Army Joining American Nice Fit For Academy, Conference

It is no secret the American Athletic Conference had an interest in Army. With SMU leaving for the ACC next year, it made perfect sense to maintain the desired 14-team football structure by adding the Black Knights, who will remain in the Patriot League for other sports.

It also makes sense for the folks in West Point. After all, the challenges of maintaining independence in a rapidly evolving collegiate landscape have grown steeper and steeper. Those challenges include scheduling at a time when multiple conferences are playing nine-game league slates, leaving fewer non-conference dates, which is something American commissioner Mike Aresco addressed during a teleconference Wednesday.

When it comes to scheduling in the American, Army and Navy could play on consecutive weeks. The first meeting would be for conference supremacy followed by the traditional game between the academies, which will remain a non-conference matchup. (Given the first-place team hosts the championship game, that would mean an Army/Navy game in Annapolis or West Point, something that has not happened since World War II.)

The fact the Black Knights and Midshipmen may awkwardly play twice in as many weeks is a minor detail in the overall scheme of things as a far as Army is concerned.

“In today’s evolving collegiate athletics landscape, it is great to partner with established, respected programs to secure the future success of Army football,” said athletic director Mike Buddie, in a statement. “New NCAA rules, the evolution and growth of the College Football Playoff, the transfer portal, and name, image and likeness have all impacted our competitive landscape, so having a clear path to a conference championship, while continuing to fight for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, will help us attract, retain, and showcase our exceptional coaches and cadets.”

The landscape revealed far different terrain in the late 1990s when Army joined Conference USA for football. Sure, there were financial benefits and scheduling stability. It was also a woeful time for the program.

The Black Knights topped out at three wins during their seven seasons (1998-2004) in C-USA, went 9-41 in conference play, endured an 0-13 campaign in 2003 and employed four coaches: Bob Sutton’s final two seasons at West Point, Todd Berry, John Mumford on an interim basis for seven games during the winless season, and Bobby Ross, whose first season was the program’s last in the conference.

Valuing its scheduling flexibility with many regional matchups, Army returned to independent status in 2005. Losing continued to be the norm, however, at least until Jeff Monken was hired in 2014. The Black Knights soon went to five bowl games in a six-year stretch (2016-21) with Monken, who arrived on the Banks of the Hudson after a four-year stint as the head coach at Georgia Southern, guiding them to four seasons of at least nine wins, including a program-record 11 in 2018.

Even with the success Army has enjoyed on the gridiron under Monken, change in collegiate athletics made returning to conference affiliation something the academy had at least been considering in recent years.

“We weigh that option every year,” Buddie said prior to last year’s Army/Navy game in Philadelphia. “We value our independence so much. It just hasn’t made sense for us up to this point. But the shifting tides of conference realignment, expanded college football playoff, all those things could play a factor in re-evaluating.”

Membership in the American has worked very well for Navy, which joined the conference in 2015. Though Navy has finished below .500 the past three seasons, albeit with many close losses, the program has enjoyed much success. In three of their first five seasons as an American member, the Midshipmen either played for the conference title or came within a head-to-head, tie-breaking loss of doing so.

As for the conference, it has undergone much change this year with UCF, Cincinnati and Houston having departed for the Big 12. The American responded by adding six schools from Conference USA — Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA – and increasing league inventory from 11 to 14. Keeping a 14-member league for football was key for the conference, which intends to keep it that way. At least for now.

“At this point, it is definitely the close of the expansion discussion,” said Aresco. “You never say never to anything, but at this point we have no interest in expanding beyond 14.”