American Athletic Conference

The American Athletic Conference (also known as "The American" or "AAC") is a big college sports conference in the United States. Its members play in NCAA Division I. In football, they play in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; known before 2006 as Division I-A), the higher of two levels of Division I football.

The American has its roots in the original Big East Conference. That conference was started in 1979 as a basketball-first league by a group of schools in the Eastern U.S. The Big East added football in 1991. That led to years of conflict between schools that played I-A/FBS football and those that did not. In July 2013, the Big East split into two conferences. The seven schools that did not play FBS football left to form a new Big East Conference. The FBS schools that did not go to other conferences stayed in the old conference structure. Along with several new members, they began operating as the American Athletic Conference.

The American kept the original Big East charter. That makes it the legal successor of the old Big East. However, both The American and the new Big East claim 1979 as their founding dates. Both also claim the pre-split history of the old Big East, at least in corporate terms. However, both leagues agreed that the current Big East would maintain the sporting history of the original conference in most sports. The only exceptions are football and women's rowing, the only two sports sponsored by The American but not the current Big East. In those two sports, neither offshoot league recognizes the history of the original Big East.

Of the 14 current full members (those that house most of their sports in the league), only Wichita State does not have a football team.

During a major conference realignment triggered in 2021 when Big 12 Conference mainstays Oklahoma and Texas announced they would move to the Southeastern Conference no later than 2025, with a 2024 entry date later confirmed. The American was heavily affected. The Big 12 then raided The American, inviting Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF to join that conference, with their arrival date eventually set for 2023. In turn, The American raided Conference USA, inviting six members of that conference to move to The American in 2023—Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA. Later in the realignment cycle, SMU announced it would leave The American for the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024. The American replaced SMU for football with Army, which joined as a football-only member at the same time that SMU left.

Members

School	Location	Founded	Type (affiliation)	Nickname	Joined The American^[a]
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte)	Charlotte, North Carolina	1946	Public	49ers	2023^[b]
East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina	1907	Public	Pirates	2014
Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton, Florida	1965	Public	Owls	2023^[b]
MemphisUniversity of Memphis	Memphis, Tennessee	1912	Public	Tigers	2013
University of North Texas	Denton, Texas	1890	Public	Mean Green	2023^[b]
Rice University	Houston, Texas	1912	Private	Owls	2023^[b]
South FloridaUniversity of South Florida	Tampa, Florida	1956	Public	Bulls	2005
Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1884	State-related	Owls	1991, 2012 (football)^[c] 2013 (all sports)
Tulane University	New Orleans, Louisiana	1834	Private (nonsectarian)	Green Wave	2014
TulsaUniversity of Tulsa	Tulsa, Oklahoma	1894	Private (Presbyterian)	Golden Hurricane	2014
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)	Birmingham, Alabama	1969	Public	Blazers	2023^[b]
University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)	San Antonio, Texas	1969	Public	Roadrunners	2023^[b]
Wichita State University^[d]	Wichita, Kansas	1895	Public	Shockers	2017

↑ For South Florida, plus the Temple football program, dates are when they joined the original Big East.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5
Five of the six members that joined in 2023 were American Conference members in select sports in 2022–23:
- Charlotte and UAB were members in men's soccer.
- Florida Atlantic was a member in men's soccer and women's swimming & diving.
- North Texas and Rice were members in women's swimming & diving, although Rice fields swimmers only and no divers.
↑ Temple's football team was kicked out of the old Big East after the 2004 season, but came back in 2012.
↑ Non-football member.

Associate members

As of the 2024–25 school year, The American has six "associate members" that play one or two sports in the conference.

School	Location	Founded	Type (affiliation)	Joined	Sport	Current main conference	Nickname
United States Military Academy (Army)	West Point, New York	1802	Federal	2024	Football	Patriot League	Black Knights
Florida International University (FIU)	University Park, Florida	1965	Public	2022	Men's soccer Women's swimming & diving	Conference USA	Panthers
James Madison University	Harrisonburg, Virginia	1908	Public	2022	Women's lacrosse	Sun Belt Conference	Dukes
United States Naval Academy (Navy)	Annapolis, Maryland	1845	Federal	2015	Football	Patriot League	Midshipmen
Old Dominion University	Norfolk, Virginia	1930	Public	2020	Women's lacrosse	Sun Belt Conference	Monarchs
Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	1873	Private	2018	Women's lacrosse	Southeastern Conference	Commodores

Former members

Two schools left The American after spending only the 2013–14 school year in the renamed conference. Before 2013, both had been members of the original Big East. A third school left The American in 2020 to rejoin most of its historic all-sports rivals in the current Big East. Three more schools left for the Big 12 in 2023, one of which stayed in The American for one season in women's lacrosse only. Another left for the ACC in 2024.

School	Location	Founded	Type (affiliation)	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current conference
University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	1798	Public	Cardinals	2005	2014	ACC
Rutgers University	New Brunswick, New Jersey	1766	Public	Scarlet Knights	1991 (football) 1995 (all sports)	2014	Big Ten
Southern Methodist University (SMU)	University Park, Texas^[a]	1911	Private (Methodist)	Mustangs	2013	2024	ACC
University of Connecticut (UConn)	Storrs, Connecticut	1881	Public	Huskies	1979^[b]	2020	Big East
University of Connecticut (UConn)	Storrs, Connecticut	1881	Public	Huskies	1979^[b]	2020	FBS independent (football)
University of Houston	Houston, Texas	1927	Public	Cougars	2013	2023	Big 12
University of Central Florida (UCF)	Orlando, Florida^[c]	1963	Public	Knights	2013	2023	Big 12

↑ The campus has a Dallas mailing address.
↑ UConn joined the original Big East at its formation in 1979, and remained in The American after the 2013 split.
↑ The UCF campus has an Orlando mailing address, but actually lies in unincorporated Orange County.

Former associate members

Five other schools were single-sport members, but are no longer in the conference. Three of these competed in women's rowing before leaving the conference, with one leaving after The American shut down its women's rowing league in 2024. Another women's rowing associate left in 2024, but is still in The American in another sport.

Two other schools were members for women's lacrosse before the Big 12 Conference started a women's lacrosse league in 2024–25. One of these latter two schools had been a full American Conference member before joining the Big 12, but kept women's lacrosse in The American for a single season.

Apart from these, five other schools were associate members for one year before becoming full conference members.

School	Location	Founded	Type (affiliation)	Nickname	Joined	Left	Sport	Current conference in former American sport
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte)	Charlotte, North Carolina	1946	Public	49ers	2022	2023	Men's soccer	American
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	1819	Public	Bearcats	2023	2024	Women's lacrosse	Big 12
University of Florida	Gainesville, Florida	1853	Public	Gators	2018	2024	Women's lacrosse	Big 12
Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton, Florida	1961	Public	Owls	2022	2023	Men's soccer	American
Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton, Florida	1961	Public	Owls	2022	2023	Women's swimming & diving	American
University of North Texas	Denton, Texas	1890	Public	Mean Green	2022	2023	Women's swimming & diving	American
Old Dominion University	Norfolk, Virginia	1930	Public	Monarchs	2018	2024	Women's rowing	Big 12
Rice University	Houston, Texas	1912	Private	Owls	2022	2023	Women's swimming^[a]	American
California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State)	Sacramento, California	1947	Public	Hornets	2014	2024	Women's rowing	Independent
San Diego State University	San Diego, California	1897	Public	Aztecs	2015	2021	Women's rowing	N/A (dropped women's rowing)
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)	Birmingham, Alabama	1969	Public	Blazers	2022	2023	Men's soccer	American
Villanova University	Villanova, Pennsylvania	1842	Private (Catholic)	Wildcats	2013	2015	Women's rowing	CAA

↑ Before the 2024–25 season, Rice's women's aquatics program had swimmers, but no divers.

Sports

The American holds championships in 10 men's sports and 11 women's sports:

Baseball (men only)
Basketball (both)
Cross country (both)
Football (men only)
Golf (both)
Lacrosse (women only)
Soccer (both)
Softball (women only)
Swimming and diving (both)
Tennis (both)
Track and field, indoor (both)
Track and field, outdoor (both)
Volleyball (women only)

Other websites

Official website

[1] For South Florida, plus the Temple football program, dates are when they joined the original Big East.

[2K23-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 Five of the six members that joined in 2023 were American Conference members in select sports in 2022–23:
Charlotte and UAB were members in men's soccer.

Florida Atlantic was a member in men's soccer and women's swimming & diving.

North Texas and Rice were members in women's swimming & diving, although Rice fields swimmers only and no divers.

[3] Charlotte and UAB were members in men's soccer.

[4] Florida Atlantic was a member in men's soccer and women's swimming & diving.

[5] North Texas and Rice were members in women's swimming & diving, although Rice fields swimmers only and no divers.

[3] Temple's football team was kicked out of the old Big East after the 2004 season, but came back in 2012.

[4] Non-football member.

[5] The campus has a Dallas mailing address.

[6] UConn joined the original Big East at its formation in 1979, and remained in The American after the 2013 split.

[7] The UCF campus has an Orlando mailing address, but actually lies in unincorporated Orange County.

[8] Before the 2024–25 season, Rice's women's aquatics program had swimmers, but no divers.

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