Tigers proud to call themselves American
New league is new start for Tigers
For the first time in 17 years, the University of Memphis athletic program awakened Monday to membership in a new league, the American Athletic Conference. A charter member of Conference USA when it was formed in the mid-1990s, the U of M joined the American (formerly the Big East) along with ex- C-USA schools Houston, SMU and UCF to create an all-sports league that includes UConn, Rutgers, Temple, Cincinnati, Louisville and USF.
On the American’s website, theamerican.org, the moment was recognized under a headline that read “Proudly American,” and added: “It’s a new day in college athletics as the American Athletic Conference is officially launched.”
Some members, as one would expect, were more excited about Monday’s milestone than others.
At the U of M, the move to the American was trumpeted on the athletic department website splash page. It read “A New Beginning,” complete with the league’s patriotic redand-blue logo. Embedded on the page was the American’s 60-second introductory video.
“This is the historic beginning of a kind of paradigm shift of where we could be and what we eventually could become,” Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen said. “This is going to be a very strong opportunity from a student-athlete’s perspective with the new conference’s
television agreements with ESPN along with being in a very strong, tiered conference with some very good competition. It’s a step forward.”
SMU and Houston also recognized the move on their websites. SMU noted it was a member of the American family, while Houston declared “New Conference, Same Tradition” and used the league’s “A” logo for the “a” in the word same.
As for the two 2014 departing members — Louisville and Rutgers — the day was not considered significant enough to recognize. Louisville, which moves to the Atlantic Coast Conference next July, did not mention the name change on its website, but a crawler running across the home page displayed the ACC logo. Rutgers, which moves to the Big Ten next summer, failed to recognize the change, too, but had a Big Ten mention near the bottom of its home page.
USF and Cincinnati did not mention the move on either of their home pages, either.
UConn bucked the trend of former Big East members by filling its splash page with a hearty welcome to the American, although the Huskies’ page designers caught flak, especially on Twitter, for initially running a banner of league school logos, but failing to display UCF’s. There also were logos from schools that don’t join until 2014 (East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa) and 2015 (Navy).
But the overall message was a rare unified front as the page listed, among other phrases and quotes, a line that read: “Starting today, UConn and the American will write a new chapter in the history of intercollegiate athletics.”
The U of M plans to run 15 days of “We Are Memphis ...” features on its website starting next Monday to introduce each Tiger sports team to an audience that may not be familiar with the programs. Former All-Americans and all-conference players will be highlighted, along with notable alumni and facilities.
The affiliation with the American conference represents the U of M’s sixth league home in its 101-year history.
Associate athletic director Bob Winn, who has been with the department for nearly 40 years, said he expects the move to take the program to another level.
“I think the excitement — as (men’s basketball) coach (Josh) Pastner, (football) coach (Justin) Fuente and I were talking about just this morning — is finally here,” Bowen said. “We’re finally members of the American Athletic Conference. There’s been some excitement, anticipation and challenge. Who knows what the future holds, but we believe it’s going to be a bright one.”