The Southland Conference, abbreviated as 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 (FCS). 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 America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate and nicer facilities and a few more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. Originally established as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) in 1978, it was renamed as the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001, and briefly rebranded as the ASUN Conference from 2016 to 2023. The conference still uses "ASUN" as an official abbreviation. The conference headquarters are located in Atlanta.
The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The intercollegiate athletics logo was commissioned in 1983.
The Lamar Cardinals and Lady Cardinals refers to the college athletics teams of Lamar University, in Beaumont, Texas. The Cardinals and Lady Cardinals teams compete in seventeen NCAA Division I sports as a member of the Southland Conference. The Cardinals rejoined the Southland after spending the 2021–22 athletic year in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
The Houston Christian Huskies, HCU or Huskies are the athletic teams that represent Houston Christian University, located in Houston, Texas, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Southland Conference for most of its sports since the 2013–14 academic year; as of the current 2023 NCAA soccer season, its men's soccer team competes in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). The Huskies previously competed the D-I Great West Conference from 2008–09 to 2012–13 after spending one season as an NCAA D-I Independent during the 2007–08 school year ; in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1998–99 to 2006–07; and as an NAIA Independent from 1989–90 to 1997–98. Houston Christian's (HCU) official school colors are royal blue and orange.
The UC Davis Aggies are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis.
The Nicholls Colonels are the 15 teams representing Nicholls State University, a university in Louisiana, in intercollegiate athletics. The Colonels compete in the NCAA Division I and the Colonels football team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Colonels sports teams are members of the Southland Conference.
The North Florida Ospreys are the athletic teams of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. The Ospreys compete in the ASUN Conference in NCAA Division I. UNF became a full-fledged member of Division I in 2009; previously, the Ospreys were members of the Sunshine State Conference and Peach Belt Conference in NCAA Division II. UNF fields teams in seven men's sports and ten women's sports.
The UC Riverside Highlanders represent the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in Riverside, California in 15 men's and women's intercollegiate athletics. The Highlanders compete in NCAA Division I; they are members of the Big West Conference.
The UNC Wilmington (UNCW) Seahawks are the varsity athletic teams representing the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Wilmington, North Carolina in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors eight teams for the men and eleven for the women. With the exception of beach volleyball, the Seahawks compete as a non-football member of NCAA Division I and are members of the Coastal Athletic Association.
The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles refer to the fifteen intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Florida Gulf Coast University, located in unincorporated Lee County, Florida near Fort Myers, in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, and tennis; women's-only: softball, swimming and diving, indoor volleyball, and beach volleyball; and men's-only: baseball. The Eagles compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the ASUN Conference (ASUN). FGCU is also notable as the youngest institution competing in NCAA Division I, having been officially founded in 1991 and started classes in 1997. Their mascot is Azul the Eagle.
The TCNJ Lions are the athletic teams representing The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). They are a member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and compete within Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The Queens Royals are the athletic teams that represent Queens University of Charlotte, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, in NCAA intercollegiate sporting competitions. On July 1, 2022, the Royals began a four-year transition from NCAA Division II to Division I as new members of the ASUN Conference. Before then, Queens had competed in the South Atlantic Conference for 20 of their varsity sports; the men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference and the men's volleyball team competed in the Independent Volleyball Association, a scheduling alliance among schools that are independents in that sport's National Collegiate division. Queens had been a member of the SAC since 2013, when it moved from Conference Carolinas.
The Coastal Collegiate Sports Association is an NCAA Division I college athletic conference.
The UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros is a collegiate athletic program that represents the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). The Vaqueros inherited the NCAA Division I status of the Texas–Pan American Broncs and competed in the Western Athletic Conference. In March 2024, it was reported that the Vaqueros would leave the WAC for the Southland Conference, beginning in the 2024-25 academic year.
The 2019–20 NJIT Highlanders men's basketball team represented the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Highlanders, led by fourth-year head coach Brian Kennedy, played their home games at the Wellness and Events Center in Newark, New Jersey as members of the Atlantic Sun Conference. They finished the season 9–21, 6–10 in ASUN play to finish in eighth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the ASUN tournament to Liberty.
