Southland Conference
| Southland Conference | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Established | 1963 |
| Association | NCAA |
| Division | Division I FCS |
| Members | 12 (10 in 2012, 11 in 2013) |
| Sports fielded | 17 (men's: 8; women's: 9) |
| Region | South Central |
| Headquarters | Frisco, Texas |
| Commissioner | Tom Burnett (since 2002) |
| Website | southland.org |
| Locations | |
 |
|
The Southland Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the south central United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Southland sponsors 17 sports, nine for women and eight for men, and is governed by a presidential Board of Directors and an Advisory Council of athletic and academic administrators. Tom Burnett was named the Southland's sixth commissioner on Dec. 23, 2002.
The conference's offices are located in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas.
Contents |
[edit] History
Founded in 1963, the original members included Abilene Christian College (now Abilene Christian University; departed 1973 for NCAA Division II), Arkansas State College (departed 1987, now a member of the Sun Belt Conference), Arlington State College (now The University of Texas at Arlington, the only member that has remained with the conference since its inception, but it has announced that it will depart for the Western Athletic Conference in 2012, Lamar State College of Technology (now Lamar University, left in 1987 and rejoined in 1999), and Trinity University (Texas) (departed 1971, 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 fielded an SLC team from 1996–2000 and Jacksonville State from 1997-2002. This has also been the case for some Olympic sports like Men's Tennis.
[edit] Membership timeline
[edit] Current members
Departing members in gray.
[edit] Future members
| Institution | Location | Founded | Type | Enrollment | Year Joins | Nickname |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral Roberts University | Tulsa, Oklahoma | 1963 | Private | 3,417 | 2012 | Golden Eagles |
| Houston Baptist University | Houston, Texas | 1960 | Private | 2,567 | 2013 | Huskies |
Oral Roberts will join the Southland Conference in 2012 as a non-football member.[1]
Houston Baptist has announced they will have a football team ready to start play in 2014. They will join the conference July 1, 2013 in all Southland sponsored sports.[2]
[edit] Football
Southland Conference football ranks among the best Division I FCS leagues in the nation, and enjoys an annual expectation of competing for the national championship with multiple teams advancing to the NCAA playoffs each year. In 2002 and 2003, McNeese State finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation, and advanced to the 2002 national championship contest, the sixth such title game appearance since the league joined the FCS (then known as Division I-AA) in 1982. All told, Southland teams have played in 84 Division I-AA/FCS playoff games in 23 years, winning 42 of the contests.
Historically, the Southland's successful football heritage has sustained itself through numerous membership and classification changes. Originally an NAIA conference, the Southland joined the NCAA College Division in 1968. The College Division was renamed NCAA Division II in 1973, and the league played two seasons in that class. The Southland became an NCAA Division I league in 1975, and was a charter member of Division I-A (now Division I FBS) when Division I split for football in 1978. It moved to the FCS ranks in 1982, where it has remained to this day.
During its tenure as a Division I and I-A conference from 1975–81, the Southland Conference was instrumental in the startup of the Independence Bowl in 1976. The Southland representative served as the host team of the bowl until 1980, compiling a 2-3 record in the contests. The Conference can lay claim to five national football championships, including College Division championships through former members Arkansas State (1970, UPI) and Louisiana Tech (1972, National Football Foundation). Louisiana Tech also won the first-ever NCAA-sanctioned national title, winning the Division II playoffs in 1973. Tech followed that with the UPI's Division II national championship in 1974. Northeast Louisiana, now Louisiana-Monroe, won the 1987 Division I-AA national title.
McNeese State, which has made 12 appearances in the national playoffs, also played in the 1997 I-AA national championship game, and Stephen F. Austin played in the 1989 title game, one of four playoff runs for the Lumberjacks. Northwestern State has played in six national playoffs, and advanced to the semifinals in 1998, while Sam Houston State has earned five trips to the postseason, including the semifinals in 2004, Nicholls State has participated twice, and Texas State twice, advancing to the 2005 semifinals.
On four occasions, the Southland has placed three teams in the national 16-team playoffs. Six of the eight current football-playing members have qualified for the I-AA/FCS playoffs. In addition, Texas State won NCAA Division II titles in 1981 and 1982 before joining the Southland.
Lamar University, which dropped its program in 1989, resumed its football program in 2010 and began playing a Southland schedule in 2011.
The Southland has produced 149 first-team football All-Americans during its history, and has sent such talent to the professional ranks including Dallas' Keith Davis (SHSU), Arizona's Josh McCown (SHSU), Buffalo's Terrence McGee (Northwestern State), N.Y. Giant's Gary Reasons (Northwestern State), Baltimore's B. J. Sams (McNeese), Chicago's Mike Green (Northwestern State), Jacksonville's Kenny Wright (Northwestern State), Houston's Chad Stanley (SFA), Philadelphia's Jeremiah Trotter (SFA), San Diego's Clinton Ballard (Texas State) and Chicago's Chris Thompson (Nicholls). In the 2002 NFL Draft alone, five Southland players were selected.
With its current alignment of 12 institutions in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, the Southland is at its largest membership configuration in its 43-year history. On November 11, 2010, Texas State and Texas-San Antonio announced their intentions to move into the FBS ranks, joining the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 2012, which at the time would bring the total membership of the Southland Conference down to 10. On July 14, 2011, UT Arlington (a non-football school) accepted an invitation from the WAC for 2012, reducing the Southland to nine total members. The conference replenished its ranks later in 2011, first accepting Oral Roberts (also a non-football school) for membership in 2012 and then bringing in Houston Baptist for 2013. The league has nine football-playing members in 2011 with Lamar playing a full conference schedule (UTSA began football in 2011 as well but did not participate in conference play due to its 2012 move), will revert to eight again in 2012 when Texas State departs the league, and return to nine in 2014 when Houston Baptist launches its football program.
[edit] Former Southland Conference stars
Former NFL stars from the Southland include Fred Dean, Bill Bergey, Stan Humphries, Fred Barnett, Roger Carr, Marvin Upshaw, Larry Centers, Kavika Pittman, Mike Barber, Bruce Collie, Tim McKyer, Pat Tilley, Jackie Harris, Eugene Seale, Bubby Brister, Billy Ryckman, Rafael Septien, Buford Jordan, Marcus Spears, Terrance Shaw, Jeremiah Trotter, Mike Quinn, Chad Stanley, Derrick Blaylock, Keith Davis, Ricky Sanders, Wade Key and Ray Brown.
[edit] Basketball
Among notable NBA stars attending Southland Conference schools include Karl Malone (Louisiana Tech), Joe Dumars (McNeese State), and Jeff Foster (Texas State as Southwest Texas State). Scottie Pippen played for Central Arkansas before it became a Southland Conference member.
Although Louisiana Tech has an illustrious history in women's basketball, it was never a member of the Southland Conference in that sport.
[edit] Southland Conference Television Network
The Conference began its own broadcast entity in 2008, the Southland Conference Television Network. It airs in numerous markets in the league's three-state region, plus on national networks such as Fox College Sports, and ESPN FullCourt and ESPN3.com. In 2008-09, the Network featured 35 broadcasts, then followed with 31 live events in 2009-10 and 31 in 2010-11. The schedule includes regular season football games, regular season and tournament basketball, plus championships in soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball.
[edit] Conference facilities
Note: Departing members in pink. Future members in gray. UTSA began its football program in 2011 and is using the Alamodome as its home field.[1] The stadium seats 65,000, but seating capacity for UTSA games may be reduced. UTSA will not join the Southland Conference for football because they will be members of the Western Athletic Conference by 2012. Lamar revived its football program in 2010 and joined the Southland Conference for football in 2011. The Cardinals are playing in the extensively renovated stadium that they last used in 1989.
[edit] Championships
- Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
- Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
- Southland Conference Baseball Tournament
[edit] References
[edit] External links
|
||||||||
