Southland Conference

Closing in on six decades of service, the Southland Conference continues to be a model of innovation, stability and consistent achievement as it celebrates the academic and athletic accomplishments of its member institutions and more than 4,200 student-athletes. The Southland operates within a structure of shared core values by its membership: Excellence, Student-Athlete Focused, Integrity, Diversity and Inclusion, Sportsmanship, and Fiscal Responsibility.

Now entering its 60th year, the Southland Conference has transformed itself into a dynamic and respected consortium of 10 comprehensive universities in Texas and Louisiana. Beginning with a historic meeting of five original institutions in Dallas on March 15, 1963, the Southland Conference set on an extraordinary course that has proven successful well into the 21st Century.

The members of the Southland Conference are Houston Christian University (formerly Houston Baptist University), the University of the Incarnate Word, Lamar University, McNeese State University, University of New Orleans, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Texas A&M University-Commerce, and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. All told, the membership of the Southland encompasses over 140,000 current students and an alumni base of nearly 900,000.

Southland cities encompass approximately 14 million people, and its geography covers many of the nation's top 100 television markets, including Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, Shreveport and Baton Rouge. League institutions, their locations, and many of their namesakes are significant to the history of the South Central and Southwest regions of the United States.

Southland institutions are annually positioned among the nation's best public and private universities, exemplified by superb undergraduate and graduate education rankings, and featuring unique and accomplished curriculums at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. Member universities are frequently acknowledged for their superior standing in areas such as college buy value and return on investment, student engagement, best-in-region status, favorable student-to-faculty ratios, service learning, military-friendly designations, honors programs, online learning, faith-based learning, and access to higher education for all income levels.

Numerous Southland alumni have earned acclaim as business, medical, education and government leaders and innovators, iconic entertainers such as filmmakers, musicians and television/film actors, and athletes that starred at the professional and Olympic levels to earn hall of fame distinction.

Athletically, the Southland Conference sponsors championship play in 18 NCAA Division I sports at the NCAA Division I level. Women's sports include basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, and volleyball. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track and field. Since 2015, the Conference has also administered the Southland Bowling League, an affiliated women's sport that has produced NCAA national champions in three of the last four years.

The Conference boasts automatic qualification in all NCAA team sports, and league members have taken advantage of this access with recent wins in NCAA baseball, softball, football, and basketball championships. Additionally, Southland teams have won numerous contests in other national postseason events.

The Southland has also taken a lead role in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision by serving as the host conference for the annual DI national championship game in the league office's base of Frisco, Texas, since 2011. Working with its partners, the City of Frisco and Hunt Sports Ventures, the Southland's hosting role has been reaffirmed three times since the initial game, that will remain at Frisco's Toyota Stadium at least through the 2025 game.

The league also has a tradition of innovation and creativity with its work in television, corporate sponsorships, officiating services and the use of technology in its efforts to support its membership and the well-being of student-athletes.

The Southland has long partnered with ESPN Networks throughout the broadcast company's history, and the league and its members are producing more than 200 television productions each year on the network's various platform. The league has also developed broadcast opportunities with other national and regional networks such as Cox Sports Television, Fox College Sports, AT&T SportsNet and Eleven Sports.

Previously, the league launched the Southland Conference Television Network from 2008-2015, and broadcast more than 160 events to a network reach of roughly 13 million households throughout Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. During its run, the network earned numerous College Sports Media and Telly Awards.

The Conference has also developed a comprehensive corporate sponsorship program that aligns the business community with league initiatives and championship events. The Southland's corporate sponsorships are managed by Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment, a national leader in multimedia rights representation.

The Southland was the first Division I conference to develop a comprehensive football officiating agreement with another league when it partnered with Big 12 Conference in 2007, giving the league a first of its kind dual program that combined singular training, observation, video review and development, a model followed by many other Division I conferences today.

Advancing technology has also aided the Southland's efforts to best serve its membership and be a trendsetter in Division I. In 2014, the Conference became the first FCS league to fully-implement football instant replay regardless of whether games were televised. The league has remained updated in many operational areas, including the development of other technological partnerships in instant replay, digital video exchange, compliance services and championship events.

As it has done throughout the league's history, Southland football has continued to succeed at a remarkable level, and today ranks among the best Football Championship Subdivision leagues in the nation. League members have an annual expectation of competing for the national championship with multiple teams advancing to the NCAA playoffs each year. Since 2000, Southland teams have defeated 25 FBS opponents.

Preseason Poll 1. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (11) 149 2. Nicholls (6) 137 3. New Orleans (2) 129 4. Southeastern 105 5. McNeese 97 6. Northwestern State 92 7. Texas A&M-Commerce 56 8. Houston Christian (1) 55 9. Lamar 44 10. UIW 36

2022-23 Preseason All-Southland Conference Teams

Preseason Player of the Year: Darius Lee, Houston Christian (awarded posthumously)

FIRST TEAM PRESEASON SECOND TEAM

Pos. Name University

Cl. Hometown

G Latrell Jones Nicholls Sr. New Orleans G Terrion Murdix Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sr. Springfield, Illinois F Isaac Mushila Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sr. Lubumashi, Congo F Christian Shumate McNeese So. Chicago G Trevian Tennyson Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sr. Arlington, Texas

Pos. Name University Cl. Hometown

G Simeon Fryer Texas A&M-Corpus Christi R-Sr. Philadelphia F Tyson Jackson New Orleans Jr. Fairburn, Georgia F Simeon Kirkland New Orleans Sr. Ocala, Florida F Manny Littles Nicholls Sr. Lanett, Alabama G Pierce Spencer Nicholls Jr. Porter, Texas