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North Texas will make a jump when it comes to the level of competition it faces in several sports when it joins Conference USA in 2013. The challenge is one the school’s coaches and players said they are prepared for — not to mention looking forward to — following the school’s official announcement Friday that it is leaving the Sun Belt Conference. C-USA added four other teams in addition to UNT in its latest round of realignment — Texas-San Antonio, Charlotte, Louisiana Tech and Florida International. “We are definitely excited,” said Kelsey Hodges, a member of UNT’s soccer team. “This will give us more rivalries with more teams that are closer to us. The higher level that Conference USA is at is exciting. We will have the chance at higher rankings and will have better competition. The expectations will go up.” UNT has faced members of C-USA on a regular basis over the last several years due to the proximity of some of those schools. The UNT football team fell last season at Tulsa and lost to Rice two years ago. Both teams will be among UNT’s new rivals in C-USA. UNT knocked off Rice in men’s basketball two years ago. Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20120505-unt-eyeing-new-challenges-in-conference-usa.ece

Austin Schubert / Staff Writer - The UNT Athletic Department addressed the impact of the university's acceptance of an invitation to join Conference USA in a press conference Friday afternoon, expressing excitement about what the move will do for UNT. "It's a big day for us," UNT President V. Lane Rawlins said. "It's not something unexpected. The right things in life happen when you do the right things and we've been doing the right things." The move to Conference USA helps elevate theuniversity's athletic program to a higher level, UNT Athletic Director Rick Villarreal said. "I always believed that [...] View the full article

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Austin Schubert / Staff Writer - UNT took the next step in enhancing its athletics program when it received and accepted an invitation to join Conference USA this morning. The Mean Green will remain in the Sun Belt Conference until July 1, 2013, when the move to Conference USA will take effect. "This is validation that the progress we have made in our athletic programs in conjunction with our university’s academic reputation has made us a suitable fit for the high standards of Conference USA,” UNT Athletic Director Rick Villarreal said in a press release. “Conference USA provides a great [...] View the full article

May 4, 2012 North Texas Accepts Invitation for Membership to Conference USA Mean Green and Four Other Schools to Begin New Affiliation in 2013 DENTON, Texas -- Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky today announced that the University of North Texas has been extended and accepted an invitation for Conference USA membership, effective July 1, 2013. North Texas is one of five schools that will be joining Conference USA, along with the University of Texas-San Antonio, Louisiana Tech University, Florida International University and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. “This is validation that the progress we have made in our athletic programs in conjunction with our university’s academic reputation has made us a suitable fit for the high standards of Conference USA,” Director of Athletics Rick Villarreal said. “Conference USA provides a great partnership with several schools in our geographic proximity and will help all of us create outstanding regional rivalries. It is a tremendous opportunity for North Texas athletics.” Each new member will join the league in all sports for 2013, Charlotte will begin conference participation in football in 2015. The metro area population of these schools is nearly 18 million. Existing members are East Carolina University, Marshall University, Rice University, University of Southern Mississippi, Tulane University, The University of Tulsa, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and University of Texas El Paso (UTEP). Divisions will be set in the near future. The 13 members will also allow the Conference to continue to host its annual Football Championship game pitting champions from the East and West Divisions. “The presidents and chancellors of Conference USA universities are pleased to welcome these five distinguished institutions to CUSA,” said Dr. Scott Cowen, Tulane University president and Chair of Conference USA’s Board of Directors. “Conference USA has always operated in a way that reflects the values of higher education and works very hard to balance the athletics and academic interests of its student-athletes at the highest level. These institutions clearly share those values.” North Texas will be joining Conference USA after competing as a member of the Sun Belt Conference since 2001. In 11 years as a Sun Belt member, North Texas won 20 conference championships in 10 different sports. The Mean Green represented the Sun Belt in four bowl games and two NCAA men’s basketball tournament appearances. The new conference affiliation means North Texas will be in a league with three other schools in the state of Texas and three more schools in bordering states. In all, seven members of the new Conference USA will be within 650 miles of Denton. Only three of the football-playing members in the Sun Belt Conference are within 650 miles of Denton. “The welfare of our student-athletes was definitely a key consideration for us in making this decision,” Villarreal said. “With so many schools in relative close proximity to our campus we will minimize the amount of missed class time and minimize the amount of time spent traveling to and from competition.” Conference USA will be the eighth conference that North Texas has been a member of since the inception of its athletics program in 1913.

Five schools set to join Conference USA have scheduled news conferences for today, when the league is expected to announce expansion plans that will increase membership to 13. Texas-San Antonio's move was approved Thursday by University of Texas System regents. People familiar with the league's plans said North Texas, Charlotte, Louisiana Tech and Florida International also would be joining. A potential 14th member, Old Dominion, won't be part of the unveiling, sources said late Thursday. School officials have requested time to mull an offer that would provide many benefits - most notably a higher national profile and membership in a Football Bowl Subdivision conference - but also a jump in expenses. It was unclear Thursday how long C-USA's offer might remain on the table. A source within the conference said conference officials are likely to say today that they would like to add a 14th member but won't identify whom they are considering or how long it might take. Timing could be tricky for ODU, which had begun thinking in general terms about a move from the Colonial Athletic Association and the Football Championship Subdivision to FBS down the road but hasn't had time to complete a detailed analysis of the pros and cons when the offer was tendered, sources said. Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/five-say-yes-odu-still-says-maybe-conference-usa

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DALLAS — Conference USA is restocking its league and is about to add more schools than it is losing to the Big East. UT-San Antonio's move to Conference USA was approved Thursday by University of Texas System regents, the same day that people familiar with the league's plans said North Texas, Charlotte, Louisiana Tech and Florida International would also be joining C-USA. Announcements are expected at each of the schools Friday. Those five additions in July 2013 will come at the same time Big East-bound Houston, SMU, Memphis and Central Florida are scheduled to leave Conference USA. That will give C-USA 13 schools, one above its current membership. Multiple people with knowledge of the planned additions spoke Thursday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because, aside from the action by regents overseeing UTSA, no official announcements had been made by the league or the individual schools. There could be even more additions in the future to the incoming five and the eight remaining Conference USA schools: Southern Miss , Marshall, East Carolina, Tulane, Tulsa, Rice, UTEP and UAB. C-USA and the Mountain West Conference announced plans earlier this year to form a partnership in football, with as many as 24 teams located in five time zones. The two leagues are still working through details of such a move that had been planned to begin in 2013. North Texas, which is leaving the Sun Belt Conference, scheduled a news conference Friday about the “future of Mean Green athletics.” The news conference with school President V. Lane Rawlins and athletic director Rick Villarreal will be held at the school's $78 million, 30,850-seat campus football stadium that opened last season. Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/other-colleges/20120503-ut-san-antonio-north-texas-part-of-major-overhaul-of-conference-usa.ece?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

All across the country there will be seven celebratory press conferences Friday to announce a school is moving to another conference in 2013. Florida International, North Texas, Texas San Antonio, Louisiana Tech and Charlotte are joining Conference USA in 2013, while San Jose State and Utah State are headed to the Mountain West. While those seven are moving on up, Old Dominion remains undecided whether to upgrade from the Colonial Athletic Association to Conference USA. An ODU spokeswoman told CBSSports.com Thursday afternoon the school would not be holding a press conference Friday related to its conference future. Later in the day, the school released the following statement: "Recent reports of conference realignment across the country have heightened our attention to focus on one of the primary goals of our intercollegiate athletic strategic plan, which is to continually assess the changing landscape of Division I athletics," the statement said. Read more: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/brett-mcmurphy/18954539

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