League Landscape: Nearly 50 Schools Will Be New Conference Members

"Man, that's messed up!" This concise summation certainly depicts higher education, which simply isn't what it used to be. Keeping remedial mathematics in mind, the Atlantic 10 Conference has more than that number of members; the Big Ten has more than 10 members and the Big 12 has fewer than 12 members. It would be helpful for sanity's sake if the Big Ten and Big 12 would swap names if only for accuracy before the Big Ten increases to 14 by adding Maryland and Rutgers.

With respect to precise directions and logistics, the Atlantic Coast Conference will feature Boston, Indiana (Notre Dame), Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syracuse in the not-too-distant future; the Atlantic Sun takes in East Tennessee; much of the Big East absorbs flyover country, and the Southeast(ern) extends to the Midlands (Missouri and Texas A&M).

Even the most ardent fan probably can't come anywhere close to naming half of the almost 50 schools switching conferences in 2013-14. Heaven knows how future generations will explain the Big East Conference split. As NFL Hall of Famer Vince Lombardi, who coached freshman basketball with Fordham, would famously say: "What the hell is going on out here?"

More than one-third of the nation's NCAA Division I schools joined new or different conferences thus far this century since the Mountain West was introduced in 1999-2000. And there's more membership maneuvering to come after 20 leagues incur changes the upcoming season. When Elon and the College of Charleston departed for the CAA, they became the 31st and 32nd schools to leave the Southern Conference. Following is an alphabetical list of the conference membership history of schools in different leagues in 2013-14: