PLANO, Texas - The Southland Conference Board of Directors met recently and has formally approved a number of measures that will affect the competitive alignment of the league when it expands to 12 institutions on July 1, 2006.
Central Arkansas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi become the newest members of the Southland Conference this summer, and will bring the league to its largest alignment in its 42-year history. UCA will receive full league schedules in 2006-07 in all conference sports except football, since many Southland teams have completed their football scheduling for 2006. The Bears will be a part of the 2007 league schedule in football.
The Board approved the following Divisional alignments set for men's and women's basketball, baseball and volleyball on a two-year rotation. The 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years will consist of the following divisions:
East Division: Central Arkansas, Lamar, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana
West Division: Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, Texas-Arlington, Texas-San Antonio
Note: In 2008-09 and 2009-10, SFA and Lamar will switch divisions.
"In determining the divisional scheduling format, it was clear that both Lamar and SFA strongly desired to play in the west," league commissioner Tom Burnett said. "With the four Louisiana institutions and Central Arkansas falling naturally in an eastern alignment, a compromise was necessary to bring a sixth team to the East Division. Instead of permanently assigning either school, a rotation system over four years was developed. Over the four year period, SFA and Lamar will miss one home and one away matchup in one of the divisional sports with each of the other West opponents."
In basketball and volleyball, teams will play divisional opponents twice and opposite divisional teams once for a 16-game or 16-match schedule. In baseball, teams will play divisional opponents in a three-game series, and play five of the six opposite divisional teams in a three-game series for a total of 30-games.
All other sports with regular season competition will play single round-robin formats: The 11 Softball teams will play a 30-game schedule, playing 10 opponents in three-games series. The 9 women's soccer teams will play an eight-match single round-robin schedule. In tennis, the 12 women's teams will play an 11-match single round-robin schedule. The seven men's tennis programs will play a six-match single round-robin schedule. In cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, and golf will continue to be championship-only sports, with no regular season conference competition.
Regular-season sports schedules for 2006-07, with the exception of men's and women's basketball, have been approved by the membership. A draft of the basketball schedules is being reviewed at this time. League administrators will continue to review other competitive issues through the spring, including champion designations, postseason tournament qualification in some sports, and points distributions in the all-sports awards. It is expected that final decisions will be made prior to or during the conference's annual spring meeting, May 30-June 2, in Galveston, Texas.
"The scheduling and re-alignment process has actually been very productive, and our membership is to be complimented for its willingness to make everything work, even when minor disagreements entered into the discussions," said Burnett. "The league remains very excited about the new look of the league, and we believe the 12-institution alignment will further enhance and strengthen our collective successes in the future."
