On April 3 , 2013 , the schools remaining in the original Big East Conference , which had sold the " Big East " name to the seven Catholic schools that would later leave the league to form the new Big East in July 2013 , announced that they would operate as the American Athletic Conference ( shortened to AAC or " The American ) . The AAC filled its membership by adding schools from Conference USA , which replaced its losses with former Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conference ( WAC ) members
original Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season