Conference USA announced Friday that it will expand by adding five new schools in 2013.
Commissioner Britton Banowsky said that Charlotte, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, North Texas and UT-San Antonio will join the league in all sports, with Charlotte joining in football in 2015. The move will be made to fill the void left from the departure of Houston, SMU, Memphis and Central Florida, which are all set to join the Big East in 2013.
Charlotte will be rejoining Conference USA after six years in the Atlantic 10. Louisiana Tech has been in the WAC since 2001, and UTSA will play in the WAC next year before joining CUSA. FIU and North Texas will be leaving the Sun Belt Conference.
The current CUSA members are East Carolina, Marshall, Rice, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, Alabama-Birmingham and UTEP.
Banowsky also said that CUSA and the Mountain West Conference continue to discuss a merger.
