Southern Athletic Association

Last updated

Southern Athletic Association
Southern Athletic Association logo.png
Association NCAA
FoundedChartered: 2011
Began play: 2012
CommissionerStacey LaDew
Sports fielded
  • 23
    • men's: 11
    • women's: 12
Division Division III
No. of teams8 (7 in 2024 +2 football-only affiliates; 9 in 2025–26)
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia
Official website www.saa-sports.com
Locations
Southern Athletic Association Map.svg

The Southern Athletic Association (SAA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III that began play in the 2012–13 school year. It was formed in 2011 by seven former members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and independent Berry College. [1]

Contents

History

Chronological timeline

Member schools

Every member in the history of the SAA, whether current, former, full, or associate, has been a private school.

Current members

The SAA currently has eight full members.

InstitutionLocationFoundedAffiliationEnrollmentNicknameJoinedColorsFootball?
Berry College Mount Berry, Georgia 1902 Nondenominational 2,367 [4] Vikings 2012  Yes
Birmingham–Southern College Birmingham, Alabama 1856 United Methodist 1,283 [5] Panthers 2012  Yes
Centre College Danville, Kentucky 1819 Presbyterian 1,400 [6] Colonels 2012  Yes
Hendrix College Conway, Arkansas 1876United Methodist1,144 [7] Warriors 2012  Yes
Millsaps College Jackson, Mississippi 1890United Methodist700 [8] Majors 2012  Yes
Oglethorpe University Atlanta, Georgia 1835Nondenominational1,494 [9] Stormy Petrels 2012  No
Rhodes College Memphis, Tennessee 1848Presbyterian2,070 [10] Lynx 2012   Yes
Sewanee: The University of the South Sewanee, Tennessee 1857 Episcopal 1,735 [11] Tigers 2012  Yes

Future full members

InstitutionLocationFoundedJoiningAffiliationEnrollmentEndowmentNicknameColorsFootballCurrent
conference
Southwestern University Georgetown, Texas 18402025 United Methodist 1,536$255,955,000 Pirates   Yes SCAC
Trinity University San Antonio, Texas 18692025Nonsectarian [lower-alpha 1] 2,759 [12] $1,725,000,000 Tigers   Yes SCAC
Notes
  1. Partially affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

Affiliate members

Two schools, the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), announced their intention to become affiliate members of the conference for football, effective in 2015. Both are members of the University Athletic Association (UAA), which at the time had a football scheduling alliance with the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). However, after the 2012 season, the NCAC adopted a full round-robin football schedule, making it impossible for that conference to fill in all of its non-conference dates with the four UAA members that sponsor the sport.

Over the summer of 2015, Chicago and WashU announced that they would leave the SAA after two seasons of competition in order to join more geographically-convenient conferences. [13] WashU will maintain its football affiliation with the UAA for the 2017 season before joining the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin in 2018 as a football-only member. For nearly a year, Chicago did not announce a future league affiliation, but it announced in May 2016 that it would become a football-only member of the Midwest Conference in 2017. [14]

On November 18, 2015, Trinity University (Texas) and Austin College announced they would affiliate with the SAA for football, renewing a relationship that was lost when the SAA split from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. [15] As a result, the SCAC will no longer offer football as a sport from 2017. On August 13, 2020, Austin College announced it would move to the American Southwest Conference as a football-only affiliate beginning with the 2021 season, committing to at least four years as an affiliate. [16]

On August 19, 2021, the conference announced that Southwestern University, a current football-only affiliate member of the American Southwest Conference, would join the SAA as a football-only affiliate effective with the 2023 football season. [17] On March 9, 2023, the SAA announced that Southwestern University and Trinity University (Texas) will join the SAA as full members in 2025. [2]

Current

The SAA currently has two affiliate members, who will join as a full member in 2025.

InstitutionLocationFoundedAffiliationEnrollmentNicknameJoinedColorsSAA
sport
Primary
conference
Southwestern University Georgetown, Texas 1840 United Methodist 1,507 Pirates 2023  football SCAC
Trinity University San Antonio, Texas 1869Nonsectarian [lower-alpha 1] 2,759 [12] Tigers 2017  football SCAC
Notes
  1. Partially affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.


Former affiliate members

Three schools have been SAA affiliate members but have since left the conference.

InstitutionLocationFoundedAffiliationEnrollmentNicknameJoinedLeftColorsSAA
sport
Primary
conference
Conference
in former
SAA sport
Austin College Sherman, Texas 1849 Presbyterian 1,278 'Roos 20172021  football SCAC ASC
University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois 1890Non-denominational5,134 Maroons 20152017   UAA MWC
Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri 1853Nonsectarian5,997 Bears    CCIW

Membership timeline

Southwestern UniversityTrinity University (Texas)Austin CollegeWashUUniversity of ChicagoSewanee: The University of the SouthRhodes CollegeOglethorpe UniversityMillsaps CollegeHendrix CollegeCentre CollegeBirmingham–Southern CollegeBerry CollegeSouthern Athletic Association

Blue = Full member, Green = Full member except football, Red = Associate member for football

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sun Belt Conference</span> U.S. college sports conference

The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The 14 member institutions of the Sun Belt are distributed across the Southern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwestern Athletic Conference</span> Collegiate athletic conference made up of historically black colleges and universities

The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for most sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly referred to as Division I-AA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio Valley Conference</span> US college athletic conference

The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with the Big South Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision, the lower of two levels of Division I football competition. The OVC has 11 members, six of which compete in football in the conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lone Star Conference</span> American collegiate athletic conference

The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas, with two members in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington competing as affiliates for football only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Southwest Conference</span> College athletic conference

The American Southwest Conference (ASC) is a college athletic conference, founded in 1996, whose member schools compete in the NCAA's Division III. The schools are located in Texas and Arkansas. The conference competes in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, and women's volleyball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centennial Conference</span> NCAA Division III athletic conference

The Centennial Conference is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Chartered member teams are located in Maryland and Pennsylvania; associate members are also located in New York and Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midwest Conference</span> NCAA Division III athletic conference

The Midwest Conference (MWC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the Midwestern United States in the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The Midwest Conference was created in 1994 with the merger of the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference, which had been sponsoring men's sports since 1921, and the Midwest Athletic Conference for Women, which was formed in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference</span> NCAA Division III athletic conference

The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), founded in 1962, is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in Colorado, Louisiana, and Texas. Difficulties related to travel distances led seven former members to announce the formation of a new Southeastern US-based conference, the Southern Athletic Association, starting with the 2012–13 academic year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Athletic Association</span> Athletic conference of US private university sports teams

The University Athletic Association (UAA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are highly selective universities located in Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The eight members are Brandeis University, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Emory University, New York University, The University of Chicago, University of Rochester, and Washington University in St. Louis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southland Conference</span> American collegiate athletic conference

The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate 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 18 sports, 10 for women and eight for men, and is governed by a presidential Board of Directors and an Advisory Council of athletic and academic administrators. Chris Grant became the Southland's seventh commissioner on April 5, 2022. From 1996 to 2002, for football only, the Southland Conference was known as the Southland Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Midwest Athletic Conference</span>

The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III since the 2008–09 season. Corey Borchardt is the current commissioner of the UMAC, and was appointed to the position in 2008. The UMAC was started in 1972 as the Twin Rivers Conference, and assumed its current name in 1983. Member institutions are located in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty League</span> Division III intercollegiate athletic conference

The Liberty League is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are institutions that are all located in the state of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference</span> NCAA Division III athletic conference

The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association</span> Defunct American college athletic conference

The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS football programs were members of this conference at some point, as were at least 19 other schools. Every member of the current Southeastern Conference except Arkansas and Missouri, as well as six of the 15 current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference plus future SEC member University of Texas at Austin, currently of the Big 12 Conference, formerly held membership in the SIAA.

The Millsaps Majors football team represents Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. They compete in the NCAA's Division III and the Southern Athletic Association. Millsaps's all-time record in football is 380 wins, 356 losses and 36 ties (.516). The gridiron Majors have posted two undefeated regular seasons in their history, earned three NCAA playoff tournament berths and claimed six Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championships. Its major rival is Belhaven University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwestern Pirates football</span> Football program representing Southwestern University

The Southwestern Pirates football team represents Southwestern University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) intercollegiate football competition. After a brief period of prominence during the Second World War, the school disbanded its football program in April 1951 due to budgetary constraints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great American Conference</span> NCAA Division II college athletic conference

The Great American Conference (GAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, with headquarters located in Russellville, Arkansas. Athletic competition began play during the 2011–12 school year. Its twelve all-sports member schools are located in Arkansas and Oklahoma in the South Central United States. The conference also has four men's soccer affiliate members, two in Kansas and two in Oklahoma.

The 2017 NCAA Division III football season was the portion of the 2017 college football season organized by the NCAA at the Division III level in the United States. Under Division III rules, teams were eligible to begin play on August 31, 2017. The season ended with the NCAA Division III Football Championship, also known as the Stagg Bowl, on December 15, 2017, at Salem Football Stadium in Salem, Virginia. Mount Union earned their 13th national title, defeating defending national champions Mary Hardin–Baylor.

References

  1. "Eight Division III Southeastern Colleges Form Southern Athletic Association". Rhodes College. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "SAA Welcomes Southwestern University and Trinity University (Texas) as Full-time Members" (Press release). Southern Athletic Association. March 9, 2023. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  3. Taylor, Drew; McQueen, Maddie. "Birmingham-Southern College closing its doors May 31". CBS 42 . Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  4. "BERRY QUICK FACTS". Berry College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  5. "Facts about Birmingham-Southern". Birmingham-Southern College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  6. "ABOUT CENTRE COLLEGE". Centre College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  7. "New Student Enrollment Increases by 13% at Hendrix". Hendrix College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  8. "About Millsaps". Millsaps College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  9. McCray, Vanessa (November 28, 2022). "How some Georgia colleges defy trend toward enrollment drops". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  10. "About Rhodes". Rhodes College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  11. "SEWANEE AT A GLANCE". Sewanee University. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  12. 1 2 Perez, Danya (November 1, 2022). "San Antonio's big universities recover enrollment — but most smaller ones still have post-pandemic blues". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  13. "Wash U, Chicago already leaving SAA". d3football.com. June 12, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  14. "UChicago football set to join Midwest Conference as affiliate member in 2017" (Press release). Athletics & Recreation, The University of Chicago. May 11, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  15. "Austin College; Trinity Accept Football Affiliate Membership Offer from SAA" (Press release). Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  16. "'Roo Football to Join ASC as Affiliate Member" (Press release). Austin College Athletics. August 13, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  17. "SAA announces that Southwestern University will join the league as an affiliate member in football" (Press release). August 19, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.