American Athletic Conference

American Athletic Conference
Established	May 31, 1979[note 1]
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	15 (11 Full, 4 Associate)
Sports fielded	21 (men's: 10; women's: 11)
Region	Southern (8 schools) South Atlantic East South Central West South Central Northeastern (4 schools) New England Mid-Atlantic Midwestern (1 school) East North Central Western (2 schools) Pacific
Former names	Big East (1979–2013)[note 2]
Headquarters	Providence, Rhode Island
Commissioner	Michael Aresco (since 2012)
Website	www.theamerican.org
Locations

The American Athletic Conference (also known as The American and sometimes abbreviated AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and four associate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, with its football teams competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Member universities represent a range of private and public universities of various enrollment sizes located primarily in urban metropolitan areas in the Northeastern, Midwestern, Western, and Southern regions of the United States.^[1][2]

The American was considered one of the six collegiate power conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era.^{[note 3][3]} With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, The American became a "Group of Five" conference, which shares one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games.^{[note 4][4]}

The league is the product of substantial turmoil in the original Big East Conference during the 2010–14 conference realignment period. It is one of two conferences to emerge from the all-sports Big East in 2013. While the other successor, which does not sponsor football, purchased the Big East Conference name, The American inherited the old Big East's structure and is that conference's legal successor. However, both conferences claim 1979 as their founding date, and the same history up to 2013.^[5][6] The American is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, and led by Commissioner Michael Aresco.^[2][7]

History

The original Big East

The original Big East Conference was founded in 1979 as a basketball conference and included the colleges of Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse, which in turn invited Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College to be members.^[8][9] UConn and Boston College would accept the invitation, while Holy Cross soon thereafter declined the invitation, and Rutgers eventually declined and remained in the Atlantic 10 Conference (then known as the Eastern 8 Conference). Seton Hall was then invited as a replacement, and the conference started play with seven members.^[9]

Villanova and Pittsburgh joined shortly thereafter under the leadership of the Big East's first commissioner, Dave Gavitt.^[10][11][12]

The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991, when it began to sponsor football, adding Miami as a full member, and Rutgers, Temple, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia as football-only members.^[13] Rutgers and West Virginia upgraded to full Big East membership in 1995, while Virginia Tech did the same in 2000. Temple football was kicked out after the 2004 season, but rejoined in 2012 and intended to become a full Big East member in 2013.

The unusual structure of the Big East, with the "football" and "non-football" schools, led to instability in the conference.^[14] The waves of defection and replacement brought about by the conference realignments of 2005 and the early 2010s revealed tension between the football-sponsoring and non-football schools that eventually led to the split of the conference in 2013.^[15]

Realignment and reorganization

UCF

Cincinnati

Connecticut

East Carolina

Houston

Memphis

South Florida

SMU

Tulane

Tulsa

Sacramento State

San Diego State

Temple

Navy

– All sports member
– Associate member (women's rowing)
– Associate member (football)

The conference was reorganized following the tumultuous period of realignment that hobbled the Big East between 2010 and 2013. The Big East was one of the most severely impacted conferences during the most recent conference realignment period. In all, 14 member schools announced their departure for other conferences, and 15 other schools announced plans to join the conference (eight as all-sports members, and four for football only). Three of the latter group later backed out of their plans to join (one for all sports, and the other two for football only).

On December 15, 2012, the Big East's seven remaining non-FBS schools, all Catholic institutions – DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova – announced that they voted unanimously to leave the Big East Conference, effective June 30, 2015.^[16][17] The "Catholic 7", by leaving, were looking for a more lucrative television deal than the one they would receive by remaining with the football schools.^[18] In March 2013, representatives of the Catholic 7 announced they would leave the conference effective June 30, 2013, retaining the Big East name, $10 million, and the right to hold the conference's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.^[3][19]

Following the announcement of the departure of the Catholic 7 universities, the remaining ten football-playing members started the process of selecting a new name for the conference and choosing a new site to hold its basketball tournament.^[20][21] Various names were considered, with the "America 12" conference reportedly one of the finalists until rejected by college presidents sensitive of adding a number to the end of the conference name.^[22] On April 3, 2013, the conference announced that it had chosen a new name: American Athletic Conference.^[1] The conference also revealed that it prefers the nickname "The American" because it was thought "AAC" would cause too much confusion with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).^[23]

Louisville and Rutgers spent one season in the renamed conference. On July 1, 2014, Louisville joined the ACC^[24] and Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference.^[25] On that same day, East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa joined The American for all sports, while Sacramento State and San Diego State joined as associate members for women's rowing.^[26][27] Navy joined as an associate member in football on July 1, 2015.^[26]

Commissioners

Name	Term
Michael Aresco	2013–present[7]

Membership timeline

 All-sports member

 Football-only member

Member universities

The conference currently has eleven full member institutions – and four associate members – in eleven states, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

Current members

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors
University of Central Florida	Orlando, Florida (270,934)	1963	2013	Public (SUSF)	60,810	Knights	Black & Gold
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio (298,550)	1819	2005	Public (USO)	44,338[28]	Bearcats	Black and Red[29]
University of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut (15,344)	1881	1979[note 5]	Public	31,624	Huskies	National Flag Blue and White[30]
East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina (90,597)	1907	2014	Public (UNC)	27,511	Pirates	Purple & Gold[31]
University of Houston	Houston, Texas (2,296,224)	1927	2013	Public (UH System)	42,704	Cougars	Red & White[32]
University of Memphis	Memphis, Tennessee (679,490)	1912	2013	Public (TBR)	21,480	Tigers	Blue & Gray[33]
University of South Florida	Tampa, Florida (369,075)	1956	2005	Public (SUSF)	48,353	Bulls	Green & Gold[34]
Southern Methodist University	Dallas, Texas (1,300,092)	1911	2013	Private (Methodist)	10,929	Mustangs	Red & Blue[35]
Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1,567,442)	1884	1991, 2012[note 6]	Public (CSHE)	37,788	Owls	Cherry & White[36]
Tulane University	New Orleans, Louisiana (389,617)	1834	2014	Private	13,531	Green Wave	Olive green & Sky blue[37]
University of Tulsa	Tulsa, Oklahoma (403,505)	1894	2014	Private (Presbyterian)	4,682	Golden Hurricane	Royal blue and Old gold[38]

Associate members

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Sport	Primary Conference
California State University, Sacramento	Sacramento, California (466,488)	1947	2014	Public (CSU)	28,811	Hornets		Rowing	Big Sky
San Diego State University	San Diego, California (1,345,895)	1897	2014	Public (CSU)	29,392	Aztecs		Rowing	Mountain West
United States Naval Academy (Navy)	Annapolis, Maryland	1845	2015	Federal	4,400	Midshipmen		Football	Patriot League

Former full members

Two full members have departed from the conference.

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Current Conference
Rutgers University	New Brunswick, New Jersey (55,181)	1766	1991[note 7]	2014	Public (RU)	66,013	Scarlet Knights		Big Ten
University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky (756,832)	1798	2005	2014	Public	22,529	Cardinals		ACC

Former associate members

One associate member has left the conference.

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Sport	Primary Conference	Conference in Former AAC Sport
Villanova University	Villanova, Pennsylvania (8,525)	1842	2013	2015	Private/Catholic (Augustinian)	10,735	Wildcats		Rowing	Big East	CAA

Sports

The American sponsors championship competition in ten men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Sacramento State and San Diego State are associate members for women's rowing.^[39] Conference members who sponsor women's lacrosse and field hockey compete as associate members of the Big East.^[40] Under NCAA rules reflecting the large number of male scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX), each member institution is required to provide more women's varsity sports than men's.^{[note 8]}

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	8	–
Basketball	11	11
Cross Country	9	11
Football	12	–
Golf	10	9
Rowing	–	7
Soccer	8	10
Softball	–	7
Swimming & Diving	4	6
Tennis	9	11
Track and Field (Indoor)	9	11
Track and Field (Outdoor)	9	11
Volleyball	–	11

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total
Cincinnati								N			9
Connecticut											10
East Carolina						N					9
Houston						N	N	N			7
Memphis							N				9
South Florida							N				9
SMU	N		N						N	N	6
Temple	N						N		N	N	6
Tulane					N	N	N				7
Tulsa	N						N				8
UCF			N				N		N	N	6
Associate Member
Navy[note 9]	N	N	N		N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Totals	8	11	9	12	10	8	4	9	8	8	87

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools:

School	Ice hockey	Rifle[note 10]	Rowing[note 11]
Connecticut	HEA	N	N
Memphis	N	GARC	N
Temple	N	N	Independent

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Rowing	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball	Total
Cincinnati				N		N						9
Connecticut			N									10
East Carolina				N								10
Houston				N								10
Memphis				N			N					9
South Florida				N			N					9
SMU						N						10
Temple			N			N	N					8
Tulane				N	N	N						8
Tulsa							N					10
UCF							N					10
Associate Members
Sacramento State	N	N	N		N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
San Diego State	N	N	N		N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1
Totals	11	11	9	7	10	7	6	11	11	11	11	105

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools:

School	Beach Volleyball	Bowling	Fencing	Field Hockey	Equestrian	Gymnastics	Ice hockey	Lacrosse	Rifle[note 10]	Sailing
Cincinnati	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Big East	—	—
Connecticut	—	—	—	Big East	—	—	Hockey East	Big East	—	—
Memphis	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	GARC	—
South Florida	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	SAISA
SMU	—	—	—	—	Independent	—	—	—	—	—
Temple	—	—	NIWFA	Big East	—	Independent	—	Big East	—	—
Tulane	Independent	Southland	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

• Women's Bowling - The Southland Conference provides administrative support for the Southland Bowling League, but the SBL operates independently from regular conference operations.^[41] The women's bowling league was established in 2015 and includes Southland Conference members Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin, plus Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Monmouth, Tulane, Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.
• East Carolina will elevate its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status in the 2018 season (2017–18 school year).^[42]

NCAA team championships

Thru July 2, 2015^[43]

Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including Division I FBS football titles, women's AIAW championships, equestrian titles, and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles.

School	Total	Men	Women	Co-ed	Nickname	Most successful sport (Titles)
University of Connecticut	21	6	15	0	Huskies	Women's basketball (11)
University of Houston	17	17	0	0	Cougars	Men's golf (16)
U.S. Naval Academy	5	5	0	0	Midshipmen	Men's Fencing (3)
Southern Methodist University	4	4	0	0	Mustangs	Men's outdoor track & field (2)
Temple University	3	1	2	0	Owls	Women's lacrosse (2)
University of Cincinnati	2	2	0	0	Bearcats	Men's basketball (2)
Tulane University	1	1	0	0	Green Wave	Men's tennis (1)
University of Tulsa	1	0	1	0	Golden Hurricane	Women's golf (1)
University of South Florida	0	0	0	0	Bulls	n/a
University of Central Florida	0	0	0	0	Knights	n/a
East Carolina University	0	0	0	0	Pirates	n/a
University of Memphis	0	0	0	0	Tigers	n/a

Football

The conference began football during the 1991–92 season, and was a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series.^[44] Previously conference opponents operated on a two-year cycle, as a home-and-home series.^[45]

West Division	East Division
Houston	Cincinnati
Memphis	Connecticut
Navy	East Carolina
SMU	South Florida
Tulane	Temple
Tulsa	UCF

The conference previously did not have enough teams to form divisions, but now does after Navy joined the conference in 2015.^{[note 12]} When Navy joined in 2015 and divisions were created, Navy was placed in the West division along with Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, and Tulsa. Teams play eight conference games a season. Beginning in 2015, each team will face the other five teams in its own division, as well as three teams from the other division, operating in a four-year cycle ensuring that each school will play every conference opponent at home and on the road at least once in the four-year cycle.^[46] The East and West division winners, determined by final conference record, meet in the American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game, which is played at the home site of one of the division winners.

Like the conference itself, football experienced much transition through its history – in fact it was the main force behind such departures and expansion. In 2003, the BCS announced that it would adjust the automatic bids granted to its six founding conferences based on results from 2004 to 2007. With the addition of Cincinnati, Louisville, and South Florida in 2005, the conference retained its BCS automatic-qualifying status. In 2007, South Florida rose to No. 2 in the BCS rankings, but finished No. 21 in the final poll. Cincinnati finished the 2009 regular season undefeated at 12–0, and ranked No. 3 in the final BCS standings, barely missing the opportunity to play for the BCS National Championship. The conference was 9–7 (.563) in BCS bowl games, the third highest winning percentage amongst the AQ conferences.

All-time school records by winning percentage

As of December 2015.

No.	Team	Overall Record	Win Pct.	Conference Record	Conf. Win Pct.	First Year	The American Championships	National Championships
1	Tulsa	600–477–28	.556	2–6	.250	1895	0	0
2	Navy	682–545–57	.553	14–2	.875	1879	0	1
3	South Florida	117–96–0	.549	18–14	.464	1997	0	0
4	UCF	225–190–1	.542	15–9	.625	1979	2	0
5	Houston	416–352–15	.541	17–7	.708	1946	1	0
6	East Carolina	426–385–11	.525	5–3	.625	1932	0	0
7	Cincinnati	592–568–50	.510	17–7	.708	1885	1	0
8	Connecticut	502–541–38	.482	4–12	.250	1896	0	0
9	SMU	475–518–54	.479	5–11	.313	1915	0	3
10	Memphis	455–504–33	.475	8–8	.500	1912	1	0
11	Tulane	505–618–38	.451	2–6	.250	1893	0	0
12	Temple	446–578–52	.439	12–12	.500	1894	1	0

Conference champions

The American Championship Game pits the Eastern Division representative against the Western Division representative in a game held following the conclusion of the regular season. The site of the Championship Game is the home stadium of the division champion with the best overall conference record. In the event that the two division champions are tied, then the head-to-head record shall be used as the tiebreaker. Prior to the 2015 season, when the conference split into two six-team divisions and created a conference championship game, The American awarded its championship to the team(s) with the best overall conference record.

		Record		Ranking
Year	Champions	Conference	Overall	AP	Coaches'	Bowl result	Head coach
2013	UCF	8–0	12–1	#10	#12	W Fiesta Bowl 52–42 vs. Baylor^†	George O'Leary
2014	UCF	7–1	9–4	N/A	N/A	L St. Petersburg Bowl 27–34 vs. NC State	George O'Leary
	Cincinnati	7–1	9–4	N/A	N/A	L Military Bowl 17–33 vs. Virginia Tech	Tommy Tuberville
	Memphis	7–1	10–3	#25	#25	W Miami Beach Bowl 55–48 vs. BYU	Justin Fuente
2015	Houston	7–1	13–1	#8	#8	W Peach Bowl 38–24 vs. Florida State^†	Tom Herman

• ^† BCS or CFP Bowl Game

Rivalries

The American has many rivalries among its member schools, primarily in football. Some rivalries existed before the conference was established or began play in football. Recent conference realignment in 2005 and 2013 ended – or temporarily halted – many rivalries. Before their departure to other conferences, a number of former member schools held longtime rivalries within the conference.

Teams	Rivalry Name	Trophy	Meetings	Began	Record	Series leader	Current Streak
Memphis-Cincinnati	—	—	32	1966	20–13–0	Memphis	Memphis won 2
Connecticut–UCF	Civil Conflict* (unofficial, not recognized by UCF)	---	3	2013	2–1–0	Connecticut	Connecticut won 2
East Carolina–UCF	—	—	13	1991	9–4–0	East Carolina	ECU won 1
Navy–SMU	—	Gansz Trophy	16	1930	9–7–0	Navy	Navy won 5
Houston–SMU	—	—	31	1975	20–10–1	Houston	Houston won 3
South Florida–UCF	War on I–4	War on I-4 Trophy	8	2005	6–2–0	South Florida	USF won 2
Tulsa–UCF	—	—	8	2005	5–3–0	Tulsa	UCF won 1
Houston-Tulsa	—	—	39	1950	21-18	Houston	Houston won 2

Bowl games

Following the 2013 season, the BCS era came to a close and was replaced by the College Football Playoff. Four teams will play in two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the new College Football Championship Game.^[47] Six bowl games — the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Peach Bowl — will rotate as hosts for the semifinal games, and host major bowls when they do not host semifinal games (access bowls).

With the birth of the College Football Playoff, The American lost its automatic qualifying status for one of the major bowls. Instead, one automatic qualifying spot is reserved for the highest ranked team from the "Group of Five" conferences - The American, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference.

Although the pick order usually corresponds to the conference standings, the bowls are not required to make their choices strictly according to the won-lost records; many factors influence bowl selections, especially the likely turnout of the team's fans. Picks are made after any applicable College Football Playoff selections. If a team is selected for the one of the access bowls or playoff, the bowl with the No. 2 pick will have the first pick of the remaining teams in the conference.

Year[48]	Name	Location	Opposing Conference
2014–19	Cotton, Peach, Fiesta, or Playoff[note 13]	Dallas, Atlanta, Glendale, or Playoff Site	CFP At-Large
2014–19	Birmingham Bowl	Birmingham, Alabama	SEC
2014–19	St. Petersburg Bowl	St. Petersburg, Florida	ACC or C-USA
2014–19	Miami Beach Bowl	Miami, Florida	BYU (2014), C-USA, MAC, or Sun Belt
2014–19	Military Bowl	Annapolis, Maryland	ACC
2014/16/17/19	Armed Forces Bowl	Fort Worth, Texas	Big 12 or Army
2016/18	Bahamas Bowl	Nassau, Bahamas	MAC or C-USA
2015–19	Cure Bowl	Orlando, Florida	Sun Belt
2015/17/19	Hawaiʻi Bowl	Honolulu, Hawaii	MWC or BYU
2015/16/17/19	Boca Raton Bowl	Boca Raton, Florida	MAC or C-USA
2018–19	New Orleans Bowl	New Orleans, Louisiana	MAC or Sun Belt
2014–19	Liberty, Independence, and Poinsettia Bowls	Memphis, Shreveport, and San Diego	ACC or SEC (Backup Agreement)

Head football coach compensation

The total pay of head coaches includes university and non-university compensation. This includes base salary, income from contracts, foundation supplements, bonuses and media and radio pay.^[49]

Conf. Rank	University	Head Coach	Salary[49]
1	University of Houston	Orlando, ToddTodd Orlando	interim
2	Southern Methodist University	Morris, ChadChad Morris	$2,600,000
3	Temple University	Rhule, MattMatt Rhule	$2,500,000
4	University of Cincinnati	Tuberville, TommyTommy Tuberville	$2,400,000
5	United States Naval Academy	Niumatalolo, KenKen Niumatalolo	$2,250,000
6	University of South Florida	Taggart, WillieWillie Taggart	$2,000,000
7	University of Memphis	Norvell, MikeMike Norvell	$1,800,000^+
8	University of Central Florida	Frost, ScottScott Frost	$1,700,000^+
8	University of Connecticut	Diaco, BobBob Diaco	$1,700,000
10	Tulane University	Fritz, WillieWillie Fritz	$1,500,000^+
11	East Carolina University	Montgomery, ScottieScottie Montgomery	$1,250,000^+
12	University of Tulsa	Montgomery, PhilipPhilip Montgomery	$800,000

• ^† New hire

Conference individual honors

Coaches and media of The American award individual honors at the end of each football season.^[50]

Men's basketball

In June 2013, it was announced that the inaugural men's basketball tournament will take place at FedExForum in Memphis.^[51] FedExForum had previously hosted eight Conference USA basketball tournaments.

Even though the Big East Conference was meant to be a basketball-oriented conference, UConn, a member of The American, won the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (the first after the conferences split).

All-time school records by winning percentage

This list goes through the 2014-2015 Season

No.	Team	Records	Win Pct.	The American Tournament Championships	The American Regular Season Championships	Final Fours	National Championships
1	Temple	1,840–933	.664	0	1	2	0
2	Connecticut	1,609–903	.641	1	0	5	4
3	Memphis	1,459–852	.631	0	0	3	0
4	Cincinnati	1,669–974	.631	0	1	6	2
5	Houston	1,165–805	.591	0	0	5	0
6	Tulsa	1,362–1,092	.555	0	0	0	0
7	UCF	665–549	.548	0	0	0	0
8	SMU	1,232–1,172	.512	1	1	1	0
9	Tulane	1,166–1,191	.495	0	0	0	0
10	East Carolina	1,018–1,055	.491	0	0	0	0
11	South Florida	584–664	.468	0	0	0	0

Conference champions

	Regular Season					Tournament
Year	Champions	Record	AP	Coaches'	Postseason	Champions	Record	AP	Coaches'	Postseason
2013-14	Louisville	31–6 (15–3)	#5	#9	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	Louisville	31–6	#5	#9	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
	Cincinnati	27–7 (15–3)	#15	#22	NCAA Second Round
2014-15	SMU	27–7 (15–3)	#18	RV	NCAA First Round	SMU	27–7	#18	RV	NCAA First Round
2015-16	Temple	21–12 (14–4)	NR	NR	NCAA First Round	Connecticut	25–10 (11–7)	RV	RV	NCAA Second Round

• Connecticut, after being eliminated form the Conference Championship Tournament, went on to become the National Champions after beating the University of Kentucky 60 - 54 in the 2014 Men's NCAA Basketball Championships

Women's basketball

In June 2013, it was announced that the inaugural women's basketball tournament would take place at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.^[52] Women's basketball teams have played a total of 20 times in the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship (since 1982), with UConn winning 11 national championships under head coach Geno Auriemma since 1995. Women's national championship tournaments prior to 1982 were run by the AIAW.

All-time school records by winning percentage

This list goes through the 2013–14 season.^[53]

No.	Team	Records	Win Pct.	The American Tournament Championships	The American Regular Season Championships	Final Fours	National Championships
1	Connecticut	1,047–296	.780	3	3	17	11
2	Tulane	511–360	.587	0	0	0	0
3	Memphis	693–521	.571	0	0	0	0
4	Temple	762–628	.548	0	0	0	0
5	Houston	625–536	.538	0	0	0	0
6	SMU	591–519	.532	0	0	0	0
7	East Carolina	549–497	.525	0	0	0	0
8	Cincinnati	591–551	.518	0	0	0	0
9	UCF	499–535	.483	0	0	0	0
10	South Florida	564–652	.464	0	0	0	0
11	Tulsa	286–490	.369	0	0	0	0

Conference champions

	Regular Season					Tournament
Year	Champions	Record	AP	Coaches'	Postseason	Champions	Record	AP	Coaches'	Postseason
2013–14	Connecticut	40–0 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion	Connecticut	40–0 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion
2014–15	Connecticut	38–1 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion	Connecticut	38–1 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion
2015–16	Connecticut	38–0 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion	Connecticut	38–0 (18–0)	#1	#1	NCAA Champion

Facilities

Institution	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity
Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium	40,000	Fifth Third Arena	13,176	Marge Schott Stadium	3,085
Connecticut	Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field	42,704	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion XL Center	10,167 15,564	J. O. Christian Field	2,000
East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium	50,000	Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum	8,000	Clark-LeClair Stadium	5,000
Houston	TDECU Stadium	40,000	Hofheinz Pavilion	8,479	Cougar Field	5,000
Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium	59,308	FedExForum (men) Elma Roane Fieldhouse (women)	18,119 2,565	FedExPark	2,000
South Florida	Raymond James Stadium	65,908	USF Sun Dome	10,411	USF Baseball Stadium	3,211
SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium	32,000	Moody Coliseum	7,000	Non-baseball school
Temple	Lincoln Financial Field	68,532	Liacouras Center	10,206	Non-baseball school
Tulane	Yulman Stadium	30,000	Smoothie King Center (men) Devlin Fieldhouse (men/women)	17,003 4,100	Turchin Stadium	5,000
Tulsa	H. A. Chapman Stadium	30,000	Reynolds Center	8,355	Non-baseball school
UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium	45,323	CFE Arena	9,465	Jay Bergman Field	3,600
Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium	34,000	Associate member

Academics

One of the current member schools, Tulane University, is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada.^[54] Seven members are doctorate-granting universities with "very high research activity," the highest classification given by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.^[55] Member schools are also highly ranked nationally and globally by various groups, including U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly, and Times Higher Education.

University	Location	Affiliation	Carnegie[55]	Endowment[56]	USN Nat.[57]	WM Nat.[58]	URAP U.S.[59]
University of Central Florida	Orlando, Florida	Public (SUSF)	Research (VH)	$135,500,000	176	211	114
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	Public (USO)	Research (VH)	$1,183,922,000	135	191	57
University of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut	Public	Research (VH)	$436,900,000	60	81	94
East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina	Public (UNC)	Doctoral	$164,065,000	210	171	69
University of Houston	Houston, Texas	Public (UH System)	Research (VH)	$789,700,000	194	68	104
University of Memphis	Memphis, Tennessee	Public (TBR)	Research (H)	$200,750,000	RNP	37	188
University of South Florida	Tampa, Florida	Public (SUSF)	Research (VH)	$447,000,000	159	78	72
Southern Methodist University	University Park, Texas	Private (Methodist)	Research (H)	$1,466,258,000	56	260	164
Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Public (CSHE)	Research (VH)	$386,758,000	118	195	108
Tulane University	New Orleans, Louisiana	Private	Research (VH)	$1,183,924,000	39	100	112
University of Tulsa	Tulsa, Oklahoma	Private (Presbyterian)	Doctoral	$1,015,474,000	86	164	297

Media

As of 2014, The American has carriage agreements with the following broadcast and cable networks.^[60][61][62]

Television

• ABC broadcasts select football games.
• CBS broadcasts up to 12 appearances for men's and women's basketball games. CBS, under a separate contract with Navy that predated its association with The American for football, also carries select Navy neutral site football games, including all games against the U.S. Military Academy and select games against Notre Dame.
• CBS Sports Network broadcasts football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball.
• ESPN broadcasts football, men's and women's basketball, across its networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews, and ESPNU). ESPN broadcasts the men's and women's basketball tournament, and the football championship game.
• Fox Sports Ohio broadcasts select men's basketball and football games for the University of Cincinnati.
• SportsNet New York broadcasts select men's basketball, women's basketball, and football games for the University of Connecticut.

Internet

• American Digital Network broadcasts women's basketball games, most conference events otherwise not televised, baseball championship game, championship games for select olympic sports. The American Digital Network streams online on the American Athletic Conference website.

See also

• List of NCAA conferences
• Big East Conference (2013–present)
• Big East Conference (1979–2013)

Notes

1. The American is the legal all-sports successor to the Big East Conference (1979–2013). The Big East was rebranded and reorganized as the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2013.
2. The American is the legal successor to the Big East Conference (1979–2013) and retains its charter. The current Big East Conference purchased the "Big East" name during the 2013 conference breakup.
3. The American inherited the Big East's automatic berth to a BCS game for the 2013 season.
4. The other conferences in the "Group of Five" are Conference USA (C-USA), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference.
5. Connecticut's football program did not join the conference until 2004.
6. Temple was not a Big East football member between the 2005 and 2011 seasons, most of this time being spent in the Mid-American Conference. Temple joined as a football only member in 2012, and as an all-sports member in 2013.
7. Rutgers joined the conference in 1991 as a football only member, and joined in all-sports in 1995.
8. Under NCAA Bylaw 20.9.4, all Division I schools are required to sponsor a minimum of seven men's and seven women's sports, or six men's and eight women's sports. Bylaw 20.9.7.1 imposes the latter requirement on FBS schools. FCS schools, under Bylaw 20.9.8.1, may use either requirement. Note that this does not explicitly require that a school sponsor two more women's sports than men's sports. See "2012–13 NCAA Division I Manual" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
9. Navy will continue to field its other sports in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.
10. Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other.
11. The only category of rowing that the NCAA governs is women's heavyweight rowing. All men's rowing is governed by the Intercollegiate Rowing Association.
12. At the time Navy joined in football, the NCAA required 12 teams for a conference to conduct divisional play and stage a championship game. Starting with the 2016 season, a conference can conduct a championship game with fewer than 12 members, as long as it either plays in two divisions or conducts a full round-robin schedule.
13. If The American's champion is the highest ranked from among the "Group of Five" conferences, it will receive a bid to either the Cotton Bowl, the Peach Bowl, or the Fiesta Bowl. If the team is ranked in the top four at the end of the regular season, it will take part in the College Football Playoff.

References

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External links

• Official website