The Southern Conference
By Matt Shetler
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a twelve member
Division I athletic conference that competes in nineteen men’s
and women’s Division I sports. For football, the SoCon competes
in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formally
I-AA) and is considered Division I in all other sports. SoCon
teams are located in the Southeast, United States. The SoCon
headquarters are located in Spartanburg, South Carolina and the
commissioner of the conference is John Iamarino, recently
appointed in 2006.
The conference is the fifth oldest in the nation,
established in 1921. Fourteen former members of the Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Association became the charter members
of the SoCon. They include: Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia,
Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi A&M (now
Mississippi State), North Carolina , North Carolina State,
Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee. Six
more Universities joined in 1922: Florida, LSU, Mississippi,
South Carolina, Tulane and Vanderbilt. By the 1930’s membership
had reached twenty-three schools.
The SoCon is most famous for having spawned two
other major conferences. In 1933, thirteen schools left to
become the SEC. Twenty-one years later, another seven schools
would depart to form the ACC.
Current members of the conference include:
Appalachian State University, University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga, The Citadel, College of Charleston, Davidson
College, Elon University, Furman University, Georgia Southern
University, Samford University, University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, Western Carolina University and Wofford College.
The SoCon is the first conference to institute
several basketball concepts that we still use today. In 1921,
the conference became the first to play a conference basketball
tournament. A year later, the conference became the first to
allow freshmen eligibility. The SoCon was the first to
institute the three-point field goal in 1980 and in 1984 became
the first conference to institute women’s championships.
The SoCon is considered the premier Football
Championship Subdivision conference in the nation, and is
considered a “mid-major” in basketball. The league has boasted
more than 250 players who have gained All-American status, as
well as, numerous player and coach of the year awards. The
conference has had at least one team in the FCS final Top 10 for
23 consecutive seasons (as of 2008). Two teams have finished in
the FCS Top 20 every season since 1982.
The SoCon gained national attention in 2008, from
the three-peat national champions Appalachian St. Mountaineers,
who stunned the #5 ranked Michigan Wolverines; and from the
Davidson Wildcats, who reached the Elite 8 in the NCAA
Tournament. The Mountaineers also captured the conferences
Commissioner’s Cup, awarded each season to the top program in
the conference, for the 28th season.
Several SoCon football players have experienced
success in the NFL, including: Dexter Coakley (App St.),
Terrell Owens (Chattanooga), David Patten (Western Carolina) and
Matt Stevens (App. St.). Patten and Stevens both won Super Bowl
rings with the New England Patriots in 2002. Former NFL coaches
Bobby Ross (The Citadel), Marv Levy (William & Mary) and Lou
Holtz (William & Mary) also began their careers coaching in the
Southern Conference.
Many legendary figures in sports got their starts in
the Southern Conference, even though the schools they had
represented are no longer part of the SoCon. The list of
legends include: 1960 National League MVP Dick Groat, golf
legend Arnold Palmer, basketball coach Adolph Rupp and football
coaching legend Paul “Bear” Bryant.
