Southland Conference


The Southland Conference, abbreviated to 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. 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. Tom Burnett was named the Southland's sixth commissioner on Dec. 23, 2002. From 1996 to 2002, for football only, the Southland Conference was known as the Southland Football League.
The conference's offices are located in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas.

History

Founded in 1963, its members were Abilene Christian College, Arkansas State College, Arlington State College, Lamar State College of Technology, and Trinity University.
Since its founding, the Southland Conference has been the home for 18 college and university all-sports programs. In addition, the conference has also been home to some schools for one sport only. In the case of football, Troy University fielded a team from 1996 to 2000 and Jacksonville State University did so from 1997 to 2002. This has also been the case for some Olympic sports like men's tennis, in which the University of Texas–Pan American and the University of New Orleans fielded teams as affiliate members before 2013, when UTPA joined the WAC and UNO became a full Southland member.

Member schools

Current members

; Notes
  1. Abilene Christian re-joined the Southland Conference in 2013 after joining the NAIA and Lone Star Conference after the 1972–73 season.
  2. Lamar re-joined the Southland Conference after competing in the American South and Sun Belt conferences between the 1987–88 and 1998–99 seasons.

    Former members

School names and nicknames listed here reflect those in use in each institution's final school year of Southland Conference membership.
InstitutionLocationFoundedJoinedLeftTypeNicknameColorsCurrent
Conference
Arkansas State UniversityJonesboro, Arkansas190919631987PublicIndiansSun Belt
Louisiana Tech UniversityRuston, Louisiana189419711987PublicBulldogs
Lady Techsters
C-USA
University of North TexasDenton, Texas189019821996PublicMean GreenC-USA
University of Louisiana at MonroeMonroe, Louisiana193119822006PublicIndiansSun Belt
Oral Roberts UniversityTulsa, Oklahoma196320122014PrivateGolden EaglesSummit League
University of Southwestern LouisianaLafayette, Louisiana189819711982PublicRagin' CajunsSun Belt
Texas State UniversitySan Marcos, Texas189919872012PublicBobcatsSun Belt
University of Texas at ArlingtonArlington, Texas189519632012PublicMavericksSun Belt
University of Texas at San AntonioSan Antonio, Texas196919912012PublicRoadrunnersC-USA
Trinity UniversitySan Antonio, Texas186919631972PrivateTigersSCAC

;Notes

Former associate members

Membership timeline


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1963 till:2016
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
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
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1963 till:1964 text:Trinity
bar:1 color:Full from:1964 till:1972
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1963 till:1964 text:Abilene Christian
bar:2 color:Full from:1964 till:1973
bar:2 shift: color:FullxF from:2013 till:2014 text:Abilene Christian
bar:2 color:Full from:2014 till:end
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1963 till:1964 text:Arkansas State
bar:3 color:Full from:1964 till:1987
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1963 till:1964 text:Lamar
bar:4 color:Full from:1964 till:1987
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1998 till:2011 text:Lamar
bar:4 color:Full from:2011 till:end text:
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1963 till:1964 text:UT Arlington
bar:5 color:Full from:1964 till:1986
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1986 till:2012 text:
bar:6 color:Full from:1971 till:1982 text:Southwestern Louisiana
bar:6 color:AssocOS from:1982 till:1987 text:
bar:7 color:Full from:1971 till:1987 text:Louisiana Tech
bar:8 color:Full from:1972 till:end text:McNeese State
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1983 text:North Texas
bar:9 color:Full from:1983 till:1995
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1995 till:1996
bar:10 color:Full from:1982 till:1994 text:Northeast Louisiana
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1994 till:2006 text:
bar:11 color:Full from:1987 till:2011 text:Texas State
bar:11 color:FullxF from:2011 till:2012
bar:12 color:Full from:1987 till:end text:Northwestern State
bar:13 color:Full from:1987 till:end text:Sam Houston State
bar:14 color:Full from:1987 till:end text:Stephen F. Austin
bar:15 color:FullxF from:1991 till:2012 text:UTSA
bar:16 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1992 text:Nicholls
bar:16 color:Full from:1992 till:end
bar:17 color:AssocF from:1996 till:2001 text:Troy State
bar:18 color:AssocF from:1996 till:2003 text:Jacksonville State
bar:19 color:FullxF from:1997 till:2005 text:Southeastern Louisiana
bar:19 color:Full from:2005 till:end
bar:20 color:FullxF from:2006 till:2007 text:Central Arkansas
bar:20 color:Full from:2007 till:end
bar:21 color:FullxF from:2006 till:end text:Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
bar:22 shift: color:FullxF from:2012 till:2014 text:Oral Roberts
bar:23 shift: color:FullxF from:2013 till:2014 text:Houston Baptist
bar:23 color:Full from:2014 till:end
bar:24 shift: color:FullxF from:2013 till:2014 text:Incarnate Word
bar:24 color:Full from:2014 till:end
bar:25 shift: color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:New Orleans
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1965
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos: tabs:
text:^"Southland Conference membership history"
  1. > 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. <#

1. - Southwestern Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1999.
2. - Northeast Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1999.

Sports

The Southland Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and 10 women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The most recently added sport is beach volleyball, with SLC competition starting in 2019–20.
SportMen'sWomen's
Baseball
13
–
Basketball
13
13
Beach Volleyball
–
9
Cross Country
13
13
Football
11
–
Golf
11
8
Soccer
–
12
Softball
–
12
Tennis
6
12
Track and Field
12
13
Track and Field
12
13
Volleyball
–
13

Men's sponsored sports by school

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southland Conference which are played by SLC schools:
SchoolSoccerSwimming &
Diving
Central ArkansasSun BeltNo
Houston BaptistWACNo
Incarnate WordWACCCSA

Women's sponsored sports by school

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southland Conference which are played by SLC schools:
SchoolBowlingSwimming &
Diving
Incarnate WordNoCCSA
Sam Houston StateSouthland Bowling LeagueNo
Stephen F. AustinSouthland Bowling LeagueNo

  • Women's Bowling - The Southland Conference provides administrative support for the Southland Bowling League, but the SBL operates independently from regular conference operations. The women's bowling league was established in 2015 and currently includes Southland Conference members Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin, plus Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, Valparaiso, Vanderbilt, and Youngstown State.

    Football

Former and current players from the Southland that would go on to star in the National Football League include Gary Barbaro, Mike Barber, Fred Barnett, Bill Bergey, Derrick Blaylock, Bubby Brister, Ray Brown, Roger Carr, Mark Carrier, Larry Centers, Bruce Collie, Keith Davis, Fred Dean, Jackie Harris, Stan Humphries, Buford Jordan, Wade Key, Josh McCown, Tim McKyer, Jeff Novak, Kavika Pittman, Mike Quinn, Billy Ryckman, Ricky Sanders, Eugene Seale, Rafael Septién, Terrance Shaw, Marcus Spears, Chad Stanley, Pat Tilley, Jeremiah Trotter, Marvin Upshaw, Lardarius Webb and Spergon Wynn. The Southland was instrumental in founding the Independence Bowl, and the Southland champion served as the automatic home team for that bowl from 1976-1980. On May 21, 2014, the Southland Conference approved the use of instant replay at all its home games becoming the first FCS league to fully commit to having all games utilize instant replay.

Men's basketball

Among notable NBA stars attending Southland Conference schools include Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, Scottie Pippen, Jeff Foster, and Andrew Toney.

Women's basketball

Former member Louisiana–Monroe advanced to the 1985 NCAA Women's Final Four.

Championships

  • Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
  • Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
  • Southland Conference Baseball Tournament
  • Southland Conference Softball Tournament

    Spending and revenue

Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, food and novelties. Total expenses includes coaching/staff, scholarships, buildings/ground, maintenance, utilities and rental fees and all other costs including recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues and insurance costs.
Conference Rank National Rank Institution2017 Total Revenue from Athletics2017 Total Expenses on Athletics
1202$18,929,629$18,629,846
2213$18,138,816$18,055,713
3215$17,913,191$17,623,293
4239$16,060,012$16,060,012
5244$15,518,495$15,518,495
6260$14,419,587$13,395,835
7269$13,701,403$13,701,403
8287$13,031,924$13,031,924
9294$12,744,329$11,693,998
10317$11,018,462$11,016,688
11318$10,958,225$10,958,225
12331$8,463,641$8,326,628
13342$5,417,246$5,417,246

Note: Data from U.S. Department of Education Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool Database. Ranking based on revenue position in selection of records using NCAA Division I-FBS, NCAA Division I-FCS, and NCAA Division I without football criteria. OPE Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool used in order to provide ranking for private institutions in the conference.

Facilities

Notes:
  • Texas A&M–Corpus Christi uses off-campus Whataburger Field as their home field for some high-profile games and some tournaments.
  • Abilene Christian moved its football program into the new Wildcat Stadium for the 2017 season, following 57 seasons at Shotwell Stadium.
  • Abilene Christian's new Elmer Gray Stadium opened on April 10, 2015. The stadium is used for both Track & Field and Soccer. The new stadium replaces the original Elmer Gray Stadium, which was demolished to make way for Wildcat Stadium.

    Media

Southland Conference Television Network

The Conference began its own syndicated broadcast entity in 2008, the Southland Conference Television Network. It aired in over 25 markets in the league's four-state region, plus on national networks such as Fox College Sports, ESPN GamePlan, and ESPN3. In 2008-09, the network featured 35 broadcasts, and over 30 in each of the next four seasons.
For 2013 and 2014, the syndicated network was restricted to only regular season football games. The remainder of the schedule was available on ESPN3 or regional sports networks, including regular season and tournament basketball as well as championships in soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball. ESPN3 also carried an exclusive package of football games beyond the syndicated network's schedule.
SLCTV dissolved on July 1, 2015. Beginning with the 2015-16 school year, the Southland Conference entered into an agreement with the American Sports Network to syndicate and televise selected games, while also continuing its association with ESPN3. A separate deal will allow for Louisiana-based Cox Sports Television to air select games.
After ASN folded following the 2016-17 academic year, the Southland announced a television agreement with Eleven Sports. During 2017-18, conference-controlled games aired on ESPN3, Eleven Sports, Fox Sports Southwest and Cox Sports Television. For 2018-19, ESPN productions began to be split between ESPN3 and ESPN+ platforms.

Academics