Southland Conference - Definition and Overview

The Southland Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the south central United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I-AA for football and Division I for all other sports. Founding members included Abilene Christian College (now departed), Arkansas State College (departed 1987), Arlington State College (now University of Texas at Arlington), Lamar State College of Technology (now Lamar University), and Trinity University (Texas) (departed 1971).

Current members (with year joined)

• Lamar University (1963; no football since 1989)
• University of Louisiana at Monroe (1982, not a football member since 1993)
• McNeese State University (1963)
• Nicholls State University (1991)
• Northwestern State University (1987)
• Sam Houston State University (1987)
• Southeastern Louisiana University (1963)
• Stephen F. Austin State University (1987)
• University of Texas at Arlington (1963; no football since 1985)
• University of Texas at San Antonio (1963; no football)
• Texas State University-San Marcos (1987)

Former members include Arkansas State (1963-1986), Jacksonville State (1997-2002), Louisiana Tech (1971-1986), Trinity (1963-1971), Troy State (1996-2000), Louisiana-Lafayette (1971-1981), and North Texas (1983-1994). Lamar withdrew from the conference after the 1986 season and returned as a non-football program in 1998.

Louisiana-Monroe will leave the Southland Conference in 2006 and become an all-sports member of the Sun Belt Conference, where it already competes in football and women's swimming.

External link

• Official site of the Southland Conference (http://www.southland.org/)