How Conference USA evolved from a 1995 merger into a constantly shifting athletic landscape

Nature · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Founded in 1995 by merging two non-football conferences, Conference USA has spent three decades in a state of perpetual flux. From surviving mass departures to the Big East and American Athletic Conference to pioneering female leadership in Division I, the league remains a masterclass in institutional adaptation and survival.

Conference USA (CUSA) emerged in 1995 from the merger of the Metro and Great Midwest conferences. Because the original merger excluded several schools, the University of Houston was invited to join, stabilizing the league. Initially, the conference was a sprawling entity stretching from Wisconsin to Texas, relying on strong urban basketball traditions to build its national identity. By 2005, the conference underwent radical changes when the Big East poached five members, forcing CUSA to pivot by recruiting schools from the MAC and WAC to maintain a football-sponsoring membership.

The league's history is defined by its response to external pressures. In 2013, the American Athletic Conference lured away four prominent members, triggering a wave of expansion that brought in schools like UTSA and Louisiana Tech. The conference also navigated internal crises, such as the 2014 decision to shutter the UAB football program—a move later reversed following a public outcry and independent financial re-evaluation. In 2015, Judy MacLeod made history as the first woman to lead an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conference, taking over as commissioner.

Recent years have seen the conference navigate a volatile landscape of realignment. Following the 2021 departure of six schools to The American and three to the Sun Belt, CUSA aggressively rebuilt by adding Liberty, Jacksonville State, New Mexico State, and Sam Houston. The league has also diversified its sports portfolio, merging the Southland Bowling League into its operations in 2023. As of 2025, the conference continues to adjust its membership, with Delaware and Missouri State joining, even as it prepares for the 2026 departure of its longest-tenured member, UTEP, to the Mountain West.

General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.

Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?

Related

• How a regional athletic conference became a pioneer in collegiate women's flag football
• How a temporary football alliance evolved into a short-lived, rebranded athletic conference
• How a regional athletic conference became a pioneer for equality and sportsmanship in America
• The Atlantic Sun Conference has spent nearly five decades in a state of flux
• How a basketball-first vision survived the collapse of a major American athletic conference
• A river toll dispute drew the first state line across the Connecticut River
• Vampire bats share meals with roost mates who have fed them before
• How a Secretive Assembly of Delegates Transformed Thirteen Colonies Into a New Nation
• Starling flocks can help farms and wreck them
• If evolution's tape were rewound, would it reinvent eyes, wings and intelligence?
• Snapping turtles mature slower and larger in the north
• Plantains rank as the world's tenth most important staple food

More in Organisms · More in Nature · Latest · A–Z · All topics