American Athletic Conference Adds Liberty, Marshall, James Madison for 2025 Season
The American Athletic Conference on Thursday announced three women’s swimming programs as affiliate members for the 2025-26 season.
Liberty University, Marshall University and James Madison will join the conference as affiliate members for women’s swimming effective July 1, 2025. They bolster AAC’s swimming ranks to nine schools, joining East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, Tulane and Florida International. The first five are full members, with FIU as a swimming affiliate.
Swimming is a championship-only sport in the conference. The expanded nine-team championships in 2026 will be hosted at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
“We are excited to welcome JMU, Liberty and Marshall to The American in women’s swimming and diving,” AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti said in a press release. “All three programs are at the top of the sport and will enhance our strength in women’s swimming and diving and our philosophy of providing the highest level of competition and experience for our student-athletes. This expansion will better position The American for even more participation in the NCAA Championships.”
James Madison and Marshall are both full members of the Sun Belt Conference, where their women’s teams are competing this season. JMU won the conference last year with Marshall second. Georgia Southern and Old Dominion are the remaining members of what seems like a doomed Sun Belt swimming slate, both full-time Sun Belt members. The conference only resuscitated swimming in 2023.
For JMU, the 2026 championships will be the fifth different league it has competed in over six years. It was runner-up at the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association in 2023 after winning the ECAC in 2022 and the Colonial Athletic Association in 2021.
“We’re excited to transition JMU swimming & diving to the American Athletic Conference beginning this summer and thank Commissioner Tim Pernetti for the opportunity,” JMU Director of Athletics Matt Roan said in a university statement. “As our department has continued to elevate, this program has been forced to make some adjustments over the last few years while trying to identify the most ideal conference situation. Despite multiple transitions, they’ve continued to compete at a phenomenal, championship level under the leadership of Head Coach Dane Pedersen. The move to the American positions JMU swimming & diving in a strong conference with the ability to grow to greater heights.”
Marshall has the chance to rejoin many of its former Conference USA rivals with this move to the AAC.
“There are several familiar coaches in the conference that I have had the privilege of competing against in years past,” coach Ian Walsh said in a statement. “I know these programs will challenge us to be better and we look forward to elevating the conference as a whole.”
Liberty is a primary member of Conference USA. The Lady Flames are swimming in the Atlantic Sun Conference this year. They are the reigning ASUN champ after five straight CCSA titles from 2019-23.
“The American Athletic Conference will afford our swim/dive program with a highly competitive conference home where our team will continue to flourish and compete for championships,” Liberty director of athletics Ian McCaw said. “We are grateful to Commissioner Pernetti, his staff and campus administrators for affording Liberty this opportunity.”
