Dec. 2, 2003

Atlantic 10 Joins Conference Carousel

Fall has been a season of change for college athletic conferences, and the Atlantic 10 is no exception. While the Atlantic Coast Conference got things started, spiriting Miami and Virginia Tech away from the Big East, the A-10 joined in the shuffle by adding St. Louis University and the University of North Carolina Charlotte, both currently in Conference USA. The schools will join the A-10 starting with the 2005-06 season.

“We’re pleased that such attractive institutions have accepted our invitation to join the A-10 Conference,” President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president of the
A-10 Conference Presidents Council, said in a statement following the schools’ membership acceptance. “Saint Louis shares with our member institutions a strong commitment to academics, as well as athletics. They also further solidify the conference’s national reputation and prestige. We believe that Charlotte is an institution cut from the same mold. Along with the other members, we are pleased and proud to welcome them to the A-10 family.”

When the conference expands to 14 teams, it will likely continue its east-west division format although schools could be shifted from one to another to accommodate the new arrivals. A-10 Commissioner Linda Bruno told ESPN’s Andy Katz that while the days of double round-robin scheduling are over “we do need to protect rivalries for television purposes.”

The additions are expected to add muscle to the conference’s basketball lineup. Charlotte last qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2002 and made eight appearances overall, under three different coaches, since 1988. The Billikens made it to the show in 2000, 1998, 1995 and 1994.

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