The Early Years

The Sun Belt Conference was founded on August 4, 1976 with New Orleans, South Alabama, Georgia State, Jacksonville, North Carolina-Charlotte and South Florida participating in four men's sports: basketball, golf, soccer and tennis.

The Sun Belt Conference began as a home for some of the nation's best independent men's basketball programs.  The six team league didn't need long to prove that it was an emerging power in college athletics. 

In the first season of the league, former member North Carolina-Charlotte reached the pinnacle of collegiate basketball by playing in the Final Four.  Along the way Charlotte defeated Central Michigan, Syracuse and Michigan to advance to the Final Four.  Their miraculous run ends with a 51-49 loss to eventual national champion Marquette.  Star forward Cedric Maxwell is selected in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics.

Maxwell was the first in a long line of great Sun Belt men's basketball stars, as 11 total players have gone on to be first-round selections in the NBA Draft.  Those draftees include Dee Brown (Jacksonville - Boston Celtics, 1990), Ervin Johnson (New Orleans - Seattle Sonics, 1993), Derek Fisher (UALR - Los Angeles Lakers, 1996) and Courtney Lee (Western Kentucky University - Orlando Magic, 2008). 

In addition to its early found success in men's basketball, the Sun Belt Conference proved to be a leader in the evolution of the game as well. 

In 1978 New Orleans defeated South Alabama, 22-20, in the conference tournament championship in a "slowdown" game.  As a direct result of this game, the Sun Belt Conference is given approval by the NCAA to adopt a 45-second shot clock for use in conference basketball games for the 1978-79 season.  The shot clock has had an everlasting impact on the game of basketball and the Sun Belt Conference is noted for its conception. 

1978 was also the beginning of new way of formatting the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and the NCAA announced the Sun Belt Conference would be one of 24 conferences in the nation that will be given automatic entries into future NCAA basketball national championship playoffs.  The NCAA also declares the Sun Belt as one of 16 conferences who will receive a first-round bye in the 1979 tournament.

Hall of Fame Head Coach Gene Bartow led a number of impressive Alabama-Birmingham men's basketball squads during the early 1980s with teams that would compete in seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments with stops in the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen along the way.  UAB joined the league along with Virginia Commonwealth in 1979.  Western Kentucky University and Old Dominion would later join the league in 1981. 

Further showing its trendsetting nature and evolution, the conference becomes one of the first collegiate organizations to form its own in-house regional television network with conference game-of-the-week telecasts beginning in January 1978.  The next year, the Sun Belt Conference becomes known as a leader in college sports broadcasting by being the first conference to sign a long-term contract with the ESPN cable network.  Since that time the Sun Belt Conference has had every men's basketball championship game broadcasted live on ESPN - making it the longest partnership between ESPN and any collegiate athletic conference.

Aside from men's basketball, the Sun Belt Conference would add additional sports during the first 10 years of the league. 

Old Dominion won the first-ever Sun Belt Conference women's basketball tournament in 1983, defeating WKU 78-67.  ODU then defeat St. John's, Maryland, and Penn State to reach the NCAA Final Four.  Future Olympian Anne Donovan of Old Dominion became the first women's recipient of the Naismith Trophy, recognizing the nation's finest player.

The Sun Belt became the first conference to place two teams in the women's basketball NCAA Final Four as Old Dominion and Western Kentucky earn their way to Austin, Texas in 1985.  WKU reaches the Final Four by defeating Middle Tennessee, Texas, and Mississippi, while Old Dominion defeats Syracuse, North Carolina State and Ohio State.  WKU loses its semi-final match up to Georgia (91-78), but ODU defeats Northeast Louisiana (now Louisiana-Monroe) in the semi-finals and Georgia (70-65) for the national championship.

With trips to the Final Four in hand and groundbreaking television deals the Sun Belt Conference proved early on that success and progress were going to be the backbone of the conference.  But that was just the beginning for the league.  Future decades had change in mind.  Changes sparked new members, additional sports and eventually the evolution of the Sun Belt Conference as a member of the Bowl Championship Series.

Sun Belt and American South Merger

American South Conference members Arkansas State, Central Florida, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, New Orleans, Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) and Texas-Pan American join UALR and existing Sun Belt Conference members Jacksonville, South Alabama and Western Kentucky when the two conferences merge in 1991. 

The newfound alignment of the league had little problems replicating the success of the early years of the league.  In fact, teams from the Sun Belt Conference would once again reach the pinnacle of success during the 1990s.

Louisiana Tech and WKU provided some of the most noted women's basketball teams of all time during the decade.  Both programs would reach the national championship game in the Women's Final Four.  Louisiana Tech would make multiple appearances in the Women's Final Four during the 1990s.  In 1993, Arkansas State's women's basketball team defeated George Washington, Marquette and SMU to win the WNIT Tournament.

WKU would also add to its men's basketball legacy in the early 90's with multiple trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 and postseason rankings in the national polls.  New Orleans also strung together a number of notable seasons in postseason men's basketball berths.  Tim Floyd is named Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 1993 after the Privateers reach No. 17 in the national rankings.

The 1990s also saw the emergence of the Sun Belt Conference as a power in college baseball.  In fact, the Sun Belt Conference has sent multiple teams to the NCAA tournament each year since 1988.  The 21-year streak of having two or more teams reach NCAA play is matched by only four other conferences (ACC, Big West, SEC, Pac-10).

Formation of Sun Belt Conference Football and the 2000s

The year 2000 started off with a bang for the Sun Belt Conference as Louisiana-Lafayette's baseball team defeats No. 1 ranked South Carolina to advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.  The Ragin' Cajuns post victories against San Jose State and Clemson before finishing third overall.  Their College World Series appearance is the only one by a school while a member of the Sun Belt Conference (New Orleans made it in 1984).  Florida International, New Orleans and South Alabama also reach the NCAA post-season that year.

The most noted news of the early 2000s though was that the Sun Belt Conference began sponsoring football at the Division I-A level (now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision) in 2001 and generates an automatic bowl tie-in for its conference champion in the New Orleans Bowl.

Prior to the 2001 season only Louisiana-Lafayette had competed at the Division I-A level for the entirety of its program's history.  New members North Texas, Middle Tennessee and New Mexico State would take on the task of maturing into I-A programs along with Arkansas State and football only members Idaho and Louisiana-Monroe.

The conference's automatic berth into the New Orleans Bowl gave the league credibility, but wins would be needed to show that the league could contend at the highest level of the game.  North Texas carried that responsibility well in the early years of Sun Belt Conference football.  The Mean Green would represent the league for four consecutive seasons in the New Orleans Bowl. 

One of the first shining moments in Sun Belt football history came in the second New Orleans Bowl in 2002 when North Texas defeated Conference USA co-champion Cincinnati 24-19.

More memorable moments would soon follow, but not before the league's membership took on additional changes.  Utah State joined the league briefly as a football playing member but departed along with Idaho and New Mexico State following the 2004 season.  Troy joined the league as a football only in 2004 and would join as an all-sports member soon thereafter.  Florida Atlantic joined initially as a football only member in 2005 and would also enter competition in all sports a couple of years later.  FIU, a league member since the late 1990s, began competition in football in 2005 and WKU, a longtime league member, began competition in 2009.  Louisiana-Monroe, a founding member of the football league, would join as all-sports member as well.

As the Sun Belt Conference evolved with new members and new found success - the league earned two bowl berths for the first time in 2004 - the state of the Football Bowl Subdivision would also evolve.  The Sun Belt Conference entered the ranks of the Bowl Championship Series when the BCS restructured prior to the 2006 season. 

The Sun Belt Conference now found itself as one of 31 NCAA conferences that sponsor multiple sports, but the league was now one of only 11 to participate in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

With that lofty standing, expectations for the Sun Belt Conference are as high as ever and the league and its member institutions have consistently delivered in the past few years.

Because of its status as a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision coalition, the Sun Belt Conference has a permanent seat on the NCAA's 18-member Board of Directors. As a result, the conference has a crucial voice on some of the most pressing issues in college athletics and will always have a role in the implementation of any future NCAA legislation and guidelines.

The conference continues to utilize television to grow and promote the league and its member institutions.  The Sun Belt Conference signed a new multi-year agreement with ESPN, Inc. in January of 2009 that will result in unprecedented national coverage for the league.  Additionally, ESPN televised the conference's men's basketball championship game for the 30th straight season in 2010, marking its longest affiliation with any conference in the country.

The conference's regional television partnership with Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) and Cox Sports Television (CST) enables live telecasts of Sun Belt events to reach millions of households. The addition of volleyball, baseball and softball to the conference's television package has resulted in more national and regional television exposure for the league than at any time in its history.

The Sun Belt Conference has also partnered with JumpTV Sports, Inc. to deliver a full-service, customized, public and premium website to provide fans with a broad range of real-time information and content about the conference's athletic teams. The Sun Belt is one of the few conferences in the nation to provide video highlights and features on its website from each of the league's respective championships. This technology serves as a great recruiting tool for schools by enabling anyone in the world with internet access to view the conference's championship events.

Success has been easy to find in recent years as well. 

Over the last four seasons the Sun Belt Conference has represented itself well in the football postseason.  In fact the Sun Belt Conference boasts a winning record of 4-3 in its seven bowl appearances in the last four seasons.  With Middle Tennessee's victory in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the Sun Belt Conference has now won four bowl games in its last seven appearances. 

Since 2005 football season, the first year after conference realignment, the Sun Belt Conference ranks 6th out of 11 conferences in composite bowl game winning percentage.  In fact, the Sun Belt Conference ranks ahead of the ACC, Big Ten, Conference USA, the MAC and the WAC.

The Sun Belt Conference set an all-time league high for players selected in the NFL Draft in 2010 with seven total players selected - topping the previous record of five in 2007. The Sun Belt had more selections than Conference USA (6), the Western Athletic Conference (5) and the Mid-American Conference (4).

The world has taken notice of the Sun Belt Conference as well.  Proof of that comes as the league now has two automatic tie-ins to postseason bowl games.  The R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl recently extended its agreements with the Sun Belt Conference ensuring that a Sun Belt team will play in that bowl game through 2013 (the league has sent a team to that game every year since the game's inception in 2001).  The Sun Belt Conference also signed an agreement this past offseason with the GMAC Bowl, played annually in Mobile, Alabama, that will ensure a Sun Belt team plays in that bowl game through 2013.  The league also has secondary tie-ins with the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl, the St. Petersburg Bowl and the PapaJohns.com Bowl.

There has been no shortage of success in the league's other sports as well in recent years.

The Sun Belt Conference has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Baseball Tournament for 22 consecutive seasons.  Since 2000 the Sun Belt Conference has sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament in a season six times - that is six times in the last decade that the Sun Belt has been worthy of having three teams in the NCAA Tournament.

In women's basketball, Sun Belt Conference ranked in the top half of the final league RPI rankings for the 2009-10 season - making it the 12th consecutive season that the Sun Belt Conference has placed in the top half of league RPI.  Most impressively In six of those 12 seasons, Sun Belt Conference women's basketball has placed in the national top 10 for RPI.  The Sun Belt Conference has also sent multiple teams to the Women's NCAA Basketball Championship in two of the last four season.  This past season UALR and Middle Tennessee both represented the league in the NCAA postseason.

Men's basketball has seen noted highlights as well in recent years, with none greater than Ty Rodger's magical last second three-point shot as WKU defeated No. 5 seed Drake in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in 2008.  The Hilltoppers would go on to reach the Sweet 16 that season and followed up with a trip to the second round the following year.  South Alabama also reached the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in 2008 as the Jaguars qualified for an at-large bid.

One of the nation's all-time greatest softball programs resides in the Sun Belt Conference as Louisiana-Lafayette has advanced to the NCAA Women's College World Series on five occasions.  Most recently, the Ragin' Cajuns played in the annuals WCWS in 2008.

The Denver women's golf team has been among the nation's best for a number of years as well.  The Pioneers held a national ranking throughout the entire 2009 season and capped the year with its first-ever regional  championship, winning the NCAA East Regional at the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla. Denver came away with a top-five finish in the national competition, taking fifth place at the 2009 NCAA National Championship.

Sun Belt Conference Academic Excellence and Noted Alumni

The Sun Belt was formed in 1976 with six members competing in four men's sports, and today comprises 12 institutions of higher learning while sponsoring 19 championship sports for men and women.

Each of the 19 sports has seen numerous team and individual accomplishments, but in the realm of academic excellence nearly every Sun Belt Conference school is currently graduating its student-athletes at a rate higher than its respective school's student body.

For the third consecutive year Sun Belt Conference student-athletes topped the previous year's record number of Commissioner's List and Academic Honor Roll awards winners. 1,700 Sun Belt student-athletes earned a GPA over 3.0 for the previous school year and were named to either the Sun Belt Academic Honor Roll or Sun Belt Commissioner's List.

Sun Belt schools combined to have 756 student-athletes land on the Commissioner's List, which honors all student-athletes recording a 3.5 GPA or better during the 2008-09 academic year. The league also had a total of 944 student-athletes named to the Academic Honor Roll, which is awarded to those maintaining a 3.0-3.49 GPA.

The total of 1,700 student-athletes that were honored tops the previous highs of 1,503 set during the 2007-08 school year and 1,429 for the 2006-07 school year.

During the 2008-09 school year a record number of Sun Belt Conference student-athletes were honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as Academic All-America. Ten student-athletes were selected this season, topping the previous high of seven set during the 2005-06 school year.

In addition to the outstanding achievements by those students recognized by the Sun Belt Conference and CoSIDA, the NCAA recently recognized the academic achievements of six teams. Middle Tennessee's men's tennis team, South Alabama's women's golf team, Denver's men's golf team and volleyball team along with WKU's women's golf and volleyball team were all honored with the NCAA Public Recognition Award. This award is provided to those teams that have and NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports.

The Sun Belt Conference has also hosted a Academic Summit for three consecutive years to discuss academic support programs for student-athletes, admissions practices, the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate (APR), and plans for academic reform in the college athletics community. The Academic Summit has been a well received gathering for league Presidents, Faculty Athletic Representatives, additional Sun Belt administrators and other national leaders campaigning for academic progress.  The past two Academic Summits have taken place in Hot Springs, Arkansas to coincide with the league's annual basketball championships.

Prominent Sun Belt alumni include former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Denver), NFL Hall of Fame football player "Mean" Joe Greene (North Texas), Florida Marlins All-Star baseball player Luis Gonzalez (South Alabama), Boston Red Sox baseball player Mike Lowell (MLB All-Star and 2007 MLB World Series MVP, FIU), former member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives John Breaux (Louisiana-Lafayette), country music superstar Tim McGraw (Louisiana-Monroe), and actor Andy Garcia (FIU).

The conference's first 34 years have also produced numerous individual national champions along with Olympic track medalists including Earl Bell, Tom Hill and Al Joyner (Arkansas State), Hollis Conway (Louisiana-Lafayette), and Tayna Lawrence (FIU). Old Dominion's Anne Donovan, who received the Naismith Trophy recognizing the nation's top women's basketball player in 1983, helped the United States win the Olympic gold medal in 1984 and helped the Lady Monarchs capture the national championship in 1985.