Southland Conference
The Southland Conference 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. 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.
The conference's offices are located in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas. According to a press release from April 11, 2022, the conference was to undergo a rebrand in 2022 that included a new name and logo. The rebranding was unveiled in March 2023, with a new logo but no change to the conference name.
History
Chronological timeline
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.
The Southland underwent major turmoil in 2021, losing five members. On January 14, the Western Athletic Conference announced that four Southland members - Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, and Stephen F. Austin - would join that conference in July 2022. Within a week, the Southland expelled those four schools, leading the WAC to move their entry up to July 2021. A fifth member, Central Arkansas, announced on January 29 that it would join the Atlantic Sun Conference effective that July. At the time, the ASUN was a non-football conference, but soon entered into a football partnership with the WAC that gave Central Arkansas and two other incoming ASUN members a football home until an ASUN football league was established.
The Southland began the process of rebuilding its core membership in September 2021, announcing that East Texas A&M University, then named Texas A&M University-Commerce, would start a transition from NCAA Division II and join the conference in July 2022. The SLC also announced a football scheduling alliance with the Ohio Valley Conference, another FCS league that had experienced major membership losses during the early-2020s realignment cycle, for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. However, shortly after Texas A&M-Commerce was announced as a future member, the SLC was set to experience further attrition when the University of the Incarnate Word announced that it would leave for the WAC after the 2021–22 school year. Ultimately, however, this did not come to pass, as UIW announced it would be staying in the SLC only 7 months after announcing its departure. McNeese was also courted by the WAC, and also flirted with a move to Conference USA, but eventually stayed in the SLC. According to the American Press, the daily newspaper of McNeese's home of Lake Charles, Louisiana, McNeese became "the de facto lead school in the league". It was set to host the SLC's football media day through at least the 2026 season, as well as the conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball through 2026.
More recently, Lamar announced it would return to the SLC effective in 2023–24. In addition, on April 11, 2022 the conference announced in a press release that it had partnered with Troika Media Group to institute a rebrand to be implemented before the end of the calendar year. The release stated that the rebrand would include, among other things, a new name for the conference. On July 11, 2022, Lamar and the Southland Conference announced Lamar's accelerated return to the SLC effective immediately. The following day saw the SLC lose two of its women's golf associates when the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Northeast Conference announced a partnership for baseball and men's and women's golf that saw all MEAC schools that sponsored those sports become NEC associates. Accordingly, Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore, which had joined SLC women's golf just a year earlier, moved that sport to the NEC.
On March 25, 2024, the Southland expanded again with the announcement that UTRGV would join the conference effective July 1, 2024, joining Lamar from the WAC. Two months later, multiple media reports indicated that Stephen F. Austin would return to the SLC in July 2024; this move was officially announced on May 29.
Member schools
Current full members
Former full members
School names and nicknames listed here reflect those in use in each institution's final school year of Southland Conference membership.| Institution | Location | Founded | Joined | Left | Type | Nickname | Colors | Current conference |
| Abilene Christian University | Abilene, Texas | 1906 | 1963; 2013 | 1973; 2021 | Private | Wildcats | WAC | |
| Arkansas State University | Jonesboro, Arkansas | 1909 | 1963 | 1987 | Public | Indians | Sun Belt | |
| Conway, Arkansas | 1907 | 2006 | 2021 | Public | Bears/Sugar Bears | ASUN | ||
| Louisiana Tech University | Ruston, Louisiana | 1894 | 1971 | 1987 | Public | Bulldogs Lady Techsters | CUSA | |
| Monroe, Louisiana | 1931 | 1982 | 2006 | Public | Indians | Sun Belt | ||
| Denton, Texas | 1890 | 1982 | 1996 | Public | Mean Green | American | ||
| Oral Roberts University | Tulsa, Oklahoma | 1963 | 2012 | 2014 | Private | Golden Eagles | Summit League | |
| Lafayette, Louisiana | 1898 | 1971 | 1982 | Public | Ragin' Cajuns | Sun Belt | ||
| Sam Houston State University | Huntsville, Texas | 1879 | 1987 | 2021 | Public | Bearkats | CUSA | |
| Texas State University | San Marcos, Texas | 1899 | 1987 | 2012 | Public | Bobcats | Sun Belt | |
| Arlington, Texas | 1895 | 1963 | 2012 | Public | Mavericks | WAC | ||
| San Antonio, Texas | 1969 | 1991 | 2012 | Public | Roadrunners | American | ||
| Trinity University | San Antonio, Texas | 1869 | 1963 | 1972 | Private | Tigers | SAA |
;Notes
Former associate members
;Notes:Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1963 till:2032
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
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bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2026 till:end text:UAC
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bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1963 till:1971 text:Gulf States
bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:1971 till:1982 text:D-I Independent
bar:10 color:Full from:1982 till:1994 text:Northeast Louisiana
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1994 till:1999 text:
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2006 text:UL-Monroe
bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2006 till:end text:Sun Belt
bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1963 till:1984 text:Lone Star
bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:1984 till:1987 text:Gulf Star
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bar:11 color:Full from:2003 till:2011 text:Texas State
bar:11 color:FullxF from:2011 till:2012
bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2012 till:2013 shift: text:WAC
bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2026 text:Sun Belt
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bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:2012 till:2013 shift: text:WAC
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bar:16 color:OtherC2 from:1971 till:1979 text:Gulf South
bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1980 shift: text:D-II
bar:16 color:OtherC2 from:1980 till:1982 shift: text:D-I Ind.
bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1982 till:1984 text:TAAC
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bar:16 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1992 text:Nicholls
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bar:17 color:AssocF from:1996 till:2001 text:Troy State
bar:18 color:AssocF from:1997 till:2003 text:Jacksonville State
bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1963 till:1971 text:Gulf States
bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1971 till:1979 text:Gulf South
bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1980 shift: text:D-II
bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1980 till:1984 shift: text:D-I Ind.
bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1984 till:1987 text:Gulf Star
bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1987 till:1991 text:D-I Ind.
bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1997 text:TAAC
bar:19 color:FullxF from:1997 till:2005 text:Southeastern Louisiana
bar:19 color:Full from:2005 till:end
bar:20 color:OtherC1 from:1999 till:2002 text:D-III Ind.
bar:20 color:OtherC2 from:2002 till:2003 text:D-I Ind.
bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2003 till:2006
bar:20 color:FullxF from:2006 till:end text:Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
bar:21 color:OtherC1 from:1963 till:1993 text:AIC
bar:21 color:OtherC2 from:1993 till:2006 text:Gulf South
bar:21 color:FullxF from:2006 till:2007 text:Central Arkansas
bar:21 color:Full from:2007 till:2021
bar:21 color:OtherC1 from:2021 till:2026 text:ASUN
bar:21 color:OtherC2 from:2026 till:end text:UAC
bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:1965 till:1971 text:Independent
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bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1987 text:MCC
bar:22 color:OtherC2 from:1987 till:1989 shift: text:D-I Ind.
bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:1989 till:1991 shift: text:NAIA Ind.
bar:22 color:OtherC2 from:1991 till:1997 shift: text:D-I Ind.
bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:1997 till:2007 text:Mid-Continent
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bar:23 color:OtherC2 from:1987 till:1991 text:ASC
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bar:23 color:AssocOS from:2012 till:2013 text:New Orleans
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bar:24 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2013 text:GWC
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text:^"Southland 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. <#
2. - Northeast Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1999.
3. - UTPA merged with the University of Texas at Brownsville to become the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in 2015.