TCU accepts invitation into Conference USA

"The goal is for the institution to have a nationally prominent program," said Hyman, in his second year at the top Frog sports post. "Our first objective was to have successful athletics programs within the first two years. The second objective within 3-5 years is to be respected, appreciated and recognized in the marketplace. In the five-plus year range, our objective is to have a successful national program (Top 25) determined by how we compete in the Sears Cup (TCU currently is in the Top 50)."

"Conference USA provides the opportunity for us to meet all of these goals faster than we expected."

TCU officially joins league play in 2001 in a conference that has been in existence only four years. Yet, C-USA has wasted no time in scoring major benefits for its member institutions:

-- Top 5 Men's Basketball Conference
-- Top 7 football conference
-- National football game of the week on Fox (12 weeks)
-- Fifty-five total televised basketball games
-- Three bowl opportunities
-- Eight million newspaper circulation
-- 12 Top 51 TV markets
-- Bowl Championship Series signatory member
-- Reduced travel and missed classes for student-athletes

C-USA members in four years have also managed to place six football teams in bowl games, 25 men's and 17 women's basketball squads in postseason play, as well as scoring 12 NCAA bids for its soccer teams, 10 for volleyball and nine for baseball (with no official word available for golf, tennis, swimming and diving, track and field or riflery).

DePaul

The 1999 issue of The Princeton Review's Best 331 Colleges cited students at this Catholic university to be "the happiest," thanks to friendly students, caring professors and an exciting campus.
www.depaul.edu

University of Alabama-Birmingham

A major research university, UAB has only been a university for 30 years. Before that, it was a medical and dental school. Physicians nationwide have ranked UAB's University Hospital third best in the country.
www.uab.edu

United States Military Academy (Army)

By an Act of Congress, the nation's first service academy aims to provide the country with leaders of character for the common defense. Alumni include Grant and Lee, Pershing and MacArthur, Eisen- hower and Patton, Westmoreland and Schwarzkopf.
www.usma.edu

University of Cincinnati

The university's annual budget for research exceeds $110 million; Bearcats count among their contributions to society the first oral polio vaccine, the first antihistamine and the first safe anti-knock gasoline.
www.uc.edu

University of Houston

The stomping grounds of Carl Lewis, Dan Rather and Dennis Quaid, U of H is also home to the largest university superconductivity center in the country.
www.uh.edu

University of Louisville

The School of Music is internationally recognized for its presentation of the Grawemeyer Award, the largest prize in the world for music competition.
www.uofl.edu

Marquette University

Named for French Jesuit missionary-explorer Fr. Jacques Marquette, the university in 1991 launched a pioneering revitalization "Campus Circle" project on Milwaukee's west side.
www.marquette.com

East Carolina University

With a rural medicine program rated among the top 5 by U.S. News & World Report, ECU also boasts a maritime studies program that recently uncovered the remains of Blackbeard's ship.
www.ecu.edu

University of Memphis

UM's five centers of excellence are dedicated to research in education, Egyptian art, psychology, earthquake science and speech and hearing.
www.memphis.edu

University of North Carolina-Charlotte

Built in the heart of what used to be the nation's first gold field, UNC-Charlotte now counts among its jewels the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, which provides public service to a 13-county region surrounding Charlotte.
www.uncc.edu

Saint Louis University

The second oldest of 28 Jesuit universities in the country, SLU may have a mascot more unique than the Horned Frog. The Billiken is a statuette piggy bank that was the national rage in the 1900s. To buy a Billiken gives the purchaser luck, but to have one given to you is better luck.
www.slu.edu

University of South Florida

USF is the largest university in C-USA and is considered a model urban research university for the 21st century. It is the only university to have its extensive art collections archived at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
www.usf.edu

University of Southern Mississippi

Southern Miss was originally founded as a teacher's college, but one of its most recent boasts is its Polymer Science Center, one of only seven such programs in the country. It also has a premier Center for Writers.
www.usm.edu

Tulane University

Tulane ranks 18th in the country for the number of National Merit Scholars enrolled, and also lays claim to the nickname, "Cradle of Presidents," with 11 former administrators named to top university posts since 1980.
www.tulane.edu