Sun Belt Conference

Sun Belt Conference
Sun Belt Conference logo
Established	1976
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	11 (10 beginning July 1, 2013)
Sports fielded	19 (men's: 9; women's: 10)
Region	Southern United States
Headquarters	New Orleans, Louisiana
Commissioner	Karl Benson (since 2012)
Website	sunbeltsports.org
Locations
Sun Belt Conference locations

The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The 11 member institutions of the Sun Belt are distributed primarily across the southern United States.

History

File:SunBeltLocations3.png

Locations of Sun Belt Conference member institutions for the 2012-2013 year.

The Sun Belt Conference was founded on August 4, 1976 with New Orleans, South Alabama, Georgia State, Jacksonville, Charlotte and South Florida. Over the next ten years the conference would add WKU, Old Dominion, UAB, and Virginia Commonwealth. Also, New Orleans was forced out of the league in 1980 due to its small on-campus gymnasium that the Conference did not deem suitable for Conference competition. UNO competed as an independent before joining the newly-formed American South Conference in 1987.

After the 1990–91 basketball season, all members of the Sun Belt except WKU, South Alabama, Jacksonville, and incoming member Arkansas–Little Rock departed for other conferences. The Sun Belt then merged with the American South Conference, made up of Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana–Lafayette), Texas–Pan American, New Orleans, Lamar, and UCF. Although the American South was the larger conference, the merged league retained the Sun Belt name. UCF left the league following the 1991-92 academic year. Lamar, Texas–Pan American and Jacksonville departed at the end of the 1997-98 academic year. FIU joined in 1998, and Denver was added in 1999. Louisiana Tech departed after the 2000-01 academic year.

The conference did not sponsor football until 2001, when the league added former Big West Conference members New Mexico State and North Texas and then-independent Middle Tennessee State as full members and added independent Louisiana–Monroe and Big West member Idaho as "football only" members. Another Big West school, Utah State, was added as a "football only" member in 2003, then departed in 2005 with Idaho and New Mexico State for the WAC.

In 2004, Troy became a "football only" member until 2005 when they joined the conference in all sports. In 2006, Louisiana–Monroe joined the conference as a member in all sports when it left the Southland Conference, and Florida Atlantic joined the conference in all sports.

On November 11, 2009, New Orleans announced they were investigating a move from Division I to the NCAA's Division III. In order to maintain athletic scholarships, UNO instead opted for entry into Division II. On April 20, 2011, UNO officially received transition approval from NCAA Division II Membership Committee. (Since then, UNO has decided to remain in Division I and has since agreed to join the Southland Conference.)

Florida Atlantic joined the league as a member in all sports on July 1, 2006. WKU joined the Sun Belt Conference for football in 2009 after its Board of Regents voted to upgrade the school's football program to Division I FBS.

On April 9, 2012, Georgia State, one of the founding members of the Sun Belt Conference, announced that it would be returning to the conference as a full member in 2013. As part of the move, the football program will begin a transition from FCS to FBS in the 2012 season; it will play a full Sun Belt schedule as a "transitional" FBS member in 2013, and become a full FBS member, with bowl eligibility, in 2014. On May 2, 2012, Texas State announced it would leave the WAC after just one year and join the Sun Belt in July 2013 to begin play for the 2013-14 academic year. At the press conference to announce Texas State's addition, Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson also hinted that more changes could be on the way for the conference. On May 25, 2012, the conference announced that the Texas–Arlington had accepted an invitation to join the conference and would become a full member by 2013.

Member schools

Current members

The Sun Belt has 11 members for the 2012–2013 academic year. All of the full members compete in football except for Arkansas–Little Rock, the Sun Belt's lone non-football member.

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	U.S. News Ranking	Joined
East Division
Florida Atlantic University	Owls	Boca Raton, Florida	1961	Public	29,290	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	2005 (football) 2006 (all sports)
Florida International University	Panthers	Miami, Florida	1965	Public	47,966	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	1998
Middle Tennessee State University	Blue Raiders	Murfreesboro, Tennessee	1911	Public	24,660	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	2000
South Alabama !University of South Alabama	Jaguars	Mobile, Alabama	1963	Public	15,007	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	1976
Troy University	Trojans	Troy, Alabama	1887	Public	29,689	&1000000000000033500000067 (Regional: South)	2004 (football) 2005 (all sports)
Western Kentucky University	Hilltoppers (men's) Lady Toppers (women's)	Bowling Green, Kentucky	1906	Public	18,391	&1000000000000030100000033 (Regional: South)	1982
West Division
Arkansas Little Rock !University of Arkansas at Little Rock	Trojans	Little Rock, Arkansas	1927	Public	13,176	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	1991
Arkansas State !Arkansas State University	Red Wolves	Jonesboro, Arkansas	1909	Public	13,415	&1000000000000032400000056 (Regional: South)	1991
Louisiana Lafayette !University of Louisiana at Lafayette	Ragin' Cajuns	Lafayette, Louisiana	1900	Public	16,885	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	1991
Louisiana Monroe !University of Louisiana at Monroe	Warhawks	Monroe, Louisiana	1931	Public	8,632	&1000000000000035900000091 (Regional: South)	2001 (football) 2006 (all sports)
North Texas !University of North Texas	Mean Green	Denton, Texas	1890	Public	35,722	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	2000

Departing members in pink.

• North Texas, FIU, Florida Atlantic, and Middle Tennessee will join Conference USA on July 1, 2013.
• Arkansas–Little Rock is the only non-football member in the conference.

Future members

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	U.S. News Ranking	Joins
Georgia State University	Panthers	Atlanta, Georgia	1913	Public	32,000	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	1976 2013
Texas State University–San Marcos	Bobcats	San Marcos, Texas	1899	Public	34,113	&1000000000000031400000046 (Regional: West)	2013
University of Texas at Arlington	Mavericks	Arlington, Texas	1895	Public	33,788	&10000000000000205000000205–270 (National)	2013

• Georgia State will become an all-sports member, including football, in 2013. However, as a transitional FBS school, it will not be eligible for the conference title, or for postseason play, until 2014.
• Texas–Arlington will be a non-football member.

Former members

Institution	Nickname	Location	Joined	Left	Current Conference
UAB !University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)	Blazers	Birmingham, Alabama	1979	1991	C-USA
UCF !University of Central Florida (UCF)	Knights	Orlando, Florida	1991	1992	C-USA (Big East in 2013)
Denver !University of Denver	Pioneers	Denver, Colorado	1999	2012	WAC (The Summit League in 2013)
Jacksonville University	Dolphins	Jacksonville, Florida	1976	1998	Atlantic Sun (A-Sun)
Lamar University	Cardinals	Beaumont, Texas	1991	1998	Southland
Louisiana Tech University	Bulldogs (men's) Lady Techsters (women's)	Ruston, Louisiana	1991	2001	WAC (C-USA in 2013)
New Mexico State University	Aggies	Las Cruces, New Mexico	2000	2005	WAC
New Orleans !University of New Orleans	Privateers	New Orleans, Louisiana	1976 1991	1980 2010	NCAA D-I Independent (Southland in 2013)
Charlotte !University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte)	49ers	Charlotte, North Carolina	1976	1991	Atlantic 10 (A-10) (C-USA in 2013)
Old Dominion University	Monarchs	Norfolk, Virginia	1982	1991	CAA (C-USA in 2013)
South Florida !University of South Florida	Bulls	Tampa, Florida	1976	1991	Big East
Texas Pan American !University of Texas–Pan American	Broncs	Edinburg, Texas	1991	1998	Great West (WAC in 2013)
VCU !Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)	Rams	Richmond, Virginia	1979	1991	Atlantic 10 (A-10)

Former affiliate members

Institution	Nickname	Location	Joined	Left	Current Conference	Sun Belt Sport
University of Idaho	Vandals	Moscow, Idaho	2001	2005	WAC (Independent in 2013)	football
Utah State University	Aggies	Logan, Utah	2003	2005	WAC (Mountain West in 2013)	football

Membership timeline

Full members (non-football) Full members (all sports) Associate members (football-only)

Commissioners

• Vic Bubas (1976–1990)
• Jim Lessig (1990–1991)
• Craig Thompson (1991–1998)
• Wright Waters (1999–2012)
• Karl Benson (2012–present)

In addition to the five Sun Belt commissioners, three future league leaders served on the Sun Belt staff prior to becoming conference commissioners, including Doug Elgin (Missouri Valley), John Iamarino (Northeast, Southern) and Tom Burnett (Southland).

On October 12, 2011, ESPN reported that Wright Waters would retire, effective July 1, 2012. On February 15, 2012, Karl Benson was hired as the new commissioner of the Sun Belt, after having been the commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference for 17 years. Waters would later move his departure date to March 15, allowing Benson to take over at that time.

Sports

The Sun Belt Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Future member Georgia State is an Associate member for men's and women's cross country and track and field.

Teams in Sun Belt Conference competition

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	11	-
Basketball	11	11
Cross Country	12	12
Football	10	-
Golf	10	10
Soccer	-	11
Softball	-	9
Swimming & Diving	-	5
Tennis	6	11
Track and Field (Indoor)	12	12
Track and Field (Outdoor)	12	12
Volleyball	-	9

Football

File:AmericanFootball current event.svg For the current season, see 2012 Sun Belt Conference football season

Team	First Season	All-Time Record	All-Time Win %	Bowl Appearances	Bowl Record	Conference Titles	Stadium	Head Coach
Arkansas State	1911	426–455–37	.484	2	0–2	9	Liberty Bank Stadium	Bryan Harsin
Florida Atlantic	2001	58–74	.439	2	2–0	1	FAU Stadium	Carl Pelini
FIU	2002	39–79	.331	2	1–1	1	FIU Stadium	Mario Cristobal
Georgia State	2010	10–23	.303	0	0–0	0	Georgia Dome	Trent Miles
Louisiana–Lafayette	1902	484–515–31	.485	1	1–0	14	Cajun Field	Mark Hudspeth
Louisiana–Monroe	1951	278–367–8	.432	0	0–0	5	Malone Stadium	Todd Berry
Middle Tennessee	1911	527–394–28	.570	3	1–2	20	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium	Rick Stockstill
North Texas	1913	476–459–35	.509	6	1–5	24	Apogee Stadium	Dan McCarney
South Alabama	2009	23–4	.852	0	0–0	0	Ladd Peebles Stadium	Joey Jones
Texas State	1904	481–392–28	.549	0	0–0	0	Jim Wacker Field at Bobcat Stadium	Dennis Franchione
Troy	1909	494–368–27	.571	5	2–3	20	Veterans Memorial Stadium	Larry Blakeney
WKU	1908	517–365–31	.583	2	2–0	11	Houchens Industries – L. T. Smith Stadium	Bobby Petrino

Sun Belt champions

Season	Champion	Conference Record
2001	Middle Tennessee	5–1
	North Texas
2002	North Texas	6–0
2003	North Texas	7–0
2004	North Texas	7–0
2005	Arkansas State	5–2
	Louisiana–Lafayette
	Louisiana–Monroe
2006	Middle Tennessee	6–1
	Troy
2007	Florida Atlantic	6–1
	Troy
2008	Troy	6–1
2009	Troy	8–0
2010	FIU	6–2
	Troy
2011	Arkansas State	8–0
2012	Arkansas State	7–1

Bowl games

Pick	Name	Location	Opposing Conference	Opposing Pick
1	GoDaddy.com Bowl	Mobile, Alabama	MAC	2
2	New Orleans Bowl	New Orleans, Louisiana	C-USA	5/6

The Sun Belt has secondary tie-ins to serve as an alternate in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl or Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl if the primary contracted participants cannot participate.

Rivalries

Football rivalries involving Sun Belt teams include:

Teams		Rivalry Name	Trophy	Meetings	Record	Series Leader	Current Streak
Arkansas State	Louisiana–Monroe	Trail of Tears Classic	–	33	19–14	Arkansas State	Arkansas State won 2
Arkansas State	Memphis	Paint Bucket Bowl	–	55	23–27–5	Memphis	Arkansas State won 1
Florida Atlantic	FIU	Shula Bowl	Don Shula Award	10	8–2	Florida Atlantic	FIU won 2
Louisiana–Lafayette	Lamar	–	Sabine Shoe	33	22–11	Louisiana–Lafayette	Louisiana–Lafayette won 3
Louisiana–Lafayette	Louisiana–Monroe	Battle on the Bayou	Wooden Boot	47	24–23	Louisiana–Lafayette	Louisiana–Lafayette won 4
Louisiana–Lafayette	McNeese State	–	Cajun Crown	37	15–20–2	McNeese State	McNeese State won 1
Louisiana–Lafayette	Southeastern Louisiana	–	Cypress Mug	39	19–17–3	Louisiana–Lafayette	Southeastern Louisiana won 1
Middle Tennessee	Troy	Battle for the Palladium	Palladium	20	12–8	Middle Tennessee	Middle Tennessee won 1
North Texas	SMU	Safeway Bowl	–	33	4–28–1	SMU	SMU won 1
Texas State	Nicholls State	Battle for the Paddle	Paddle	30	14–16	Nicholls State	Texas State won 1
WKU	Eastern Kentucky	Battle of the Bluegrass	–	9	46–35–3	WKU	WKU won 2

Basketball

Main articles: Sun Belt Men's Basketball Tournament and Sun Belt Women's Basketball Tournament

See also: Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

Season	Men's Regular Season Champion	Men's Tournament Champion	Women's Regular Season Champion	Women's Tournament Champion
1977	UNC Charlotte	UNC Charlotte	No Regular Season	No Tournament
1978	UNC Charlotte	New Orleans	No Regular Season	No Tournament
1979	South Alabama	Jacksonville	No Regular Season	No Tournament
1980	South Alabama	VCU	No Regular Season	No Tournament
1981	VCU	VCU	No Regular Season	No Tournament
1982	UAB	UAB	No Regular Season	No Tournament
1983	VCU	UAB	Old Dominion	Old Dominion
1984	VCU	UAB	Old Dominion	Old Dominion
1985	VCU	VCU	Old Dominion	Old Dominion
1986	Old Dominion	Jacksonville	WKU	WKU
1987	WKU	UAB	Old Dominion	Old Dominion
1988	UNC Charlotte	UNC Charlotte	Old Dominion	WKU
1989	South Alabama	South Alabama	Old Dominion	WKU
1990	UAB	South Florida	UAB	Old Dominion
1991	South Alabama	South Alabama	UAB	WKU
1992	Southwestern Louisiana	Southwestern Louisiana	WKU	WKU
1993	New Orleans	WKU	WKU	WKU
1994	WKU	Southwestern Louisiana	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech
1995	WKU	WKU	Louisiana Tech	WKU
1996	Arkansas–Little Rock	New Orleans	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech
1997	South Alabama	South Alabama	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech
1998	South Alabama	South Alabama	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech
1999	Louisiana Tech	Arkansas State	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech
2000	Louisiana–Lafayette	Louisiana–Lafayette	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech
2001	WKU	WKU	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech
2002	WKU	WKU	FIU	FIU
2003	WKU	WKU	WKU	WKU
2004	Vacated	Vacated	South Alabama	Middle Tennessee
2005	Denver	Vacated	WKU	Middle Tennessee
2006	WKU	South Alabama	WKU	Middle Tennessee
2007	South Alabama	North Texas	Middle Tennessee	Middle Tennessee
2008	South Alabama	WKU	WKU	WKU
2009	WKU	WKU	Middle Tennessee	Middle Tennessee
2010	Troy	North Texas	Arkansas–Little Rock	Middle Tennessee
2011	Florida Atlantic	Arkansas–Little Rock	Middle Tennessee Arkansas–Little Rock	Arkansas–Little Rock
2012	Middle Tennessee	WKU	Middle Tennessee	Arkansas–Little Rock

Baseball

Main article: Sun Belt Baseball Tournament

The Sun Belt Conference has sponsored an annual baseball tournament to determine the conference winner since 1978. South Alabama has won the most championships, at 11.

School	Tourney Titles	Title Years
South Alabama	11	1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005
New Orleans	3	1978, 1979, 2007
South Florida	3	1982, 1986, 1990
FIU	2	1999, 2010
Lamar	2	1993, 1995
Middle Tennessee	2	2003, 2009
WKU	2	2004, 2008
Alabama–Birmingham	1	1991
Arkansas–Little Rock	1	2011
Arkansas State	1	1994
Jacksonville	1	1989
Southwestern Louisiana	1	1998
Louisiana-Monroe	1	2012
New Mexico State	1	2002
Old Dominion	1	1985
Troy	1	2006
Virginia Commonwealth	1	1988

• Teams in bold represent current conference members.

Season	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion
1978	New Orleans	New Orleans
1979	New Orleans	New Orleans
1980	South Alabama	South Alabama
1981	South Alabama	South Alabama
1982	South Florida	South Florida
1983	South Alabama	South Alabama
1984	South Alabama	South Alabama
1985	Old Dominion	Old Dominion
1986	South Florida	South Florida
1987	South Alabama	South Alabama
1988	Virginia Commonwealth	Virginia Commonwealth
1989	Jacksonville	Jacksonville
1990	South Florida	South Florida
1991	Alabama–Birmingham	Alabama–Birmingham
1992	South Alabama	South Alabama
1993	Lamar	Lamar
1994	Arkansas State	Arkansas State
1995	Jacksonville	Lamar
1996	South Alabama	South Alabama
1997	Southwestern Louisiana	South Alabama
1998	South Alabama	Southwestern Louisiana
1999	South Alabama	Florida International
2000	New Orleans	South Alabama
2001	Middle Tennessee South Alabama	South Alabama
2002	South Alabama	New Mexico State
2003	South Alabama	Middle Tennessee
2004	Middle Tennessee South Alabama	WKU
2005	Louisiana–Lafayette	South Alabama
2006	Troy	Troy
2007	Louisiana–Lafayette	New Orleans
2008	Louisiana–Monroe	WKU
2009	Middle Tennessee WKU	Middle Tennessee
2010	Florida Atlantic Louisiana–Lafayette	Florida International
2011	Troy	Arkansas–Little Rock
2012	Florida Atlantic	Louisiana–Monroe

Championships

NCAA champions

The following current Sun Belt teams have won NCAA Division I team championships:

School	NCAA titles	Sport	Years
Louisiana–Monroe	1	Football (Division I-AA)	1987
North Texas	4	Men's golf	1949, 1950, 1951, 1952
WKU	1	Football (Division I-AA)	2002

Facilities

School	Football Stadium	Capacity	Basketball Arena	Capacity	Baseball Stadium	Capacity
Arkansas–Little Rock	Non-football school		Jack Stephens Center	5,600	Gary Hogan Field	2,550
Arkansas State	Liberty Bank Stadium	33,410	Convocation Center	10,563	Tomlinson Stadium–Kell Field	1,000
Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium	30,000	FAU Arena	5,000	FAU Baseball Stadium	3,000
FIU	FIU Stadium	23,500	U.S. Century Bank Arena	5,000	FIU Baseball Stadium	2,000
Georgia State	Georgia Dome	71,228	GSU Sports Arena	4,500	GSU Baseball Complex	1,092
Louisiana–Lafayette	Cajun Field	31,000	Cajundome (men) Earl K. Long Gymnasium (women)	12,068 1,500	M.L. Tigue Moore Field	3,755
Louisiana–Monroe	Malone Stadium	30,427	Fant–Ewing Coliseum	7,085	Warhawk Field	1,800
Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium	31,000	Murphy Center	11,802	Reese Smith Jr. Field	2,600
North Texas	Apogee Stadium	30,850	UNT Coliseum	10,032	Non-baseball school
South Alabama	Ladd Peebles Stadium	40,646	Mitchell Center	10,041	Eddie Stanky Field	4,500
Texas State	Bobcat Stadium	30,000	Strahan Coliseum	7,200	Bobcat Baseball Stadium	2,000
Texas–Arlington	Non-football school		College Park Center	7,000	Clay Gould Ballpark	1,600
Troy	Veterans Memorial Stadium	30,000	Trojan Arena	6,000	Riddle–Pace Field	2,000
Western Kentucky	Houchens Industries – L. T. Smith Stadium	22,000	E. A. Diddle Arena	7,326	Nick Denes Field	1,500

Notes:

• Arkansas–Little Rock normally plays its home basketball games on campus but occasionally plays at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
• Although the Georgia Dome has a football capacity of 71,228, Georgia State normally uses a configuration with a capacity of only 28,155.
• Louisiana–Lafayette women's basketball team primarily plays at Earl K. Long Gymnasium. Doubleheaders with the men's basketball team are played at the Cajundome.

External links

• Official website