The Southwest Conference (SWC) 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 ...

college athletic conference in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, at various times the conference also included schools from

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. For most of its history, the core members of the conference were Texas-based schools plus one in Arkansas:

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, Texas Christian University,

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

, and the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

. After a long period of stability and success, the conference's overall athletic prowess began to decline throughout the 1980s, due in part to numerous member schools violating NCAA recruiting rules, culminating in the suspension of the entire SMU football program ("death penalty") for the 1987 and 1988 seasons. Arkansas, after years of feeling like an outsider in the conference, left after the 1990–91 school year to join the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

, although they did compete in the SWC in football for the 1991 season. Five years later, the conference precipitously broke up as Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech (which had entered in 1956 from the

Border Conference The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 school year. Centered in the southwestern Unite ...

) combined with the members of the former

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

to form a new league, the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

, while Rice, SMU, TCU, and Houston found homes in less prominent conferences, with TCU and Houston later joining the Big 12 themselves.

History

Early years

L. Theo Bellmont, the University of Texas athletic director, sent out questionnaires to schools in Texas and neighboring states to gauge their interest in organizing an athletic conference. By March 1, 1914, a number of schools had responded favorably to the idea. The first organizational meeting of the conference was set for April 30, 1914; since not all schools involved could send representatives to attend that date, it was ultimately held on May 5 and 7 at the Oriental Hotel in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. It was chaired by Bellmont, who originally wanted

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

to join the conference as well, but they declined to do so. The Southwest Intercollegiate Athletic Conference became an official body on December 8 at a formal meeting at the Rice Hotel in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. Its early years saw fluctuation in membership; Southwestern (a comparatively smaller school) dropped out of the conference in 1916, and

(SMU) joined in 1918, while Texas Christian University (TCU) became a member in 1923. Rice University left the conference in 1916, only to rejoin in 1918. Phillips University competed as a conference member for one year (1920).

departed in 1919 to join the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (later reorganized as the

) and was followed by Oklahoma A&M in 1925. The series between Texas and Oklahoma would still continue as a non-conference matchup in the annual Red River Rivalry game held in Dallas. From 1925 until 1991, the University of Arkansas would be the only conference member geographically outside the state of

Prime years

By 1925, the conference's name was shortened to simply Southwest Conference. After its organizational years, the conference settled into regularly scheduled meetings among its members and began to gain stature nationwide. The SWC would be guided by seven commissioners, the first of whom, P. W. St. Clair, was appointed in 1938. In 1940, the conference took control of the then five-year-old Cotton Bowl Classic, which further established the prestige of both the bowl and the conference. Texas Technological College (now

) joined the SWC in 1958 from the

followed by the

for the 1976 season (Houston proceeded to win the SWC football championship in its first season of league play). The two glory periods of the conference happened during the 1930s and the 1960s. In 1935, the last year before the AP Poll, both SMU and TCU claimed the national title. The 2 teams had played in one of the first games labeled "game of the century" on November 30 of that year. In 1938, TCU won the AP national title. In 1939, the SWC achieved back to back national titles when Texas A&M won the AP Poll. In the 1960s, the SWC was dominated by two teams: Texas and Arkansas. Texas won the 1963 national championship, and Arkansas won a national championship in 1964 in the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Helms Athletic Foundation (HAF) polls. In 1969, Texas won another national championship by beating #2-ranked Arkansas 15–14 in the regular season's final game (dubbed the "Big Shootout"). The 1969 Arkansas–Texas game in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

with President Richard Nixon in attendance is usually counted among the greatest college football games ever played. Texas also won the 1970 United Press International (UPI) National Championship (i.e., the coaches' poll), which until 1974 was awarded prior to the bowl games. Texas lost the Cotton Bowl Classic following the 1970 season to Notre Dame by a score of 24–11, giving the Associated Press (AP) Championship to

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

after they beat

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

by a score of 17–12 in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

. Since its first Cotton Bowl Classic and lasting until 1995, the Southwest Conference Champion automatically received an invitation to be the "host" team in the Cotton Bowl Classic game on New Year's Day in Dallas. Opponents usually were the runners-up from the

or the

although independents

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

and Notre Dame were also often featured. Circa the 1940s onward, the Cotton Bowl Classic was included among the four major bowl games and not infrequently had national championship implications. Near the turn of the century however, the game declined in importance largely due to the decline of SWC prominence. In 1977, Notre Dame became the last team to win a national championship in the Cotton Bowl Classic by beating Texas in the January 1978 game. Texas might have been awarded the national championship in 1983 had they won the January 1984 game, but they were bested by Georgia 10-9. The early 1980s were the glory years of SWC basketball, including the '' Phi Slama Jama'' teams at the

. The most consistent program during the last quarter of the 20th century was the

with Sweet 16 appearances in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1990, 1991, Elite 8 appearances in 1978, 1979, 1990, and 1991, and Final Four appearances in 1978 and 1990. Arkansas's famed Triplets - Marvin Delph, Ron Brewer and

Sidney Moncrief Sidney Alvin Moncrief (born September 21, 1957) is an American former professional basketball player. As an NCAA college basketball player from 1975 to 1979, Moncrief played for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, leading them to the 1978 F ...

- gave the rest of the league fits. The Razorbacks' Lee Mayberry, Todd Day, and Oliver Miller won three straight SWC regular season and tournament titles from 1989 to 1991, the school's last three seasons in the conference. The passion of Arkansas fans for their Razorbacks often overran the confines of SWC basketball venues, so much so, that Reunion Arena in Dallas (annual site of the SWC postseason tournament) was deemed " Barnhill South" (after the Razorbacks' on-campus arena) based on the numbers and intensity of Hog fans present. Arkansas would go on to win the 1994 national championship. The

Texas Longhorns baseball The Texas Longhorns baseball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I College baseball, intercollegiate men's baseball competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Southeastern Conference. The University of Tex ...

program under coach Cliff Gustafson won national titles in 1975 and 1983 as well as titles under Bibb Falk in 1949 and 1950. The Longhorns have won 2 more national titles in 2002 and 2005 as members of the Big XII. Texas dominated the SWC for several years, winning an incredible 64 conference championships between 1915 and 1996. Texas would make it to a record 27 College World Series during their time in the SWC, with that number increasing to 38 as of 2025. The

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

also fielded fine teams that advanced to the College World Series. The Hogs finished runners-up in 1979, 3rd in 1985, and 5th in both the 1987 and 1989 seasons. The Hogs have continued this tradition since moving to the SEC, reaching the CWS seven times under Arkansas alumnus Dave Van Horn, and were the 2018 national runners-up.

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

rose to power in the late 1980s, going 58–5 in 1989 before losing twice in the regional championship round on its home field to

. The Aggies reached the College World Series in 1993.

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

began its ascent to college baseball's elite in the conference's final years under coach Wayne Graham, reaching the CWS in 1997, the year after the conference disbanded. Graham and the Owls would win the CWS national title in 2003 as members of the WAC. The

were dominant in track and field winning 15 SWC cross country team titles, 11 SWC indoor track team titles, 9 SWC outdoor track team titles, and an incredible 8 SWC triple crowns (cross country, indoor track and outdoor track champions all in the same season). During their SWC days, the Razorbacks won 14 NCAA national team championships and one NCAA team triple crown. The list of Arkansas individual SWC champions and individual NCAA champions is long. Standout coaches and athletes include the legendary John McDonnell of Arkansas, the winningest coach in NCAA history regardless of sport. Arkansas has now won 42 national championships in men's track and cross country, and 8 in women's. Baylor's Michael Johnson, Texas A&M's Randy Matson, Rice's Fred Hansen, Houston's Carl Lewis, and Arkansas' Mike Conley all went on to win Olympic gold medals.

Final years

The 1980s saw many of the conference's athletic programs hit by recruiting scandals and

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

probations. The only programs to escape probation in the 1980s were Arkansas, Baylor, and Rice. Because of repeated major violations, in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, the

SMU Mustangs football The SMU Mustangs football team is a college football team representing Southern Methodist University (SMU) in University Park, Texas, University Park, Dallas County, Texas. The Mustangs compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, NC ...

program became only the third in NCAA history to receive the so-called "

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

" (after

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

basketball in 1952–53 and Southwestern Louisiana basketball from 1973 to 1975). The NCAA canceled SMU's 1987 season, and limited it to seven road games for 1988. However, nearly all of the school's lettermen transferred elsewhere, forcing SMU to keep its football program shuttered for 1988 as well. SMU also remained on probation until

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. At that time, NCAA rules prohibited schools on probation from appearing on live

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. As a result, the conference's market share in television coverage dwindled. The SWC's performance in football declined precipitously. The last SWC football champion to win a bowl game was Texas A&M, who beat Notre Dame in the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic by a score of 35–10. Since then, the final eight SWC champions lost in their bowl games. After SMU's second-place finish in most polls in 1982, SWC programs usually were not serious contenders for the national title. For instance: Texas had strong teams in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, and

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. Arkansas earned national recognition in 1988 and

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, and Texas A&M was competitive from 1985 to 1995. By the end of their respective seasons however, none of these football teams were able to remain in the national championship hunt.

The last days of the College Football Association

On June 27, 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in '' NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma'' that the NCAA could not punish its membership for selling their media content. As a result, individual schools and athletic conferences were freed to negotiate contracts on their own behalf. The

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

and Pacific-10 conferences sold their rights to CBS and ABC. Most of the rest of the Division I-A football programs (what is now called the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision) chose to sell their rights together through an organization called the College Football Association to ABC and CBS. The primary function of the CFA was to negotiate television broadcast rights for its member conferences and independent colleges. By

, the television landscape had changed and a number of the stronger programs saw opportunities for better deals outside of the CFA. This was spearheaded by Notre Dame, who left the CFA and sold their home game broadcast rights to NBC in time for the 1991 season. When the Southeastern Conference (SEC) invited the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina to join the conference in 1990, it created shockwaves across the CFA. The other conferences in the CFA correctly assumed the SEC made these additions to create a better TV product with the idea of leaving the CFA. The SEC represented one of the more valuable assets in the CFA. It seemed likely that if the SEC departed, other conferences would have a more difficult time securing preferable TV deals. In February 1994, the Southeastern Conference announced that they would be leaving the CFA and negotiate independently for a television deal that covered SEC schools only. This led ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'' to proclaim that "the College Football Association as a television entity is dead". In 1995, the SEC and the

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

broke from the CFA, signing a national deal with CBS. The SEC would earn a then-staggering $95 million from the deal. More significantly, this change in television contracts ultimately would lead to significant realignment of college conferences, with the SWC's demise triggering the first major realignment. (After the SWC's demise, another major realignment took place in the mid-2000s, with an even more dramatic realignment in the early 2010s and a third one now ongoing.) Arkansas' departure for the Southeastern Conference marked the beginning of the end for the Southwest Conference. After this announcement,

Metro Conference The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an NCAA Division I athletics conference, so named because its six charter members were all in urban metropolitan areas, though its later members di ...

member Tulane and

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Miami were both seriously considered by the SWC to join the conference as replacements for Arkansas. In March 1994, Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech accepted invitations to join with the members of the

to form the

. Soon afterward, Rice, SMU, and TCU accepted invitations to join the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

, while Houston became a charter member of

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. The Bayou Bucket game between Houston and Rice was the last football game played in the conference. In May 1996, after the completion of championship matches in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and

track & field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

, the Southwest Conference was officially dissolved.

Legacy

Over the course of its 82-year history, teams of the Southwest Conference garnered 64 recognized national championships in collegiate sports. The SWC had many legendary players and coaches over the years. In football,

John Heisman John William Heisman ( ; October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

, Dana X. Bible, Paul "Bear" Bryant, Darrell Royal, Frank Broyles, Hayden Fry, Lou Holtz, Bill Yeoman, Gene Stallings, and Grant Teaff all served as head coaches in the conference. Some notable SWC players included Davey O'Brien,

Sammy Baugh Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American professional football quarterback who played 16 seasons with the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the TCU Horne ...

, Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Tom Landry, Bob Lilly, Don Meredith, Earl Campbell, Andre Ware, Mike Singletary, John David Crow, Lance Alworth, Dan Hampton, Steve Atwater, Joe Ferguson, and

Eric Dickerson Eric Demetric Dickerson (born September 2, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the SMU Mustangs, earning unanimous ...

. The trio of kicking contemporaries Steve Little of Arkansas, Tony Franklin of Texas A&M, and Russell Erxleben of Texas all kicked record setting field goals of 60 + yards in the same season. Outstanding basketball coaches included

Nolan Richardson Nolan Richardson Jr. (born December 27, 1941) is an American former basketball head coach best known for his tenure at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas, where he won the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tourn ...

, Tom Penders,

Eddie Sutton Edward Eugene Sutton (March 12, 1936 – May 23, 2020) was an American college basketball coach. A native of Bucklin, Kansas, Sutton played college basketball at Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball, Oklahoma State) and was a h ...

, Abe Lemons, Guy V. Lewis, Shelby Metcalf, and Gerald Myers. Great SWC hoops players included the aforementioned ''Triplets'',

Hakeem Olajuwon Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon ( ; ; born January 21, 1963), nicknamed "the Dream", is a Nigerian and American former professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NB ...

, Clyde Drexler, Vinnie Johnson, Jon Koncak,

Alvin Robertson Alvin Cyrrale Robertson (born July 22, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 1993, and for one final season in 1995–96. Robertson holds the record for th ...

, Ricky Pierce, Darrell Walker,

Joe Kleine Joseph William Kleine (born January 4, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player who played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and for the US national team. He won a gold medal as a member of the Un ...

, Day, Mayberry, Miller, and U.S. Reed among others. In 1997, the official records of the conference from 1914 to 1996 were moved from Dallas to the campus of

, becoming part of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library. The archive also contains an extensive assortment of images and memorabilia from each member university. The final commissioner of the Southwest Conference (1995-96) Kyle Kallander has the rights to all SWC brands and copyrights (he later served as commissioner of the Big South Conference from 1996-2023), and retired assistant commissioner Bo Carter is considered as the SWC historian.

Member universities

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1909 till:2034 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551, 0.824, 0.777) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) id:FMBig12 value:rgb(0.999,0.500,0.500) # Use this color to denote Big 12 founding members id:SBig12 value:rgb(0.999,0.700,0.700) # Use this color to denote Big 12 members other than founding members id:Ind value:rgb(0.83,0.83,0.83) PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:0 color:Ind from:1909 till:1920 text:Independent bar:0 color:Full from:1920 till:1921 text: Phillips (1920–1921) bar:0 color:Ind from:1921 till:1978 text: Independent shift:(95,-5) bar:0 color:OtherC1 from:1978 till:1998 text: SAC bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1909 till:1915 text:

TIAA The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA, formerly TIAA-CREF) is an American financial services organization that is a private provider of financial retirement services in the academic, resea ...

bar:1 color:Full from:1915 till:1917 text: Southwestern (1915–1917) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1917 till:1927 shift:(120,-5) text:

bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:1927 till:1956 shift:(120,-5) text:

bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1956 till:1983 text: BSC bar:1 color:Ind from:1983 till:1994 text:Independent bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1994 till:2025 text: SCAC bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2025 till:end text: SAA bar:2 color:Ind from:1909 till:1915 text:Indep. bar:2 color:Full from:1915 till:1919 text:

(1915–1919) bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:1919 till:1928 shift:(90,-5) text: MVIAA bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1928 till:1996 shift:(100,-5) text: Big 8 bar:2 color:FMBig12 from:1996 till:2024 text:

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2024 till:end text: SEC bar:3 color:Ind from:1909 till:1915 text:Indep. bar:3 color:Full from:1915 till:1925 text: Oklahoma State (1915–1925) bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:1925 till:1957 shift:(80,-5) text: MVIAA bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1957 till:1996 shift:(80,-5) text: Big 8 bar:3 color:FMBig12 from:1996 till:end text:

bar:4 color:Ind from:1909 till:1915 text:Indep. bar:4 color:Full from:1915 till:1991 text:

(1915–1991) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text: SEC bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1909 till:1915 text:

bar:5 color:Full from:1915 till:1996 text: Baylor (1915–1996) bar:5 color:FMBig12 from:1996 till:end text:

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bar:6 color:Full from:1915 till:1996 text:

(1915–1996) bar:6 color:FMBig12 from:1996 till:2024 text:

bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2024 till:end text: SEC bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1909 till:1915 text:

bar:7 color:Full from:1915 till:1996 text:

(1915–1996) bar:7 color:FMBig12 from:1996 till:2012 text:

bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2012 till:end text: SEC bar:8 color:Ind from:1912 till:1915 text:Ind. bar:8 color:Full from:1915 till:1996 text:

(1915–1996) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:2005 text: WAC bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2023 text:

C-USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern United States, Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Associ ...

bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text: AAC bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1918 text:

bar:9 color:Full from:1918 till:1996 shift:15 text: SMU (1918–1996) bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:2005 text: WAC bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text:

bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:2024 text: AAC bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2024 till:end text: ACC bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1909 till:1912 text:

bar:10 color:Ind from:1912 till:1914 shift:(9,-5) text: Ind. bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1914 till:1923 shift:(16,-5) text:

bar:10 color:Full from:1923 till:1996 text: TCU (1923–1996) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:2001 text: WAC bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:2001 till:2005 text:

bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2012 shift:15 text: MWC bar:10 color:SBig12 from:2012 till:end text:

bar:11 color:Ind from:1925 till:1932 text:Indep. bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1932 till:1956 text:

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

bar:11 color:FullxF from:1956 till:1960 text: Texas Tech (1956–1996) bar:11 color:Full from:1960 till:1996 bar:11 color:FMBig12 from:1996 till:end text:

bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1945 till:1949 shift:(-2.5,-5) text: LSC bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:1949 till:1950 shift:(-5,-5) text: GCC bar:12 color:Ind from:1950 till:1951 shift:(12,-5) text: Ind. bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1951 till:1959 shift:(25,-5) text: MVC bar:12 color:Ind from:1959 till:1972 text:Independent bar:12 color:FullxF from:1972 till:1976 text:

(1972–1996) bar:12 color:Full from:1976 till:1996 bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:1996 till:2013 text:

bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:2023 text: AAC bar:12 color:SBig12 from:2023 till:end text:

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1915 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(200,30) tabs:(0-center) text:"Southwest Conference membership history"

Full members

;Notes:

Full members departing before 1925

;Notes:

Sports

Football

Men's basketball

Baseball

Commissioners

* James W. St. Clair (1938–1945) * James H. Stewart (1945–1950) * Howard Grubbs (1950–1973) * Cliff Speegle (1973–1982) * Fred Jacoby (1982–1993) * Steven J. Hatchell (1993–1995) * Kyle Kallander (1995–1996)

Conference champions

Conference facilities

This is a listing of the conference facilities as of the 1995–96 school year, the conference's last. Capacities and venue names are also current for 1995–96.

Notes

References

External links

The Southwest Conference: Memorabilia, audio files, links

A Look Back at the Southwest Conference

* ttp://swchelmets.tripod.com/ Southwest Conference football helmets{{Southwest Conference football navbox Big 12 Conference Organizations based in Dallas College sports in Texas Sports in the Southern United States 1914 establishments in Texas Sports organizations established in 1914 1996 disestablishments in Texas Organizations disestablished in 1996 Articles which contain graphical timelines