The American South Conference was an
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...
athletic conference that existed from 1987–88 to 1990–91. The charter members were
Arkansas State University
Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the st ...
,
Lamar University
Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the ...
,
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...
, the
University of New Orleans
The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...
, the
University of Southwestern Louisiana
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana Sys ...
(now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and the
University of Texas–Pan American
The University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA) was a public university in Edinburg, Texas. Founded in 1927, it was a component institution of the University of Texas System. The university served the Rio Grande Valley (Texas), Rio Grande Valley a ...
(now merged into the
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is a public research university with its main campus in Edinburg, Texas, and multiple other campuses throughout the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. It is the southernmost member of the Uni ...
). The
University of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...
(UCF) became the only expansion school during the conference's final academic season before the conference merged with the
Sun Belt Conference
The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...
. The Sun Belt, which was losing all but three members, merged with the American South conference. The combined conference retained the name of the older Sun Belt Conference.
Craig Thompson
Craig Matthew Thompson (born September 21, 1975) is an American graphic novelist best known for his books ''Good-bye, Chunky Rice'' (1999), ''Blankets (graphic novel), Blankets'' (2003), ''Carnet de Voyage'' (2004), ''Habibi (graphic novel), Hab ...
, the American South's first and only commissioner, became commissioner of the merged Sun Belt. After serving as Sun Belt commissioner for eight years, he became commissioner of the newly formed
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...
in 1998.
In its brief existence, the American South was home to the 1988 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Champion in Louisiana Tech, and also had two men's basketball teams earn NCAA at-large berths, Louisiana Tech in 1989 (defeated LaSalle in NCAA 1st Round) and New Orleans in 1991. Lamar's women's basketball team advanced to the NCAA round of eight in 1991 defeating Texas, LSU, and Arkansas before losing to tournament finalist Virginia.
Member schools
Final members
;Notes:
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1987 till:1992
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
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Colors =
id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote)
id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text: Arkansas State (1987–1991)
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text: Lamar (1987–1991)
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text: Louisiana Tech (1987–1991)
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text:New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
(1987–1991)
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text: Southwestern Louisiana (1987–1991)
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text: Texas–Pan American (1987–1991)
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1990 till:1991 text:Central Florida
Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...
(1990–1991)
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1987
Champions
Men's basketball
Regular season
*1988 Louisiana Tech, New Orleans
*1989 New Orleans
*1990 Louisiana Tech, New Orleans
*1991 Arkansas State, New Orleans
Conference tournament
*1988 Louisiana Tech
*
1989 Louisiana Tech
*1990 New Orleans
*1991 Louisiana Tech
Women's basketball
Regular season
*1988 Louisiana Tech
*1989 Louisiana Tech
*1990 Louisiana Tech
*1991 Lamar
Conference tournament
*
1988 Louisiana Tech
*1989 Louisiana Tech
*
1990 Louisiana Tech
*1991 Louisiana Tech
Baseball
Regular season
*1988 New Orleans
*1989 Southwestern Louisiana
*1990 Southwestern Louisiana
*1991 Southwestern Louisiana
Conference tournament
*1988 Southwestern Louisiana
*1989 New Orleans
*1990 Southwestern Louisiana
*1991 Southwestern Louisiana
See also
*
American South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
References
*http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/BK07.pdf
*https://web.archive.org/web/20110107153755/http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/AMSO/
Notes
{{reflist
Sports in the Southern United States
Defunct NCAA Division I conferences
Sports leagues established in 1987
Sports leagues disestablished in 1991
1987 establishments in Louisiana
1991 disestablishments in the United States