TCU Horned Frogs

The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University, consisting of 18 varsity teams. The "horned frog" nickname and mascot refer to the Texas horned lizard, as known as the "horned frog". The women's athletics teams are often referred to often as the Lady Frogs. The teams participate in the NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football competing in the Mountain West Conference. On October 10, 2011, TCU announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference. Texas Christian University began its athletic life as an independent program with a six-year (1914-1920) stint in the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association before eventually joining its longtime home, the Southwest Conference (SWC), in 1923. TCU remained a member of the SWC until it disbanded after the 1995-1996 academic year because of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor defecting to the Big 8 Conference to form the Big 12 Conference.The Horned Frogs, without a conference to call home after 72 years, joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), along with SMU and Rice. TCU called the WAC home from 1996 through 2000. In 2001, TCU joined Conference USA (C-USA) and remained there through 2004. TCU joined its current home of the Mountain West Conference (MWC) in 2005. In 2010, TCU accepted an invitation to join the Big East Conference in all sports starting in 2012; however, on October 10, 2011, TCU announced that it had reversed its decision and would be joining the Big 12 in 2012 instead.