The Sun Conference (TSC) 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 Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA). Seven of the ten full member institutions are located in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, with three in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The Sun Conference competes in the NAIA in all sponsored sports.

History

The conference was created in March 1990 as the Florida Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (FIAC), and renamed to the Florida Sun Conference in 1992. Charter members consisted of

Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) is a private university focused on aviation and aerospace programs. Initially founded at Lunken Field in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1926, its main campuses are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Presc ...

, Flagler College,

Florida Memorial University Florida Memorial University is a private historically black university in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is a member of the United Negro College Fund and historically related to Baptists although it claims a focus on broader Christianity. History ...

, Nova University of Advanced Technology (now Nova Southeastern University),

Palm Beach Atlantic University Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) is a private Christian university in West Palm Beach, Florida. The university's nine colleges focus on the liberal arts with a select collection of professional studies. In 2019, its undergraduate enrollme ...

, Saint Thomas University, Warner Southern College (now Warner University) and Webber International University. The league later grew to nine members with the addition of

Northwood University Northwood University (NU) is a private university focused on business education with its main campus in Midland, Michigan. Opened in 1959, more than 33,000 people have graduated from the institution. History Northwood University opened as Nort ...

in 1994 (now Keiser University). Between 2002 and 2006, Nova Southeastern (2002), Palm Beach Atlantic (2003) and Flagler (2006) moved to

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

. But the league was able to recruit new members as

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private nonprofit art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. Founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the Uni ...

joined in 2004, followed by Edward Waters College in 2006. It adopted its current name in August 2008 to reflect its expansion to institutions outside of Florida. With the addition of the University of South Carolina at Beaufort in 2008,

Johnson & Wales University Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...

Southeastern University Southeastern University is a private Christian university in Lakeland, Florida. It was established in 1935 in New Brockton, Alabama, as Southeastern Bible Institute, relocated to Lakeland in 1946, and became a liberal arts college in 1970. It i ...

and

Ave Maria University Ave Maria University (AMU) is a private Roman Catholic university in Ave Maria, Florida. It shares its history with the former Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which was founded in 1998 and moved its campus in 2007. The two schools ...

in 2009, and Thomas University of Georgia in 2012, years, along with Edward Waters’ move to the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference after the 2009–10 season, the league membership stood at 12 schools as of the 2012–13 season. In 2014,

Point University Point University is a private evangelical Christian university in West Point, Georgia. It was founded in 1937 as Atlanta Christian College in East Point. The college announced its name change to Point University in 2011 and relocated its main ...

and former member Edward Waters College joined the conference for football only. Starting with the 2016 season, all six football members moved to the

Mid-South Conference 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, Ohio, and Tennessee. The league is headquartered in Lo ...

for that sport. Charter member

departed the conference on June 30, 2015 and joined the

Sunshine State Conference 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 ...

(D-II). In 2017, the College of Coastal Georgia joined the Sun Conference, with the conference again standing at a total of 12 members. In 2018, Sun Conference member Keiser added football but Edward Waters left the Mid-South football league. In 2019, Saint Thomas also added football and Florida Memorial re-added the sport after more than 60 years, bringing the number of members participating in football to 8. On June 25, 2020, Johnson & Wales announced it would close down its North Miami campus at the end of the 2020-21 school year, and on July 28, Johnson & Wales North Miami discontinued all sports. On April 14, 2021, South Carolina–Beaufort reported its invitation to join the Division II Peach Belt Conference in 2022 after applying for membership in, and pending acceptance into, the NCAA. The conference published on December 22 its reinstatement of football for the 2022 season, having grown to seven schools, with Thomas initiating football to become the eighth football member. By July 15, 2022, USCB was already accepted into the

Continental Athletic Conference 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 ...

, formerly the Association of Independent Institutions, only for the first of its three-year NCAA provisional membership but with a Peach Belt schedule as part of the Sand Sharks' dual NAIA-NCAA membership. On July 1, 2022, Thomas announced that they will left the conference and they will join the

Southern States Athletic Conference The Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The 11 member universities that compete in 19 sports are located in Louisiana, Mississi ...

(SSAC), starting in the 2023–24 academic year. They will remain in the Sun Conference as an affiliate member for football from that day forward.

Chronological timeline

* 1990 - In March 1990, the Sun Conference was founded as the Florida Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (FIAC). Charter members included Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University–Daytona Beach, Flagler College,

, Nova University of Advanced Technology (now Nova Southeastern University),

, Saint Thomas University, Warner Southern College (now Warner University), and Webber International University, effective beginning the 1990-91 academic year. * 1992 - The FIAC has been rebranded as the Florida Sun Conference, effective in the 1992-93 academic year. * 1994 - Northwood University–Florida joined the Florida Sun, effective in the 1994-95 academic year. * 2002 - Nova Southeastern left the Florida Sun and the NAIA to join the Division II ranks of 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 ...

(NCAA) and the

(SSC), effective after the 2001-02 academic year. * 2003 - Palm Beach Atlantic left the Florida Sun and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks as an NCAA D-II Independent, effective after the 2002-03 academic year. * 2004 - Savannah College of Art and Design at Savannah joined the Florida Sun, effective in the 2004-05 academic year. * 2006 - Flagler left the Florida Sun and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks as an NCAA D-II Independent, effective after the 2005-06 academic year. * 2006 - Edward Waters College (now Edward Waters University) joined the Florida Sun, effective in the 2006-07 academic year. * 2008 - The Florida Sun has been rebranded as The Sun Conference, effective in the 2008-09 academic year. * 2008 - The University of South Carolina at Beaufort joined the Sun Conference, effective in the 2008-09 academic year. * 2009 -

, the Florida campus of

(Johnson and Wales–Florida) and

joined the Sun Conference, effective in the 2009-10 academic year. Ave Maria joined as an associate/provisional member. * 2010 - Edward Waters left the Sun Conference to join the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC), effective after the 2009-10 academic year. * 2012 - Thomas University joined the Sun Conference, effective in the 2012-13 academic year. * 2014 -

joined the Sun Conference as an affiliate member for football (with Edward Waters re-joining), effective in the 2014 fall season (2014-15 academic year). * 2015 - Embry–Riddle left the Sun and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the SSC, effective after the 2014-15 academic year. * 2015 - Northwood–Florida left the Sun Conference as the school announced that it would close, effective after the 2014-15 academic year. However, Keiser University purchased the location, therefore it has inherited everything Northwood–Florida had sponsored (including its athletic program) and joined the Sun Conference, effective in the 2015-16 academic year. * 2017 - Point and Edward Waters left the Sun Conference as affiliate members for football, effective after the 2016 fall season (2016-17 academic year). * 2017 - The College of Coastal Georgia joined the Sun Conference, effective in the 2017-18 academic year. * 2020 - Johnson and Wales–Florida left the Sun Conference as the school announced that it would close, effective after the 2019-20 academic year. * 2022 - South Carolina–Beaufort (USCB) left the Sun Conference to join the

, in addition to the NCAA Division II ranks and the Peach Belt Conference (PBC), effective in the 2022-23 academic year. USCB will leave the CAC and the NAIA after that school year to focus on the Peach Belt and the NCAA. * 2022 - Thomas (Ga.) announced that they will leave the Sun Conference and they will join the

(SSAC), effective beginning the 2023-24 academic year.

Member schools

Current members

The Sun currently has 10 full members, all but two are

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. Departing members are highlighted in pink. ;Notes:

Former members

The Sun had seven former full members, most are

schools, one is

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

, and another is defunct: ;Notes:

Former affiliate members

The Sun had two former affiliate members, both were

schools: For the 2014 and 2015 football seasons, Edward Waters and Point joined the conference. All six members moved to the

for the 2016 season. With the exception of Point, which participates in the Appalachian Division, these teams plus

Faulkner University Faulkner University is a private Christian university in Montgomery, Alabama. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. History The university was founded in 1942 by Dr. Rex Turner, Dr. Leonard Johnson and Joe Greer as Montgomery Bible S ...

now form the Sun Division of the Mid-South Conference. ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1990 till:2026 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:40 top:5 Colors = id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.9,0.8,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.8,0.9,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used id:MSCF value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved its football to another conference PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:1990 till:2015 text: Embry–Riddle – Daytona Beach (1990–2015) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2015 till:end text: Sunshine State bar:2 color:FullxF from:1990 till:2006 text: Flagler (1990–2006) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2006 till:2009 text: D-II Ind. bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:2009 till:end text: Peach Belt bar:3 color:FullxF from:1990 till:2020 text: Florida Memorial (1990–present) bar:3 color:MSCF from:2020 till:2022 text: Mid-South (fb.) bar:3 color:Full from:2022 till:end bar:4 color:FullxF from:1990 till:2002 text: Nova Southeastern (1990–2002) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2002 till:end text: Sunshine State bar:5 color:FullxF from:1990 till:2003 text: Palm Beach Atlantic (1990–2003) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2003 till:2015 text: D-II Ind. bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2015 till:end text: Sunshine State bar:6 color:FullxF from:1990 till:2019 text: St. Thomas (Fla.) (1990–present) bar:6 color:MSCF from:2019 till:2022 text: Mid-South (fb.) bar:6 color:Full from:2022 till:end bar:7 color:FullxF from:1990 till:2014 text: Warner (1990–present) bar:7 color:Full from:2014 till:2017 bar:7 color:MSCF from:2017 till:2022 text: Mid-South (fb.) bar:7 color:Full from:2022 till:end text: bar:8 color:FullxF from:1990 till:2014 text: Webber International (1990–present) bar:8 color:Full from:2014 till:2017 bar:8 color:MSCF from:2017 till:2022 text: Mid-South (fb.) bar:8 color:Full from:2022 till:end text: bar:9 color:FullxF from:1994 till:2015 text: Northwood (Fla.) (1994–2015) bar:10 color:FullxF from:2004 till:end text: Savannah A&D (2004–present) bar:11 color:FullxF from:2006 till:2010 text: Edward Waters (2006–2010) bar:11 shift:(45) color:OtherC1 from:2010 till:2014 text:

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

bar:11 color:AssocF from:2014 till:2016 text:(2014–2015) bar:11 shift:(20) color:OtherC1 from:2016 till:2021 text:

bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:2021 till:end text: SIAC bar:12 color:FullxF from:2008 till:2022 text: South Carolina–Beaufort (2008–2022) bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:end text: Peach Belt bar:13 color:FullxF from:2009 till:2014 text:

Ave Maria The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

(2009–present) bar:13 color:Full from:2014 till:2017 bar:13 color:MSCF from:2017 till:2022 text: Mid-South (fb.) bar:13 color:Full from:2022 till:end text: bar:14 color:FullxF from:2009 till:2020 text: Johnson & Wales (2009–2020) bar:15 color:FullxF from:2009 till:2014 text: Southeastern (Fla.) (2009–present) bar:15 color:Full from:2014 till:2017 bar:15 color:MSCF from:2017 till:2022 text: Mid-South (fb.) bar:15 color:Full from:2022 till:end text: bar:16 color:FullxF from:2012 till:2022 text:

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

(2012–2023) bar:16 color:Full from:2022 till:2023 bar:16 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end bar:17 color:AssocF from:2014 till:2016 text: Point (2014–2015) bar:18 color:FullxF from:2015 till:2018 text: Keiser (2015–present) bar:18 shift:(40) color:MSCF from:2018 till:2022 text: Mid-South (fb.) bar:18 color:Full from:2022 till:end text: bar:19 color:FullxF from:2017 till:end text:

Coastal Georgia Southeast Georgia's Lower Coastal Plain is a subregion that encompasses the lowest-lying areas of the Atlantic coastal plain in the state, containing barrier islands, marshes, and swampy lowlands, as well as flat plains and low terraces. It diff ...

(2017–present) bar:N color:orange from:1990 till:1992 text:FIAC bar:N color:red from:1992 till:2008 text:Florida Sun bar:N color:orange from:2008 till:end text:Sun Conference ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1990 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,25) tabs:(400-center) text:^"The Sun Conference membership history" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

Sports

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Conference