Rice University Athletics
Hey Rice Fans... Welcome To Conference USA!!
7/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | General
July 1, 2005
July 1, 2005 marks the dawn of a new era in the history of Rice University Athletics as today the Owls officially begin their membership in Conference USA.
Thursday night, Rice coaches and administrators were joined by officials from C-USA, including commissioner Britton Banowsky, coaches and staff from the University of Houston, and college athletics fans from around the Houston area at the Ragin' Cajun to celebrate. The Owls and the Cougars are reunited in the same league for the first time since the Southwest Conference dissolved at the end of the 1995-96 academic year.
After the end of the SWC, Rice joined the Western Athletic Conference on July 1, 1996 and enjoyed a plethora of new successes. In nine years with the WAC, the Owls won 30 conference team titles, including all nine in baseball and seven in women's track & field. Rice also reached a new high on the national scene in recent years as the baseball team won the school's first-ever national team title, taking the 2003 NCAA College World Series crown. The 2004-05 academic year saw the Owls' soccer, volleyball and women's basketball programs earn bids to the NCAA championships, an accomplishment matched by just 10 other NCAA Division I programs across the country.
Rice fans will continue to see familiar faces with the move to C-USA. The Owls continue their long series with the Mustangs of SMU, a rivalry that dates back to the early days of the SWC. Tulsa and UTEP also join Rice in the move from the WAC to C-USA. And despite not being in the same league, Rice and Houston continued their rivalry in recent years across all sports battling for the likes of the Bayou Bucket in football, the Bayou Cup in men's basketball and the Sterling Bank Silver Glove in baseball. Rice currently holds all three trophies due to their victories over the Cougars during the 2004-05 season.
Rice's new rivals for league supremacy will hail from East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane, Alabama-Birmingham and Central Florida. All C-USA institutions sponsor Division I-A football, along with several other men's and women's athletic programs, many of which compete regularly for NCAA Championships. C-USA sponsors competition in 19 sports - nine for men (baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis and indoor and outdoor track and field) and 10 for women (basketball, cross country, golf, softball, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and volleyball).
The Owls' first ever C-USA competition will be Sept. 21 in women's volleyball (when Rice plays at Houston), and the Owls open their C-USA football season on the road at UAB on October 1. The Owls will compete for their first C-USA trophy on Oct. 29 when the men's and women's cross country teams race at New Orleans, La. And as an added bonus to Rice fans, the Owls will host the 2005 C-USA Women's Volleyball Championships, the 2005 C-USA Women's Soccer Championships and the 2006 C-USA Baseball Championships on the South Main campus as well.
