The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the southeastern United States. The SAC was founded in 1975 as a football-only conference and became an all-sports conference beginning with the 1989–90 season.
Mars Hill University is a private Christian university in Mars Hill, North Carolina. The university offers 35 undergraduate majors and includes a school of nursing and graduate schools in education, criminal justice, and management. From 1859 to 2013 the school was called Mars Hill College; in August 2013 it officially changed its name to Mars Hill University.
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.
Conference Carolinas, formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) or the Carolinas Conference, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) primarily at the Division II level. It is also considered as one of the seven Division I conferences for men's volleyball. Originally formed in 1930, the league reached its modern incarnation in 1994. Member institutions are located in the southeastern United States in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The Conference Carolinas membership currently consists of 14 small colleges or universities, 12 private and two public.
The North Alabama Lions football program represents the University of North Alabama (UNA) in college football as the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member of the United Athletic Conference (UAC). The conference, which plays its first season in 2023, is a merger of the football leagues of UNA's primary home of the ASUN Conference and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). UNA had played the 2022 season in the ASUN, and before that had played football in the Big South Conference for three seasons. UNA plays its home games at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama. The team's head coach is Brent Dearmon. UNA was an NCAA Division II from member from 1972 to 2017.
The Valdosta State football team represents Valdosta State University in football. The Blazers are a member of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) in NCAA Division II. Valdosta State University has had a football team since 1981. The Blazers play in Bazemore–Hyder Stadium in Valdosta, Georgia, which has a capacity of 11,249. The stadium is also the home of the historical Valdosta High School Wildcats. The Blazers have won a total of four Division II National Championship titles.
The Lindenwood Lions and Lady Lions are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Lindenwood University, located in St. Charles, Missouri, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the Ohio Valley Conference for most of its sports since the 2022–23 academic year.
The North Alabama Lions are the athletic teams of the University of North Alabama, located in Florence, Alabama. The Lions are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and compete within the ASUN Conference for all sports except football, in which they play in the United Athletic Conference. The university has a total of 14 varsity sports teams, six men's teams and eight women's teams. The fall of 2018 marked the Lions first year of their transition into Division I. They have a storied tradition in Division II and have earned numerous national titles competing in NCAA Division II's Gulf South Conference.
The West Alabama Tigers football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of West Alabama located in the U.S. state of Alabama. The team competes in the NCAA Division II and is a member of the Gulf South Conference. West Alabama's first football team was fielded in 1938. The team plays its home games at the 7,000 seat Tiger Stadium in Livingston, Alabama. The Tigers are coached by Brett Gilliland.
The East Stroudsburg Warriors are the athletic teams that represent East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, located in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports.
The Carson–Newman Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Carson–Newman University, located in Jefferson City, Tennessee, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Eagles compete as members of the South Atlantic Conference for all 21 varsity sports.
Will Hall is an American football coach and former player. He is the head coach of The University of Southern Mississippi. Hall served as the head football coach at the University of West Alabama from 2011 to 2013 and at the University of West Georgia 2014 to 2016. He also served as offensive coordinator for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2017. He grew up in Mississippi and attended the University of North Alabama where he played quarterback from 2002 to 2003. He won the Harlon Hill Trophy in 2003. He began his coaching career in 2004 and held assistant coaching positions at Presbyterian, Henderson State, Southwest Baptist, Arkansas-Monticello and West Alabama.
Jonas Randolph is a former American football player who won the Harlon Hill Trophy in December 2011.
The Limestone Saints are the athletic teams that represent Limestone University, located in Gaffney, South Carolina, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions. The Saints compete as members of the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) for most sports, having joined that league in July 2020 after 22 years in Conference Carolinas (CC). Limestone maintains CC membership in two sports, specifically men's wrestling and women's acrobatics & tumbling. Men's wrestling is one of two sports in which the SAC and CC operate as a single league, the other being women's field hockey. The SAC operates the field hockey championship, while CC operates the wrestling championship. The men's volleyball team competes as an independent. The swim team competed in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference before being dropped in 2018; the field hockey and wrestling teams were members of the ECAC–Division II before 2018, when the SAC and CC established their alliance in those two sports. The football team had been independent, but entered into a scheduling agreement with the SAC in 2015. This agreement was replaced in 2017 by formal affiliate membership, which continued until the Saints joined the SAC full-time in 2020.
The Queens Royals are the athletic teams that represent Queens University of Charlotte, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, 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 2011 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on September 1, 2011, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 17, 2011 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Pittsburg State Gorillas defeated the Wayne State Warriors, 35–21, to win their second Division II national title.
The 2012 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on September 1, 2012, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 15, 2012 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Valdosta State Blazers defeated the Winston-Salem State Rams, 35–7, to win their third Division II national title.
Colby Don Carthel is an American football coach who is the head coach at Stephen F. Austin State University, a position he has held since December 2018. Colby's first head coaching stint was at Texas A&M University-Commerce, where he won the Division II National Championship in 2017. Previous to his time as head coach, he was the defensive coordinator for his father and former West Texas A&M University head coach, Don Carthel, from 2006 to 2012. He played college football at Angelo State University, where he was an all-conference linebacker.
Luis Francisco Perez is an American football quarterback for the Arlington Renegades of the XFL. He played college football at Texas A&M University–Commerce from 2015 to 2017. Prior to that, he played junior college football at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California. He was awarded the Harlon Hill Trophy in 2017 as the best football player in NCAA Division II and led the Lions to their second national championship in football during the 2017 season, their first since 1972.
The 2022–23 Queens Royals men's basketball team represented the Queens University of Charlotte in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lions, led by first-year head coach Grant Leonard, played their home games at Curry Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, as first-year members of the ASUN Conference. They finished the season 18–15, 7–11 in ASUN play to finish in a tie for ninth place. As the No. 9 seed in the ASUN tournament, they defeated Florida Gulf Coast before losing to Kennesaw State in the quarterfinals.
