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The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The 14 member institutions of the Sun Belt are distributed primarily across the southern United States.
The South Alabama Jaguars represent the University of South Alabama in NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics. USA competes in the Sun Belt Conference; it is the conference's only remaining charter member from its inception. USA's athletics teams are nicknamed the Jaguars. Popular sports are baseball and men's basketball. USA sponsors 8 men's sports teams and 9 women's sports teams. The board of trustees voted to start a football program that began play in the fall of 2009.
The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of Conference USA. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accepted the invitation to join the American Athletic Conference (AAC) and will become a full-member on July 1, 2023.
North Texas Mean Green represents the University of North Texas (UNT) in intercollegiate athletics. The teams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). North Texas competed in the Sun Belt Conference until joining Conference USA (C-USA) on July 1, 2013. UNT's official school colors are Green and White. North Texas' mascot is an Eagle named Scrappy.
The South Alabama Jaguars men's basketball program has competed in the Sun Belt Conference since 1978 when the league was formed. Since 1968, the Jaguars have compiled an overall record of 694–507 (.580). Ronnie Arrow returned as head coach in 2007, succeeding John Pelphrey after the 2006–07 season. In his three seasons succeeding Pelphrey, Coach Arrow was 63–34 (64.9%), and is 177–127 (58.2%) all time at South Alabama. He retired December 19, 2012 and was replaced by Jeff Price on an interim basis. On March 25, 2013, Matthew Graves was named as the new head coach of the Jaguars. On March 8, 2018, Graves was fired after 5 seasons after a 65–96 record with no postseason appearances. Exactly 1 week later, the Jaguars hired former Nicholls State head coach Richie Riley for the job. In Coach Riley's first year at the helm of the Jaguars, he led the program to their first non-losing season since 2013, finishing the year at 17-17.
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers are the athletic teams that represent Western Kentucky University (WKU), located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, competing in the Conference USA (C-USA) since the 2014–15 academic year. The Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers previously competed in the Sun Belt Conference from 1982–83 to 2013–14; and in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) from 1948–49 to 1981–82.
The Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament has been played every year since the formation of the Sun Belt Conference for the 1976–77 academic year.
The Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in baseball for the Sun Belt Conference. The winner of the tournament receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. After Coastal Carolina University hosts the competition in Conway, South Carolina in 2019, the tournament will move to a neutral site, Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, AL, from 2020 to 2024.
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are the athletic teams that represent Coastal Carolina University. They participate in Division I of the NCAA as a member of the Sun Belt Conference in most sports, having joined that conference as a full but non-football member on July 1, 2016. At that time, the football team began a transition from the second-level Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the top-level Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The team played the 2016 season as an FCS independent, joined Sun Belt football for the 2017 season, and became full FBS members for 2018 and beyond. A Chanticleer is a proud and fierce rooster. Prior to joining the Sun Belt, the Chanticleers had been members of the Big South Conference since that league's formation in 1983. Coastal fields varsity teams in 20 sports, 9 for men and 11 for women. The university regularly competed for the Sasser Cup, the Big South's trophy for the university with the best sports program among the member institutions, winning the trophy nine times, tied with rival Liberty University.
The Georgia State Panthers men's basketball team represents Georgia State University and competes in the Sun Belt Conference of NCAA Division I. The Panthers play at the Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
The FIU Panthers are the athletic teams representing Florida International University, an American public university located in Westchester, Florida. The Panthers currently compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletics as members of Conference USA, other than the men's soccer team which competes in the American Athletic Conference. Until 2011, they were known as the FIU Golden Panthers.
The 2011 NCAA Division I baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began on February 18, 2011. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2011 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament and 2011 College World Series. The College World Series consisted of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament. Although it was held in its annual location of Omaha, Nebraska, it was played at the newly constructed TD Ameritrade Park for the first time. It concluded on June 29, 2011, with the final game of the best of three championship series. South Carolina defeated Florida two games to none to claim their second championship.
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers men's soccer team represents Coastal Carolina University in all NCAA Division I men's college soccer competitions. The team competes in the Sun Belt Conference, following previous tenures in Conference USA and Big South Conference, respectively Coastal's current and prior full-time conference homes. During their Big South tenure, the Chanticleers were one of that league's more successful teams, both within the conference and in the NCAA Tournament. In 2003, the Chanticleers became the first Big South team to reach the final sixteen in the tournament.
The 2012 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held in Hot Springs, Arkansas from March 3 to March 6 at the Summit Arena and the Convention Center Court. Eleven Sun Belt teams participated in the tournament with seedings based on their conference record. Louisiana-Monroe did not compete in the 2012 Sun Belt Tournament due to failing to meet the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate requirements. This was Denver's final year in the Sun Belt due to the move to the Western Athletic Conference for the 2012–13 basketball season. The tournament winner received an automatic bid into the 2012 NCAA tournament.
The 2012 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament was held at Bowling Green Ballpark in Bowling Green, KY from May 23 to May 27, 2012. The tournament continued the round robin format from the previous season. Fifth seeded Louisiana–Monroe won their first tournament championship and earned the Sun Belt Conference's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.
The 2012–13 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team represented Middle Tennessee State University during the 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Blue Raiders, led by 11th year head coach Kermit Davis, played their home games at the Murphy Center and were members of the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference. They finished the season 28–6, 19–1 in Sun Belt play to become Sun Belt regular season champions. They advanced to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament where they lost to FIU. They received an at-large bid to the 2013 NCAA tournament, their first tournament bid since 1989, where they lost in the First Four round to Saint Mary's.
Ty Lee Harrington is a former American baseball player and coach. He served as the head baseball coach at Texas State University from 2000 through the 2019 season. Under Harrington, the Texas State Bobcats to three NCAA Tournament appearances, two Southland Conference Baseball Tournament championships, and three Southland Conference baseball regular season championships. Harrington is the most victorious coach in program history.
The 2014 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held in New Orleans, LA from March 13 to March 16 at the Lakefront Arena. The tournament winner received an automatic bid into the 2014 NCAA tournament. The semifinal games were televised on the Sun Belt Network, with the championship game on ESPN, on Sunday March 16.
The Troy Trojans women's basketball program is the intercollegiate women's basketball of Troy University. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I and the team competes in the Sun Belt Conference.
References
- ↑ "2012-13 Sun Belt Media Guide". xosdigital. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
- ↑ "2013 Sun Belt Conference tournament Bracket" (PDF). Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved 10 March 2013.