The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a

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 ...

affiliated with the

National Collegiate Athletic Association 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 ...

(NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

. The SAC was founded in 1975 as a football-only conference and became an all-sports conference beginning with the 1989–90 season. The league currently sponsors 10 sports for men (football, cross country, soccer, basketball, wrestling, baseball, lacrosse, outdoor track & field, tennis, golf) and 10 sports for women (volleyball, cross country, field hockey, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, outdoor track & field, softball, tennis, and golf).

History

The distant forerunner of the South Atlantic Conference was the North State Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NSIAC). The NSIAC was formed when the "Little Six", as it was called, broke from the North Carolina Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1930. The charter members included Appalachian State Teachers College (now Appalachian State University), Lenoir–Rhyne College (now Lenoir–Rhyne University), Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College),

Catawba College Catawba College is a private college in Salisbury, North Carolina. Founded in 1851 by the North Carolina Classis of the Reformed Church in Newton, the college adopted its name from its county of origin, Catawba County, before moving to its c ...

Guilford College Guilford College is a private liberal arts college in Greensboro, North Carolina. Guilford has both traditional students and students who attend its Center for Continuing Education (CCE). Founded in 1837 by members of the Religious Society of ...

Elon College Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, Elon is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or professional doctorate ...

(now Elon University), and

High Point College High Point University is a private university in High Point, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The university was founded as High Point College in 1924, and it became High Point University in October 1991. HPU of ...

(now High Point University). The North State continued to grow over the next 30 years, adding

Western Carolina University Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded ...

(1933),

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

(1947) and Pfeiffer College (now Pfeiffer University) (1960). A name change became necessary when the league accepted

Newberry College Newberry College is a private Lutheran college in Newberry, South Carolina. It has 1,250 students. Accreditation Newberry College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to award ...

as its first member from the state of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

in 1961. The league took on the name Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC) on May 20 of that year. The CIAC saw several changes in the following years as East Carolina withdrew from the league in 1962. Appalachian State and Western Carolina followed in 1971 and 1976. All three landed in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

(SoCon). The South Atlantic Conference was founded in 1975 solely as a football conference. The league received its name from a contest in which Kurt Brenneman of

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

became the first to submit the SAC-8 moniker. The SAC-8 consisted of Carson–Newman College (now Carson–Newman University), Catawba College, Elon College, Gardner–Webb College (now Gardner–Webb University), Lenoir–Rhyne College (now Lenoir-Rhyne University),

Mars Hill College 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 t ...

(now Mars Hill University), Newberry College, and

Presbyterian College Presbyterian College (PC) is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina. History Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 by the William Plumer Jacobs. He had served as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Cl ...

. Dr. Fred Bentley, of Mars Hill College, was named league president for its inaugural year, by a vote of the member institutions. After the first season of play in the SAC-8, the Bears of Lenoir–Rhyne College captured the first football title. In 1989, the league's 15th year of operation, the South Atlantic Conference became a comprehensive, multi-sport conference. Doug Echols was named the league's first Commissioner. That year the South Atlantic Conference sponsored 10 sports – football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's soccer, volleyball, men's golf, men's and women's tennis. Later the conference grew to 14 championship sports by adding women's soccer (1990), men's and women's cross country (1993) and women's golf (1999). In 2013, the sports of men's and women's lacrosse and men's and women's track and field were added, increasing the number of championship sports to 18. The South Atlantic Conference was composed of the same eight member institutions from 1975–76 until 1988–89, when

Wingate College Wingate University is a Private university, private Baptist university with campuses in Wingate, North Carolina, Wingate, Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, and Hendersonville, North Carolina, Hendersonville, North Carolina. It is affiliated wi ...

(now Wingate University) replaced Newberry College as the eighth member institution. Newberry College later re-joined the conference in the 1996–97 season. In July 1998,

Tusculum College Tusculum University is a private Presbyterian university with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee. It is Tennessee's first university and the 28th-oldest operating college in the United States. In addition to its main campus, the institution ...

(now Tusculum University) was admitted as a member of the league, and

Lincoln Memorial University Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) is a private university in Harrogate, Tennessee. LMU's campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. As of fall 2019, it had 1,975 undergraduate and 2,892 graduate and professional students. LMU ...

began play in the conference in the 2006–07 academic year.

Brevard College Brevard College is a private college in Brevard, North Carolina. The college grants the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. History Brevard College was named for Ephraim Brevard, a teacher and one of the local leaders that produc ...

was admitted to the SAC as a provisional member in 2007 and a full member in 2008. In 2008, Echols retired after serving as Commissioner for 19 years and Patrick Britz was hired as the new Commissioner. In July 2010, Anderson University became the league's 10th member. Three years later in July 2013,

Coker College Coker University is a private university in Hartsville, South Carolina. It was founded in 1908 and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Coker's sports teams, nicknamed the Cobras, compete in NCAA Division II. Histo ...

(now Coker University) and

Queens University of Charlotte The Queens University of Charlotte is a private university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has approximately 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students through the College of Arts and Sciences, the McColl School of Business, the Wayland H. Cato, ...

joined the conference. On April 13, 2018, UVA Wise (in full, the University of Virginia's College at Wise) announced that it was joining the South Atlantic Conference for the 2019-20 season. A more recent change to the conference membership was announced on April 5, 2019, when Limestone College, which had joined as a football-only member in 2017 and added field hockey to its SAC membership the next year, was announced as a new full member effective in 2020–21, the same time it became

Limestone University Limestone University, formerly Limestone College, is a private Christian university in Gaffney, South Carolina. It was established in 1845 by Thomas Curtis, a distinguished scholar born and educated in England. Limestone was the first women's ...

. The SAC and

Conference Carolinas 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 Divisio ...

entered into a partnership in the 2018–19 school year by which the two leagues would operate as a single conference in field hockey and men's wrestling, with championships immediately conducted in both sports. The leagues agreed that the SAC would coordinate the field hockey championship, while CC would fill the same role for men's wrestling. Accordingly, all CC field hockey programs became SAC affiliates, and all SAC men's wrestling programs became CC affiliates. The SAC–CC alliance is officially branded as "South Atlantic Conference Carolinas". A more recent change in conference membership was announced on November 17, 2020. Emory & Henry College, then in the Division III

Old Dominion Athletic Conference The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference. Of its 15 member schools, all but one are located in Virginia; the other full member is in North Carolina. The conference also has an associate member in Nort ...

, started a transition to Division II in July 2021 and began SAC competition in 2022. In December 2021, the SAC and CC jointly announced that they would extend their existing partnership to include two women's sports, triathlon and wrestling, with triathlon competition starting in 2022–23 and wrestling in 2023–24. At the same time, both conferences agreed that after the 2021–22 school year, the SAC would become the only one of the two conferences to sponsor field hockey. The joint men's wrestling league will continue to operate through the 2022–23 season, after which both conferences will establish their own men's wrestling leagues. The most recent change was officially announced on May 10, 2022, when the Division I

ASUN Conference 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 Divisio ...

announced that Queens would leave the SAC to start a transition to D-I on July 1 as a new ASUN member.

Chronological timeline

* 1975 - The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) was founded as a football-only conference. Charter members included Carson–Newman College (now Carson–Newman University),

(now Elon University), Gardner–Webb College (now Gardner–Webb University), Lenoir–Rhyne College (now Lenoir–Rhyne University),

(now Mars Hill University),

and

, effective beginning the 1975 fall season (1975-76 academic year). * 1989 - Newberry left the SAC-8, effective after the 1988 fall season (1988-89 academic year). * 1989 - The SAC-8 added more sports to be a full-fledged athletic conference, effective in the 1989-90 academic year. * 1989 -

(now Wingate University) joined the SAC, replacing Newberry, effective in the 1989-90 academic year. * 1996 - Newberry returned to the SAC as an all-sports member, effective in the 1996-97 academic year. * 1996 - Elon left the SAC to join the Division I ranks of the

(NCAA) as an NCAA D-I Independent (which would later join the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

as a provisional member, effective beginning the 1998-99 academic year), effective after the 1996-97 academic year. * 1998 -

(now Tusculum University) joined the SAC, effective in the 1998-99 academic year. * 2000 - Gardner–Webb left the SAC to join the NCAA Division I ranks as an NCAA D-I Independent (which would later join the

Atlantic Sun Conference 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 Divisi ...

as a provisional member, effective beginning the 2002-03 academic year), effective after the 1999-2000 academic year. * 2006 -

joined the SAC, effective in the 2006-07 academic year. * 2007 - Presbyterian left the SAC to join the NCAA Division I ranks as an NCAA D-I Independent (which would later join the Big South as a provisional member, effective beginning the 2008-09 academic year), effective after the 2006-07 academic year. * 2007 -

joined the SAC as a provisional member, effective in the 2007-08 academic year. * 2010 - Anderson University joined the SAC, effective in the 2010-11 academic year. * 2013 -

Coker University Coker University is a private university in Hartsville, South Carolina. It was founded in 1908 and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Coker's sports teams, nicknamed the Cobras, compete in NCAA Division II. Histo ...

and Queens University joined the SAC, effective in the 2013-14 academic year. * 2017 - Brevard left the SAC to join the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

ranks and the

USA South Athletic Conference The USA South Athletic Conference (formerly the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or the Dixie Conference) is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member schools are located in North Carolina and Virginia. H ...

, effective after the 2016-17 academic year. * 2017 -

Limestone College Limestone University, formerly Limestone College, is a private Christian university in Gaffney, South Carolina. It was established in 1845 by Thomas Curtis, a distinguished scholar born and educated in England. Limestone was the first women's ...

(now Limestone University) joined the SAC as an affiliate member for football, effective in the 2017 fall season (2017-18 academic year). * 2018 – Effective in the 2018–19 academic year, the SAC and

(CC) established a partnership known as South Atlantic Conference Carolinas (SACC) for field hockey and men's wrestling. Under the partnership, the SAC operated the joint field hockey championship, with CC filling the same role for men's wrestling. Accordingly,

Belmont Abbey College Belmont Abbey College is a private, Catholic liberal arts college in Belmont, North Carolina. It was founded in 1876 by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey. The school is affiliated with the Catholic Church and the Order of Saint Benedict. I ...

and

Converse University Converse University is a private university in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was established in 1889 by a group of Spartanburg residents and named after textile pioneer Dexter Edgar Converse. It was originally a women's college but now admits ...

joined the SAC as affiliate members for field hockey at that time. Limestone added that sport to its SAC affiliate membership. * 2019 - The

University of Virginia's College at Wise The University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVA Wise) is a public liberal arts college in Wise, Virginia. It is part of the University of Virginia and was established in 1954 as Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia. The United S ...

(UVA Wise) joined the SAC, effective in the 2019-20 academic year. * 2020 - Limestone became a full SAC member effective in the 2020-21 academic year. * 2022: **

Emory and Henry College Emory & Henry College (E&H or Emory) is a private liberal arts college in Emory, Virginia. The campus comprises of Washington County, which is part of the Appalachian highlands of Southwest Virginia. Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is ...

joined the SAC as a full member, and

Barton College Barton College is a private college in Wilson, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and enrolls about 1,200 students on campus. History Barton College was incorporated as Atlantic Christian College ...

and

Erskine College Erskine College is a private Christian college in Due West, South Carolina. It is an undergraduate liberal arts college and a graduate theological seminary. The college was founded in 1839 by the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Its sp ...

joined the SAC as football-only affiliates effective in 2022–23. ** Queens left the SAC for the D-I

. ** Effective with the 2022–23 academic year, field hockey is no longer part of the SACC partnership, with that sport now being fully governed by the SAC. The existing CC field hockey schools continue to compete as SAC affiliates. At the same time, women's triathlon was placed under the SACC umbrella. * 2023 – Starting in 2023–24, the SACC men's wrestling league will be dissolved and replaced by separate SAC and CC leagues. At the same time, SACC will add women's wrestling.

Member schools

Charter members

Newberry College left the SAC in 1989 (as a football member) and rejoined in 1996 (as an all-sport member). Wingate replaced Newberry College as the final member for the birth of the all-sports SAC in 1989. Former members Elon, Gardner–Webb, and Presbyterian were charter members of both the SAC-8 football era and the SAC all-sports era.

Current members

The SAC currently has 13 full members, with all but one being

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

schools. ;Notes:

Affiliate members

The SAC currently has four affiliate members, all

schools. ;Notes:

Former members

The SAC has five former full members, all

schools. ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1975 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:20 top:5 Colors = id:line value:black id:Full value:rgb(0.63,0.88,0.755) # all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.88,0.755,0.63) # non-football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.88,0.63,0.63) # football-only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.755,0.755,0.63) # associate PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:AssocF from:1975 till:1989 text: Carson–Newman (1975–1989, football) bar:1 color:Full from:1989 till:end text:(1989–present, full) bar:2 color:AssocF from:1975 till:1989 text:

Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...

(1975–1989, football) bar:2 color:Full from:1989 till:end text:(1989–present, full) bar:3 color:AssocF from:1975 till:1989 text: Elon (1975–1989, present) bar:3 color:Full from:1989 till:1997 text:(1989–1997, full) bar:4 color:AssocF from:1975 till:1989 text: Gardner–Webb (1975–1989, football) bar:4 color:Full from:1989 till:2000 text:(1989–2000, full) bar:5 color:AssocF from:1975 till:1989 text: Lenoir–Rhyne (1975–1989, football) bar:5 color:Full from:1989 till:end text:(1989–present, full) bar:6 color:AssocF from:1975 till:1989 text: Mars Hill (1975–1989, football) bar:6 color:Full from:1989 till:end text:(1989–present, full) bar:7 color:AssocF from:1975 till:1989 text:

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (born 1956), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Newb ...

(1975–1989, football) bar:7 color:Full from:1996 till:end text:(1996–present, full) bar:8 color:AssocF from:1975 till:1989 text:

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

(1975–1989, football) bar:8 color:Full from:1989 till:2007 text:(1989–2007, full) bar:9 color:Full from:1989 till:end text:

Wingate Wingate may refer to: Places New Zealand * Wingate, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt United Kingdom * Wingate, County Durham * Wingate Quarry, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham * Old Wingate, County Durham * Wingat ...

(1989–present, full) bar:10 color:Full from:1998 till:end text:

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome ( ...

(1998–present) bar:11 color:FullxF from:2006 till:end text:

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...

(2006–present) bar:12 color:FullxF from:2007 till:2008 text: Brevard (2007–2017) bar:12 color:Full from:2008 till:2017 bar:13 color:FullxF from:2010 till:2024 text:

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

(2010–present) bar:13 color:Full from:2024 till:end bar:14 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text: Coker (2013–present) bar:15 color:FullxF from:2013 till:2022 text: Queens (NC) (2013–2022) bar:16 shift:(-100) color:AssocF from:2017 till:end text:

Limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

(2017–2020, football; 2020–present, full) bar:16 color:Full from:2020 till:end bar:17 shift:(-30) color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text: Belmont Abbey (2018–present) bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:

Converse Converse may refer to: Mathematics and logic * Converse (logic), the result of reversing the two parts of a definite or implicational statement ** Converse implication, the converse of a material implication ** Converse nonimplication, a logical c ...

(2018–present) bar:19 shift:(-20) color:Full from:2019 till:end text: UVA Wise (2019–present) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:end text: Mount Olive (2019–present) bar:21 shift:(-90) color:Full from:2022 till:end text: Emory & Henry (2022–future) bar:22 shift:(-60) color:AssocF from:2022 till:end text:

Erskine Erskine (, sco, Erskin, gd, Arasgain) is a town in the council area of Renfrewshire, and historic county of the same name, situated in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the southern bank of the River Clyde, providing the lo ...

(2022–future) bar:23 shift:(-50) color:AssocF from:2022 till:end text: Barton (2022–future) bar:N color:yelloworange from:1975 till:1989 text:SAC-8 (football) bar:N color:orange from:1989 till:end text:SAC (all sports) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1975

Sports

Men's sponsored sports by school

Women's sponsored sports by school

Other sponsored sports by school

In addition to the above: * Anderson and Tusculum treat their male and female cheerleaders as varsity athletes. * Carson–Newman and Limestone treat their female cheerleaders (though not their male cheerleaders) and all-female dance teams as varsity athletes. * Catawba treats its male and female cheerleaders and all-female dance team as varsity athletes. The school also sponsors a coeducational varsity eSports team. * Coker has a coeducational varsity eSports team. * Emory & Henry treats its cheerleaders and dancers as varsity athletes without regard to gender. The school's equestrian program is coeducational, and has chosen to not affiliate with the NCAA emerging sport status, partly because its former home of NCAA Division III has yet to place equestrian within the Emerging Sports umbrella. Instead, E&H riders compete in the Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) and Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA). * Lenoir–Rhyne treats its male and female cheerleaders and all-female dance team as varsity athletes. * Mars Hill sponsors a varsity cycling team, with separate men's and women's squads.

Conference facilities

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division II football conference navbox