Delaware is expected to join Conference USA in the 2025-26 academic year, sources briefed on the decision confirm to The Athletic, as the ripple effects of conference realignment continue. ESPN first reported the move.
The addition of Delaware will give CUSA 11 full members, with Kennesaw State set to join next year as the 10th. It’ll also increase the size of the Football Bowl Subdivision to 135 members, two more than this season.
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The move is, like all realignment moves, based heavily around football, and the Blue Hens feel now is the time to move up. Delaware has played in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) since 1980, one year after it won a Division II national championship. The Blue Hens won an FCS national championship in 2003.
Under coach Ryan Carty, Delaware is 17-8, posting an 8-5 season last year and defeating Lafayette 36-34 on Saturday to advance to the second round of the FCS playoffs. It most recently won a conference championship in 2020.
Notable football alumni from Delaware include Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco, who was a first-round NFL Draft pick, quarterback Rich Gannon and 2019 second-round pick Nasir Adderly.
Delaware also won a field hockey national championship in 2016, and Elena Delle Donne led the Blue Hens women’s basketball team to the Sweet 16 in 2013. Several Delaware sports teams will need to find a new conference in the sports that CUSA does not sponsor.
In October, the NCAA Division I Council increased the requirements to move up to the FBS, removing the average attendance requirement but adding a $5 million entrance fee and stricter scholarship requirements. Delaware will be subject to these new measures.
CUSA lost nine schools to the American and Sun Belt conferences over the last two years. It replaced them with FBS independents Liberty and New Mexico State, plus Jacksonville State and Sam Houston from the FCS ranks. Liberty and New Mexico State will play for the CUSA championship this week, and the Flames are going for an undefeated season. James Madison also made the move up from the FCS to the Sun Belt last year.
(Photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
