Sun Belt Conference
The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a group of college sports teams that play each other on the NCAA Division I level. The conference was formed in 1976, and started playing football in 2001. All 14 full members (those playing most of their sports in the league) play football in the top-level Division I FBS. The conference's full members are scattered through the southern United States.
Members
Associate members
At different times, the SBC has had "associate members" that play only a few sports, usually one, in the league. As of the 2023–24 school year, it has eight associate members. Four are in men's soccer, a sport that the SBC resumed playing after a one-year absence, and the others are in beach volleyball, a women's sport added for 2022–23.
Most associate members in league history no longer compete in the SBC. The first school to abandon single-sport membership was Utah State, which played Sun Belt football in 2003 and 2004 before joining the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 2005. The Aggies have been members of the Mountain West Conference since 2013.
Idaho and New Mexico State were involved in the league at two different times. New Mexico State first joined the Sun Belt as a full member in 2000, and brought its football team into the Sun Belt the next year. Also in 2001, Idaho joined only for football. Both left in 2005 to join the WAC. During the early 2010s, NCAA Division I went through a major phase of conference changes, with most leagues gaining or losing multiple members. The WAC was one of the most affected conferences, going through a nearly complete membership turnover that left Idaho and New Mexico State as the league's only football schools. In 2014, both placed their football programs in the Sun Belt. The conference announced in 2016 that its agreements for Idaho and New Mexico State to play football in the league would not be renewed when they ended after the 2017 season.[1]
NJIT (the New Jersey Institute of Technology) was another victim of this realignment; it was forced to become an independent (not in a conference) when its former league, the Great West Conference, collapsed. Its men's soccer team joined the Sun Belt in 2014, a year before the school found a home in the ASUN Conference. Although the ASUN sponsors men's soccer, NJIT kept that team in the Sun Belt until 2016, honoring its two-year contract to play in that league.
Another recent change involved Hartwick, which had long competed in Division I men's soccer despite otherwise being in NCAA Division III. In 2018, Hartwick aligned completely with Division III, moving its men's soccer team to its full-time home of the Empire 8.
A more recent change came in 2021, when the Sun Belt shut down its men's soccer league after it dropped below the number of members needed to keep the automatic berth its champion received in the NCAA tournament. However, conference realignment would lead to the return of men's soccer after a single season.
Of the four schools that were announced as new members in 2021, three sponsor men's soccer—James Madison, Marshall, and Old Dominion. All were originally intended to join the SBC in 2023. With current members Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, and Georgia State also fielding men's soccer teams, the SBC announced it would reinstate men's soccer in 2023. However, the return of men's soccer would be moved forward to 2022 after the expansion plan changed. The revived SBC men's soccer league started with Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia as single-sport members. SBC men's soccer added another member in 2023 with the arrival of UCF, which left the American Athletic Conference (which runs a men's soccer league) for the Big 12 Conference (which does not). UCF's move united its men's soccer team with that of West Virginia, the only other current Big 12 member with a men's soccer team.
The SBC added beach volleyball for the 2022–23 school year with eight members, with full members Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Southern Miss, and ULM joined by four affiliates.
Current
| School | Location | Founded | Type (affiliation) |
Nickname | Joining | SBC sport | Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| College of Charleston (Charleston) |
Charleston, South Carolina | 1770 | Public | Cougars | 2022 | Beach volleyball | CAA |
| University of Kentucky | Lexington, Kentucky | 1865 | Public | Wildcats | 2022 | Men's soccer | SEC |
| Mercer University | Macon, Georgia | 1833 | Private | Bears | 2022 | Beach volleyball | SoCon |
| University of South Carolina | Columbia, South Carolina | 1801 | Public | Gamecocks | 2022 | Men's soccer | SEC |
| Stephen F. Austin State University (Stephen F. Austin or SFA) |
Nacogdoches, Texas | 1923 | Public | Ladyjacks[a] | 2022 | Beach volleyball | WAC |
| University of Central Florida (UCF) | Orlando, Florida | 1963 | Public | Knights | 2023 | Men's soccer | Big 12 |
| University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) |
Wilmington, North Carolina | 1947 | Public | Seahawks | 2022 | Beach volleyball | CAA |
| West Virginia University | Morgantown, West Virginia | 1867 | Public | Mountaineers | 2022 | Men's soccer | Big 12 |
- ↑ SFA uses two nicknames—Lumberjacks for men's teams and Ladyjacks for women's teams.
Former
| School | Location | Founded | Type (affiliation) |
Nickname | Joined | Left | SBC sport | Current conference in former SBC sport[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Central Arkansas | Conway, Arkansas | 1907 | Public | Bears[b] | 2019 | 2021 | Men's soccer | ASUN |
| Hartwick College | Oneonta, New York | 1797 | Private | Hawks | 2014 | 2018 | Men's soccer | Empire 8 (Division III) |
| Howard University | Washington, D.C. | 1867 | Private | Bison | 2014 | 2018 | Men's soccer | Northeast |
| University of Idaho | Moscow, Idaho | 1889 | Public | Vandals | 2001 2014 |
2005 2018 |
Football | Big Sky |
| New Mexico State University | Las Cruces, New Mexico | 1888 | Public | Aggies | 2014[c] | 2018 | Football | Conference USA |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) | Newark, New Jersey | 1881 | Public | Highlanders | 2014 | 2016 | Men's soccer | America East[d] |
| Utah State University | Logan, Utah | 1888 | Public | Aggies | 2003 | 2005 | Football | Mountain West |
- ↑ In all cases except Howard, this matches the school's main affiliation. Howard is a full member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, including FCS football.
- ↑ Central Arkansas uses "Sugar Bears" as the nickname for its women's sports teams, but no UCA women's team was ever a Sun Belt member.
- ↑ New Mexico State joined the Sun Belt as a full member in 2000, and brought its football team into the league the next year. NMSU left the conference in 2005.
- ↑ NJIT initially left for its then-current all-sports home of the ASUN Conference. It joined the America East Conference in 2020.
Sun Belt Conference Media
Original Sun Belt logo from 1976.
The Sun Belt Conference headquarters are currently housed at the Caesars Superdome.
The former Sun Belt Conference logo used until its rebranding in 2013
Vic Bubas was the Sun Belt Conference's first commissioner, successfully creating what was initially a premier mid-major basketball league.
Ryan Taylor of Marshall
Arkansas State Football Player
Veterans Memorial Stadium, on the Campus of Troy University.
References
- "Sun Belt Conference". sunbeltsports.org. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
- ↑ Sun Belt Conference (March 1, 2016). "Sun Belt Football to Be 10 Teams in 2018". Press release. http://sunbeltsports.org/news/2016/3/1/FB_0301161055.aspx. Retrieved March 1, 2016.