Multiple Conference USA schools announce early departures from league

Conference USA was hit hard during the latest round of conference realignment. It turns out it’ll happen sooner than expected.

Marshall, Southern Miss and Old Dominion all announced Friday — at the same time, no less — they’re cutting ties with the league. The three are planning to join the Sun Belt, but that’s not supposed to happen until the July 1, 2023 at the latest. Now, the goal is to speed up that timeline, although The Athletic’s Chris Vannini reported that’s not a done deal yet.

Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss all plan to leave Conference USA on June 30.

They’ve all already accepted invitations to the Sun Belt, but this isn’t an announcement about joining that yet. This is an announcement of a messy breakup.

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) February 11, 2022

Regardless of what happens with the Sun Belt, the three schools said they’re cutting ties with Conference USA as of June 30. From there, it’s yet to be seen.

All three schools released similar statements about their decisions — and they all included lines about the negotiations about their departures to the Sun Belt.

“The Conference’s unwillingness to discuss the concept of separation this year creates confusion and doubt for all concerned,” Southern Miss said in a statement. “The remaining members of Conference USA deserve certainty about their schedules as they plan for competition next year. For their sake, the University makes public its intent.”

“[Old Dominion] offered to cooperate with the Conference to ensure that all remaining C-USA members had complete competitive schedules for those sports in which the University competes,” Old Dominion said in its statement. “The Conference refuses to discuss such an arrangement with the University. The remaining members of Conference USA deserve certainty about their schedules as they plan for competition next year. For their sake, the University makes public its intent.”

Conference USA didn’t comment as of publication.

More on Conference USA, replacing the three departing schools

In total, nine schools are planning to leave Conference USA as the conference realignment dominoes continue to fall.

Marshall, Old Dominion, Southern Miss, UAB, Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, Rice and Texas-San Antonio are all leaving the league at some point. The latter five are joining the American Athletic Conference, which is losing Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston at some point.

Based on these statements, Conference USA is going to have a new look next year without Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss. Four schools — Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State and Sam Houston — are planning to enter the league in the future.

The only remaining schools that aren’t planning to leave Conference USA at this moment are Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State, Texas-El Paso and Western Kentucky.