DALLAS — SMU now has a familiar face in the same conference.
The University of North Texas on Thursday officially accepted an invitation to the American Athletic Conference, which lost three schools in the latest round of college athletics realignment.
Rice, the University of Texas-San Antonio, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic and the University of Alabama-Birmingham are also joining the AAC.
For the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the revamped AAC pairs SMU and North Texas in the same conference for the first time. The rivals have played annually since 2014.
Officials have not said when the new schools will begin play in the AAC, though ESPN, citing sources, reported that 2023 would be the earliest date.
“Moving into the American Athletic Conference is a proud moment not only for our athletics program but for our entire university," UNT President Neal Smatresk said. "As UNT has grown and made numerous advances in our academic programs and research enterprise in recent years, elevating our athletics program into a more prestigious conference like The American is a natural progression. This is an exciting new beginning for us.”
Mike Aresco, the AAC commissioner, called the addition of the new schools a "strategic expansion," though it followed the departure of three of the conference's top programs.
Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida recently accepted invitations to the Big 12 Conference, following the announcement that Oklahoma and Texas will leave for the Southeastern Conference.
"We are adding excellent institutions that are established in major cities and have invested in competing at the highest level," Aresco said. "We have enhanced geographical concentration which will especially help the conference’s men’s and women’s basketball and Olympic sports teams."
