Atlantic 10 Conference

The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a NCAA conference that plays in NCAA Division I. The conference is headquartered in Newport News, Virginia and features universities and colleges from the Eastern and Midwestern United States.

History

The A-10 was founded by eight Eastern schools in 1975 as the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League, and began play in 1976. It first played only men's basketball, but added other sports in 1977 and became the Eastern Athletic Association. Despite its official names, the conference was more often called the Eastern 8. By 1982, the conference had 10 schools, and it became the Atlantic 10.

Although the conference has had "10" in its name since 1982, it has not had 10 members since Penn State left for the second and final time in 1991. Since then, the A-10 has had anywhere from 8 to 16 full members (schools that play most of their sports in the conference). From 1997 to 2006, the A-10 ran a football league; after the 2006 season, the A-10 football conference was taken over by the Colonial Athletic Association, now known as the Coastal Athletic Association. The former A-10 football conference is now known as CAA Football (in full, the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference); it is run by the multi-sports CAA but is legally separate.

Members

Fifteen schools are full members. Most of the members are private schools; eight are run by the Catholic Church. UMass, indicated with a pink background, will leave the A-10 for the Mid-American Conference in July 2025.

School	Location	Founded	Type (affiliation)	Nickname	Joined A-10
Davidson College	Davidson, North Carolina	1837	Private (Presbyterian)	Wildcats	2014
University of Dayton	Dayton, Ohio	1850	Private (Catholic)	Flyers	1995
Duquesne University	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1878	Private (Catholic)	Dukes	1976, 1993^{[a 1]}
Fordham University	Bronx, New York	1841	Private (Catholic)	Rams	1995
George Mason University	Fairfax, Virginia	1957	Public	Patriots	2013
George Washington University	Washington, D.C.	1821	Private (nonsectarian)	Revolutionaries	1976
La Salle University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1863	Private (Catholic)	Rams	1995
Loyola University Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	1870	Private (Catholic)	Ramblers	2022
University of Massachusetts Amherst	Amherst, Massachusetts	1863	Public	Minutemen & Minutewomen	1976
University of Rhode Island	Kingston, Rhode Island	1892	Public	Rams	1980
University of Richmond	Richmond, Virginia	1830	Private (nonsectarian)	Spiders	2001
St. Bonaventure University	St. Bonaventure, New York	1858	Private (Catholic)	Bonnies	1979
Saint Joseph's University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1851	Private (Catholic)	Hawks	1982
Saint Louis University	St. Louis, Missouri	1818	Private (Catholic)	Billikens	2005
Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond, Virginia	1838	Public	Rams	2012

↑ Duquesne left the A-10 in 1992 to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League), but came back in 1993.

Associate members

Three schools are "associate members" that play only one sport in the A-10.

School	Location	Founded	Type (affiliation)	Nickname	Joined	A-10 Sport	Main Conference
High Point University	High Point, North Carolina	1822	Private (Methodist)	Panthers	2022	Men's lacrosse	Big South
Hobart College	Geneva, New York	1822	Private (nonsectarian)	Statesmen	2022	Men's lacrosse	Liberty League (Div. III)
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania	Lock Haven, Pennsylvania	1870	Public	Bald Eagles	2010	Field hockey	PSAC (Div. II)

Former members

Ten schools were once full members of the A-10, but are no longer in the conference.

School	Location	Founded	Type (affiliation)	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current Conference
Butler University	Indianapolis, Indiana	1855	Private (nonsectarian)	Bulldogs	2012	2013	Big East
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte)	Charlotte, North Carolina	1946	Public	49ers	2005	2013	The American
Pennsylvania State University	University Park, Pennsylvania	1855	Public/private hybrid	Nittany Lions	1976 1982	1979 1991	Big Ten
University of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1787	Public/private hybrid	Panthers	1976	1982	ACC
Rutgers University	New Brunswick, New Jersey	1766	Public	Scarlet Knights	1976	1995	Big Ten
Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1884	Public/private hybrid	Owls	1982	2013	The American
Villanova University	Villanova, Pennsylvania	1842	Private (Catholic)	Wildcats	1976	1980	Big East
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)	Blacksburg, Virginia	1872	Public	Hokies	1995	2000	ACC
West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia	1867	Public	Mountaineers	1976	1995	Big 12
Xavier University	Cincinnati, Ohio	1831	Private (Catholic)	Musketeers	1995	2013	Big East

References

"Atlantic 10 Conference". atlantic10.com. Retrieved 2014-07-06.

[1] Duquesne left the A-10 in 1992 to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League), but came back in 1993.

[a 1]