Atlantic Sun Conference
The Atlantic Sun Conference, branded as the ASUN Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and does not sponsor football. Originally established as the Trans America Athletic Conference in 1978, its headquarters are located in Macon, Georgia.
The conference has seen several changes in its membership in recent years. First, the 2014 departure of East Tennessee State University and Mercer University to the Southern Conference left the ASUN with eight members. Northern Kentucky University left the conference to join the Horizon League and was replaced by the New Jersey Institute of Technology, previously the only Division I basketball independent, in 2015. The ASUN membership expanded to nine members in 2018. The University of South Carolina Upstate left the ASUN to join the Big South Conference after the 2017–18 season, but two new schools joined. The University of North Alabama arrived from the Division II Gulf South Conference, and Liberty University left the Big South for the ASUN.
The ASUN's most recent changes of membership occurred in 2020–21 with the arrival of Bellarmine University from the Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference and the departure of NJIT to the America East Conference.
Membership history
Current members
Associate members
| Institution | Location | Founded | Type | Enrollment | Joined | Nickname | Primary Conference | ASUN Sport |
| Coastal Carolina University | Conway, South Carolina | 1954 | Public | 10,641 | 2015–16BV 2016–17WLAX | Chanticleers | Sun Belt | Beach Volleyball Women's Lacrosse |
| Howard University | Washington, D.C. | 1867 | Private | 9,139 | 2012–13 | Lady Bison | MEAC | Women's Lacrosse |
| Mercer University | Macon, Georgia | 1833 | Private | 8,740 | 2014–15 | Bears | SoCon | Beach Volleyball |
Former members
;Notes:School names and nicknames listed here reflect those used during the schools' time in the TAAC/ASUN. One school has changed both its name and nickname, and three others have changed only their nicknames:
Former associate members
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1978 till:2023
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id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1978 till:1979 text:Oklahoma City
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1978 till:1980 text:Pan American
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1978 till:1982 text:Northeast Louisiana
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1978 till:1989 text:Houston Baptist
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1978 till:1990 text:Hardin–Simmons
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1978 till:1999 text:Centenary
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1978 till:2003 text:Samford
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1978 till:2014 text:Mercer
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1979 till:1984 text:Northwestern State
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1979 till:1991 text:Arkansas–Little Rock
bar:11 color:FullxF from:1980 till:1992 text:Georgia Southern
bar:12 color:AssocOS from:1982 till:1984 text:Nicholls State
bar:13 color:FullxF from:1983 till:2005 text:Georgia State
bar:14 color:FullxF from:1985 till:end text:Stetson
bar:15 color:FullxF from:1986 till:1991 text:UTSA
bar:16 color:FullxF from:1990 till:1998 text:FIU
bar:17 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1997 text:Southeastern Louisiana
bar:18 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1998 text:College of Charleston
bar:19 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2005 text:UCF
bar:20 color:FullxF from:1993 till:2006 text:Florida Atlantic
bar:21 color:FullxF from:1994 till:2011 text:Campbell
bar:22 color:FullxF from:1995 till:2003 text:Jacksonville State
bar:23 color:FullxF from:1997 till:2005 text:Troy
bar:24 color:FullxF from:1998 till:end text:Jacksonville
bar:25 color:FullxF from:2001 till:2012 text:Belmont
bar:26 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2008 text:Gardner–Webb
bar:27 color:FullxF from:2003 till:end text:Lipscomb
bar:28 color:FullxF from:2005 till:2014 text:East Tennessee State
bar:29 color:FullxF from:2005 till:end text:Kennesaw State
bar:30 color:FullxF from:2005 till:end text:North Florida
bar:31 color:FullxF from:2007 till:end text:FGCU
bar:32 color:FullxF from:2007 till:2018 text:USC Upstate
bar:33 color:FullxF from:2012 till:2015 text:Northern Kentucky
bar:34 color:FullxF from:2015 till:2020 text:NJIT
bar:35 shift: color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text:Liberty
bar:36 shift: color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text:North Alabama
bar:37 shift: color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text:Bellarmine
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text:^"ASUN Conference Membership History"
- > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options 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. <#
- Northeast Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1999.
- Pan American, later known as Texas–Pan American or UTPA, merged with the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2015 to create the new University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The new school inherited UTPA's athletic program.
Sports sponsored
In 2008, the ASUN, in an agreement with the Southern Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and Big South Conference, formed the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association for schools sponsoring men's and women's swimming and diving within the associated conferences. For the past several years, the ASUN's Commissioner has served as the president of what was initially a swimming & diving-only conference. In 2014 the CCSA expanded to include several other schools from other conferences, and the following year the conference added beach volleyball as a sponsored sport, changing its name to the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association. Currently the conference has 22 member schools, with eight men's swimming and diving teams, 11 women's swimming & diving teams, and eight beach volleyball teams.
The most recent change to the roster of ASUN sports took place after the 2013–14 school year. Under a cooperative agreement between the ASUN and SoCon, the two leagues agreed to split lacrosse sponsorship. The SoCon took over the ASUN men's lacrosse league, while women's lacrosse sponsorship remained with the ASUN. The full alliance in women's lacrosse amicably ended after the 2017 season, with the SoCon sponsoring that sport from the 2018 season forward, but the two leagues continue in a cross-scheduling agreement.
More recently, on September 13, 2016, the ASUN and Big South announced a football partnership that allows any ASUN members with scholarship football programs to become Big South football members, provided they are located within the general geographic footprint of the two conferences. At the time of announcement, the only ASUN member with a scholarship football program, Kennesaw State, was already a Big South football member. Should any ASUN member add scholarship football, or any non-scholarship football program of an ASUN school upgrade to scholarship football, that team will automatically join Big South football. North Alabama joined Big South football under the terms of this agreement; although the school's home state of Alabama had no schools in either conference at the time it was announced as a future ASUN member, three of its neighboring states were home to six of the ASUN's eight members at that time.
| Sport | Men's | Women's |
| Baseball | ||
| Basketball | ||
| Beach volleyball | ||
| Cross country | ||
| Golf | ||
| Lacrosse | ||
| Soccer | ||
| Softball | ||
| Tennis | ||
| Track and field | ||
| Track and field | ||
| Volleyball |
Men's sports
| School | Baseball | Basketball | Cross country | Golf | Soccer | Tennis | Track & field | Track & field | Total sports |
| Bellarmine | 8 | ||||||||
| Florida Gulf Coast | 6 | ||||||||
| Jacksonville | 5 | ||||||||
| Kennesaw State | 7 | ||||||||
| Liberty | 8 | ||||||||
| Lipscomb | 8 | ||||||||
| North Alabama | 5 | ||||||||
| North Florida | 8 | ||||||||
| Stetson | 6 | ||||||||
| Totals | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 61 |
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the league which are played by ASUN schools:
| School | Fencing | Football | Lacrosse | Rowing | Swimming & Diving | Volleyball | Wrestling |
| Bellarmine | No | No | SoCon | No | CCSA | No | Independent |
| Kennesaw State | No | Big South | No | No | No | No | No |
| Jacksonville | No | No | SoCon | MAAC | No | No | No |
| Liberty | No | FBS independent | No | No | No | No | No |
| North Alabama | No | Big South | No | No | No | No | No |
| Stetson | No | Pioneer League | No | MAAC | No | No | No |
Women's sports
| School | Basketball | Beach volleyball | Cross country | Golf | Lacrosse | Soccer | Softball | Tennis | Track & field | Track & field | Volleyball | Total Sports |
| Bellarmine | 9 | |||||||||||
| Florida Gulf Coast | 8 | |||||||||||
| Jacksonville | 10 | |||||||||||
| Kennesaw State | 10 | |||||||||||
| Liberty | 9 | |||||||||||
| Lipscomb | 9 | |||||||||||
| North Alabama | 8 | |||||||||||
| North Florida | 10 | |||||||||||
| Stetson | 9 | |||||||||||
| Totals | 9 | 5+2 | 9 | 8 | 4+2 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 82+4 |
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the league which are played by ASUN schools:
| School | Fencing | Field Hockey | Rowing | Swimming & diving |
| Bellarmine | No | Independent | No | CCSA |
| Florida Gulf Coast | No | No | No | CCSA |
| Jacksonville | No | No | MAAC | No |
| Liberty | No | Big East | No | CCSA |
| North Florida | No | No | No | CCSA |
| Stetson | No | No | MAAC | No |
Facilities
| School | Basketball arena | Capacity | Baseball stadium | Capacity | Soccer stadium | Capacity |
| Bellarmine | Knights Hall | 2,196 | Knights Field | Owsley B. Frazier Stadium | 2,000 | |
| Florida Gulf Coast | Alico Arena | 4,633 | Swanson Stadium | 1,500 | FGCU Soccer Complex | 1,500 |
| Jacksonville | Swisher Gymnasium | 1,500 | John Sessions Stadium | 1,500 | Ashley Sports Complex | 500 |
| Kennesaw State | KSU Convocation Center | 4,792 | Fred Stillwell Stadium | 1,200 | Fifth Third Bank Stadium | 8,300 |
| Liberty | Vines Center | 9,547 | Liberty Baseball Stadium | 2,500 | Osborne Stadium | 1,000 |
| Lipscomb | Allen Arena | 5,028 | Ken Dugan Field | 1,500 | Lipscomb Soccer Complex | 600 |
| North Alabama | Flowers Hall | 3,900 | Mike D. Lane Field | Bill Jones Athletic Complex | ||
| North Florida | UNF Arena | 5,800 | Harmon Stadium | 1,000 | Hodges Stadium | 9,300 |
| Stetson | Edmunds Center | 5,000 | Melching Field at Conrad Park | 2,500 | Stetson Soccer Complex | 500 |
All Sports Championships
The Jesse C. Fletcher and Sherman Day Trophies are awarded each year to the top men's and women's program in the conference. The Bill Bibb Trophy, combining the men's and women's results for the best overall program, was first awarded in 2006–07. East Tennessee State won this overall trophy seven of the nine years it has been awarded; Florida Gulf Coast won in 2012–13, 2014–15 and 2015-16.Men's All Sports: Jesse C. Fletcher Trophy
Women's All Sports: Sherman Day Trophy
Championships
Basketball
| Season | Regular Season Champion | Tournament Champion |
| 1978–79 | Northeast Louisiana | Northeast Louisiana |
| 1979–80 | Northeast Louisiana | Centenary |
| 1980–81 | Houston Baptist | Mercer |
| 1981–82 | Arkansas–Little Rock | Northeast Louisiana |
| 1982–83 | Arkansas–Little Rock | Georgia Southern |
| 1983–84 | Houston Baptist | Houston Baptist |
| 1984–85 | Georgia Southern | Mercer |
| 1985–86 | Arkansas–Little Rock | Arkansas–Little Rock |
| 1986–87 | Arkansas–Little Rock | Georgia Southern |
| 1987–88 | Arkansas–Little Rock Georgia Southern | Texas–San Antonio |
| 1988–89 | Georgia Southern | Arkansas–Little Rock |
| 1989–90 | Centenary | Arkansas–Little Rock |
| 1990–91 | Texas–San Antonio | Georgia State |
| 1991–92 | Georgia Southern | Georgia Southern |
| 1992–93 | Florida International | — |
| 1993–94 | College of Charleston | Central Florida |
| 1994–95 | College of Charleston | Florida International |
| 1995–96 | College of Charleston Samford Southeastern Louisiana | Central Florida |
| 1996–97 | College of Charleston Samford | College of Charleston |
| 1997–98 | College of Charleston Georgia State | College of Charleston |
| 1998–99 | Samford | Samford |
| 1999–00 | Georgia State Troy State | Samford |
| 2000–01 | Georgia State | Georgia State |
| 2001–02 | Georgia State Troy State | Florida Atlantic |
| 2002–03 | Belmont Mercer Troy State | Troy State |
| 2003–04 | Troy State | Central Florida |
| 2004–05 | Central Florida Gardner–Webb | Central Florida |
| 2005–06 | Belmont Lipscomb | Belmont |
| 2006–07 | East Tennessee State | Belmont |
| 2007–08 | Belmont | Belmont |
| 2008–09 | Jacksonville | East Tennessee State |
| 2009–10 | Belmont Campbell Jacksonville Lipscomb | East Tennessee State |
| 2010–11 | Belmont | Belmont |
| 2011–12 | Belmont | Belmont |
| 2012–13 | Mercer | Florida Gulf Coast |
| 2013–14 | Florida Gulf Coast Mercer | Mercer |
| 2014–15 | North Florida | North Florida |
| 2015–16 | North Florida | Florida Gulf Coast |
| 2016–17 | Florida Gulf Coast | Florida Gulf Coast |
| 2017–18 | Florida Gulf Coast | Lipscomb |
| 2018–19 | Lipscomb Liberty | Liberty |