The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Established in 1921, the Southern Conference ranks as the fifth-oldest major college athletic conference in the United States, and either the third or fourth oldest in continuous operation, depending on definitions.
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 Jacksonville. On May 8, 2024, the conference announced it would move its headquarters from Atlanta, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida in the fall of 2024.
Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Located in the city's Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College until September 5, 1956, when it shifted focus to building four-year university degree programs and later graduated its first four-year degree candidates as Jacksonville University in June 1959. It is a member of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). JU's student body currently represents more than 40 U.S. states and approximately 45 countries around the world. As a Division I institution, it fields 18 varsity athletics teams, known as the JU Dolphins, as well as intramural sports and clubs. Among the top majors declared by JU students are aviation management, biology, nursing, business, and marine science.
The ECAC Lacrosse League was an American NCAA Division I college athletic conference and part of the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Founded in 1999 with play beginning in 2000, this part of the conference only sponsored men's lacrosse. It disbanded at the end of the 2014 season as an indirect result of the early-2010s NCAA conference realignment.
College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse in Canada is sponsored by the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) and Maritime University Field Lacrosse League (MUFLL), while in the United States, varsity men's and women's lacrosse is governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). There are also university lacrosse programs in the United Kingdom sponsored by British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) and programs in Japan.
The Jacksonville Dolphins are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Jacksonville University, located in Jacksonville, Florida. The Dolphins participate in NCAA Division I athletics, and are primarily members of the ASUN Conference. Some teams in sports that are not sponsored by the ASUN play in other conferences; specifically, the men's and women's rowing teams are in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The men's lacrosse team had played in the Southern Conference (SoCon) from 2015 to 2022, but that sport will return to the ASUN for the 2023 season.
The VMI Keydets are the athletic teams that represent the Virginia Military Institute. All sports participate in the NCAA Division I, and all but three compete in the Southern Conference (the exceptions being men's and women's swimming and diving in the America East Conference, and women's water polo in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. VMI fields teams in sixteen different sports, ten for men and six for women.
The Bellarmine Knights are the teams representing Bellarmine University, located in Louisville, Kentucky, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) for most sports, as of the 2020–21 academic year. The Knights previously competed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) of the NCAA Division II ranks from 1978–79 to 2019–20.
The Austin Peay Governors are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Austin Peay State University, located in Clarksville, Tennessee, United States. The Governors athletic program is a member of the NCAA Division I Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) for all sports except football, in which it competes in the United Athletic Conference (UAC). The latter conference started play in the 2023 season as a football-only merger between two conferences in the second tier of Division I football, the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)—the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference. Before the 2022–23 school year, the Governors were members of another FCS league, the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
The Jacksonville University Men's Soccer Team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the ASUN Conference, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. Jacksonville's first men's soccer team was fielded in 1957. The team plays its home games at Southern Oak Stadium. The Dolphins are coached by Ali Simmons, who enters his first season in 2023.
The Mercer Bears men's lacrosse team is a college lacrosse team that represents Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, United States. As of the next NCAA lacrosse season of 2023, the Bears compete in the ASUN Conference. Mercer had competed in its full-time home of the Southern Conference (SoCon) through the 2022 season, but the SoCon shuttered its men's lacrosse league after that season. Chad Surman was the head coach of the Bears lacrosse program, after having been named the interim head coach on August 6, 2020 and subsequently having the interim tag removed on October 27, 2020. Ryan Danehy was hired on August 5, 2022.
The High Point Panthers Men's Lacrosse team is a college lacrosse team that represents High Point University in High Point, North Carolina, United States. The school's teams are typically members of the Big South Conference, but due to the Big South not sponsoring lacrosse, the HPU men's lacrosse team has had to play as associate members of other conferences. It had played in the Atlantic Sun Conference, now known as the ASUN Conference, in the 2014 season, moving to the Southern Conference (SoCon) after that season when the SoCon took over operation of the ASUN men's lacrosse league. The Panthers remained in SoCon men's lacrosse through the 2022 season, after which they moved men's lacrosse to the newly established league of the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10).
The Richmond Spiders men's lacrosse team represents the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. Through the 2022 season, it competed in the NCAA Division I Southern Conference. After that season, the Spiders' full-time home of the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) established a men's lacrosse league, with Richmond as one of the six inaugural members. The Spiders play their home games at Robins Stadium and are currently coached by Dan Chemotti.
The Robert Morris Colonials men's lacrosse team represents Robert Morris University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's lacrosse. The Colonials became a varsity program in 2005.
The Bellarmine Knights Men's Lacrosse team is a college lacrosse team that represents Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The school has been an all-sports member of the ASUN Conference since 2020, but men's lacrosse spent the 2021 season as an associate member of the Southern Conference (SoCon), in which it had competed since the 2015 season. With the reinstatement of ASUN men's lacrosse competition for the 2022 season, Bellarmine moved that sport to its full-time conference home.
The Detroit Mercy Titans Men's Lacrosse team is a college lacrosse team that represents the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The school's teams are typically members of the Horizon League, but the men's lacrosse team is an associate member of the Northeast Conference (NEC). The Titans joined that league after the 2024 season, following three seasons in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN). Before that, the Titans has been men's lacrosse members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The 2022 NCAA Division I baseball season was a college baseball season in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level. It began on February 18, 2022, with play progressing through the regular season, various conference tournaments and championship series, and concluding with the 2022 NCAA Division I baseball tournament and 2022 Men's College World Series. The Men's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA tournament and held annually in Omaha, Nebraska, at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, ended on June 26, 2022.
Beginning in the 2021–22 academic year, extensive changes occurred in NCAA conference membership, primarily at the Division I level.
The 2023 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 2023. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2023 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 2023 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA tournament and held annually in Oklahoma City at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, ended in June 2023.
