just three , now two ) . Charter members Cincinnati and Memphis State also left the conference in 1991 to become charter members of the Great Midwest . To replace them , three of the stronger non - football schools from the Sun Belt Conference shifted to the Metro . In 1993 , the Metro and Great Midwest conferences began reunification talks that led to the creation of C - USA . However , the Virginia schools filed a lawsuit in order to prevent the merger from happening , which ultimately failed . VCU joined the Colonial Athletic Association . Virginia Tech ( who was banking on an invitation to join the Big East Conference ) was left out of Conference USA , and joined the Atlantic 10 Conference ( it later joined the Big East and is now in the Atlantic Coast Conference ) . It was joined by Great Midwest member Dayton , who was intrigued by the prospect of playing against regional rival Xavier . Initially , South Carolina was not permitted to participate in Conference USA for men ' s soccer , although it was admitted ten years later , also bringing along Kentucky , the only other men ' s soccer school in the SEC . Proposed super conference . The Metro Conference also had studies into a new " Super conference " in 1990 . The study was conducted by Raycom Sports . The conference would have included members of the Metro , Atlantic 10 , and Big East conferences , but it was not clear if the conference would become a football - sponsoring conference as many of its members did in fact sponsor football but were either independents or belonged to other conferences . The original study plan also included Penn State . Membership . Charter members . - Prior to adopting its current name in 1994 , the University of Memphis was previously known as Memphis State University . < br > Later Joined . - South Carolina re - joined the Metro Conference as an affiliate member for men ' s soccer from 1993 to 1995 . The Southeastern Conference does not sanction men ' s soccer as only two schools offer the sport ( four are required to sponsor a sport ) . When the Gamecocks men ' s soccer program rejoined C - USA in 2005 after ten seasons as an independent , fellow SEC member Kentucky , the other school , left the Mid - American Conference to follow their SEC brethren . Joined after Conference Split from the Sun Belt . NF - Non - football school at the time but has since added football , first year of play listed . < br > < nowiki > * < / nowiki > - School remains in the reunified Conference USA . < br > < nowiki > * * < / nowiki > - School was charter member of Conference USA , but has since left for another conference . UNC Charlotte , now athletically branded as Charlotte , is now a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference . South Florida is a member of the Big East Conference ; after the Big East splits along football lines in July 2013 , USF will be a member of the American Athletic Conference . Charlotte will re - join C - USA in July 2013 for all but football , which joins in 2015 and will be eligible for championships at that time . Memphis will leave C - USA in July 2013 to become a member of The American .