Association | NCAA |
---|---|
Founded | 1975 |
Commissioner | Ed Pasque (since 2014) |
Sports fielded |
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Division | Division II |
No. of teams | 11 |
Headquarters | Melbourne, Florida |
Region | Florida |
Official website | sunshinestateconference |
Locations | |
The Sunshine State Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. All of its member institutions are located in the state of Florida, which is popularly known as the Sunshine State.
The conference was originally formed in 1975 as a men's basketball conference. It has since expanded to sponsor championships in 18 sports, including men's and women's basketball, baseball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, women's rowing, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, women's volleyball.
SSC institutions have won a total of 111 NCAA national team championships, including a conference record seven in the 2014–15 and 2018–19 academic years. [1] The conference has also claimed a total of 90 national runner-up trophies. [2]
The conference was preceded by the Florida Intercollegiate Conference,[ citation needed ] which was disbanded in the mid-1960s. The Sunshine State Conference was founded in 1975 by Saint Leo University (then Saint Leo College) basketball coach & athletic director Norm Kaye. Kaye served as Commissioner the first year until Dick Pace was named Commissioner in 1976. Kaye continued as Executive Director of the Conference for an additional 12 years. Pace was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.
The six charter Conference members were: Biscayne College (now St. Thomas University), Florida Technological University (now University of Central Florida), Eckerd College, Florida Southern College, Rollins College, and Saint Leo College.
The Conference has seen dozens of athletes go on to have successful professional careers. Some examples include: Current PGA Tour players Lee Janzen and Rocco Mediate went to Florida Southern. Janzen won golf's U.S. Open in 1993 & 1998; on the baseball side are Tino Martinez (Tampa), Tim Wakefield (Florida Tech), Ryan Hanigan (Rollins), Bob Tewksbury (Saint Leo), and J. D. Martinez (Nova Southeastern). Wakefield tied a career high of 17 wins pitching for the 2007 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox and Tewksbury was third in balloting for the National League Cy Young Award while going 16–5 for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1992.
The SSC currently has 11 full members, all are private schools:
Institution | Location [lower-alpha 1] | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined | Colors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barry University | Miami Shores | 1940 | Catholic | 6,958 | Buccaneers | 1988 | |
Eckerd College | St. Petersburg | 1958 | Presbyterian | 1,993 | Tritons | 1975 | |
Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University | Daytona Beach | 1926 | Nonsectarian | 8,370 | Eagles | 2015 [lower-alpha 2] | |
Florida Southern College | Lakeland | 1883 | United Methodist | 3,283 | Moccasins | 1975 | |
Florida Institute of Technology | Melbourne | 1958 | Nonsectarian | 8,358 | Panthers | 1981 | |
Lynn University | Boca Raton | 1962 | Nonsectarian | 3,520 | Fighting Knights | 1997 [lower-alpha 3] | |
Nova Southeastern University | Davie | 1964 | Nonsectarian | 20,948 | Sharks | 2002 [lower-alpha 4] | |
Palm Beach Atlantic University | West Palm Beach | 1968 | Christian | 3,829 | Sailfish | 2015 [lower-alpha 5] | |
Rollins College | Winter Park | 1885 | Nonsectarian | 2,709 | Tars | 1975 | |
Saint Leo University | St. Leo | 1889 | Catholic | 2,788 | Lions | 1975 | |
University of Tampa | Tampa | 1931 | Nonsectarian | 10,566 | Spartans | 1981 |
The SSC had three former full members, all but one were public schools:
Institution | Location [lower-alpha 1] | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined | Left | Current conference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
University of Central Florida | Orlando | 1963 | Public | 68,571 | Knights | 1975 | 1984 | Big 12 [lower-alpha 2] |
University of North Florida | Jacksonville | 1969 | Public | 16,309 | Ospreys | 1992 [lower-alpha 3] | 1997 | ASUN [lower-alpha 2] |
St. Thomas University | Miami Gardens | 1961 | Catholic | 1,750 | Bobcats | 1975 | 1987 | The Sun [lower-alpha 4] |
Full member (all sports) Full member (non-football) Associate member (sport)
Institution | Arena | Capacity |
---|---|---|
Barry | Health and Sports Center | 1,938 |
Embry–Riddle | ICI Center | 1,968 |
Eckerd | McArthur Center | 1,000 |
Florida Southern | Jenkins Field House | 2,500 |
Florida Tech | Clemente Center | 1,500 |
Lynn | de Hoernle Center | 1,000 |
Nova Southeastern | Rick Case Arena at the Don Taft University Center | 5,500 |
Palm Beach Atlantic | Rubin Arena | 2,000 |
Rollins | Warden Arena | 2,500 |
Saint Leo | Marion Bowman Activities Center | 2,000 |
Tampa | Bob Martinez Sports Center | 3,432 |
Sunshine State Conference schools have won 118 NCAA Division II National Championships.
Year | Titles | Team |
---|---|---|
1965-66 | 1 | Rollins tennis (M) |
1966-67 | ||
1967-68 | ||
1968-69 | ||
1969-70 | 1 | Rollins golf (M) |
1970-71 | 1 | Florida Southern Baseball |
1971–72 | 1 | Florida Southern Baseball • Rollins tennis (M) |
1972-73 | ||
1973-74 | ||
1974-75 | 1 | Florida Southern Baseball |
1975-76 | ||
1976-77 | ||
1977–78 | 1 | Florida Southern Baseball |
1978-79 | ||
1979-80 | ||
1980-81 | 4 | Florida Southern Baseball • Florida southern Basketball (M) • Florida Southern golf (M) • Tampa Soccer (M) |
1981-82 | 1 | Florida Southern golf (M) |
1982–83 | ||
1983-84 | ||
1984-85 | 2 | Florida Southern Baseball• Florida Southern golf (M) |
1985-86 | 1 | Florida Southern golf (M) |
1986-87 | 1 | Tampa golf (M) |
1987–88 | 3 | Florida Southern Baseball • Tampa golf (M) • Florida Tech soccer (M) |
1988–89 | ||
1989-90 | 2 | Florida Southern golf (M) • Barry soccer (W) |
1990-91 | 3 | Florida Southern golf (M) • Rollins tennis (M) • Florida Tech soccer (M) |
1991-92 | 1 | Tampa Baseball |
1992-93 | 3 | Tampa Baseball • Barry soccer (W) • Florida Southern softball |
1993–94 | 1 | Barry soccer (W) • Tampa soccer (M) |
1994-95 | 2 | Florida Southern Baseball • Florida Southern golf (M) |
1995-96 | 2 | Florida Southern golf (M) • Barry Volleyball (W) |
1996-97 | 1 | Lynn tennis (W) |
1997-98 | 4 | Tampa Baseball • Florida Southern golf (M) • Lynn soccer (W) • Lynn tennis (W) |
1998–99 | 1 | Florida Southern golf (M) |
1999-2000 | 2 | Florida Southern golf (M)• Florida Southern golf (W) |
2000–01 | 3 | Florida Southern golf (W) • Rollins tennis (M) • Lynn tennis (W) |
2001–02 | 3 | Rollins golf (M)• Florida Southern golf (W) • Barry Volleyball (W) |
2002–03 | 1 | Rollins golf (W) |
2003–04 | 1 | Rollins golf (W) |
2004–05 | 3 | Florida Southern Baseball• Rollins golf (W) • Barry volleyball (W) |
2005–06 | 2 | Tampa Baseball, Rollins golf (W) |
2006–07 | 6 | Tampa Baseball • Barry golf (M) • Florida Southern golf (W) • Tampa soccer (W) • Lynn tennis (M) • Tampa volleyball (W) |
2007–08 | 1 | Rollins golf (W) |
2008–09 | 2 | Lynn baseball • Nova Southeastern golf (W) |
2009–10 | 3 | Florida Southern golf (M) • Nova Southeastern golf (W) • Barry tennis (M) |
2010–11 | 2 | Nova Southeastern golf (W) • Barry tennis (W) |
2011–12 | 2 | Nova Southeastern golf (M) • Nova Southeastern golf (W) |
2012–13 | 6 | Tampa baseball • Barry golf (M) • Lynn golf (W) • Nova Southeastern rowing • Lynn soccer (M) • Barry tennis (M) |
2013–14 | 3 | Barry golf (M) • Lynn golf (W) • Barry tennis (W) |
2014–15 | 7 | Tampa baseball • Florida Southern basketball (M) • Nova Southeastern golf (M) • Barry rowing • Lynn soccer (M) • Barry tennis (M) • Tampa volleyball |
2015–16 | 5 | Nova Southeastern baseball • Saint Leo golf (M) • Rollins golf (W) • Florida Southern lacrosse (W) • Barry rowing |
2016–17 | 3 | Barry tennis (W) [5] • Barry golf (W) • Florida Southern golf (M) |
2017–18 | 2 | Barry tennis (W) [6] • Lynn golf (M) [7] |
2018–19 | 7 | Barry soccer (M) [8] • Tampa volleyball [9] • Florida Tech golf (W) [10] • Lynn golf (M) [11] • Barry tennis (M) [12] • Barry tennis (W) [13] • Tampa baseball [14] |
2019–20 | ||
2020–21 | 2 | Barry tennis (M) • Barry tennis (W) |
2021–22 | 4 | Tampa lacrosse (M) • Barry tennis (M) • Barry tennis (W) • Tampa Volleyball (W) |
2022–23 | 4 | Nova Southeastern basketball (M) • Nova Southeastern golf (M) • Nova Southeastern swimming (W) • Barry tennis (M) • Barry tennis (W) |
2023–24 | ||
School | NCAA Titles | Most Recent |
---|---|---|
Florida Southern | 30 | 2017 — men's golf |
Barry | 28 | 2023 — men's and women's tennis |
Tampa | 18 | 2021 — volleyball |
Lynn | 14* | 2019 — men's golf |
Nova Southeastern | 13 | 2024 — women's swimming & diving, women's tennis |
Rollins | 12 | 2016 — women's golf |
Florida Tech | 3 | 2019 — women's golf |
Saint Leo | 1 | 2016 — men's golf |
North Florida | 1 | 1994 — women's tennis |
On July 17, 2007, NCAA vacated Lynn's 2005 Women's Division II Softball Championship due to extra benefits given to two players. The NCAA found that former coach Thomas Macera gave two Lynn softball players cash payments totaling more than $3,000. Lynn was also placed on probation for two years. [15] As of 2019-20 Lynn University has won 15 national championships at the Division II level, but now the NCAA recognizes only 14 of them because of the unsanctioned actions.
The Mayors' Cup was originally presented following the 1986–1987 academic year to recognize the annual SSC all-sports champion. The men's division recognizes competition in eight sports: soccer, cross country, basketball, swimming, golf, tennis, lacrosse and baseball. The Women's Mayors' Cup recognizes competition in nine sports: volleyball, soccer, cross country, basketball, swimming, golf, tennis, softball and rowing. [16]
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|
|
Sport | Men's | Women's |
---|---|---|
Baseball | ||
Basketball | ||
Beach volleyball | ||
Cross country | ||
Golf | ||
Lacrosse | ||
Rowing | ||
Soccer | ||
Softball | ||
Swimming & Diving | ||
Tennis | ||
Track & field outdoor | ||
Volleyball |
SSC is adding Beach Volleyball, Men's Outdoor Track, and Women's Outdoor Track championships in 2024–25.
School | Baseball | Basketball | Cross country | Golf | Lacrosse | Soccer | Swimming & diving | Tennis | Track & field outdoor | Total SSC sports |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barry | 8 | |||||||||
Eckerd | 5 | |||||||||
Embry–Riddle | 8 | |||||||||
Florida Southern | 9 | |||||||||
Florida Tech | 5 | |||||||||
Lynn | 9 | |||||||||
Nova Southeastern | 7 | |||||||||
Palm Beach Atlantic | 8 | |||||||||
Rollins | 7 | |||||||||
Saint Leo | 7 | |||||||||
Tampa | 8 | |||||||||
Totals | 11 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 84 |
School | Basketball | Beach volleyball | Cross country | Golf | Lacrosse | Rowing | Soccer | Softball | Swimming & diving | Tennis | Track & field outdoor | Volleyball | Total SSC sports |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barry | 11 | ||||||||||||
Eckerd | 7 | ||||||||||||
Embry–Riddle | 10 | ||||||||||||
Florida Southern | 11 | ||||||||||||
Florida Tech | 6 | ||||||||||||
Lynn | 10 | ||||||||||||
Nova Southeastern | 9 | ||||||||||||
Palm Beach Atlantic | 10 | ||||||||||||
Rollins | 9 | ||||||||||||
Saint Leo | 9 | ||||||||||||
Tampa | 12 | ||||||||||||
Totals | 11 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 107 |
School | Men | Women | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Track & field indoor | Volleyball [lower-alpha 1] | Track & field indoor | |||
Barry | [lower-alpha 2] | ||||
Embry–Riddle | PBC | PBC | |||
Florida Southern | IND | IND |
Florida Tech= Football, Men's Cross Country, Men's Golf, Women's Cross Country, Women's Golf, Women's Rowing
Rollins= Football, Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
St. Leo= Men's Swimming, Men's Track, Women's Swimming, Women's Track
Tampa= Football, Men's Tennis, Men's Wrestling
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