Editing Atlantic 10 Conference (section)

==Football (1997–2006)==

===Origin===
The A-10 began sponsoring [[American football|football]] in 1997 when it absorbed the [[Yankee Conference]], a Division I-AA (now known as Division I FCS) football-only conference. The move was triggered by a change in NCAA rules that reduced the influence of single-sport conferences over NCAA legislation. The following teams were in the Yankee Conference at the time of its demise:
{{Div col}} 
* [[Boston University Terriers football]]
* [[UConn Huskies football|Connecticut Huskies football]]
* [[Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football]]
* [[James Madison Dukes football]]
* [[Maine Black Bears football]]
* [[UMass Minutemen football]]
* [[New Hampshire Wildcats football]]
* [[Northeastern Huskies football]]
* [[Rhode Island Rams football]]
* [[Richmond Spiders football]]
* [[Villanova Wildcats football]]
* [[William & Mary Tribe football]]
{{Div col end}}

Boston University dropped football after the first season of A-10 football. After the 1999 season, UConn started a transition from Division I-AA to Division I-A football (now Division I FBS) that was completed in [[2002 NCAA Division I-A football season|2002]]. In [[2004 NCAA Division I-A football season|2004]], UConn, already a member of the [[Big East Conference (1979–2013)|Big East]] for other sports, became a football member of that conference. The other schools all remained in the A-10 football conference until the management change after the 2006 season.

===Football champions===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Season
!Regular Season Champion
|-
|1997
|Villanova
|-
|1998
|Richmond
|-
|1999
|James Madison, Massachusetts
|-
|2000
|Delaware, Richmond
|-
|2001
|Hofstra, Maine, Villanova, William & Mary
|-
|2002
|Maine, Northeastern
|-
|2003
|Delaware, Massachusetts
|-
|2004
|Delaware, James Madison, William & Mary
|-
|2005
|New Hampshire, Richmond
|-
|2006
|Massachusetts
|}

===Demise/"rename"===
The 2005 move of [[Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts)|Northeastern University]], a football-only member of the A-10, to the [[Coastal Athletic Association|Colonial Athletic Association]] for basketball and Olympic sports began a chain of events that would lead to the demise of the A-10 football conference, at least under the A-10 banner.

At that time, the CAA did not sponsor football, but five of its members in the 2004–05 academic year (Delaware, Hofstra, James Madison, Towson, and William & Mary) were football members of the A-10. The addition of Northeastern gave the CAA six schools with football programs, which under NCAA rules allows a conference to sponsor football. Northeastern agreed to join any future CAA football conference, which meant that the A-10 football conference would drop to six members once CAA football began operation.

With six football members in place, the CAA decided to start a football conference in 2007. The league then invited Richmond, a member of the CAA from 1983 to 2001, to rejoin for football only, because of UR's long-standing in-state rivalries with William & Mary and James Madison. UR accepted the invitation, taking the A-10 football conference below the NCAA minimum of six. Shortly after this, the A-10 football conference opted to disband, with all of its members becoming charter members of the CAA football conference. This league continues to operate under the administration of the multi-sports CAA, now known as the [[Coastal Athletic Association]], as the legally separate entity of CAA Football (in full, the [[Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference]]).

===A-10 schools in DI-A/FBS===
A-10 charter members Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Villanova played I-A football as independents while members of the A-10 in other sports. Villanova became a member of the [[Big East Conference (1979–2013)|Big East]] in 1980 with Pittsburgh following in 1982. Temple joined the A-10 that year. Penn State joined the [[Big Ten Conference|Big Ten]] in 1991 (effectively in 1993), and three A-10 members joined the Big East as football-only members: Rutgers, West Virginia, and Temple (only Rutgers and West Virginia would later join the Big East as full members in 1995).

Virginia Tech joined the A-10 in 1995 as a result of the merger that created [[Conference USA]]. They would then join the Big East as full members in 2000, following the football program which was already a member of the league. Temple remained a football-only member of the Big East until 2004; they would join the [[Mid-American Conference|MAC]] for football in 2007 until 2012, and re-joined the Big East in football for the 2012 season. Temple planned to move the rest of its sports into the Big East in 2013, but the [[2010–2013 Big East Conference realignment|conference realigned]] into the football-sponsoring [[American Athletic Conference]] and a new [[Big East Conference|non-football Big East]]. Temple joined The American. [[UMass Minutemen football|Massachusetts]] joined them in FBS football with membership in the MAC beginning in the 2012 season and as an FBS independent beginning in 2016. Charlotte, which started a football program in 2013, left for Conference USA and eventually joined The American in 2023.
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |A-10 schools in DI-A/FBS
|-
!Schools currently in the A-10
!Schools formerly in the A-10
|-
|Massachusetts
|Penn State
|-
|
|Pittsburgh
|-
|
|Rutgers
|-
|
|Temple
|-
|
|Virginia Tech
|-
|
|West Virginia
|-
|
|Charlotte
|}