Atlantic 10 Conference
 | |
| Formerly | Eastern Collegiate Basketball League (1976–77) Eastern Athletic Association (1977–82) Eastern 8 (unofficial, 1976–82) |
|---|---|
| Association | NCAA |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Commissioner | Dan Leibowitz |
| Sports fielded |
|
| Division | Division I |
| Subdivision | non-football |
| No. of teams | 14 |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Region | Eastern United States Midwestern United States |
| Broadcasters | ESPN CBS/CBSSN USA Sports |
| Website | atlantic10.com |
| Locations | |
 | |
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 mostly on the East Coast and Midwest of the United States: Illinois, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Although some of its members are state-funded, half of its membership is made up of private, Catholic institutions. Despite the name, there are 14 full-time members in the conference; three affiliate members participate in women's field hockey and men's lacrosse.
The conference's commissioner since 2008 is Bernadette McGlade. McGlade will retire at the conclusion of the 2025–26 academic year; her replacement will be Dan Leibowitz, who joins the league having most recently been the senior men's basketball administrator for the Big East Conference. In fall 2023 the A-10 moved its headquarters from Newport News, Virginia, to Washington, D.C.
History
[edit] | This section needs more citations. (January 2016) |
Early history
[edit]The Atlantic 10 Conference was founded in 1975 as the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League (ECBL) and began conference play in 1976. At that time, basketball was its only sport. After its first season, it added sports other than basketball and changed its name to the Eastern Athletic Association. However, despite its official names, it was popularly known as the Eastern 8, as it then had eight members (Villanova, Duquesne, Penn State, West Virginia, George Washington, Massachusetts, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers).
After changes in membership that saw charter members Villanova and Pittsburgh leave (in 1980 and 1982, respectively) and new members St. Bonaventure (1979), Rhode Island (1980), Saint Joseph's (1982), and Temple (1982) enter, establishing the league with 10 members, the conference adopted the current Atlantic 10 name in 1982.
Expansion, contraction, and football
[edit]Further membership changes saw the league expand to its maximum of 16 members. From 1997 through 2006, the league also operated a football conference; during that period, more than 20 schools were participating in A-10 competition in at least one sport. This ended when the A-10 football programs all departed to join a new football conference sponsored by the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA; now known as the Coastal Athletic Association). In 2012, Butler joined the conference after leaving the Horizon League and VCU joined after leaving the CAA.
Conference realignments and expanding media presence
[edit]Conference realignment in 2013 saw the departure of Temple to the American Athletic Conference, Butler and Xavier to the reconfigured Big East, and Charlotte to Conference USA. George Mason joined from the CAA, and Davidson from the Southern Conference announced it would join in 2014.
The league headquarters is located in Washington, DC. In the Fall of 2023 they relocated the HQ from Newport News, Virginia where it had been located since fall 2009.[1] Prior to that, the headquarters was in Philadelphia, within a few miles of member schools Saint Joseph's and La Salle.
The conference currently has media deals with ESPN, CBS Sports Network, NBC Sports, and digital broadcasts with ESPN+.
On November 16, 2021, Loyola University Chicago announced that its athletic program - the Loyola Ramblers - would leave the Missouri Valley Conference and join the A-10 effective July 1, 2022.[2] On May 23, 2022, the addition of men's lacrosse was announced for the 2023 season. The four full members that sponsor the sport (Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Saint Joseph's, UMass) were joined by new affiliate members High Point and Hobart.[3]
On December 14, 2023, the conference announced a five-year media deal with its current affiliates, ESPN, CBS, and NBC. The deal would expand basketball coverage and revenue for the schools. The first year of the new contract is the 2024–2025 season and runs through the 2028–29 season.[4]
In late February 2024, it was announced that the 2024–25 season for UMass sports will be the last season as members of the Atlantic 10. The Minutemen will rejoin the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as a full member beginning in 2025.[5][6]
Member schools
[edit]Current members
[edit]Full members
[edit]The following is a list of the full members of the conference and the year they joined:
- Notes
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- 1 2 Duquesne left the A-10 for the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (MCC, now known as the Horizon League) only for the 1992–93 school year, but returned to the A-10 in 1993–94.
- ↑ While the main campus has a Fairfax mailing address, it is located in an area of unincorporated Fairfax County designated by the US Census Bureau as George Mason, Virginia.
- 1 2 Massachusetts (UMass), Rhode Island and Richmond also played football within the A-10 from the 1997 to the 2006 fall seasons (1997–98 to 2006–07 school years) after the Yankee Conference was absorbed. However, Richmond's primary conference until the 2000-01 school year was the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
Associate members
[edit]The "joined" column indicates the calendar year in which each school became an A-10 associate, which for spring sports such as lacrosse is the year before the first season of competition.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Type | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined[a] | A-10 sport(s) |
Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Delaware | Newark, Delaware | 1743 | Public[b] | 23,774[8] | Blue Hens | 2025 | Men's lacrosse | Conf. USA (CUSA) |
| High Point University | High Point, North Carolina | 1924 | United Methodist |
4,545 | Panthers | 2022 | Men's lacrosse | Big South (BSC) |
| Hobart College | Geneva, New York | 1822 | Nonsectarian | 2,105 | Statesmen | 2022 | Men's lacrosse | Liberty (LL)[c] |
| Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania | Lock Haven, Pennsylvania | 1870 | Public[d] | 3,425 | Bald Eagles | 2010 | Field hockey | Pennsylvania (PSAC)[e] |
| University of Massachusetts Amherst[f] (UMass) |
Amherst, Massachusetts | 1863 | Public[g] | 30,593 | Minutemen | 2025[h] | Men's lacrosse | Mid-American (MAC) |
- Notes
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- ↑ Delaware is officially chartered as a "privately-governed, state-assisted" institution. This status is broadly similar to that of New York State's statutory colleges, most of which are housed at Cornell University, or institutions in Pennsylvania's Commonwealth System of Higher Education.
- ↑ Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.
- ↑ Part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education System (PASSHE).
- ↑ Currently an NCAA Division II athletic conference.
- ↑ Massachusetts (UMass) was a full member of the A-10 from 1976–77 to 2024–25.
- ↑ Part of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) System.
- ↑ Measured from UMass' departure from full A-10 membership.
Former members
[edit]Former full members
[edit]None of these institutions played football in the A-10 during their tenure as full members.
- Notes
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when spring sports competition ends.
- ↑ Historically affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
- ↑ Massachusetts (UMass) remains in the A-10 as an associate member for men's lacrosse.
- ↑ Rutgers spent one season in the renamed American Athletic Conference before joining the Big Ten in the 2014–15 school year.
Former associate members
[edit]| Institution | Location | Founded | Type | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined[a] | Left[b] | A-10 sport(s) |
Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Francis University | Loretto, Pennsylvania | 1847 | Catholic (Franciscan) |
2,449 | Red Flash | 2013 | 2020 | Field hockey | Northeast (NEC) (Presidents' (PAC)[c] in 2026) |
| West Chester University | West Chester, Pennsylvania | 1880 | Public[d] | 13,271[e] | Golden Rams | 1996 | 2011 | Field hockey | Pennsylvania (PSAC)[f] |
| 2,576[g] |
- Notes
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when spring sports competition ends.
- ↑ Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.
- ↑ Part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education System (PASSHE).
- ↑ Full-time enrollment.
- ↑ Currently an NCAA Division II athletic conference.
- ↑ Part-time enrollment.
Former football-only members
[edit]After expansion in the Colonial Athletic Association brought that conference to 6 football-playing schools, it was agreed that the CAA would take over management of the Atlantic 10's football conference starting in the 2007–08 school year as the legally separate entity of CAA Football. All the schools on this list (except Boston U. and Connecticut) were in the A-10 football conference when it became CAA Football, but Hofstra and Northeastern discontinued their football programs after the 2009–10 school year. Membership dates include time in the Yankee Conference (which was an all-sports conference from the 1947–48 to 1975–76 seasons, and a football-only conference after that) which merged into the A-10 in the 1997–98 school year.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Type | Nickname | Joined[a] | Left[b] | Primary conference(s) at the time of their tenure |
Current primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston University | Boston, Massachusetts | 1839 | Nonsectarian[c] | Terriers | 1973 | 1998[d] | Independent (1976–79) America East (1979–2013) |
Patriot League (2013–present) |
| University of Connecticut | Storrs, Connecticut | 1881 | Public | Huskies | 1947 | 2000[e] | Independent (1976–79) Big East (1979–2013) American (2013–20) |
Big East (2020–present) |
| University of Delaware | Newark, Delaware | 1743 | Public | Fightin' Blue Hens |
1986 | 2007 | East Coast (1958–91) America East (1991–2001) CAA (2001–25) |
CUSA (2025–present) |
| Hofstra University | Hempstead, New York | 1935 | Nonsectarian | Pride | 2001 | 2007[f] | CAA (2001–present) | |
| James Madison University | Harrisonburg, Virginia | 1908 | Public | Dukes | 1993 | 2007 | CAA (1979–2022) | Sun Belt (2022–present) |
| University of Maine | Orono, Maine | 1865 | Public | Black Bears | 1947 | 2007 | Independent (1976–79) | America East (1979–present) |
| University of New Hampshire | Durham, New Hampshire | 1866 | Public | Wildcats | 1947 | 2007 | Independent (1976–79) | America East (1979–present) |
| Northeastern University | Boston, Massachusetts | 1898 | Nonsectarian | Huskies | 1993 | 2007[g] | America East (1979–2005) | CAA (2005–present) |
| Towson University | Towson, Maryland | 1866 | Public | Tigers | 2004 | 2007 | CAA (1979–82) East Coast (1982–92) Big South (1992–95) America East (1995–2001) |
CAA (2001–present) |
| Villanova University[h] | Villanova, Pennsylvania | 1842 | Catholic ( | |||||