Southland Conference

History

Chronological timeline

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Founded in 1963, its members were Abilene Christian College (now Abilene Christian University; departed in 1973 for NCAA Division II, but moved to Division I and rejoined the Southland in 2013), Arkansas State College (now Arkansas State University; departed in 1987, now a member of the Sun Belt Conference), Arlington State College (now the University of Texas at Arlington, departed in 2012 and now in the Western Athletic Conference), Lamar State College of Technology (now Lamar University; departed in 1987, rejoined in 1999, left again in 2021, returned in 2022), and Trinity University (departed in 1972, now participating in NCAA Division III).

Since its founding, the Southland Conference has been the home for 18 college and university all-sports programs (see membership timeline below). In addition, the conference has also been home to some schools for one sport only. In the case of football, Troy University fielded a team from 1996 to 2000 and Jacksonville State University did so from 1997 to 2002. This has also been the case for some Olympic sports like men's tennis, in which the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA; since merged into the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, or UTRGV) and the University of New Orleans (UNO) fielded teams as affiliate members before 2013, when UTPA joined the WAC and UNO became a full Southland member.

The Southland underwent major turmoil in 2021, losing five members. On January 14, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) announced that four Southland members - Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, and Stephen F. Austin - would join that conference in July 2022. Within a week, the Southland expelled those four schools, leading the WAC to move their entry up to July 2021. A fifth member, Central Arkansas, announced on January 29 that it would join the Atlantic Sun Conference effective that July. At the time, the ASUN was a non-football conference, but soon entered into a football partnership with the WAC that gave Central Arkansas and two other incoming ASUN members a football home until an ASUN football league was established.

The Southland began the process of rebuilding its core membership in September 2021, announcing that East Texas A&M University, then named Texas A&M University-Commerce, would start a transition from NCAA Division II and join the conference in July 2022. The SLC also announced a football scheduling alliance with the Ohio Valley Conference, another FCS league that had experienced major membership losses during the early-2020s realignment cycle, for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. However, shortly after Texas A&M-Commerce was announced as a future member, the SLC was set to experience further attrition when the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) announced that it would leave for the WAC after the 2021–22 school year. Ultimately, however, this did not come to pass, as UIW announced it would be staying in the SLC only 7 months after announcing its departure. McNeese was also courted by the WAC, and also flirted with a move to Conference USA, but eventually stayed in the SLC. According to the American Press, the daily newspaper of McNeese's home of Lake Charles, Louisiana, McNeese became "the de facto lead school in the league". It was set to host the SLC's football media day through at least the 2026 season, as well as the conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball through 2026.

More recently, Lamar announced it would return to the SLC effective in 2023–24. In addition, on April 11, 2022 the conference announced in a press release that it had partnered with Troika Media Group to institute a rebrand to be implemented before the end of the calendar year. The release stated that the rebrand would include, among other things, a new name for the conference. On July 11, 2022, Lamar and the Southland Conference announced Lamar's accelerated return to the SLC effective immediately. The following day saw the SLC lose two of its women's golf associates when the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Northeast Conference (NEC) announced a partnership for baseball and men's and women's golf that saw all MEAC schools that sponsored those sports become NEC associates. Accordingly, Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore, which had joined SLC women's golf just a year earlier, moved that sport to the NEC.

On March 25, 2024, the Southland expanded again with the announcement that UTRGV would join the conference effective July 1, 2024, joining Lamar from the WAC. Two months later, multiple media reports indicated that Stephen F. Austin would return to the SLC in July 2024; this move was officially announced on May 29.

Member schools

Current full members

;Notes

Associate members

;Notes

Former full members

School names and nicknames listed here reflect those in use in each institution's final school year of Southland Conference membership.

;Notes

Former associate members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

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Period = from:1963 till:2032

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal

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id:line value:black

id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData=

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bar:5 color:FullxF from:1963 till:1964 text:Arlington State/UT-Arlington (1963–1986) bar:5 color:Full from:1964 till:1986 bar:5 color:FullxF from:1986 till:2012 text:(1986–2012) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2012 till:2013 shift:(-10) text:WAC bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2022 text:Sun Belt bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2026 text:WAC bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2026 till:end text:UAC

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bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1963 till:1971 text:Gulf States bar:7 color:Full from:1971 till:1987 text:Louisiana Tech (1971–1987) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1987 till:1991 text:ASC bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:1991 till:2001 text:Sun Belt bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2013 text:WAC bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2027 text:CUSA bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2027 till:end text:Sun Belt

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bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1963 till:1971 text:Gulf States bar:16 color:OtherC2 from:1971 till:1979 text:Gulf South bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1980 shift:(-5) text:D-II bar:16 color:OtherC2 from:1980 till:1982 shift:(-3) text:D-I Ind. bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1982 till:1984 text:TAAC bar:16 color:OtherC2 from:1984 till:1987 text:Gulf Star bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1987 till:1991 text:D-I Ind. bar:16 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1992 text:Nicholls (1991–present) bar:16 color:Full from:1992 till:end

bar:17 color:AssocF from:1996 till:2001 text:Troy State (1996–2001)

bar:18 color:AssocF from:1997 till:2003 text:Jacksonville State (1997–2003)

bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1963 till:1971 text:Gulf States bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1971 till:1979 text:Gulf South bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1980 shift:(-5) text:D-II bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1980 till:1984 shift:(-3) text:D-I Ind. bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1984 till:1987 text:Gulf Star bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1987 till:1991 text:D-I Ind. bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1997 text:TAAC bar:19 color:FullxF from:1997 till:2005 text:Southeastern Louisiana (1997–present) bar:19 color:Full from:2005 till:end

bar:20 color:OtherC1 from:1999 till:2002 text:D-III Ind. bar:20 color:OtherC2 from:2002 till:2003 text:D-I Ind. bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2003 till:2006 bar:20 color:FullxF from:2006 till:end text:Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (M. tennis, 2003–2006; Full, 2006–present)

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bar:24 color:OtherC1 from:1963 till:1973 text:Independent bar:24 color:OtherC2 from:1973 till:1978 text:D-I Ind. bar:24 color:OtherC1 from:1978 till:1989 text:TAAC bar:24 color:OtherC2 from:1989 till:1998 text:NAIA Ind. bar:24 color:OtherC1 from:1998 till:2007 text:RRAC bar:24 color:OtherC2 from:2007 till:2008 shift:(-15) text:D-I Ind. bar:24 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2013 text:GWC bar:24 shift:(-20) color:FullxF from:2013 till:2014 text:Houston Baptist (2013–present) bar:24 color:Full from:2014 till:2022 bar:24 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Houston Christian

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TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Southland Conference membership history"

1. If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space.

2. • Southwestern Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Louisiana–Lafayette, now athletically branded as simply Louisiana) in 1999.
3. • Northeast Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Monroe (Louisiana–Monroe) in 1999.
4. • UTPA merged with the University of Texas at Brownsville to become the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) in 2015.

Sports

The Southland Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and 10 women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The most recently added sport is beach volleyball, with SLC competition starting in 2019–20.

Men's sponsored sports by school

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southland Conference which are played by SLC schools:

Notes

Women's sponsored sports by school

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southland Conference which are played by SLC schools:

Notes

Football

Former and current players from the Southland that would go on to star in the National Football League include Gary Barbaro, Mike Barber, Fred Barnett, Bill Bergey, Derrick Blaylock, Bubby Brister, Ray Brown, Roger Carr, Mark Carrier, Larry Centers, Bruce Collie, Keith Davis, Fred Dean, Jackie Harris, Stan Humphries, Buford Jordan, Wade Key, Josh McCown, Tim McKyer, Jeff Novak, Kavika Pittman, Mike Quinn, Billy Ryckman, Ricky Sanders, Eugene Seale, Rafael Septién, Terrance Shaw, Marcus Spears, Chad Stanley, Pat Tilley, Jeremiah Trotter, Marvin Upshaw, Lardarius Webb and Spergon Wynn. The Southland was instrumental in founding the Independence Bowl, and the Southland champion served as the automatic home team for that bowl from 1976–1980. On May 21, 2014, the Southland Conference approved the use of instant replay at all its home games becoming the first FCS league to fully commit to having all games utilize instant replay.

Men's basketball

Among notable NBA stars attending Southland Conference schools include Karl Malone (Louisiana Tech), Joe Dumars (McNeese), Jeff Foster (Southwest Texas State, now known as Texas State), and Andrew Toney (Southwestern Louisiana, now known as Louisiana).

Women's basketball

Former member Louisiana–Monroe (then Northeast Louisiana) advanced to the 1985 NCAA Women's Final Four.

Championships

• Southland Conference men's basketball tournament
• Southland Conference women's basketball tournament
• Southland Conference baseball tournament
• Southland Conference women's soccer tournament
• Southland Conference softball tournament

Spending and revenue

Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, food and novelties. Total expenses includes coaching/staff, scholarships, buildings/ground, maintenance, utilities and rental fees and all other costs including recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues and insurance costs.

Facilities

;Notes:

Media

Southland Conference Television Network

The Conference began its own syndicated broadcast entity in 2008, the Southland Conference Television Network. It aired in over 25 markets in the league's four-state region, plus on national networks such as Fox College Sports, ESPN GamePlan, and ESPN3. In 2008-09, the network featured 35 broadcasts, and over 30 in each of the next four seasons.

For 2013 and 2014, the syndicated network was restricted to only regular season football games. The remainder of the schedule was available on ESPN3 or regional sports networks, including regular season and tournament basketball as well as championships in soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball. ESPN3 also carried an exclusive package of football games beyond the syndicated network's schedule.

SLCTV dissolved on July 1, 2015. Beginning with the 2015–16 school year, the Southland Conference entered into an agreement with the American Sports Network to syndicate and televise selected games, while also continuing its association with ESPN3. A separate deal allowed Louisiana-based Cox Sports Television to air select games.

After ASN folded following the 2016–17 academic year, the Southland announced a television agreement with Eleven Sports. During 2017-18, conference-controlled games aired on ESPN3, Eleven Sports, Fox Sports Southwest and Cox Sports Television. For 2018-19, ESPN productions began to be split between ESPN3 and ESPN+ platforms. On October 8, 2020, the Southland Conference announced a multi-year extension through the 2024–25 academic year as well as an expansion of its media rights agreement with ESPN.

Academics

References

References

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