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ABILENE – After an exhaustive and intensive process reaching back almost two years, Abilene Christian University's venture into NCAA Division I athletics became a reality Saturday when ACU officially accepted the Southland Conference's invitation to re-join the league it helped launch almost 50 years ago.
ACU will join the league July 1, 2013, which means the Wildcats will begin playing NCAA Division I athletics in the 2013-14 school year. Because of previous schedule commitments, the football team will begin Southland play in 2014, but all other sports will begin Division I competition with the 2013-14 school year.
“On behalf of our board, faculty, staff, students and fans, we are pleased to return to and help make the Southland one of the strongest FCS conferences in the nation,” ACU president Dr. Phil Schubert said. “We are honored to be partners with some familiar and new friends in the league, and to continue to fulfill our own unique mission alongside them. We are serious about achieving academic and athletics excellence, and confident that Division I is the best place to continue our strong commitment to both.”
ACU administrators began a thorough study of the university's athletics program in 2010, facilitating numerous discussion forums among faculty and staff while looking into the prospect of moving to NCAA Division I status. The evaluation process was completed late Friday night when the ACU Board of Trustees and administration made the decision to accept the Southland's invitation.
The addition of ACU increases the membership in the Southland Conference to 14 universities: Abilene Christian, Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, McNeese State, New Orleans, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Oral Roberts, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
ACU, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, New Orleans and Oral Roberts have all been added in the last year to help the league compensate for losing Texas-Arlington, Texas-San Antonio and Texas State to other conferences. Abilene Christian was a founding member of the Southland in 1963, along with Trinity, Arkansas State, Lamar and Texas-Arlington. Currently, only Lamar is still a member of the league.
When it returns to the league, ACU will participate in 16 of the Southland's 17 sponsored championships, including men's basketball, baseball, cross country, football, golf, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track and field. The Wildcats will compete in women's basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, and volleyball.
“The announcement of Abilene Christian's return to the Southland Conference culminates a thoughtful and deliberate membership process for our league,” Southland commissioner Tom Burnett said. “As with other membership additions, the Board of Directors methodically researched those institutions that clearly enhance the Southland. Abilene Christian is an accomplished institution, excelling in academics and athletics, and is well-positioned to succeed in Division I and the Southland Conference. We are thrilled to welcome one of our charter members back to the league and look forward to a great future together.”
ACU was a member of the Southland from 1963-73 before moving to NAIA and the Lone Star Conference prior to the 1973-74 school year. ACU has been a member of the LSC for 39 years with the 2012-13 athletic year marking its 40th and final year in the LSC.
“The Southland Conference Board of Directors enthusiastically welcomes Abilene Christian University as our newest member,” said Dr. Baker Pattillo, Southland board chair and the president of Stephen F. Austin State University. “We are honored to learn of the institution's acceptance of our offer, we appreciate the approval from the ACU Board of Trustees, and we've admired the leadership of president Dr. Phil Schubert and the diligent work of athletics director
Jared Mosley throughout this process. The Southland presidents look forward to a beneficial partnership with ACU and its athletics program.”
ACU takes one of the nation's most-accomplished intercollegiate athletics programs into the Southland. The Wildcats have won 64 team national championships since 1952, including 59 in men's and women track and field. With 57 NCAA national championships to its credit (32 in men's track and field, 22 in women's track and field, two in men's cross country and one in men's golf), ACU ranks fourth nationally in total number of national team championships behind only UCLA, Stanford and USC.
Since joining the LSC in 1973, ACU has captured 163 team championships in league competition. The Wildcats won three LSC titles and three NCAA regional championships in 2011-12. ACU is the only NCAA Division II member to finish in the top 15 of the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup – awarded to the top athletics program in each division – in all 17 years the award has existed.
“We look forward to wrapping up our 40 years in the Lone Star Conference this season and we are proud of our history in NCAA Division II and the LSC,” Mosley said. “We've enjoyed great rivalries with West Texas A&M, Angelo State, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas A&M-Commerce and others, and we'll always have deep respect for those institutions, the competition we shared and the talented student-athletes who will always be a part of that heritage.”
TIMELINE FOR MOVE TO NCAA DIVISION I STATUS
Academic
Year |
Reclassification
Year |
NCAA Competition Status |
|
2012-13 |
Current Year |
• Eligible for Lone Star Conference post-season competition in all sports
• Eligible for NCAA Division II post-season competition in all sports
• Submit NCAA application and fee prior to June 1, 2013
• Withdraw from Lone Star Conference by June 30, 2013 |
|
* 2013-14 |
YEAR ONE |
• Not eligible for Southland post-season competition in any sport in which
the winner is the league's automatic qualifier for an NCAA?championship
• Not eligible for NCAA Division I post-season competition in any sport
• Not eligible for NCAA Division II post-season competition in any sport |
|
* 2014-15 |
YEAR TWO |
• Division I “counter” for scheduling purposes
• Division I RPI institution as of 2014-15 (and thereafter)
• Division I minimum scheduling requirements must be met as of 2014-15
(and thereafter)
• Not eligible for Southland post-season competition in any sport in which the
winner is the league's automatic qualifier for an NCAA?championship
• Not eligible for NCAA Division I post-season competition in any sport |
|
* 2015-16 |
YEAR THREE |
• Not eligible for Southland post-season competition in any sport in which
the winner is the league's automatic qualifier for an NCAA?championship
• Not eligible for NCAA Division I post-season competition in any sport |
|
* 2016-17 |
YEAR FOUR |
• Not eligible for Southland post-season competition in any sport in which
the winner is the league's automatic qualifier for an NCAA?championship
• Not eligible for NCAA Division I post-season competition in any sport |
|
* 2017-18 |
YEAR FIVE
NCAA Division I member
(pending NCAA approval) |
• Eligible for Southland Conference post-season competition in all sports
• Eligible for NCAA Division I post-season competition in all sports |
* NOTE: ACU is not eligible for Southland Conference post-season competition for any sport in which the winner is the league's automatic qualifier for an NCAA championship (baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball, football, women's soccer, softball, men's tennis,
women's tennis and volleyball) . ACU will be eligible for cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field conference championships beginning in 2013-14 and can participate in the conference golf tournament in 2014, but only as unattached entries. ACU will not be eligible
for the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA national golf tournament. In addition, ACU is immediately eligible to win regular-season conference championships in every sport. |
