In December 2011 , the Big East Conference ( since renamed the American Athletic Conference ) extended an invitation to SMU to join the conference for all sports beginning in the 2013 – 14 season . The school made the move alongside current C-USA rivals Houston , Central Florida , and Memphis . Three other C-USA rivals , East Carolina , Tulane , and Tulsa , joined SMU in The American a year later
Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Southern Methodist University