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

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division 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 athlet ...

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 The Upland South and Upper South are two overlapping cultural and geographic subregions in the inland part of the Southern United States. They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, economics, demographics, ...

with some strength in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

. The conference never sponsored

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, 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 (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. 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, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

, the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

, 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 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

and

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

joined in 1976, while the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

turned down an invitation in hopes of rejoining the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(from which the Gamecocks departed at the end of the 1970–71 athletic season when the ACC adopted more stringent entrance requirements). In 1978, Georgia Tech left the Metro for the

, effective on July 1, 1979; and

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

took its spot. In 1982, Saint Louis left to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, now known as the Horizon League; while the University of Southern Mississippi took its spot in that same year. The

later joined in 1983. In 1985,

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

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

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

. Tulane was readmitted to the Metro on July 1, 1989 after it announced it was reinstating men's basketball for the 1989-90 season. In 1991, Florida State joined the ACC, and then South Carolina joined the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

. However, South Carolina re-joined the Metro for 1993 and 1994 men's soccer seasons in that sport only, because the SEC did 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 University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

and Virginia Commonwealth University) 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 U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

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

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

, now known as the Coastal Athletic Association. Virginia Tech (which was banking on an invitation to join the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

) 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 a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, 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 landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, 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, Conference USA lost almost all of their men's soccer members and was consequently forced to drop the sport. South Carolina, Kentucky and West Virginia joined the Sun Belt Conference 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, 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, which was invited to join the Big Ten on December 15, 1989.

Member schools

Charter members

;Notes:

Later members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1975 till:2028 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:2 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1991 text:

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

(1975–1991) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1995 text: Great Midwest bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:1995 till:2005 text:

C-USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern United States, Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Associ ...

bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2013 text: Big East bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2023 text: American bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text: Big 12 bar:3 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1995 text:

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

(1975-1995) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:

bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text: Big East bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:2014 text: American bar:3 color:OtherC2 shift:40 from:2014 till:end text: ACC 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:

bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text: American 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 curve 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 curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...

bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:1991 till:1995 text: Great Midwest bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:

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:2014 text:

bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:2014 till:end text: American bar:8 color:FullxF from:1976 till:1991 text:

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

(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: 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:

bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:2022 till:end text:

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

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

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

(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 (1991–1995) bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:

bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text: A-10 bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:2023 text:

bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text: American bar:13 shift:(-50) color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

(1991–1995) bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:

bar:13 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text: Big East bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text: American bar:14 shift:(-10) color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text: VCU (1991–1995) bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2012 text: CAA 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 * Metro Conference baseball tournament

References

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