Delaware AD calls move to Conference USA ‘a very comprehensive and intentional process’

On Tuesday, the University of Delaware announced that it’s moving to Conference USA beginning July 1, 2025. The move from the Coastal Athletic Conference to C-USA brings Delaware football from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

Delaware football, currently in the second round of the FCS playoffs, will not be eligible for a CAA championship or FCS postseason berth next year. All other sports, however, will be able to compete for CAA titles during the transition.

With the move, Delaware also owes around $6 million to the NCAA in entry and exit fees, capital that has to be raised within athletics. Roughly $3.5 million has been raised, university officials said.

The addition of Delaware puts C-USA at 11 teams, with schools in nine states. States as far West as New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana are all represented.

In advance of the announcement, Delaware athletic director Chrissi Rawak talked about the move and what it means.

Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

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Why was now the right time to make the move?

Chrissi Rawak: I would start a little bit from, this may sound crazy, but seven- plus years ago, coming to Delaware. The charge I had and the focus were really about building a culture and an organization that didn’t just support but empowered excellence in all that we do. The success we’ve had over the last seven-plus years, along with the changing landscape of college athletics, specifically football, it really created a moment, and it was about a year ago where we stepped back and said, ‘We’ve got to look at this a bit more closely’ and really understand, what would it take? Are we ready? Who’s done it and who’s done it well? We took time to study all that, and we brought in consultants, and we brought in folks that really helped us consider this objectively. At the end of the day, it became really clear, through all that work, that this was the right time and Conference USA was the right decision for Delaware.

Was the deciding factor behind the move just the FBS football side of stuff?

Rawak: That’s not the driving force, but it’s certainly a part of the decision-making process. I mean, FBS football really enables so much for us from a university perspective, for our student-athletes, and for our community. You know, right now, we are on FloSports and we’re competing, and the number of eyeballs that are watching us, it’s healthy, but it’s certainly not significant. And then as you think about being on ESPN and having ESPN+ as a platform for our student-athletes, and ultimately our university, I mean it’s 40 times what we get on Flo. And so, I mean, that visibility is exciting for us. And again, it’s an enabler for so much more at this university.

When you’re talking about enabling, do you mean in reference to building the Delaware brand?

Rawak: Yes, exactly right. And being successful on that platform. And being with, I would say for Conference USA specifically, I think being with schools that believe in that as well. A big part of Conference USA is, as their commissioner Judy MacLeod has demonstrated, she’s led that organization for 15 years now and they’ve re-created themselves a couple of times, and they’ve come out stronger. We’re excited to be a part of this next iteration of Conference USA and to work with universities that compete at a high level, athletically, and that really are excited to leverage this next iteration of college football. And to be a part of that with people that are like-minded is exciting for us.

On the football side of things, how does the move affect the ability to win conference championships?

Rawak: This year, obviously, we have the ability to compete for a conference championship. Next year, we will not. We will have the ability to obviously compete in the CAA but we are not eligible for a championship or to play in the playoffs for football, specifically. And then in 2025-26, we can play for a Conference USA regular season championship, but we’re not able to play in their championship game or be eligible for a bowl. The nice thing about this is all the other sports that we have, one of the things that changed in the bylaws for the CAA will allow all of our sports to be able to compete for championships as we continue in this transition.

Are all of Delaware’s 21 Division I programs joining Conference USA?

Rawak: No, we will have seven sports [men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, field hockey, men’s soccer, and rowing] that are not sponsored by Conference USA [and we will] be working relentlessly to find a conference for them that will be a great fit from a competitive perspective, recruiting perspective, and continuing to put our programs in a position to compete for championships.

What was the process like in making the decision to change conferences?

Rawak: As you can imagine, our president, our board of trustees, have been very involved in this process, particularly as we worked through it. I mean, ultimately, it’s the board and the president’s decision [along with] our recommendation, my recommendation. It was very intentional. We also involved our faculty athletic representatives, the faculty athletic board. We want[ed] to be sure that everybody had an opportunity to provide perspective and provide feedback. We obviously did the heavy lifting on the analysis, and we did it from a number of different lenses. But our next step was to bring all of our recommendations to our board and to our president. We worked also, obviously, with members of our budget committee and finance teams. It was a comprehensive and very intentional process.

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When it came to the decision, why was it decided that Conference USA was the right fit?

Rawak: It really was about the opportunity to compete at a higher level with universities that were committed to that effort and really wanting to put our university on a platform and to be able to pursue and attain really that next level. And these are universities that feel that same exact way. It wasn’t any more complicated than that. The opportunity for us was one that just made a lot of sense. It was something that we really wanted to be a part of. I think the other thing about Conference USA is they compete in great bowl games. They’ve had great success. It’s a three-decade [old] conference, and as I mentioned, Judy, the commissioner, her leadership is something that really resonated with the president and I, and it was something that we really felt like we were going to be excited to be a part of, and these were people that were like-minded with us.

Conference USA is pretty spread out. Is there a concern regarding travel for sports that don’t necessarily get the level of funding that the football program receives?

Rawak: Yeah, certainly. When we initially looked at the map, we felt a little bit the same way and then, honestly, we did the work. We studied it, and we looked at flights out of Philadelphia and flights out of Baltimore. And we are very fortunate we’re 30 minutes from the Philadelphia airport, we’re 45 minutes, an hour, from Baltimore. There’s a lot of flight options. So we looked at that in great detail to make sure that what we were recommending was in fact, accurate. Travel for those student-athletes, while it’s going to be different because it’s going to be on planes vs. buses, it’s not going to put our student-athletes in a position where they have to miss more class time. It’s actually going to be neutral.

And the other opportunity here for us, you know there’s 11 schools in Conference USA now, right now we’re in a conference [with the CAA] where there’s 16. So scheduling 16 schools ves. 11 obviously gives us more non-conference opportunities and, again from a location perspective, within 100 miles, we have 30 other Division I programs, which we already play a lot of. So our local and regional travel will continue to be a really strong part of our scheduling.

You mentioned this isn’t just a football move, but what does it mean for Delaware football to move up to the FBS level?

Rawak: Well, it certainly gives us the opportunity for that visibility in that platform and to compete, to compete for championships. I mean, we have a storied history here. It is one that we’re really proud of. We have six national championships. It’s something that we are committed to continuing to do, to put our football program, and all of our programs, in a position to be successful. I think the other key component for us is, we’re in a terrific recruiting footprint.

And then I think finally, the other thing that I would say is, we’re embracing the landscape of college athletics. And what I mean by that is part of the name, image, and likeness portfolio and all of the things that are going on within that space. We embraced it a couple of years ago when it came online, started really with education, and focused on that, and that has just continued to evolve with us and for our student-athletes. It’s not helpful for us to not embrace it. It’s a part of this college athletics and, at the end of the day, it is something that, for our student-athletes, is a really good thing.

Outside of the visibility, do you have any tangible goals in mind with this move?

Rawak: It’s to make the University of Delaware proud. It’s to make the state proud. It’s to continue to be successful, and broad-based. The Learfield Director’s Cup is certainly something that we pay attention to and that broad-based success for all of our programs. I mean, that will be a metric that we’ll use. There’s one area code here, it’s the 302. And everything we do is for the 302. Whether you went to the University of Delaware or not, people are proud of what we accomplish and they recognize the opportunity that this visibility will create for our entire state, which is something that is really special.

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