Gulf South Conference

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The Gulf South Conference (GSC) is a College Athletic Conference which operates in the southeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division II.

Contents 1 Conference History 2 Current Members 3 Conference Stadia 4 Former members 5 Conference Sanctioned Sports 6 National Championships 7 Notes 8 External link

[edit] Conference History

Originally known as the Mid-South Conference, the GSC was formed by six universities in the summer of 1970: Delta State, Florence State (now North Alabama), Jacksonville State, Livingston (now West Alabama), Tennessee-Martin and Troy State. Scheduling problems for the 1970–71 academic year limited the league to football, won by Jacksonville State.

In 1971, the league changed its name to the Gulf South Conference; added Southeastern Louisiana (SELA) and Nicholls State (increasing the membership to eight); opened an office in Hammond, Louisiana; and began championships in all men’s sports. The following year, Mississippi College and Northwestern Louisiana (NWLA, now Northwestern State) were admitted. NWLA withdrew to go Division I two years later, followed by SELA and Nicholls State in 1979.

The conference continued with seven teams until 1981, when the presidents admitted Valdosta State. West Georgia joined in 1983. Eight years of stability ended in 1991 when Tennessee-Martin and Troy State went Division I, briefly dropping the GSC back to seven members, before the beginning of an expansion resulting in ten new members: Lincoln Memorial (1992–93); Alabama-Huntsville, Henderson State, Central Arkansas and Mississippi University for Women (MUW) (1993–94); West Florida (1994–95); and Arkansas-Monticello, Arkansas Tech, Montevallo and Southern Arkansas (1995–96). Jacksonville State went Division I at the end of 1992-93. Mississippi College dropped to Division III at the end of 1995–96 and was replaced by Christian Brothers to keep the Conference at 16 schools. In July 2000, the GSC welcomed Harding University and Ouachita Baptist University, making it the largest NCAA conference at any level with 18 schools. The Conference membership decreased to 17 when MUW dropped its athletics program at the end of the 2002–03 season.

2006–07 will be another season of change for the GSC. Central Arkansas is transitioning to Division I, leaving the West Division with eight schools. Lincoln Memorial will also be leaving, leaving the East Division with seven schools.

Former Commissioner Jim McCullough moved the GSC office to its present Birmingham, Alabama location. The current Commissioner, Nathan (Nate) N. Salant, has been in office since October 1992.

[edit] Current Members

Institution	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Year Joined	Division
University of Alabama in Huntsville	Huntsville, Alabama	Public	7,000	1993	East
University of Arkansas at Monticello	Monticello, Arkansas	Public	2,875	1995	West
Arkansas Tech University	Russellville, Arkansas	Public	6,500	1995	West
Christian Brothers University	Memphis, Tennessee	Private/Roman Catholic	1,900	1996	West
Delta State University	Cleveland, Mississippi	Public	4,034	1970	West
Harding University	Searcy, Arkansas	Private/Church of Christ	5,000	2000	West
Henderson State University	Arkadelphia, Arkansas	Public	3,700	1993	West
University of Montevallo	Montevallo, Alabama	Public	3,200	1995	East
University of North Alabama	Florence, Alabama	Public	5,600	1970	East
Ouachita Baptist University	Arkadelphia, Arkansas	Private/Southern Baptist	1,511	2000	West
Southern Arkansas University	Magnolia, Arkansas	Public	3,009	1995	West
Valdosta State University	Valdosta, Georgia	Public	11,200	1981	East
The University of West Alabama	Livingston, Alabama	Public	3,100	1970	East
University of West Florida	Pensacola, Florida	Public	8,500	1994	East
University of West Georgia	Carrollton, Georgia	Public	10,200	1983	East

Teams

• Alabama-Huntsville Chargers
• Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils and Cotton Blossoms
• Arkansas Tech Wonderboys and Golden Suns
• Christian Brothers Buccaneers
• Delta State Statesmen
• Harding Bison
• Henderson State Reddies
• Montevallo Falcons
• North Alabama Lions
• Ouachita Tigers
• Southern Arkansas Muleriders
• Valdosta State Blazers
• West Alabama Tigers
• West Florida Argonauts
• West Georgia Wolves

[edit] Conference Stadia

School	Football		Basketball
	Stadium	Capacity	Arena	Capacity
Alabama-Huntsville	Non-football School	N/A	Spragins Hall	2,250
Arkansas-Monticello	Convoy Leslie-Cotton Boll Stadium	5,000	Steelman Fieldhouse	1,500
Arkansas Tech	Buerkle Field	6,000	Tucker Coliseum	3,500
Christian Brothers	Non-football School	N/A	Canale Arena	1,000
Delta State	Parker Field	8,000	Walter Sillers Coliseum	4,000
Harding	First Security Stadium	6,500	Rhodes Field House	3,000
Henderson State	Carpenter-Haygood Stadium	9,600	Duke Wells Center	3,000
Montevallo	Non-football School	N/A	People's Bank and Trust Arena	2,000
North Alabama	Braly Municipal Stadium	13,500	Flowers Hall	3,900
Ouachita Baptist	A.U. Williams Field	5,225	Bill Vining Arena	2,500
Southern Arkansas	Wilkins Stadium	6,000	W.T. Watson Athletic Center	2,600
Valdosta State	Bazemore-Hyder Stadium	11,500	The Complex	5,350
West Alabama	Tiger Stadium	7,000	Pruitt Hall	1,500
West Florida	Non-football School	N/A	UWF Fieldhouse	2,380
West Georgia	Grisham Stadium	6,500	HPE Building	2,800

[edit] Former members

Institution	Location	Conference Tenure	New Conference	Classification
University of Central Arkansas	Conway, Arkansas	1993–2006	Southland Conference	NCAA Division I-AA
Jacksonville State University	Jacksonville, Alabama	1970–1993	Ohio Valley Conference	NCAA Division I-AA
Lincoln Memorial University	Harrogate, Tennessee	1992–2006	South Atlantic Conference	NCAA Division II
Mississippi College	Clinton, Mississippi	1972–1996	American Southwest Conference	NCAA Division III
Mississippi University for Women	Columbus, Mississippi	1993–2003	Athletic Programs Discontinued	N/A
Nicholls State University	Thibodaux, Louisiana	1971–1979	Southland Conference	NCAA Division I-AA
Northwestern State University	Natchitoches, Louisiana	1971–1973	Southland Conference	NCAA Division I-AA
Southeastern Louisiana University	Hammond, Louisiana	1971–1979	Southland Conference	NCAA Division I-AA
University of Tennessee at Martin	Martin, Tennessee	1970–1991	Ohio Valley Conference	NCAA Division I-AA
Troy University	Troy, Alabama	1970–1991	Sun Belt Conference	NCAA Division I-A

[edit] Conference Sanctioned Sports

GSC members feature comprehensive athletic programs that compete for 14 official conference championships: football, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s golf.

The GSC is perhaps best known for being the premier conference in NCAA Division II football. The three-year run put together by North Alabama in the mid-1990s is one of the most amazing feats in college football history. North Alabama went 41-1 during that span with the only loss being a 3 point loss to that season’s NCAA Division I-AA champion Youngstown State. No other football team on any level has ever won 41 games during a 3 year period.

Current Valdosta State head coach Chris Hatcher has the highest winning percentage in college football.

[edit] National Championships

Sport	School	Year(s)
Baseball	Valdosta State[1]	1979
	Delta State	2004
	Troy State	1986, 87
	Jacksonville State	1990, 91
Men's Basketball	North Alabama	1979, 91
	Jacksonville State	1985
Women's Basketball	Delta State	1975, 76, 77, 89, 90, 92
	Southeastern Louisiana	1977
Football	Valdosta State	2004
	Delta State	2000
	North Alabama	1993, 94, 95
	West Alabama	1971
	Troy	1984, 87
	Jacksonville State	1992
Men's Golf	West Florida	2001
	Troy	1976, 77, 84
Women's Golf	Troy	1984, 86, 89
Women's Gymnastics	Jacksonville State	1984, 85
Men's Ice Hockey [2]	Alabama-Huntsville	1996, 98
Women's Soccer	Christian Brothers	2002
Men's Tennis	Valdosta State	2006
	West Florida	2004, 05
Track and Field	Southeastern Louisiana	1975
Women's Volleyball	North Alabama	2003

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Valdosta State was not a member of the GSC in 1979
2. ^ Although not a conference-sanctioned sport, Alabama-Huntsville fields a men's ice hockey team. It won the Division II national championship in 1996 and 1998. It currently competes in the Division I College Hockey America conference.

[edit] External link

• Official site of the Gulf South Conference

Gulf South Conference
Western Division: Arkansas Monticello • Arkansas Tech • Christian Brothers • Delta State • Harding • Henderson State • Ouachita Baptist • Southern Arkansas Eastern Division: Alabama Huntsville • Montevallo • North Alabama • Valdosta State • West Alabama • West Florida • West Georgia

NCAA Division II Football Conferences

Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Great Lakes Football Conference – Great Northwest Athletic Conference – Gulf South Conference – Lone Star Conference – Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association – North Central Conference – Northeast Ten Conference – Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference – Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference – South Atlantic Conference – Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Independents