I remember the excitement years ago when Conference USA was created. Southern Miss was finally in an all-sports conference with a group of mostly long-time opponents. Things changed quite a bit over the years with teams going out and coming in. For Golden Eagle fans, there have been a number of highs and far too many lows. But, all in all, it has been a good experience and I have learned a lot about many universities, their fans, and their teams.

The landscape of college sports has changed considerably during our time in CUSA. The P5 and G5 branding was given and it may as well have been call the Have Money Teams and the Need Money Teams. All of us G5 teams have a certain bond and understanding of the uphill battle that we all face in all sports and to some degree that brings us all together.

Some of my favorite Southern Miss memories in CUSA are:
-Beating Houston in the CUSA Championship Game featuring 2 ranked teams and 2 future NFL QBs (Case Keenum and Austin Davis).
-Beating TCU and knocking them out of the BCS bowl.
-The Mills Kills football game at Louisville on ESPN.
-Basketball games vs Memphis and finally beating those super athletic Tigers.
-Beating Rice in the CUSA Championship Baseball game in H'burg on a multiple relay to the plate to nail the would be tying run. Southern Miss fans have so much respect for the Rice baseball program and I feel like being in a conference with Rice is one reason that the Southern Miss baseball program has been able to grow to where it is today.

Other CUSA team accomplishments that I enjoyed...
- Marshall winning the soccer National Championship. That's the only soccer game that I've ever watched more than just a few minutes of.
- Memphis basketball's run to the championship game.
- Marquette and Dwyane Wade's Final Four appearance.
- Middle TN beating Mich St and all of the other NCAA Tourney wins over the past seasons by the various CUSA teams.
- UAB's run under Mike Anderson beating KY to advance to the Sweet 16. That team was fun to watch
- The WKU and FAU teams that were led by Brohm and Kiffin. Those offenses were something special to see as was what Rakeem Cato did at Marshall.
- Rice baseball excellence with Wayne Graham.
- Deangelo Williams (Memphis), Chris Johnson (ECU), and Matt Forte (Tulane) gave CUSA fans a chance to watch elite level play at the RB position.
-Every game that saw a CUSA team take down a team from the P5 conferences. (There was also a lot of heartache with many of these games lost late in all sports.)

We've seen so many great players, teams, and coaches over the years and some amazing accomplishments by CUSA teams. Continue to enjoy your teams, especially when they are performing at a high level. Embrace that and soak it in. I sincerely wish all of you (the teams staying in CUSA, the future AAC members, and the future incoming CUSA teams) the best of luck as long as you aren't playing Southern Miss.

next.

I’ll miss USM. Hope we can still play every now and then, especially in football and baseball….

Here is a list of teams that Southern Miss competed with in CUSA over the years...

Louisville
Tulane
Memphis
Houston
East Carolina
Cincinnati
South Florida
TCU
UAB
Army (football only)
St Louis (non-football)
DePaul (non-football)
Marquette (non-football)
UCF
Marshall
SMU
Rice
Tulsa
UTEP
UTSA
La Tech
North Texas
FIU
Old Dominion
Charlotte (was a non-football member early in CUSA, then left for the Atlantic 10, and later returned as an all-sports member)
Middle Tennessee
Florida Atlantic
Western Kentucky