Big South Conference

Big South Conference
Established	1983
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FCS
Members	10
Sports fielded	19 (men's: 9; women's: 10)
Region	South Atlantic States
Headquarters	Charlotte, North Carolina
Commissioner	Kyle Kallander (since 1996)
Website	www.bigsouthsports.com
Locations

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. Its football teams are part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Big South, founded in 1983, is firmly rooted in the South Atlantic region of the United States, with full member institutions located in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia with affiliates in Georgia and New Jersey.^[1]

History

Charter members included Armstrong State (now Armstrong Atlantic State University) (1983–1987), Augusta (later Augusta State University and now merged into Augusta University) (1983–1990), Campbell University (1983–1994; 2011–present), Baptist College (now Charleston Southern University) (1983–present), Coastal Carolina University (1983–2016), Radford University (1983–present) and Winthrop University (1983–present).

The expansion of membership occurred during the 1980s and '90s. Some of those members are the University of North Carolina at Asheville (1984–present), Davidson College (1990–1992), Liberty University (1991–present), the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (1992–1998), the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1992–1997), Towson University (1992–1995), Elon University (1999–2003), High Point University (1999–present) and Birmingham–Southern College (2000–2007).

The Big South Conference began sponsoring football in 2002, with Charleston Southern, Elon (at the time) and Liberty (Gardner–Webb University also joined as a football-only member) fielding teams; Coastal Carolina and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) joined the conference as football-only members in 2003. In that same athletic year, VMI also joined the conference for all sports, but left to re-join the Southern Conference in 2014. Presbyterian College joined the conference in 2007, moving up from Division II, and became eligible for regular-season championships and conference honors during the 2008–09 athletic year.^[2] Gardner–Webb, which had been a football-only member since 2002, joined the conference for all sports on July 1, 2008.^[2] Campbell rejoined the Big South for all sports except football in the 2011–12 athletic year. Longwood University accepted an invitation to join the Big South on January 23, 2012, and membership formally began July 1 of that year; Longwood had been independent since 2004, during their transition to Division I.^[3] In 2014, following the departure of VMI, the conference returned to a single-division structure.^[4] On September 1, 2015, Coastal Carolina announced they would leave the conference following the 2015–16 school year to transition to FBS-level football and the Sun Belt Conference.^[5] On June 30, 2016, the day before the school joined the Sun Belt, Coastal Carolina won the 2016 College World Series in baseball. This was the first time in conference history that a team won an NCAA championship in any sport.

In September 2016, the Big South and the ASUN Conference announced a football partnership that will effectively combine the two conferences in that sport. Under its terms, any members of either conference that add or upgrade to scholarship football, provided they fall within the current geographic footprint of the two leagues, will automatically join Big South football. At the time of announcement, the only ASUN member that played scholarship football, Kennesaw State, was already a Big South football member. The partnership will provide a guaranteed football home to the leagues' current three non-scholarship football programs (Campbell from the Big South, and Jacksonville and Stetson from the ASUN) should they upgrade to scholarship status.^[6]

In November 2016, Campbell announced that it would begin offering scholarships and move its football program from the Pioneer Football League to the Big South in 2018.

Member schools

Current full members

Notes

Current associate members

Divisional realignment, 2012–2014

With the additions of Campbell and Longwood to the Big South in 2011 and 2012, Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander stated the conference will break up into two divisions of six teams each beginning in 2012–2013.^[8] He also said the Big South Basketball Tournaments will be held at a single, neutral location. The divisional setup was as follows:

In men's and women's basketball, teams played the five other divisional opponents twice, one home and one away (ten games). They will play teams outside of the division once each (six games). This cuts the number of conference games to sixteen, as opposed to eighteen in previous years.

Following the departure of VMI for the Southern Conference in 2014, the conference returned to a single-division structure, and the basketball conference schedule returned to eighteen games.^[4]

Former members

Former associate members

Membership timeline

• Augusta State was merged into Georgia Regents University in January 2013; the merged school renamed itself Augusta University in 2015.

Sports

Locations of Big South Conference full member institutions, from 2014 through 2016. Colors indicate previous divisional affiliations.

The Big South sponsors championship competition in nine men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Davidson has competed as an associate member in men's lacrosse, but left in 2014 when the school joined the lacrosse-sponsoring Atlantic 10 Conference. Stony Brook has competed as an associate in football, but left in 2013 for membership in the Colonial Athletic Association.^[9][10] Two schools, Monmouth and Kennesaw State, are currently associates in football, respectively joining in 2014 and 2015.

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Soccer	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total Big South Sports
Campbell	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Charleston Southern	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	7
Gardner–Webb	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
High Point	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	7
Liberty	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Longwood	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	6
Presbyterian	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	7
Radford	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	6
UNC Asheville	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	7
Winthrop	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Totals	10	10	10	4+2	9	9	8	7	7	76
Affiliate Members
Kennesaw State	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	1
Monmouth	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	1

^¿ = Campbell's football team does not currently participate in the Big South; it instead plays in the Pioneer Football League. Campbell football will join the Big South in 2018.

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big South Conference which are played by Big South schools:

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Softball	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball	Total Big South Sports
Campbell	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Charleston Southern	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Gardner–Webb	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
High Point	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Liberty	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Longwood	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	7
Presbyterian	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	8
Radford	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
UNC Asheville	Y	Y	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	7
Winthrop	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Totals	10	10	8	8	10	8	9	8	8	9	88

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big South Conference which are played by Big South schools:

Notes

Football – players drafted to the NFL

The Big South has had a number of players to get drafted and play football professionally in the NFL.

Conference champions

Men's basketball

Basketball Tournament Championships by school

• ^†Former member of the Big South

Football

Broadcasters (Big South Network)

In addition to basketball games being broadcast on regional and national television, member schools of the Big South Conference are required to provide a live stream of all home games for all sports when playing teams both within and outside of the conference. These streams are run by the university hosting the event. All streams are featured on the conference website and are available for free. The football games broadcast on the web are branded as part of a Big South Network.

National Champions

Facilities

Notes

• Charleston Southern uses the CSU Field House for all conference basketball games. Home games against local rivals or major-conference teams are played at the North Charleston Coliseum when available.

References

External links

• Official website