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The Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference (TCAC) was a former college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA); which was predominantly for smaller, private colleges in Western and Middle Tennessee.
The TCAC was created in 1985 from the western division of the old Volunteer State Athletic Conference. The charter members were Belmont University, Bethel College, Christian Brothers University, Cumberland University, David Lipscomb University, Freed–Hardeman University, Lambuth University, Martin Methodist College, Trevecca Nazarene University, and Union University. The TCAC survived in that form until 1995 when both Belmont and Christian Brothers announced their intentions to go to the NCAA. The remaining teams formed a new conference, the TranSouth Athletic Conference which existed until the 2012-2013 school year.
Full member (non-football)
The TCAC sponsored 9 sports for men and women including baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, softball, and volleyball. Bethel and Cumberland play football in the Mid-South Conference. Defunct Lambuth also played football.
The Gulf South Conference (GSC) 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 Mid-South Conference (MSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member institutions are located in Kentucky and Tennessee. The league is headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the commissioner is Eric Leach.
Freed–Hardeman University is a private university associated with the Churches of Christ and located in Henderson, Tennessee. It is primarily undergraduate and residential. The university also serves some commuting, part-time and adult students on-campus and through distance-learning programs.
NAIA independent schools are four-year institutional members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) that do not have formal conference affiliations. NAIA schools that are not members of any other athletic conference are members of the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC), formerly the Association of Independent Institutions (AII), which provides member services to the institution and allows members to compete in postseason competition. The CAC has one member institution in Canada's British Columbia. It provides services to the member institutions that are not fitting in any other NAIA conference and allows members to compete in postseason competition. The AII renamed itself the Continental Athletic Conference at the end of June 2021, citing the need to identify as a proper conference.
Bethel University is a private Cumberland Presbyterian-affiliated university in McKenzie, Tennessee with satellite campuses in Jackson, and Paris. It is accredited to award degrees up to the master's level.
Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was founded in 1842. The oldest campus buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896.
Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU) is a private Nazarene liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1901.
Lambuth University was a private Methodist university in Jackson, Tennessee. It was active from 1843 to 2011 and was supported by the Memphis Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. The university began as the Memphis Conference Female Institute in 1843 and was later renamed in honor of Walter Russell Lambuth (1854–1921), a Methodist missionary who traveled globally.
The University of Tennessee Southern is a public college in Pulaski, Tennessee. Founded in 1870, for over 150 years it was a private institution until joining the University of Tennessee system in 2021. For many years it was a junior college but is now a baccalaureate institution providing more than thirty academic majors. The college also has an MBA program.
The Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC) was a college athletic conference which was predominantly for smaller colleges in the U.S. state of Tennessee.
The TranSouth Athletic Conference (TSAC) was a college athletic conference for smaller colleges and universities located in the Southern United States. It was affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and competes in that organization's Region XI.
The Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Members of the conference are located in the Southeastern United States in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.
The Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The 13 member universities that compete in 19 sports are located in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Basketball teams compete as a single division in the NAIA.
The Lipscomb Bisons are the athletic teams that represent Lipscomb University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the ASUN Conference since the 2003–04 academic year. The Bisons previously competed in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) conferences: the Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC) until the 1984–85 school year, the Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference (TCAC) from 1985–86 to 1995–96, and the TranSouth Athletic Conference from 1996–97 to 2000–01. Their mascot is LU the Bison.
The Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It was named the 24th NCAA Division II conference and operates in the Great Lakes and East South Central States regions of the United States. The G-MAC began conference play in the 2012–13 academic year hosting 12 championships and continued to work through the educational assessment program. The conference received approval and became an active Division II conference in 2013–14, hosting 17 championships.
The Trevecca Trojans are the athletic teams that represent Trevecca Nazarene University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, in intercollegiate sports at the NCAA Division II ranks. The Trojans have primarily competed in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) since the 2012–13 academic year.
The Battle of the Boulevard, also referred to as the Belmont–Lipscomb basketball rivalry is a college basketball rivalry between the Belmont University Bruins and the Lipscomb University Bisons. Its nickname was established because of both school's close placement in Nashville, Tennessee– about three miles apart on the same road. The rivalry was classified as non-conference following Belmont's departure from the Atlantic Sun Conference prior to the 2012–13 NCAA Division I basketball season. Their first meeting took place on December 11, 1953. It is one of the geographically closest rivalries in NCAA Division I.
The Mississippi Valley Conference was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1928 to 1934. The league had members in the states of Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.
Jeffery Forehand is an American college baseball coach and former second baseman. Forehand is the head coach of the Lipscomb Bisons baseball team.