The Atlantic Sun Conference
By Matt Shetler
The Atlantic Sun
Conference (A-Sun) is an eleven member athletic conference that
competes in seventeen Division I sports. The A-Sun does not
sponsor football, with its main draw being men’s basketball.
With members located primarily in the Southeastern, United
States, the A-Sun headquarters are based in Macon, Georgia and
the commissioner of the conference is Ted Gumbart (recently
appointed in 2007).
The A-Sun as we know it today was founded in 1978.
It was originally know as the Trans-America Athletic Conference,
a name it would keep until 2001. Only one of the charter
members is still in the A-Sun, Mercer University.
Overall, there are twenty former members of the
conference. The most notable of these being: Florida
International University, University of Central Florida, Florida
Atlantic University and Troy University. Most schools left the
A-Sun because they wanted to start football programs.
Current members of the A-Sun are: the Belmont
Bruins, Campbell Fighting Camels, East Tennessee State
Buccaneers, Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, Jacksonville Dolphins,
Kennesaw State Owls, Lipscomb Bisons, Mercer Bears, North
Florida Ospreys, USC Upstate Spartans and the Stetson Hatters.
The conference receives an automatic bid to the NCAA
Tournament, last represented by Belmont in 2008.
