Although some of its members are state-funded, half of its membership is made up of private, Catholic institutions. Despite the name, there are 15 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. In fall, 2023, the A-10 moved its headquarters from Newport News, Virginia, to Washington, D.C.
Locations of A-10 members Full member Associate member Departing member
Early History
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
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
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.
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
Current members
Full members
The following is a list of the full members of the conference and the year they joined:
^Duquesne left the A-10 for the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League) only for the 1992–93 school year, but returned to the A-10 effective the 1993–94 school year.
^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.
^ abcMassachusetts, 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
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.
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.
^Boston University dropped football after the 1997 fall season (1997–98 school year).
^UConn moved to FBS after the 1999 fall season (1999–2000 school year), and eventually joined the Big East for that sport in the 2004–05 season.
^Hofstra dropped football after the 2009 fall season (2009–10 school year).
^Northeastern dropped football after the 2009 fall season (2009–10 school year).
^Villanova was originally a charter and full member of the A-10 from 1976–77 to 1979–80 in all sports except football.
Membership timeline
Full membersFull members (non-football)Associate members (football only)Assoc. member (list sports) Notes * - Virginia Tech did not participate in wrestling.
Atlantic 10 rivalries
There are a number of intense rivalries within the Atlantic 10,[under discussion] with rivalries that carry over from the Big 5 which includes Saint Joseph's, La Salle, and Temple (now in the American Athletic Conference). URI and UMass also have a long-standing rivalry. St. Bonaventure and Duquesne also maintain a rivalry that predates their affiliation with the conference. UMass and Temple also had a basketball rivalry while John Chaney was coaching Temple but it has died down a bit since, and even more so now that Temple has left the conference. Due to both teams sharing the Ram mascot, the Fordham - URI rivalry has increased in recent years as the competitions are heralded as "The Battle of the Rams." The long-standing crosstown rivalry between Richmond and VCU, now known as the Capital City Classic, became a conference rivalry with VCU's arrival in the A10. Rivals St. Louis and Dayton play each year in basketball for the Arch-Baron Cup. George Washington and George Mason compete annually in the Revolutionary Rivalry across all sports.
Sports
In the 2021–22 academic year, the Atlantic 10 Conference sponsors championship competition in nine men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports, with lacrosse becoming the 10th sponsored men's sport in 2022–23.[8] In addition to the 15 full members, two Pennsylvania schools, Lock Haven and Saint Francis, are affiliate members in field hockey. High Point and Hobart became men's lacrosse affiliates in July 2022.
^La Salle will reinstate baseball beginning in the 2026 season (2025-26 academic year)[9]
^UMass has requested to remain as an A-10 associate in men's lacrosse, a sport not sponsored by the Mid-American Conference. The A-10 is not expected to vote on this request before May 2024.[10]
^ abSt. Bonaventure sponsors an outdoor distance track program but does not participate in short distance or field events.[11]
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Atlantic 10 Conference which are played by A-10 schools
^UMass has requested to remain as an A-10 associate in rowing, a sport not sponsored by the Mid-American Conference. The A-10 is not expected to vote on this request before May 2024.[10]
^Rhode Island will add women's lacrosse in 2024 (2025 season).[12]
^ abSt. Bonaventure sponsors an outdoor distance track program but does not participate in short distance or field events.
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Atlantic 10 Conference which are played by A-10 schools
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 teams were in the Yankee Conference at the time of its demise:
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 the management change after the 2006 season.
Football champions
Season
Regular Season Champion
1997
Villanova
1998
Richmond
1999
James Madison, Massachusetts
2000
Delaware, Richmond
2001
Hofstra, Maine, Villanova, William & Mary
2002
Maine, Northeastern
2003
Delaware, Massachusetts
2004
Delaware, James Madison, William & Mary
2005
New Hampshire, Richmond
2006
Massachusetts
Demise/"Rename"
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 least under the A-10 banner.
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, a member of the CAA from 1983 to 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. This league continues to operate under the administration of the multi-sports CAA, now known as the Coastal Athletic Association, as the legally separate entity of CAA Football (in full, the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference).
A-10 schools in DI-A/FBS
A-10 charter members Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Villanova played I-A football as independents while members of the A-10 in other sports. Villanova became a member of the Big East in 1980 with Pittsburgh following in 1982. Temple joined the A-10 that year. Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1991 (effectively in 1993), and three A-10 members joined the Big East as football-only members: Rutgers, West Virginia, and Temple (only Rutgers and West Virginia would later join the Big East as full members in 1995).
Virginia Tech joined the A-10 in 1995 as a result of the merger that created Conference USA. They would then join the Big East as full members in 2000, following the football program which was already a member of the league. Temple remained a football-only member of the Big East until 2004; they would join the MAC for football in 2007 until 2012, and re-joined the Big East in football for the 2012 season. Temple planned to move the rest of its sports into the Big East in 2013, but the conference realigned into the football-sponsoring American Athletic Conference and a new non-football Big East. Temple joined The American. Massachusetts joined them in FBS football with membership in the MAC beginning in the 2012 season and as an FBS independent beginning in 2016. Charlotte, which started a football program in 2013, left for Conference USA and eventually joined The American in 2023.
