AP sources: Conference USA adding Liberty, JSU, NMSU, SMSU

Conference USA will add Liberty, Jacksonville State, New Mexico State and Sam Houston State as the league tries to replenish its ranks after having nine schools announce plans to leave in the last month.

All four schools have accepted invitations to C-USA, according to a person familiar with the conference and the schools’ decisions. The person spoke Friday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because an official announcement was still being prepared. Yahoo Sports! was first to report C-USA planned to invite the four.

The Conference USA overhaul might not be done, either: Mid-American Conference presidents were meeting Friday with possible expansion on the agenda and C-USA members Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State as potential options, a person familiar with the situation told AP, also speaking only on condition of anonymity because the league discussions are private.

Including MTSU and WKU, Conference USA has only five members that have not announced plans to leave in the next few years. The NCAA requires Football Bowl Subdivision leagues to have at least eight teams.

All of these conference realignment moves are a trickle down from what started in July with the Southeastern Conference inviting Texas and Oklahoma to leave the Big 12 and join the powerhouse league by 2025.

The Big 12 responded by adding four schools, three from the American Athletic Conference, which led the AAC to poach six schools from C=USA.

C-USA has also lost three members to the Sun Belt in recent weeks. The last piece of the Sun Belt’s plan to expand to 14 football members should be in place soon: James Madison, a perennial championship contender in the Football Championship Subdivision, was given approval by the state Friday to move up to FBS, where the Sun Belt competes.

James Madison is expected to announce that it will join the Sun Belt this weekend.

All the Sun Belt’s new schools are expect to join by 2023. When the C-USA’s new members will begin competing in the conference was unclear because when of its AAC-bound members will be departing is still to be determined.

The newest C-USA schools will keep the league far-flung, from New Mexico to Virginia.

Liberty and Jacksonville State are both members of the ASun Conference for most of their sports, though Liberty is an independent competing in FBS. Jacksonville State has been a successful program in FCS.

New Mexico State is also an FBS independent and member of Western Athletic Conference for basketball and other sports. Sam Houston State, which won the FCS championship last season, is part of the newly restarted WAC football league, which is competing in FCS this year.

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