I need our fans to know that,” he said Sunday in a video posted on Twitter. “I am not resting, I’ve been going 24/7 to attack this thing. With all of the moving pieces, UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford has tried to put the Minutemen, an FBS independent since 2016, in the mix. There are currently just five Conference USA members committed to the league long-term. UConn is considering joining as a football only member, while the other two would join the league in all sports. As for the Pac-12 … that’s still to be determined.UMass doesn’t want to be the last program left standing in the latest round of college football conference realignment.Īfter six Conference USA schools bolted for the American Athletic Conference last week, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini reported Thursday that Conference USA is in negotiations with New Mexico State, Liberty and UConn – all independents like the Minutemen. Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss originally planned to join by 2023, but the schools prevailed in court and left CUSA for the Sun Belt for the 2022 season.Ĭoming in 2024: Texas and Oklahoma go to the SEC, USC and UCLA go to the Big Ten, and Kennesaw State goes to Conference USA. It did see non-football members Little Rock and UT-Arlington depart as the conference focused on football. The conference decided to stick with football divisions, too. The conference didn’t lose any school that plays football in 2021’s flurry of moves, but it felt this was an opportune time to expand by adding schools within its footprint that have a strong history or existing rivalries already in place. Added James Madison from the Colonial Athletic Association (FCS).Added Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss from Conference USA.The departure of Liberty and New Mexico State from the ranks of the FBS independents leaves just four programs with that status in 2023 and beyond: Notre Dame, UConn, UMass and Army. The arrival of two FCS programs within its existing footprint (plus Kennesaw State, coming in 2024) helped solve that problem. Added Sam Houston from the WAC (FCS) and Jacksonville State from the ASUN (FCS)Īfter losing members to both the Sun Belt and the AAC, Conference USA needed to pull from wherever it could in order to maintain a large enough league to be viable in the FBS.Added New Mexico State from the WAC and FBS football independence.Added Liberty from the ASUN and FBS football independence.Lost Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA to the AAC.The Owls went on to make a Final Four run this spring. When that didn’t pan out, the AAC went big and doubled down on the state of Texas with three additions, as well as high-upside schools in FAU, UAB and Charlotte. Added Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA from Conference USAĪfter losing three schools to the Big 12 (and UConn before that), the AAC first looked west, hoping to add Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State from the Mountain West.Lost Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to the Big 12. The addition of Cincinnati and UCF also helped strengthen the league’s eastern wing, where West Virginia had previously been relatively isolated.
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