Southern Conference
The Southern Conference ( SoCon ) is a league founded in 1921, the American College Sports of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA) and part of Division I of the NCAA. The Southern Conference is located in the southeastern United States, the participating universities the SoCon lie in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Seat of the SoCon is the city in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Find competitions take place in 19 different sports, men enter into 10 women in nine of them on. The College Football teams ( American football) the Southern Conference play at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision, the former I- AA. It is among the oldest of the major university sports leagues of the United States, only the Big Ten (1896 ), Missouri Valley ( 1907) and the Southwestern Athletic (1920 ) Conferences can look back on a long history.
The Southern Conference is one of the stronger leagues of college football within the division and is part of the midfield within the various basketball leagues. The SoCon attracted nationwide attention after the sporting achievements of recent years, including the three-time football champion of the NCAA Division I, the Appalachian State Mountaineers and the Davidson Wildcats, who entered in the Elite Eight of the championship in men's basketball in Division I.
History
The SoCon was founded on February 25, 1921 in Atlanta ( Georgia), when 14 members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association seceded. The founding members were the University of Alabama, Auburn University, Clemson University, University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Kentucky, University of Maryland, College Park, Mississippi A & M (now Mississippi State University), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, University of Tennessee, University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Washington and Lee University. 1922 joined six other universities, the University of Florida, Louisiana State University, University of Mississippi, University of South Carolina, Tulane University and Vanderbilt University. In the following years, joined the University of the South (1923 ), the Virginia Military Institute (1925 ), Duke University (1929) and the Wake Forest University (1936 ) on.
The Southern Conference has produced two more big leagues. In 1933, 13 universities of the Appalachians split south and west from (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Sewanee, Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt ) to put together the Southeastern Conference (SEC) form. 1953 left another seven schools ( Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest ) the SoCon to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC ) to set up.
Other former members of the Southern Conference includes the East Carolina University ( 1964-76 ), East Tennessee State University ( 1978-2005 ), George Washington University ( 1936-70 ), Marshall University ( 1976-97 ), University of Richmond ( 1936-76 ), College of William and Mary ( 1936-77 ) and West Virginia University ( 1950-68 ).
Sports
The Southern Conference organized competitions in 19 sports, the men take it on in the sports of baseball, basketball, cross country, college football, golf, soccer, tennis, track and field, track and field ( indoor ) and wrestling. For the women's teams of the universities offers the SoCon competition in the sports of basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, athletics (Hall ) and volleyball.
Members
The Conference grew with the admission Samford on 1 July 2008 to 12 members. The number of teams competing in the College Football rose to nine. The group of men teams in the sports of basketball and volleyball were divided into divisions within the Conference: To the northern division includes Appalachian State, Chattanooga, Elon, Samford, UNC Greensboro and Western Carolina, in the Southern Division play The Citadel, College of Charleston, Davidson, Furman, Georgia Southern and Wofford.
Associate Members
In the area of rings another member of the Southern Conference is connected, the competitions in other sports are played in the Big South Conference.