The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas.
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.
Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was founded as a teachers' college in 1923 and subsequently renamed after one of Texas's founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of Thomas Jefferson Rusk. On May 11, 2023, the university joined the University of Texas System; it was previously one of two public universities in the state not affiliated with one of Texas's seven university systems.
The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, 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 then rebranded as the ASUN Conference in 2016. The conference headquarters are located in Atlanta.
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) sponsored football and crowned a champion every year from 1962 to 2012. Once considered one of the best conferences in college football, steady attrition from 1999 to 2012 forced the WAC to drop football after fifty-one years.
The Sam Houston Bearkats are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Sam Houston State University, located in Huntsville, Texas. Sam Houston's colors are orange and white. Sam Houston sports teams participate in NCAA Division I in Conference USA (CUSA), having joined that conference on July 1, 2023 after spending 34 years in the Southland Conference and two years in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). SHSU's primary rival is Stephen F. Austin (SFA) and tensions between the two schools can run high before major sporting events that pit one against the other.
The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) located in the U.S. state of Texas. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as members of the United Athletic Conference. The UAC, newly formed for the 2023 season, is a merger of the football leagues of SFA's primary home of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and the ASUN Conference. It replaces an alliance between the two conferences that operated in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Abilene Christian Wildcats refers to the sports teams of Abilene Christian University located in Abilene, Texas. The Wildcats joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) on July 1, 2021 after having spent the previous eight years in the Southland Conference. The nickname "Wildcat" is derived from the mascot of the team.
The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States.
The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball team is the women's basketball team that represents Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Nacogdoches, Texas. SFA joined the Western Athletic Conference on July 1, 2021 after playing the previous 34 seasons in the Southland Conference.
The Tarleton State Texans, also known as the Tarleton Texans, are the athletic teams that represent Tarleton State University of Stephenville, Texas in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. Before Tarleton became a four-year institution in 1961, they were known as the "Plowboys". The Texans compete as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for 12 of their 14 varsity sports. During the school's four-year transition to full D-I membership, set to end in July 2024, Tarleton has planned to add several sports, with women's soccer the first to be confirmed, eventually launching in 2022. Tarleton next added beach volleyball, a women-only sport at the NCAA level, in the 2024 season, competing as a single-sport member of Conference USA.
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 compete in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Southland Bowling League (SBL) was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) bowling-only conference. The SBL was founded in 2015 for schools that sponsor women's bowling teams, but did not have bowling sponsored by their primary conferences. The SBL champion received an automatic bid to the NCAA Bowling Championship since the NCAA first awarded such bids in 2018. While the conference operated independently, administrative services were provided by the Southland Conference. The SBL merged into Conference USA (C-USA) after the 2022–23 season, with C-USA inheriting the SBL's automatic championship berth.
The 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level.
The 2021–22 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks, led by sixth-year head coach Kyle Keller, played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas. This season was the Lumberjacks' first as members of the Western Athletic Conference; SFA was one of four schools, all from Texas, that left the Southland Conference in July 2021 joining the WAC.
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.
The 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, is organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The regular season began on August 27 and ended on November 19. The postseason began on November 26, and, aside from any all-star games that are scheduled, ended on January 8, 2023, with the 2023 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Beginning in the 2021–22 academic year, extensive changes occurred in NCAA conference membership, primarily at the Division I level.
The United Athletic Conference(UAC) is an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conference. The conference will be a merger of the existing football leagues of the ASUN Conference and Western Athletic Conference. The UAC will cover the southwestern, western, and southern United States with member institutions located in Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
