LEXINGTON ? The Kentucky men?s soccer program is making the move to Conference USA, it was announced today by league commissioner Britton Banowsky and the UK Athletic Department.
The Wildcats, members of the Mid-American Conference since 1995, were voted to join unanimously by the league?s Board of Directors. Florida International and South Carolina were voted to be associate members for men?s soccer as well.
?I think Conference USA will be regarded as one of the top two or three men?s soccer conferences in the country,? Kentucky coach Ian Collins said. ?From top to bottom, it will be a quality league. It?s going to be a step up for us in competition and a great opportunity for our program.?
The move will produce a natural rivalry in the league between Southeastern Conference members Kentucky and South Carolina. Those two, along with Vanderbilt, are the only SEC schools that offer men?s soccer. The SEC requires four teams to sponsor a championship.
FIU, Kentucky and South Carolina will join current members East Carolina, Memphis and UAB, as well as programs from incoming full members Marshall, SMU, Tulsa and UCF. The teams will play a nine-match round-robin schedule.
?Getting nine conference games is very important for us,? Collins said. ?It enables us to settle our schedule in September. I also think, with the way teams are switching conferences, this is the opportune time for us to make the move.?
Conference USA men?s soccer should remain among the strongest leagues in the nation after the merge. Memphis and UAB both rank among the Top 20 in the nation while FIU, South Carolina and Tulsa have each been ranked during the season. Presently, nine of the 10 programs have winning records.
Kentucky will leave the MAC after winning four league titles in the past five years, including the last two. The Wildcats also have three conference tournament championships since 1999.
?The MAC has been a great home for us and we?ve enjoyed playing there,? Collins said. ?We appreciate the opportunity we?ve had and we?ll miss the league. We have some great rivalries with those teams and we?ve had some great games.?
