Conference Affiliations
The Houston Cougars' football program started the same year as its basketball program in 1946. The Cougars played in the Lone Star Conference for their first few seasons through 1948. The university then decided to leave for the Gulf Coast Conference. From 1951 to 1959 Houston played in the Missouri Valley Conference. In 1956, when the NCAA split into divisions, the team began playing as a part of the University Division (later known as Division I). From 1960 to 1976 the Houston Cougars were a major independent, achieving six straight final Top-25 finishes (eight total while independent) and five bowl appearances. In 1976, the Cougars began to play in their first athletic conference since 1959 when they joined the now-defunct Southwest Conference. After the breakup of the SWC in 1995, Houston became a charter member of then newly-formed Conference USA, where it currently plays.
In October 2011, Houston was extended an invitation to join the Big East Conference in all sports. This invitation was significant because the Big East is an Automatic Qualifying conference in football, meaning that the conference champion automatically is invited to play in a lucrative BCS bowl. The invitation was motivated by the departures of Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference and was part of an effort by the Big East to shore up its strength in football. The Board of Regents of the University of Houston voted to authorize Houston President Renu Khator to take whatever action she deemed beneficial regarding conference realignment. On December 7, 2011, the University of Houston was officially announced as one of the newest members of the Big East Conference, effective July 2013.
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Famous quotes containing the words conference and/or affiliations:
“Politics is still the man’s game. The women are allowed to do the chores, the dirty work, and now and then—but only occasionally—one is present at some secret conference or other. But it’s not the rule. They can go out and get the vote, if they can and will; they can collect money, they can be grateful for being permitted to work. But that is all.”
—Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958)
“All the critics who could not make their reputations by discovering you are hoping to make them by predicting hopefully your approaching impotence, failure and general drying up of natural juices. Not a one will wish you luck or hope that you will keep on writing unless you have political affiliations in which case these will rally around and speak of you and Homer, Balzac, Zola and Link Steffens.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)