Southern Athletic Association
AssociationNCAA
FoundedChartered: 2011
Began play: 2012
CommissionerJay Gardiner
Sports fielded
  • 21
    • men's: 10
    • women's: 11
DivisionDivision III
No. of teams8 (10 in 2025) (+2 football-only affiliates)
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia
Official websitewww.saa-sports.com
Locations
Location of teams in {{{title}}}

The Southern Athletic Association (SAA) is a college athletic conference in NCAA Division III that began play in the 2012–13 school year. It was formed in 2011 by seven former members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and independent Berry College.[1]

History

Chronological timeline

Member schools

Every member in the history of the SAA, whether current, former, full, or associate, has been a private school.

Current members

The SAA currently has eight full members.

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined Colors Football?
Berry College Mount Berry, Georgia 1902 Nondenominational 2,367[3] Vikings 2012     Yes
Birmingham–Southern College Birmingham, Alabama 1856 United Methodist 1,283[4] Panthers 2012     Yes
Centre College Danville, Kentucky 1819 Presbyterian 1,400[5] Colonels 2012     Yes
Hendrix College Conway, Arkansas 1876 United Methodist 1,144[6] Warriors 2012     Yes
Millsaps College Jackson, Mississippi 1890 United Methodist 700[7] Majors 2012     Yes
Oglethorpe University Atlanta, Georgia 1835 Nondenominational 1,494[8] Stormy Petrels 2012     No
Rhodes College Memphis, Tennessee 1848 Presbyterian 2,070[9] Lynx 2012       Yes
Sewanee: The University of the South Sewanee, Tennessee 1857 Episcopal 1,735[10] Tigers 2012     Yes

Future full members

InstitutionLocationFoundedJoiningAffiliationEnrollmentEndowmentNicknameColors FootballCurrent
conference
Southwestern University Georgetown, Texas 1840 2025 United Methodist 1,536 $255,955,000 Pirates     Yes SCAC
Trinity University San Antonio, Texas 1869 2025 Nonsectarian[lower-alpha 1] 2,759[11] $1,725,000,000 Tigers     Yes SCAC
Notes
  1. ↑ Partially affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

Affiliate members

Two schools, the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), announced their intention to become affiliate members of the conference for football, effective in 2015. Both are members of the University Athletic Association (UAA), which at the time had a football scheduling alliance with the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). However, after the 2012 season, the NCAC adopted a full round-robin football schedule, making it impossible for that conference to fill in all of its non-conference dates with the four UAA members that sponsor the sport.

Over the summer of 2015, Chicago and WashU announced that they would leave the SAA after two seasons of competition in order to join more geographically-convenient conferences.[12] WashU will maintain its football affiliation with the UAA for the 2017 season before joining the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin in 2018 as a football-only member. For nearly a year, Chicago did not announce a future league affiliation, but it announced in May 2016 that it would become a football-only member of the Midwest Conference in 2017.[13]

On November 18, 2015, Trinity University (Texas) and Austin College announced [14] they would affiliate with the SAA for football, renewing a relationship that was lost when the SAA split from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. As a result, the SCAC will no longer offer football as a sport from 2017. On August 13, 2020, Austin College announced it would move to the American Southwest Conference as a football-only affiliate beginning with the 2021 season, committing to at least four years as an affiliate. [15]

On August 19, 2021, the conference announced that Southwestern University, a current football-only affiliate member of the American Southwest Conference, would join the SAA as a football-only affiliate effective with the 2023 football season.[16] On March 9, 2023, the SAA announced that Southwestern University and Trinity University (Texas) will join the SAA as full members in 2025.[2]

Current

The SAA currently has two affiliate members, who will join as a full member in 2025.

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined Colors SAA
sport		 Primary
conference
Southwestern University Georgetown, Texas 1840 United Methodist 1,507 Pirates 2023     football SCAC
Trinity University San Antonio, Texas 1869 Nonsectarian[lower-alpha 1] 2,759[11] Tigers 2017     football SCAC
Notes
  1. ↑ Partially affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.


Former affiliate members

Three schools have been SAA affiliate members but have since left the conference.

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined Left Colors SAA
sport		 Primary
conference		 Conference
in former
SAA sport
Austin College Sherman, Texas 1849 Presbyterian 1,278 'Roos 2017 2021     football SCAC ASC
University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois 1890 Non-denominational 5,134 Maroons 2015 2017     UAA MWC
Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri 1853 Nonsectarian 5,997 Bears     CCIW

Membership timeline

Southwestern UniversityTrinity University (Texas)Austin CollegeWashUUniversity of ChicagoSewanee: The University of the SouthRhodes CollegeOglethorpe UniversityMillsaps CollegeHendrix CollegeCentre CollegeBirmingham–Southern CollegeBerry College

Blue = Full member, Green = Full member except football, Red = Associate member for football

References

  1. ↑ "Eight Division III Southeastern Colleges Form Southern Athletic Association". Rhodes College. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "SAA Welcomes Southwestern University and Trinity University (Texas) as Full-time Members". Southern Athletic Association. March 9, 2023. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  3. ↑ "BERRY QUICK FACTS". Berry College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Facts about Birmingham-Southern". Birmingham-Southern College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  5. ↑ "ABOUT CENTRE COLLEGE". Centre College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  6. ↑ "New Student Enrollment Increases by 13% at Hendrix". Hendrix College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  7. ↑ "About Millsaps". Millsaps College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  8. ↑ McCray, Vanessa (November 28, 2022). "How some Georgia colleges defy trend toward enrollment drops". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  9. ↑ "About Rhodes". Rhodes College. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  10. ↑ "SEWANEE AT A GLANCE". Sewanee University. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Perez, Danya (November 1, 2022). "San Antonio's big universities recover enrollment — but most smaller ones still have post-pandemic blues". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Wash U, Chicago already leaving SAA". [d3football.com]. June 12, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  13. ↑ "UChicago football set to join Midwest Conference as affiliate member in 2017" (Press release). Athletics & Recreation, The University of Chicago. May 11, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Austin College; Trinity Accept Football Affiliate Membership Offer from SAA". Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  15. ↑ "'Roo Football to Join ASC as Affiliate Member". Austin College Athletics. August 13, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  16. ↑ "SAA announces that Southwestern University will join the league as an affiliate member in football". August 19, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
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