How 2025 move to Conference USA may challenge all Delaware teams. We rank their prospects
The University of Delaware will get some Southern exposure when its athletic teams move to Conference USA in July of 2025 and begin competition as a league member that fall.
How much the Blue Hens might enjoy that remains to be seen.
This impending switch, which Delaware announced in November, is rooted in a desire to play in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision.
But 13 other Blue Hens teams will join football in that change of address, as Delaware becomes the northernmost member of a Southern-based league.
CUSA residency does present a different and often more imposing competitive situation for Delaware teams. Presently, some Blue Hens squads appear more suited than others for this transformation, which will be a test for all. They do have time to prepare.
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Certainly, the warmer year-round climate that exists farther south is a major factor – both good and bad – in Delaware’s impending move and how Blue Hen teams may fare. Delaware will certainly be at a disadvantage in some outdoor sports.
Barring further expansion, the other 10 CUSA schools when Delaware arrives will be Liberty, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Kennesaw State, Florida International, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Sam Houston and UTEP.
That is a far wider and distant geographic footprint than Delaware’s Eastern-based affiliations in the Coastal Athletic Association now and, before that, in America East and the North Atlantic, East Coast and Middle Atlantic conferences.
That may benefit Delaware because it has better access to more prospective student-athletes while being centrally situated in the Northeast megalopolis, yet can expand its traditional recruiting base. Football has already dipped into the Southeast for future players.
Going to a smaller league – the CAA has 14 schools this year and 15 next year (16 in football) – is also appealing.
Conference USA is a league in transition, having added Jacksonville State, Sam Houston, Liberty and New Mexico State in 2023 with Kennesaw State arriving this summer. Some of the recent NCAA success by CUSA schools was by teams no longer in the league.
So it’s still taking shape in terms of various schools establishing themselves in certain sports, though Liberty, with almost limitless economic resources, has quickly proven to be capable of setting a high standard in numerous sports.
In this list, we rank Delaware teams by the degree of difficulty they potentially face -- No. 1 being the least daunting and No. 13 the most -- in moving to CUSA and which teams may be most suited to excel sooner. Women’s indoor and outdoor track are lumped together to make a list of 13. (Seven of Delaware's eight non-CUSA sports are presently seeking future league affiliations).
13. Football
Football is the only sport in which Division I is split into two separate entities, the FBS where Delaware is going and the Football Championship Subdivision in which it now dwells.
That makes this a difficult transition for Delaware, though the Blue Hens’ historic reputation as an established football powerhouse along with great facilities and a fond following do provide a solid base from which to launch this leap.
Of course, FBS has its own internal split with its Power Five leagues (the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, SEC and presently Pac-12) and Group of Five. CUSA is in the latter faction with the Mid-American, Sun Belt, Mountain West and American Athletic conferences.
But it’s the FCS-to-FBS transformation that will make this a tough task for Delaware, which must increase its scholarship allotment from 63 to 85.
The transfer portal does allow for much quicker roster rebuilds now than several years ago. But the Blue Hens are in the market for bigger, strong, faster players – and a lot more of them – as they join FBS.
12. Men’s golf
This could be very tough. Delaware has never finished higher than fifth in the CAA Championships in 22 seasons and was sixth the last two years. Joining a league in which warmer weather allows players more time on the course throughout the year makes this a difficult scenario for the Blue Hens.
Last spring, Middle Tennessee sent its team and Louisiana Tech its best golfer to NCAA Regionals. The UNCW team and a Charleston golfer from the CAA did the same. So Delaware already understands the challenge it faces as the school up north, but it’s about to get more challenging.
There were five CAA schools ahead of Delaware in last year’s final GolfStat rankings of the 300-plus NCAA Division I men’s teams. There were eight present-CUSA members ahead of the Blue Hens. CUSA had four Top 100 teams – Liberty, Middle Tennessee, Sam Houston and New Mexico State to the CAA’s one (UNCW). This will be a major undertaking.
11. Men’s tennis
Delaware is as good as it’s ever been in men’s tennis but must improve more to compete with the better CUSA teams. Delaware has a shot at its first CAA title after making the semifinals for the first time in 2022. The Blue Hens were ranked 57th nationally this week by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, just ahead of CAA rival at No. 63 UNCW, which did recently hand the 13-1 Hens their only dual-meet defeat.
But two CUSA team are ahead of Delaware – No. 34 Middle Tennessee and No. 45 Liberty – and individual rankings include three CUSA singles players and a Middle Tennessee doubles team (plus one from UNCW). So this is definitely a step up for a program that has made significant recent improvements.
10. Women’s tennis
Delaware has also been at a peak in women’s tennis. The Blue Hens’ 21 match wins in 2022-23 were a school record and they were seeded a best-ever No. 2 before being upset in the CAA Tournament quarterfinals by Drexel. A doubles team gave UD its first women’s tennis NCAA Tournament qualifiers.
Delaware is 14-6 this year with a 4-3 loss to future CUSA foe Liberty, which is ranked 69th nationally. Florida International is even better, ranked 29th and with one singles player and a doubles team also nationally rated. As for the men, recent improvements will make this a less challenging transition than it would have been a few years ago, but it's still a tougher neighborhood.
9. Softball
This is a sport teeming with both great potential and possible peril in CUSA for the Blue Hens, who’ve seen a significant improvement since Jen Steele was hired as coach in July of 2018. Delaware placed as high as third just once in the CAA in 17 seasons before that and had just three winning records in league play. Steele, a former head coach at Florida’s Jacksonville University and Marshall, has guided Delaware to the top seed in the last two CAA tournaments and Delaware is in first place again this spring. She already has a national recruiting reach – ace pitcher Emily Winburn, for instance, is from Florida – that Delaware may need to become more reliant upon.
Now, this is a significant competitive jump for Delaware, which is 101st this week in the NCAA RPI. There are five CUSA teams ahead of Delaware, though Middle Tennessee, which Delaware beat twice, is not among them. All nine CUSA teams are in the top 200 compared to five for the CAA. Also, CUSA is the No. 9-ranked conference, far ahead of the CAA at No. 24. So there are immense challenges looming for Delaware while, thanks to its recent success, intriguing possibilities as well in a sport that has gained vast national appeal from its popular World Series telecast.
8. Indoor/outdoor track and field
In outdoor track, Delaware was CAA champ in 2019, third in 2021, second in 2022 and fifth in 2023 after the addition of Hampton and North Carolina A&T made the CAA better. A last-place finish, 12th, at the 2024 CAA indoor meet wasn’t particularly promising for the Blue Hens. Weather is a factor outdoors, where CUSA appears more competitive than the CAA, considering it had more NCAA Regional participants last spring and more NCAA meet qualifiers. UTEP, New Mexico State and Liberty look especially formidable.
7. Women’s golf
Recent success gives Delaware a strong foundation to make the transition in women’s golf. But the Blue Hens will certainly be at a disadvantage against schools that can play golf all year in their more agreeable climates as they join a deeply competitive group. Despite facing that same challenge against southern schools in the CAA, Delaware won the league tournament in 2016 and 2017 and has had four second-place finishes since. Western Kentucky and FIU each had golfers qualify for NCAA Regionals last year, as did the Charleston team and a UNCW golfer from the CAA. Delaware was among five present CAA teams in the top 125 of all Division I women’s teams last year. CUSA had six in that group so this is a slight step up for the Hens.
6. Baseball
Delaware was a dominant team in the Middle Atlantic, East Coast and North Atlantic conferences and America East while making numerous NCAA Tournament appearances. When the Blue Hens moved to the more southern-based CAA in 2002, they had less success. Delaware has shared one regular-season title (2007) and prevailed in one CAA Tournament (2017).
Two years from now, Delaware will find itself in a league that swings even more south. Adding to the challenge, CUSA baseball also includes an associate member – Dallas Baptist – that plays only one Division I sport and does so quite well. Dallas Baptist is ranked No. 8 nationally this week. Next year’s CAA newcomer Kennesaw State, which was Atlantic Sun champion in 2022, also has some baseball pedigree. But beyond Dallas Baptist’s foreboding presence, CUSA does not appear significantly more challenging than the CAA, which is a very good college baseball league from north to south. CUSA is 10th and the CAA 12th in conference ratings this week.
Delaware was 140th this week in the NCAA RPI, eighth among CAA schools. Four future CUSA teams are ahead of the Hens. The fact Blue Hens coach Greg Mamula spent seven years on the Florida Atlantic staff also gives Delaware a foothold in its new region. Add in the appeal to recruits of playing more warm-weather games, Delaware’s chances to be competitive in CUSA may be as good as they are in the CAA, maybe even better. But, like the CAA, it will be no easy task.
5. Volleyball
Delaware upset Towson on the Tigers’ floor last fall to win the CAA Tournament and make the NCAAs for the first time since 2011. The Hens were 24-5. Under Kim Lambert, who has been at UD since 2017 and became head coach in 2022, Delaware already has a wide recruiting reach, a must in volleyball. The roster already has players from Texas, Georgia and Alabama, where the Hens will be playing future league games and become more familiar. CUSA is slightly stronger at the top in volleyball based on the RPI of teams, no doubt partially because of that location, and Delaware will have more challengers in its quest for league supremacy. Last year's CUSA champ Western Kentucky went 30-5 and won a first-round NCAA match.
4. Women’s basketball
After winning the CAA regular-season title in 2022 and the tournament championship in 2023, Delaware has not been impressive the last two years, going 27-34 with two immediate ousters in the CAA Tournament. The CAA has gotten better and deeper due to its recent additions, which has played a part in that. CUSA champ Middle Tennessee stunned Louisville in its NCAA opener is 39th in the NCAA NET, in which the CAA has nine top 200 teams and CUSA five. CUSA is ranked 14th among conferences to the CAA's 20th by Warren Nolan.com. So Delaware's future league certainly appears challenging, just not as deep.
3. Men’s basketball
Right now, the CAA may be a deeper grouping than Conference USA even though CUSA is rated slightly higher -- 15th to the CAA's 18th -- in NCAA NET. In 2022-23, four CUSA teams were ahead of the second best CAA team in Ken Pomeroy’s final rankings. But those four schools all left for other leagues – Florida Atlantic, North Texas, UAB and Charlotte – so the CAA has closed the gap. This is close to a lateral move for Delaware.
The Blue Hens have never been seeded higher than fifth in the past 10 CAA tournaments, though they did win the 2022 title and also reached the 2019 and 2020 semifinals. Their attempt to just be better consistently will simply be transferred to a different league, where the Hens also appear middle-of-the-pack-ish. One interesting aspect for basketball could be roster construction. Delaware men’s basketball teams have typically been filled with players who live within a few hours away, nowhere near any of the Blue Hens’ future foes.
This is a chance to extend that recruiting reach and perhaps benefit from it. Another very challenging aspect of CUSA is Delaware will play in front of larger, noisier crowds on the road. Five CUSA schools averaged at least 3,077 fans per home game this season. Only two CAA schools, Charleston and UNCW, surpassed that.
2. Women’s cross country
Cross country and track are different from other sports in that head-to-head dual-type meets no longer exist and league competition is mainly limited to the end-of-the-season championships. Delaware, which has never won the CAA women’s cross-country title, had three top-three team finishes from 2018-21 but has been fifth and seventh since. Delaware was 19th in its NCAA Regional meet last year, which was sixth best among CAA schools and would have been fifth among future CUSA foes. Delaware does have to pick up the pace a bit, especially against Kennesaw State, Middle Tennessee, UTEP, New Mexico State and Liberty.
1. Women’s soccer
This is a sport in which Delaware has great potential in CUSA, especially with the improvement shown last fall under first-year coach Kelly Lawrence. A season-opening win over Syracuse sparked Delaware to a 5-5-8 finish. CUSA had just two top-200 teams in the NCAA RPI last year. The CAA had eight. Delaware wasn’t one of them but was close, and was ahead of every CUSA team except regular-season champ New Mexico State and tournament champ Liberty.
Since adding women’s soccer in 1990, Delaware has never won a conference regular-season or tournament title. The Hens have been perpetually average since joining the CAA in 2002, reaching the conference tournament semifinals three times and finishing as high as second place just once in 2019. The CAA has had one NCAA qualifier annually since 2016 and won four first-round games. CUSA has had six straight one-bid years and won twice in one of those NCAA tournaments. But much of CUSA’s recent success has been by schools no longer in the league, such as Rice and North Texas.
Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Future Delaware move to Conference USA a challenge for all Blue Hens
