The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a college athletic conference which operates mostly on the United States‘ eastern seaboard. It also has two member schools in Ohio: Dayton and Xavier, located in Dayton and Cincinnati, respectively. Another member, Saint Louis is located in St. Louis, Missouri. Although some of its members are state-funded, more than half of its membership is made up of private, Catholic institutions. The Atlantic 10 Conference was originally known as the Eastern 8 Conference. Despite the name, there are 15 partial or full-time members: 14 basketball and other sports, and one affiliate member participates in women’s field hockey only.
Full Members
The following is a list of the full members of the conference and the year they joined:
|
Institution
|
Location
|
Founded
|
|
|
|
|
|
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
|
Charlotte, North Carolina
|
1946
|
|
University of Dayton
|
Dayton, Ohio
|
1850
|
|
Duquesne University
|
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
|
1878
|
|
Fordham University
|
New York City, New York
|
1841
|
|
George Washington University
|
Washington, D.C.
|
1821
|
|
La Salle University
|
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
|
1863
|
|
University of Massachusetts
|
Amherst, Massachusetts
|
1863
|
|
University of Rhode Island
|
Kingston, Rhode Island
|
1892
|
|
University of Richmond
|
Richmond, Virginia
|
1830
|
|
St. Bonaventure University
|
Olean, New York
|
1856
|
|
Saint Joseph’s University
|
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
|
1851
|
|
Saint Louis University
|
St. Louis, Missouri
|
1818
|
|
Temple University
|
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
|
1884
|
|
Xavier University
|
Cincinnati, Ohio
|
1831
|
Associate Members
The following is a list of the associate members and the sport to which they belong to the conference:
Women’s field hockey only
* West Chester (1996)
Past members
* University of Delaware (football only) (1986-2006)†
* Hofstra University (football only) (2001-2006)
* James Madison University (football only) (1993-2006)†
* University of Maine (football only) (1947-2006)†
* University of New Hampshire (football only) (1947-2006)†
* Northeastern University (football only) (1993-2006)†
* Pennsylvania State University (1976-1979; 1982-1991)
* University of Pittsburgh (1976-1982)
* Rutgers University (1976-1995)
* Towson University (football only) (2004-2006)
* Villanova University (1976-1980; 1988-2006 football only)†
* Virginia Tech (1995-2000)
* West Virginia University (1976-1995)
* The College of William & Mary (football only) (1993-2006)
Sports sponsored
There are 21 NCAA sports in the conference
* baseball
* men’s basketball
* women’s basketball
* men’s cross country
* women’s cross country
* field hockey
* men’s golf
* women’s lacrosse
* men’s indoor track & field
* women’s indoor track & field
* men’s outdoor track & field
* women’s outdoor track & field
* women’s rowing
* men’s soccer
* women’s soccer
* softball
* men’s swimming & diving
* women’s swimming & diving
* men’s tennis
* women’s tennis
* women’s volleyball
A-10 football
Origin
The A-10 began sponsoring football in 1997 when it absorbed the Yankee Conference, a Division I-AA (now known as Division I FCS) football-only conference. The move was triggered by a change in NCAA rules that reduced the influence of single-sport conferences over NCAA legislation. The following schools were in the Yankee Conference at the time of its demise:
* Boston University
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* James Madison
* Maine
* Massachusetts
* New Hampshire
* Northeastern
* Rhode Island
* Richmond
* Villanova
* William & Mary
Boston University dropped football after the first season of A-10 football. After the 1999 season, UConn started a transition from Division I-AA to Division I-A football (now Division I FBS) that was completed in 2002. In 2004, UConn, already a member of the Big East for other sports, became a football member of that conference. The other schools all remained in the A-10 football conference until its demise after the 2006 season.
Demise
The 2005 move of Northeastern University, a football-only member of the A-10, to the Colonial Athletic Association for basketball and Olympic sports began a chain of events that would lead to the demise of the A-10 football conference.
At that time, the CAA did not sponsor football, but five of its members in the 2004-05 academic year (Delaware, Hofstra, James Madison, Towson, and William & Mary) were football members of the A-10. The addition of Northeastern gave the CAA six schools with football programs, which under NCAA rules allows a conference to sponsor football. Northeastern agreed to join any future CAA football conference, which meant that the A-10 football conference would drop to six members once CAA football began operation.
With six football members in place, the CAA decided to start a football conference in 2007. The league then invited Richmond, which left the CAA in 2001, to rejoin for football only, because of UR’s long-standing in-state rivalries with William & Mary and James Madison. UR accepted the invitation, taking the A-10 football conference below the NCAA minimum of six. Shortly after this, the A-10 football conference opted to disband, with all of its members becoming charter members of the CAA football conference.
Conference facilities
|
School
|
Basketball arena
|
Capacity
|
|
Charlotte
|
Dale F. Halton Arena
|
9,105
|
|
Dayton
|
University of Dayton Arena
|
13,409
|
|
Duquesne
|
A.J. Palumbo Center
|
6,200
|
|
Fordham
|
Rose Hill Gym
|
3,470
|
|
George Washington
|
Smith Center
|
5,000
|
|
La Salle
|
Tom Gola Arena
|
4,000
|
|
Massachusetts
|
Mullins Center
|
9,349
|
|
Rhode Island
|
Ryan Center
|
7,657
|
|
Richmond
|
Robins Center
|
9,171
|
|
St. Bonaventure
|
Reilly Center
|
6,000
|
|
Saint Joseph’s
|
Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse
|
3,200
|
|
Saint Louis
|
Men: Scottrade Center
|
|
|
|
Women: Bauman-Eberhardt Center
|
20,000
|
|
2,200
|
|
|
|
Temple
|
Liacouras Center
|
10,206
|
|
Xavier
|
Cintas Center
|
10,250
|
