The American Conference, which has established itself as a preeminent NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conference, is poised to continue its remarkable ascension to national prominence under the leadership of Commissioner Tim Pernetti, who began his tenure in May of 2024.
The American consists of 15 prestigious institutions: the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the United States Military Academy (in football only), the University of North Carolina Charlotte, East Carolina University, Florida Atlantic University, the University of Memphis, the United States Naval Academy (in football only), the University of North Texas, Rice University, the University of South Florida, Temple University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Tulane University, the University of Tulsa, and Wichita State University (in basketball and Olympic sports).
The American has fashioned an impressive list of accomplishments in the competitive arena, in the classroom and in support of student-athlete welfare. The American stands as one of the elite Division I conference thanks to its collection of national team and individual championships, its football and basketball postseason victories, its expansive media rights contract with ESPN, and its commitment to providing the highest levels of support for student-athletes.
Built on a foundation of innovation, grit and service, the American has taken a number of steps to position the conference favorably ahead of transformational change in intercollegiate athletics. The American became the first conference to establish league-wide minimum investment and revenue sharing protocols to provide financial benefits to student-athletes. Iin 2025, the conference launched American RISE Ventures, a first-of-its-kind business division to lead all aspects of revenue generation, sponsorship strategy, brand partnerships and commercial innovation.
With the addition of Army to the conference ranks in 2024, the American has an institutional presence in five of the top 10, eight of the top 25 and 13 of the top 51 Nielsen media markets.
The league has produced four NCAA championship teams in addition to a College Football Playoff semifinalist, four New Year’s Six bowl champions, two NCAA Men’s Final Four participants, six Women’s Final Four teams, an NIT champion, 16 NCAA individual championships, and a Rhodes Scholar. Additionally, American teams have advanced to the College World Series, qualified for the match play round of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship and registered multiple top-10 finishes at the NCAA Cross Country and Outdoor Track and Field championships.
The American has seen a member school claim a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl eight times in the league’s first 12 football seasons, including the 2022 campaign, when Tulane capped the biggest one-year turnaround in major college football history with a thrilling win against USC in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
Individual teams in the American have enjoyed some of their best football seasons in program history as members of the conference. Tulane went 12-2 and earned a top-10 final ranking in 2022. Navy won a program-record 11 games in 2015, its first season in the conference, matched that mark with its 2019 campaign and finished with 10 wins in 2025. Memphis, which had not won 10 games in a season since 1938, has registered four 10-win seasons in the last 10 years (2015, 2017, 2019, 2024), including a school-record 12 wins in 2019. Army set a program record with 12 wins in its first season in 2024, its first season in the American. Temple enjoyed its first 10-win season in school history in 2015. South Florida finished in the top 25 for the first two times in program history (2016, 2017). Tulsa returned to the top 25 for the first time in 11 years in 2020. East Carolina earned a top-20 ranking in 2014.
Since the conference’s reconstitution in 2013-14, teams from the American have registered top-10 national rankings in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, men’s golf, women’s rowing, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s cross country, men’s track and field, and women’s track and field.
American student-athletes have distinguished themselves in all facets of intercollegiate athletics. Memphis quarterback Brady White was the 2020 winner of the National Football Foundation’s James V. Campbell Trophy as the top scholar-athlete in college football. Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich won the Bednarik Award and the Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s top defensive player in 2015, while Tulsa linebacker Zaven Collins repeated that feat in 2020. The American has had six top-10 Heisman Trophy finishes including Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who was fifth in 2015, and Army’s Bryson Daily, who was sixth in 2024. Reynolds was also selected as the winner of the 2016 AAU James E. Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete.
Additionally, South Florida star Georgina Corrick was the Division I softball Academic All-America of the Year in 2022, while Tulsa cross country standout Kirk Smith was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar in the fall of 2016.
American alumni have made their mark in professional and international sports as well. A number of our athletes have been selected in the first round of the professional entry drafts in football, basketball, baseball and soccer, including former Memphis center James Wiseman, who was the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and former Wichita State third-baseman Alec Bohm, the No. 3 selection in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft. Former Memphis tennis player Joe Salisbury, a 2014 all-conference selection, has gone on to win six Grand Slam championships in men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
The American announced a lucrative and comprehensive media rights extension with ESPN in May of 2019, providing the conference with a stronger and more extensive presence on ESPN’s primary television networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU). Since the extension took effect in the 2020-21 academic year, a minimum of 40 regular-season football telecasts and 60 regular-season men’s basketball games per season will appear on those primary networks. Nearly every conference-controlled game in all sports will appear either on an ESPN network or on ESPN+.
The first 10 American Football Championships were televised by ABC as part of Championship Weekend. Subsequent championship games will appear on either ABC or ESPN through the duration of the current contract, including the 2025 game, which will air in Friday prime time on ABC.
Away from the competitive arena, the American has established itself as a leader in the area of student-athlete wellness, both through the adoption of NCAA autonomous legislation on matters including full cost of attendance and nutrition. The American’s Academic Symposium annually features scholars and students engaged in collaborative research related to student-athlete well-being. The conference, in conjunction with its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has also launched the Powerful Minds campaign to improve awareness and education on mental health issues and recognize the scholarly achievements of the conference’s student-athletes.
July 2025