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The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the higher of two levels of Division I football competition (formerly known as Division I-A). The Sun Belt has member institutions distributed primarily across the southern United States. It has 13 universities and colleges.
[edit] HistoryThe Sun Belt Conference was founded on August 4, 1976 with New Orleans, South Alabama, Georgia State, Jacksonville, UNC Charlotte and South Florida. Over the next ten years the conference would add Western Kentucky, Old Dominion, UAB, and Virginia Commonwealth. Also, New Orleans was forced out of the league in 1980 due to its small on-campus gymnasium that the Conference did not deem suitable for Conference competition. UNO competed as an independent before joining the newly-formed American South Conference in 1987. After the 1990-91 basketball season, all members of the Sun Belt except Western Kentucky, South Alabama, Jacksonville, and incoming member Arkansas-Little Rock departed for other conferences. The Sun Belt then merged with the American South Conference, made up of Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette), Texas-Pan American, New Orleans, Lamar, and Central Florida. UCF left the league following the 1991-92 academic year. Lamar, Texas-Pan American and Jacksonville departed at the end of the 1997-98 academic year. Florida International joined in 1998, and Denver was added in 1999. Louisiana Tech departed after the 2000-01 academic year. The conference did not sponsor football until 2001, when the league added former Big West Conference members New Mexico State and North Texas and then-independent Middle Tennessee State as full members and added independent Louisiana-Monroe (ULM) and Big West member Idaho as "football only" members. Another Big West school, Utah State, was added as a "football only" member in 2003, then departed in 2005 with Idaho and New Mexico State for the WAC. In 2004, Troy became a "football only" member until 2005 when they joined the conference in all sports. In 2006, Louisiana-Monroe joined the conference as a member in all sports, and Florida Atlantic joined the conference in all sports. [edit] Membership history timeline
[edit] FutureFlorida International joined the league for football, and Louisiana-Monroe and Florida Atlantic joined the league as a member in all sports on July 1, 2005. Western Kentucky joined the Sun Belt Conference for football in 2009 after its Board of Regents voted to upgrade the school's football program to Division I FBS.[1] South Alabama will begin fielding a football team in 2009, with the intention of moving up to full FBS status by 2013. As of November 11, 2009, New Orleans has announced they are investigating a move from Division I to the NCAA's Division III, with a decision expected in early 2010. [edit] OrganizationThe Sun Belt conference office has been headquartered in downtown New Orleans since 2000, after moving from suburban Metairie, Louisiana where it had been based since 1991. Prior to moving to the “Big Easy” the league was based in Tampa, Florida from 1977–1991. The original conference office was located in Charlotte, North Carolina from 1976–77. [edit] Commissioners
In addition to the four Sun Belt commissioners, three future league leaders served on the Sun Belt staff prior to becoming conference commissioners, including Doug Elgin (Missouri Valley), John Iamarino (Northeast, Southern) and Tom Burnett (Southland). [edit] Current members
 [edit] Conference facilities
Notes:
[edit] Sports[edit] FootballChampions by year:
* North Texas won the conference's automatic bowl bid because it won the head-to-head game against Middle Tennessee. Also, North Texas had a losing overall record in 2001 and was not technically bowl-eligible, but the NCAA granted the team an exemption because it had won the conference. This is similar to what is granted to a basketball or baseball team which has a losing overall record but wins its conference tournament. [edit] Bowl affiliates
[edit] BasketballMain articles: Sun Belt Men's Basketball Tournament and Sun Belt Women's Basketball Tournament See also: [edit] BaseballMain article: Sun Belt Baseball Tournament The Sun Belt Conference has sponsored an annual baseball tournament to determine the conference winner since 1978. South Alabama has (by far) won the most championships, at 11. [edit] Other sportsBesides football, basketball, and baseball, the Sun Belt Conference sponsors intercollegiate competition in men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, women’s soccer, women’s softball, men's and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, and women’s volleyball. While the conference does not sponsor men's soccer, four schools do have teams, with Denver competing in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, Florida Atlantic in the Mid-American Conference, Florida International in Conference USA, and Western Kentucky in the Missouri Valley Conference. Denver, the only Sun Belt member school with a varsity ice hockey program, is also a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. [edit] Rivalries[edit] Intraconference rivalries
[edit] Interconference rivalries
[edit] Former members
[edit] Affiliate MembersMissouri State, Southern Illinois, University of Evansville, Eastern Michigan University, Ball State University, the University at Buffalo and Miami University began competing in the Mid-American Conference in men's swimming and diving, in 2008 up to 2015. [edit] See also[edit] External links[edit] Notes and references
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