South Atlantic Conference

South Atlantic Conference
SAC
Established	1975
Association	NCAA
Division	Division II
Members	11 (12 in 2019)
Sports fielded	20 men's: 10 women's: 10
Region	Southeastern United States
Headquarters	Rock Hill, South Carolina
Commissioner	Patrick Britz (since 2008)
Website	thesac.com
Locations

The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the southeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level. The SAC was founded in 1975 as a football-only conference and became an all-sports conference beginning with the 1989–90 season.

The league currently sponsors nine sports for men (football, cross country, soccer, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, outdoor track & field, tennis and golf) and nine sports for women (volleyball, cross country, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, outdoor track & field, softball, tennis and golf).

History

South Atlantic Conference

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Location of SAC members: current and future

The distant forerunner of the South Atlantic Conference was the North State Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NSIAC). The NSIAC was formed when the "Little Six", as it was called, broke from the North Carolina Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1930. The charter members included Appalachian State Teachers College (now Appalachian State University), Lenoir–Rhyne College (now Lenoir–Rhyne University), Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), Catawba College, Guilford College, Elon College (now Elon University), and High Point College (now High Point University).

The North State continued to grow over the next 30 years, adding Western Carolina University (1933), East Carolina University (1947) and Pfeiffer College (now Pfeiffer University) (1960). A name change became necessary when the league accepted Newberry College as its first member from the state of South Carolina in 1961. The league took on the name Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC) on May 20 of that year.

The CIAC saw several changes in the following years as East Carolina withdrew from the league in 1962. Appalachian State and Western Carolina followed in 1971 and 1976. All three landed in the Southern Conference (SoCon).

The South Atlantic Conference was founded in 1975 solely as a football conference. The league received its name from a contest in which Kurt Brenneman of Greensboro, North Carolina became the first to submit the SAC-8 moniker.

The SAC-8 consisted of Carson–Newman College (now Carson–Newman University), Catawba College, Elon College, Gardner–Webb College (now Gardner–Webb University), Lenoir–Rhyne College, Mars Hill College (now Mars Hill University), Newberry College, and Presbyterian College. Dr. Fred Bentley, of Mars Hill College, was named league president for its inaugural year, by a vote of the member institutions.

After the first season of play in the SAC-8, the Bears of Lenoir–Rhyne College captured the first football title.

In 1989, the league's 15th year of operation, the South Atlantic Conference became a comprehensive, multi-sport conference. Doug Echols was named the league's first Commissioner. That year the South Atlantic Conference sponsored 10 sports – football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's soccer, volleyball, men's golf, men's and women's tennis. Later the conference grew to 14 championship sports by adding women's soccer (1990), men's and women's cross country (1993) and women's golf (1999). In 2013, the sports of men's and women's lacrosse and men's and women's track and field were added, increasing the number of championship sports to 18.

The South Atlantic Conference was composed of the same eight member institutions from 1975–76 until 1988–89, when Wingate College (now Wingate University) replaced Newberry College as the eighth member institution. Newberry College later re-joined the conference in the 1996–97 season.

In July 1998, Tusculum College was admitted as a member of the league, and Lincoln Memorial University began play in the conference in the 2006–07 academic year. Brevard College was admitted to the SAC as a provisional member in 2007 and a full member in 2008.

In 2008, Echols retired after serving as Commissioner for 19 years and Patrick Britz was hired as the new Commissioner.

In July 2010, Anderson University became the league's 10th member. Three years later in July 2013, Coker College and Queens University of Charlotte joined the conference.^[1] On April 13, 2018, UVA-Wise announced that it was joining the South Atlantic Conference for the 2019-20 season.^[2]

Member schools

Membership timeline

 Full member (all sports)   Full member (non-football)   Associate member (football-only)   Associate member (sport) 

Sports

Conference sports

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	Y
Basketball	Y	Y
Cross Country	Y	Y
Football	Y
Golf	Y	Y
Lacrosse	Y	Y
Soccer	Y	Y
Softball		Y
Tennis	Y	Y
Track & Field Indoor	Y	Y
Track & Field Outdoor	Y	Y
Volleyball		Y

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Tennis	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Total SAC Sports
Anderson	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Carson–Newman	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Catawba	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Coker	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Lenoir–Rhyne	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Lincoln Memorial	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Mars Hill	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Newberry	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Queens		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Tusculum	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	9
Wingate	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Totals	10	11	11	8	11	9	11	11	10	11	103
Future Members
UVA–Wise	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y			Y			6
Affiliate Members
Limestone				Y							1

• Queens — Baseball begins play in 2018.^[3]

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Softball	Tennis	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Volleyball	Total SAC Sports
Anderson	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Carson–Newman	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Catawba	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Coker	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Lenoir–Rhyne	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Lincoln Memorial	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Mars Hill	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Newberry	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Queens	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Tusculum	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	9
Wingate	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Totals	11	11	11	9	11	11	11	10	11	11	107
Future Members
UVA–Wise	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y			Y	7

Conference stadia and arenas

References

External links

• Official website