The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

athletics conference, so named because its six charter members were all in urban metropolitan areas, though its later members did not follow that pattern. The conference was centered in the Upper South with some strength in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the wa ...

. The conference never sponsored

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

, although most of its members throughout its history had Division I-A football programs (from 1983 to 1991, all Metro schools had independent football programs). In 1995, it merged with the Great Midwest Conference to form

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

. The merger was driven mainly by football, as several Metro Conference members had been successfully lured to larger conferences that sponsored the sport. The conference was popularly known as the "Metro 6" during its first season, then as the "Metro 7" during the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s. For most of its existence, it was considered a "major" conference.

History

The Metro Conference was founded in 1975 with institutions that were located in urban metropolitan areas. The charter members were the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part ...

, the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one ...

, Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis),

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, ...

and

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

joined in 1976, while the University of South Carolina turned down an invitation in hopes of rejoining the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

. In 1978, Georgia Tech left the Metro for the

, effective on July 1, 1979; and

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

replaced its spot in 1979. In 1982, Saint Louis left to join the

Midwestern Collegiate Conference The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Mid ...

, now known as the Horizon League; while the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to a ...

replaced its spot in that same year. The University of South Carolina later joined in 1983. In 1985,

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

was in talks to replace Tulane, which had suspended its men’s basketball program due to a points shaving scandal. Ultimately, West Virginia officials decided to remain in the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Easter ...

. In 1991, Florida State joined the ACC, and then South Carolina joined the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

. However, South Carolina re-joined the Metro for 1993 and 1994 men's soccer seasons in that sport only, because the SEC did not (and still does not) offer the sport for men (four schools were required to sponsor a sport; the SEC had just three, now two). Charter members Cincinnati and Memphis State also left the Metro in 1991 to become charter members of the Great Midwest. To replace them, three of the stronger non-football schools from the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams particip ...

(the

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine coll ...

, the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

and

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

) shifted to the Metro. In 1993, the Metro and Great Midwest conferences began reunification talks that led to the creation of C-USA. However, the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

schools filed a lawsuit in order to prevent the merger from happening, which ultimately failed. VCU joined the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I whose full members are located in East Coast ...

. Virginia Tech (which was banking on an invitation to join the Big East Conference) was left out of Conference USA, and joined the

(it later joined the Big East in 2000 and is now in the

since 2004). It was joined by Great Midwest member

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

, which was intrigued by the prospect of playing against regional rival Xavier. Initially, South Carolina was not permitted to participate in Conference USA for men's soccer, although it was admitted ten years later, also bringing along

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, the only other men's soccer school in the SEC (coincidentally, Tulane was a longtime SEC member from 1932 until 1966). Until 2021–22 season, South Carolina men's soccer was the last link of the Metro Conference with the reunified Conference USA, although West Virginia, which rejected Metro membership in 1985, was supposed to join Conference USA for men's soccer in 2022 but with the

2021–22 NCAA conference realignment The 2021–2022 NCAA conference realignment refers to extensive changes in NCAA conference membership, primarily at the Division I level, beginning in the 2021–22 academic year. Most of these changes have involved conferences in the Football ...

, the Conference USA lost almost all of their men's soccer members, consequently they were forced to drop the sport and South Carolina, Kentucky and West Virginia joined the

in men's soccer.

Proposed super conference

The Metro Conference also had studies into a new " Super conference" in 1990. The study was conducted by Raycom Sports. The conference would have included members of the Metro,

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Easter ...

, and Big East conferences, but it was not clear if the conference would become a football-sponsoring conference as many of its members did in fact sponsor football but were either independents or belonged to other conferences. The original study plan also included Penn State.

Member schools

Charter members

;Notes:

Later members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1975 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:0 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football plus merger id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1979 text: Georgia Tech (1975–1979) bar:1 shift:(60) color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:end text: ACC bar:3 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1991 text:

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

(1975–1991) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1995 text: Great Midwest bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:1995 till:2005 text: C-USA bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2013 text: orig. Big East bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2023 text:

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text: Big 12 bar:4 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1991 text: Memphis (State) (1975–1991) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1995 text: Great Midwest bar:4 color:OtherC2 from:1995 till:2013 text: C-USA bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text:

bar:6 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1982 text: Saint Louis (1975–1982) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1982 till:1991 text:

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:1991 till:1995 text: Great Midwest bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text: C-USA bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:end text: A-10 bar:7 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1985 text: Tulane (1975–1985) bar:7 shift:(-40) color:AssocOS from:1985 till:1989 text:( no men's bask., 1985-89) bar:7 color:FullxF from:1989 till:1995 text:(1989–1995) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2013 text: C-USA bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:2014 till:end text:

bar:8 color:FullxF from:1976 till:1991 text:

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

(1976–1991) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text: ACC bar:9 color:FullxF from:1979 till:1995 text:

(1979–1995) bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2000 text: A-10 bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2000 till:2004 text: orig. Big East bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2004 till:end text: ACC bar:10 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1995 text: Southern Miss (1982–1995) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2022 text: C-USA bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:2022 till:end text:

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — d ...

bar:11 color:FullxF from:1983 till:1991 text:

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

(1983–1991) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1993 text: SEC bar:11 color:AssocOS from:1993 till:1994 text: men's soc. bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1994 till:end bar:12 shift:(-30) color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

(1991–1995) bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text: C-USA bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text: A-10 bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text: C-USA bar:13 shift:(-50) color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of ...

(1991–1995) bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text: C-USA bar:13 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text: orig. Big East bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text:

bar:14 shift:(-10) color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text: VCU (1991–1995) bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2012 text:

CAA CAA may refer to: Law * Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India ** Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act * Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to another party * Clean Air Act, United States law to reduce air ...

bar:14 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:end text: A-10 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1975 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(300,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Metro Conference membership history" Notes: :1. Because the Southeastern Conference does not sponsor men's soccer, South Carolina was an independent from the 1991 to 1992 fall season, then rejoined the Metro for the 1993 and 1994 fall seasons.

Championships

Metro Conference men's basketball tournament The Metro Conference men's basketball tournament was the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Metro Conference. The tournament was held annually between 1976 and 1996, when the Metro Conference was absorbed into Conferenc ...

* Metro Conference baseball tournament

References

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