East Carolina gets new league

DALLAS -- East Carolina will be among the Conference USA schools joining the Mountain West in forming a conference that will begin in 2013.

The 16 schools announced their plans Monday.

"The statement from the Chancellors'/Presidents' (CEO's) meeting is encouraging and indicative that the merger is moving forward as expected," East Carolina athletics director Terry Holland said in a statement. "That is good news for all involved and we are looking forward to the continuing discussions."

The new conference likely will include 18-24 schools, be split into divisions and not only have a football championship game but also semifinals, and will hold a conference basketball tournament.

School leaders said they plan to complete work on the league in six months.

Four C-USA members - Southern Methodist, Houston, Memphis and Central Florida - have announced they will join the Big East in 2013. Boise State and San Diego State from the Mountain West also announced they would be joining the Big East for football and switching their other sports to new conferences. The Mountain West also lost Texas Christian to the Big 12.

Nowhere in the release are the names of the conferences mentioned, just the schools involved. They are:

Air Force, Colorado State, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico and Wyoming, all of whom currently compete in the Mountain West.

Alabama-Birmingham, East Carolina, Marshall, Rice, Southern Mississippi, Texas-El Paso, Tulane and Tulsa, all of whom currently compete in Conference USA

Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii, all of whom currently compete in the Western Athletic Conference but are set to join the Mountain West in 2012.

All the schools except Hawaii will compete in all sports in the new conference. Hawaii will be a football-only member.