Southwestern Athletic Conference

The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a college athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black universities in the Southern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), still frequently referred to by its former designation of Division I-AA.

The SWAC is one of two conferences – the other being the Ivy League – that does not participate in the FCS football playoffs, and is the only one of the two whose members offer a full complement of scholarships for football. The SWAC instead splits its schools into two divisions, and plays a conference championship game. Furthermore, one SWAC game, the Bayou Classic between Southern and Grambling State, is positioned on the schedule after the NCAA tournament has begun. In addition, Alabama State plays Division II rival Tuskegee annually on Thanksgiving Day (The Turkey Day Classic). These moves have been criticized by other conferences containing historically black universities, especially the only other Division I conference made up entirely of such schools, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, which annually places its champion into the FCS tournament.

History
In 1920, athletic officials from six Texas HBCUs &mdash; C.H. Fuller of Bishop College, Red Randolph and C.H. Patterson of Paul Quinn College, E.G. Evans, H.J. Evans and H.J. Starns of Prairie View A&M, D.C. Fuller of Texas College and G. Whitte Jordan of Wiley College &mdash; met in Houston, Texas, to discuss common interests. At this meeting, they agreed to form a new league, the SWAC.

Paul Quinn became the first of the original members to withdraw from the league when it did so in 1929. When Langston University of Oklahoma was admitted into the conference two years later, it began the migration of state-supported institutions into the SWAC. Southern University entered the ranks in 1934, followed by Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) in 1936 and Texas Southern University in 1954.

Rapid growth in enrollment of the state-supported schools made it difficult for the church-supported schools to finance their athletics programs and one by one they fell victim to the growing prowess of the state-supported colleges. Bishop withdrew from the conference in 1956, Langston in 1957 and Huston-Tillotson (formerly Samuel Huston) in 1959, one year after the admittance of two more state-supported schools: Grambling College and Jackson State College. The enter-exit cycle continued in 1961 when Texas College withdrew, followed by the admittance of Alcorn A&M (now Alcorn State University) in 1962. Wiley left in 1968, the same year Mississippi Valley State College entered. Arkansas AM&N exited in 1970 and Alabama State University entered in 1982. Arkansas–Pine Bluff (formerly Arkansas AM&N) rejoined the SWAC on July 1, 1997, regaining full-member status one year later. Alabama A&M University became the conference’s tenth member when it became a full member in September, 1999 after a one year period as an affiliate SWAC member. Most of the former SWAC members that have left the conference are currently a part of the Red River Athletic Conference of the NAIA.

Today, the SWAC, considered the premier HBCU conference, ranks among the elite in the nation in terms of alumni playing with professional sports teams, particularly in the sport of football. On the gridiron, the conference has been the biggest draw on the Football Championship Subdivision level of the NCAA, leading the nation in average home attendance for 19 of the 20 years the FCS has been in existence. In 1994, the SWAC fell just 40,000 fans short of becoming the first non-Football Bowl Subdivision conference to attract one million fans to its home games.

Current championship competition offered by the SWAC includes competition for men in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, indoor track, outdoor track & field and tennis. Women’s competition is offered in the sports of basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, indoor track, outdoor track & field, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.

Current full members
Considered the premier HBCU athletic conference, the SWAC comprises ten schools.


 * Note
 * Arkansas–Pine Bluff was a member of the SWAC from 1936 to 1970 as Arkansas AM&N before re-joining in the 1997-98 academic season, and to gain full member status a year later.

Former members
Note * Huston–Tillotson was formerly known as Samuel Huston College.

Sports
The SWAC sponsors championship competitions in eight men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports :

Facilities

 * Alabama State will open its new stadium in November 2012. Early-season home games will remain at the Cramton Bowl.

Football
All games have been played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.