The American Athletic Conference has a new member.
The AAC has approved Army as a football-only member, TFB has learned. Yahoo! Sports writer Ross Dellenger originally broke the story.
Army is currently an independent, and has been since 2004 – the Black Knights were members of Conference USA from 1998-04, but has been an independent throughout the history of its program, except that brief tenure.
Mike Aresco, commissioner of the American Athletic Conference, had said publicly earlier in October that his conference had been talking with Army about coming in. “I don’t know what the outcome is ultimately going to be, but it should get wrapped up relatively soon,” Aresco said. “Probably over the next few weeks because you’re getting to the point where you need to really start worrying about your schedules for next year.”
The American Athletic Conference is formerly the Big East, and based in Irving, Texas. They adopted their current name in 2013. Current football members are Alabama-Birmingham, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Memphis, Navy, Charlotte, North Texas, Rice, South Florida, Tulsa, Temple, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane (which upset Southern Cal in last year’s Cotton Bowl), and Southern Methodist (SMU), although the Mustangs are reportedly negotiating their way out of the American and into the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Army has a football history with a few famous names: Heisman Trophy-winners Doc Blanchard in 1945, Glenn Davis in ’46 and Pete Dawkins in 1958. The Black Knights have three national championships (1914, 1944 and 1945) and have 709 wins in their history.
Army’s 2023 season hasn’t gone too well. The Black Knignts, coached by Jeff Monken, are 2-5 and has lost four straight games, including being shut out by LSU last weekend. Monken is in his 10th season as Army head coach.
