The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA). Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The Southern Conference ranks as the fifth oldest major college athletic conference in the United States. Only the Big Ten (1896), Missouri Valley (1907), Pac-12 (1915), and Southwestern Athletic (1920) conferences are older. The SoCon was the first conference to utilize the three-point field goal in basketball in a November 29, 1980 game at Western Carolina against Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where Ronnie Carr shot the historic shot from 22 feet (6.7Â m) away and the Catamounts won 77-70.
The Southern Conference is considered one of the stronger football conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision and is considered a mid-major conference in basketball. It has also garnered considerable national attention from its recent success in these sports: in particular, former member, three-time Division I NCAA Football champion Appalachian State Mountaineers, who stunned the fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines 34â€"32 on September 1, 2007; from the Davidson Wildcats, who reached the Elite Eight in the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament by upsetting power programs Gonzaga (a mid-major school which became a power program in the 2000s), Georgetown, and Wisconsin. More recently, the six-time Division I NCAA Football champion Georgia Southern Eagles stunned Southeastern Conference power-house Florida Gators 26-20 in The Swamp on November 23, 2013â€"the first loss to a lower division opponent in the Florida program's history. The SoCon also frequently sees multiple teams selected to participate in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.
History
The conference was formed on February 25, 1921 in Atlanta as fourteen member institutions split from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Southern Conference charter members were Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Washington & Lee. In 1922, six more universities â€" Florida, LSU, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane, and Vanderbilt joined the conference. Later additions included Sewanee (1923), Virginia Military Institute (1924), and Duke (1929).
The SoCon is particularly notable for having spawned two other major conferences. In 1932, the 13 schools located south and west of the Appalachians (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, University of the South(Sewanee), Tennessee, Tulane, and Vanderbilt) all departed the SoCon to form the Southeastern Conference (SEC). In 1953, seven additional schools (Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest) withdrew from the SoCon to form the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The SEC and ACC have gone on to surpass their parent conference in prestige; while the SEC and ACC are considered "power" conferences in Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A), the SoCon dropped to Division I-AA (FCS) in 1982, four years after the top division was split into two levels in 1978.
The SoCon became the first league to hold a post-season basketball tournament to decide a conference champion in 1922. It was held at the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta where North Carolina defeated Mercer 40-25. The SoCon Basketball Tournament continues as the nation's oldest conference tournament. The next-oldest tournament overall is the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, founded in 1933, but that event was suspended after its 1952 edition and did not resume until 1979. With the demise of the Division II West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2013, whose tournament had been continuously held since 1936, the next-oldest conference tournament in continuous existence is now the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, first held in 1954.
Member schools
Current members
The all-sports membership changed to 10 schools in 2014 following the departure of Appalachian State, Davidson, Elon, and Georgia Southern, plus the arrival of East Tennessee State (ETSU), Mercer, and VMI. The current football membership stands at eight; neither ETSU nor UNC Greensboro sponsors football. However, ETSU will relaunch its dormant football program in 2015, initially playing as an independent before eventually joining SoCon football.
Associate members
On January 9, 2014, the SoCon and Atlantic Sun Conference announced a new alliance in lacrosse that took effect with the 2014â€"15 school year (2015 lacrosse season). Under its terms, sponsorship of men's lacrosse shifted from the A-Sun to the SoCon, while women's lacrosse sponsorship remained with the A-Sun. Bellarmine, which had announced it would join the A-Sun for men's lacrosse for the 2015 season, instead joined the SoCon.
Future associate members
Former members
Membership timeline
Full members Full members (except football) Other Conference Other Conference
- Due to space limitations, one portion of Washington and Lee's affiliation history is not indicated in the table. In 1958, W&L stopped awarding athletic scholarships; from then until 1962, it was an independent in what was then the NCAA College Division (which was split in 1973 to form today's Divisions II and III).
Sports
The Southern Conference sponsors championship competition in eleven men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Five schools are associate members for wrestling. Under a cooperative agreement with the Atlantic Sun Conference, the SoCon will begin sponsoring men's lacrosse in the 2014â€"15 school year (2015 season) with three full members (Furman, Mercer, VMI) and four associates (Bellarmine, High Point, Jacksonville, Richmond); women's lacrosse will be sponsored by the A-Sun.
Men's sponsored sports by school
Notes:
- * = Lacrosse associate members Bellarmine, High Point, Jacksonville, and Richmond; with Air Force joining in 2015.
- # = Wrestling associate members Appalachian State, Campbell, Davidson, Gardner-Webb, and SIU Edwardsville.
- †= East Tennessee State will relaunch its dormant football program in 2015, but will play that season as an FCS independent before eventually joining SoCon football.
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southern Conference which are played by SoCon schools:
Notes:
1: Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other. The Citadel fields men's and women's teams; VMI hosts men's, women's, and coed teams; and Wofford fields a single coed team.
Women's sponsored sports by school
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southern Conference which are played by SoCon schools:
Notes:
1: Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other. The Citadel fields men's and women's teams; VMI fields all three types of teams; and Wofford fields a single coed team.
Facilities
Conference champions
Football
This is a partial list of the last 10 champions. For the full history, see List of Southern Conference football champions.
+Denote loser of the head-to-head battle between co-champions.
- See also: College Football All-Southern Team
Men's basketball
This is a partial list of the last 10 champions. For the full history, see List of Southern Conference men's basketball champions.
The Southern Conference split into a divisional format for basketball beginning with the 1994â€"95 season.
However, the divisional format was abandoned beginning with the 2013â€"14 season.
Women's basketball
This is a partial list of the last 10 tournament champions. For the full history, see Southern Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
Baseball
This is a partial list of the last 10 champions. For the full history, see Southern Conference Baseball Tournament.
Commissioner's and Germann Cups
The Commissioner's and Germann Cups are awarded each year to the top men's and women's program in the conference. The Commissioner's Cup was inaugurated in 1970. The Germann Cup, named for former Southern Conference Commissioner Ken Germann, was first awarded in 1987. The completion of the 2013-2014 athletics season saw Appalachian State winning its 33rd Commissioner's Cup and Furman its 13th Germann Cup.
See also
- Southern Conference Hall of Fame
- List of NCAA conferences
- former members
References
External links
- Official website
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