THE SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE Tom Burnett, Commissioner
“The Southland Conference serves to unite its members in celebrating academic success, achieving competitive excellence, promoting positive values and developing community relationships within a framework of efficiency, integrity and personal dignity.” Now in its fourth decade of existence, the Southland Conference was formed on March 15, 1963, when administrators from Abilene Christian College, Arkansas State College, Arlington State College, Lamar State College of Technology and Trinity University met at the Baker Hotel in Dallas. In its four decades of academic and athletic accomplishments, the Southland Conference has witnessed many changes in college athletics, and the league has adjusted and transformed as necessary to continue to achieve at the highest competitive levels. More changes are on the horizon as the league’s membership map will change following the 2005-06 academic year. Current Southland Conference members in Texas and Louisiana include Lamar University, McNeese State University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Sam Houston State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas State University, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of Texas at San Antonio. Louisiana-Monroe will depart the Southland after this academic year to enjoy full-time membership in the Sun Belt Conference. The Indians have been football members in the Division I-A conference since the 2001 season and administrators have since decided to move all athletic teams to the Sun Belt. With that change forthcoming, the Southland Conference Board of Directors in September extended invitations of full membership to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the University of Central Arkansas, effective July 1, 2006. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi president Dr. Flavius Killebrew and Central Arkansas president Lu Hardin accepted the invitations on behalf of the universities. The announcement completed the Southland’s recent efforts to address its future membership issues. Beginning in 2006-07, the Southland Conference will include 12 member institutions, the largest configuration in its 42-year history. A comprehensive four-year university with over 8,500 students, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is known as “The Island University” for its geographic location on the 240-acre Ward Island alongside Corpus Christi Bay. Once a private, liberal arts institution known as the University of Corpus Christi, the school joined the Texas A&M System in 1989, and is one of the fastest growing campuses in Texas. Currently a member of NCAA Division II, Central Arkansas has notified the NCAA that it intends to pursue membership in Division I, and has entered into a five-year transition period with the national governing body. The transition period will end following the 200910 academic year, and the Bears and Sugar Bears will be full-fledged members of Division I on September 1, 2010. During the 2007-08 academic year, it is expected that Central Arkansas will be able to qualify as a Division I opponent for scheduling purposes and, with a waiver approval, be counted in the NCAA Division I Ratings Percentage Index for various sports. In 2006-07, UCA will still be considered a Division II team for scheduling and RPI purposes. However, UCA will likely receive full league schedules in 2006-07 in all conference sports except football, since many Southland teams have completed their scheduling for 2006. The Southland will assist UCA with football scheduling arrangements in 2006. All told, the current 11 member institutions of the Southland encompass over 150,000 current students and an alumni base of close to 700,000. Famous alums from Southland Conference schools include former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson (Texas State), CBS news anchor Dan Rather (Sam Houston State), U.S. Central Command general Tommy Franks (UT-Arlington), NBA executive Joe Dumars (McNeese State), ABC news and sports anchor Robin Roberts (Southeastern Louisiana), country music stars Tim McGraw (UL-Monroe) and George Strait (Texas State), Major League Baseball star and Olympian Ben Sheets (UL-Monroe), and actor Lou Diamond Phillips (UT-Arlington). The cities of the Southland are diverse and dynamic, ranging from international business and cultural centers such as the Dallas/ Fort Worth metroplex and San Antonio, to the historical cities of Nacogdoches, Texas, and Natchitoches, La., to the home of the modern oil boom, Beaumont, Texas, to the unique Cajun French cultures found in the Louisiana cities of Thibodaux and Lake Charles. Southland Conference institutions also draw large numbers of students from the metropolitan areas of Houston, New Orleans, Austin and Shreveport. The Southland sponsors 17 championship sports, all at the NCAA Division I level. The eight men’s sports include football, basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field. The women compete for nine championships in basketball, volleyball, softball, soccer, golf, tennis, cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field. The Conference earns automatic qualification to NCAA championships in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, men’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, and women’s soccer. The conference has increased sponsorship and championships opportunities for female student-athletes in recent years, adding women’s golf and soccer as league sports. The Southland Conference has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to the academic and athletic success of its student-athletes. With the F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship Award, the league annually honors one male and one female scholar-athlete with a stipend for postgraduate study. The Scholar-Athlete Award is given to each institution’s male and female student-athlete with the highest grade-point average. Also, student-athletes with grade point averages above 3.0 are honored on the SLC’s annual All-Academic teams and Commissioner’s Honor Roll. In addition to providing expanding opportunities for student-athletes, the Southland Conference and its member institutions are very
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2007 Cowgirl Tennis