The Gulf Coast Conference (GCC) was a short-lived

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

college athletic conference In college athletics in the United States, institutions typically join in conferences for regular play under different governing bodies. Varsity sports There are several national and regional associations governing the varsity teams of colleges ...

composed of universities in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

from 1949 until 1957. The charter members of the conference were

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, Midwestern University (now

Midwestern State University Midwestern State University (MSU Texas) is a public liberal arts university in Wichita Falls, Texas. In 2020 it had 5,141 undergraduate students. It is the state's only public institution focused on the liberal arts. History Founded in 1922 as ...

), North Texas State College (now the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

), and Trinity University. The Gulf Coast Conference spawned from then members of the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in Tex ...

, and its president was D.L. Ligon. In 1956, when the NCAA created divisions, all members of the conference at the time were classified as part of the NCAA's College Division, which was later subdivided into Division II and

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

in 1973. Charter member Houston had already left for the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

by the end of 1950, and was classified as a University Division school, which later became known as Division I.

Members

* Abilene Christian 1954–1957 (1954 basketball only) * Hardin-Simmons 1956–1957 (basketball only) *

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

1949–1950 * Midwestern State 1949–1957 *

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wor ...

1949–1957 *

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

1949–1957

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:520 height:auto barincrement:30 Period = from:1949 till:1957 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:powderblue from:1949 till:1950 text:

(1949–1950) bar:2 color:powderblue from:1949 till:1957 text: Midwestern State (1949–1957) bar:3 color:powderblue from:1949 till:1957 text:

(1949–1957) bar:4 color:powderblue from:1949 till:1957 text:

(1949–1957) bar:5 color:powderblue from:1954 till:1957 text: Abilene Christian (1954–1957) bar:6 color:powderblue from:1956 till:1957 shift:(-115,-5) text: Hardin–Simmons (1956–1957) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1949 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(70,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Gulf Coast Conference membership history"

Current conference affiliations

* Abilene Christian -

Western Athletic Conference 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 (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(

Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

) * Hardin-Simmons -

American Southwest Conference The American Southwest Conference (ASC) is a college athletic conference, founded in 1996, whose member schools compete in the NCAA's Division III. The schools are located in Texas and Arkansas. The conference competes in baseball, men's and wome ...

(

) * Houston -

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

(

Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...

) * Midwestern State -

( Division II) * North Texas -

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

(Division I FBS) * Trinity -

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), founded in 1962, is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in Colorado, Louisiana, and Texas. Difficulties related to travel distanc ...

Members

Membership timeline

Current conference affiliations

Conference championships

Baseball

Football

Men's basketball

References