- Southern Conference
Infobox Athletic Conference
name = Southern Conference
short_name = SoCon
established = 1921
logo_size = 100
association = NCAA
division =Division I
subdivision = FCS
members = 12
sports = 19
mens = 10
womens = 9
region = Southeast
former_names =
hq_city = Spartanburg
hq_stateabb = SC
hq_state = South Carolina
commissioner = John Iamarino
since = 2006
website = http://www.soconsports.com
color = 120a8f
font_color = FFFFFF
map_size = 250The Southern Conference (or SoCon) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. SoCon football teams compete in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as I-AA). Member institutions are located in the states of
Alabama , Georgia,North Carolina ,South Carolina andTennessee . The Southern Conference ranks as the fifth oldest major college athletic conference in the United States.cite news|title=The History of the Southern Conference|author=Southern Conference|publisher=SoCon Sports|date=2007-09-07 |url=http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&KEY=&ATCLID=177772] Only the Big Ten (1896), Missouri Valley (1907), Pacific 10 (1915) and Southwestern Athletic (1920) conferences are older.The conference was formed on
February 25 ,1921 inAtlanta, Georgia as fourteen member institutions split from theSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association . Southern Conference charter members were 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. In 1922, six more universities - Florida, LSU, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane, and
Vanderbilt joined the conference. Later additions included Sewanee (1923),Virginia Military Institute (1925), Duke (1929), and Wake Forest (1936).The SoCon is particularly notable for having spawned two other major conferences. In 1933, thirteen schools located south and west of the Appalachians (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Sewanee, Tennessee, Tulane, and Vanderbilt) departed the SoCon to form the
Southeastern Conference . In 1953, seven schools (Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest) withdrew from the SoCon to form theAtlantic Coast Conference .Other former members (in addition to those listed above) were East Carolina (1964–76), East Tennessee State (1978–2005), George Washington (1936–70), Marshall (1976–97), Richmond (1936–76), William & Mary (1936–77) and West Virginia (1950–68).
The SoCon is considered one of the strongest football conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision, and is considered a
mid-major conference in basketball. It has also garnered considerable national attention from its recent success in these sports: in particular, from the now three-peat Division I-FCS champion Appalachian State Mountaineers, who stunned the #5 Michigan Wolverines 34–32 onSeptember 1 ,2007 ; and from the Davidson Wildcats, who reached the Elite Eight in the2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament by upsetting power programs Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin.ports offered
*Men's sports
**Baseball
**Basketball
**Cross Country
**Football
**Golf
**Soccer
**Tennis
**Indoor Track
**Outdoor Track
**Wrestling
*Women's sports
**Basketball
**Cross Country
**Golf
**Soccer
**Softball
**Tennis
**Indoor Track
**Outdoor Track
**Volleyball Conference commissioners
*Wallace Wade: 1951–60
*Lloyd Jordon: 1960–73
*Ken Germann: 1974–86
*Dave Hart: 1986–91
*Wright Waters: 1991–98
*Alfred B. White: 1998–2001
*Danny Morrison: 2001–05
*John Iamarino: 2006–"present"Current members
Conference membership increased to 12 full members when Samford joined on July 1, 2008, [cite news|title=The Southern Conference Welcomes Samford University|author=Southern Conference|publisher=SoCon Sports|date=
2008-07-01 |url=http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=1480651] bringing the number of football playing institutions to nine.Conference champions
Football
"This is a partial list of the last 10 champions. For the full history, see
Southern Conference football champions ."
Germann Cup
Notes
ee also
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External links
* [http://www.soconsports.com/ Official site of the Southern Conference]
* [http://www.goasu.com/ Appalachian State athletics]
* [http://www.gomocs.com/ Chattanooga athletics]
* [http://www.citadelsports.com/ The Citadel athletics]
* [http://www.cofcsports.com/ College of Charleston athletics]
* [http://www.davidsonwildcats.com/ Davidson athletics]
* [http://www.elonphoenix.com/ Elon athletics]
* [http://furmanpaladins.cstv.com/ Furman athletics]
* [http://www.georgiasoutherneagles.com/ Georgia Southern athletics]
* [http://samfordsports.cstv.com/ Samford athletics]
* [http://www.uncgspartans.com/ UNC Greensboro athletics]
* [http://catamountsports.cstv.com/ Western Carolina athletics]
* [http://athletics.wofford.edu/ Wofford athletics]
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