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Association | NAIA |
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Founded | 2000 |
Commissioner | Bill Popp [1] |
Sports fielded |
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No. of teams | 15 |
Headquarters | Asheville, North Carolina |
Region | Southeastern United States |
Official website | aacsports.com |
Locations | |
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The Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). [2] Members of the conference are located in the Southeastern United States in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. [2]
The conference is the successor to the Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC), which began in the 1940s; [2] and later the Tennessee-Virginia Athletic Conference (TVAC) that operated during the 1980s and 1990s. [2] The Appalachian Athletic Conference was formed in 2000 with the additions of members from Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. [2]
Bluefield College was a member of the AAC from 2000 until 2012 when it left to join the Mid-South Conference. On March 3, 2014, Bluefield announced that it would return to the AAC in fall 2014. [3]
In 2019 the conference added Kentucky Christian University as a full member and Savannah College of Art and Design as an associate member in men's and women's lacrosse. [4]
The AAC currently has 15 full members, all private schools.
The AAC currently has 15 affiliate members. Thirteen are fully private, one is public, and one operates public and private schools within a single entity.
The AAC had eight former full members, all but one were private schools:
The AAC had two former affiliate members, both were private schools.
Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined [a] | Left [b] | AAC sport(s) | Primary conference |
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Asbury University | Wilmore, Kentucky | 1890 | Christian | 1,942 | Eagles | 2015 | 2019 | Men's lacrosse | C.C. of the South (CCS) |
2021 | Women's lacrosse | ||||||||
2016 | Men's swimming & diving | ||||||||
Women's swimming & diving | |||||||||
University of the Cumberlands [c] | Williamsburg, Kentucky | 1887 | Nondenominational | 20,327 | Patriots | 2015 | 2018 | Women's lacrosse | Mid-South (MSC) |
Full member (non-football) Associate member (sport)
The Appalachian Athletic Conference currently fields 24 sports (13 men's and 11 women's):
Sport | Men's | Women's |
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Baseball | ![]() | |
Basketball | ![]() | ![]() |
Cross country | ![]() | ![]() |
Football | ![]() | |
Golf | ![]() | ![]() |
Lacrosse | ![]() | ![]() |
Soccer | ![]() | ![]() |
Softball | ![]() | |
Swimming | ![]() | ![]() |
Tennis | ![]() | ![]() |
Track & field outdoor | ![]() | ![]() |
Track & field indoor | ![]() | ![]() |
Volleyball | ![]() | ![]() |
Wrestling | ![]() |