Conference USA is a college athletic conference which is made up of member institutions situated throughout the southern united states of america. Members inside of the Conference USA partake in the NCAA’s Division I in all sports. The conferences primary office is situated in Irving, Texas and was initially established in 1995 through the amalgamation of the Great Midwest Conference and the Metro Conference which had been 2 conferences of Division I that did not sponsor the sport of football.

In 2005-2006 the Conference USA observed significant modifications. The Big East Conference had dropped many teams and looked to Conference USA to attract substitutes. 5 Conference USA members left for the Big East, including a few football playing schools, which include Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida together with 2 non football schools DePaul and Marquette. Conference USA ended up being able to entice six substitute teams from other conferences to push their total up to 12 colleges all of which sponsor football and the conference implemented a two-division alignment.

In 2014-2015, Tulane revealed that they would be departing the Conference USA to become a member of the Big East Conference together with East Carolina. Conference USA reacted by incorporating both Tennessee and Florida Atlantic which were both coming from the Sun Belt. In April 2013, they stated that they were incorporating Western Kentucky which ended up being also from the Sun Belt to counterbalance the exit of Tulsa.

In October of 2015, the conference titled Judy MacLeod their 3rd official commissioner and becoming the very first female to lead an FBS conference.