Southern Athletic Association
NCAA Division III collegiate division
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Southern Athletic Association (SAA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (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]
Began play: 2012
- 23
- men's: 11
- women's: 12
| |
| Association | NCAA |
|---|---|
| Founded | Chartered: 2011 Began play: 2012 |
| Commissioner | Stacey LaDew |
| Sports fielded |
|
| Division | Division III |
| No. of teams | 9 (8 in 2027) |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Website | saa-sports.com |
| Locations | |
 | |
History
Recent events
On March 9, 2023, Trinity University and Southwestern University of Texas announced they would join the SAA as full members, beginning in the 2025–26 academic year.[2]
On May 26, 2024, Birmingham–Southern College announced that it would close at the end of the 2023–24 school year (more precisely, on May 31 of that year).[3]
On June 11, 2024, Hendrix College announced it would return to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) at the end of the 2024–25 school year.[4]
On July 23, 2024, Maryville College was accepted to the SAA as a full member, to join beginning in the 2026–27 academic year. Maryville's football and women's golf would join SAA competition as an associate member, beginning 2025–26.[5]
Chronological timeline
- 2011 – The Southern Athletic Association (SAA) was founded, whose charter members include seven member schools that were competing for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC): (Birmingham–Southern College, Centre College, Hendrix College, Millsaps College, Oglethorpe University, Rhodes College and Sewanee: The University of the South), and NCAA Division III independent Berry College, with competition to begin effective in the 2012–13 academic year.
- 2015 – The University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis joined the SAA as affiliate members for football in the 2015 fall season (2015–16 academic year).
- 2017:
- Chicago and Washington (Mo.) left the SAA as affiliate members for football after the 2016 fall season (2016–17 school year).
- Austin College and Trinity University of Texas joined the SAA as affiliate members for football in the 2017 fall season (2017–18 academic year).
- 2021 – Austin College left the SAA as an affiliate member for football after the 2020 fall season (2020–21 school year).
- 2023 – Southwestern University of Texas joined the SAA as an affiliate member for football in the 2023 fall season (2023–24 academic year).
- 2024 – Birmingham–Southern left the SAA after the 2023–24 school year; as the school closed on May 31 of that year.
- 2025:
- Hendrix left the SAA to rejoin the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) after the 2024–25 academic year.
- Trinity (Tex.) and Southwestern (Tex.) upgraded to join the SAA for all sports as full members in the 2025–26 academic year.
- Maryville College joined the SAA as an affiliate member for football and women's golf in the 2025–26 academic year.
- 2026 – Maryville College upgraded to join the SAA for all sports as a full member, beginning the 2026–27 academic year.
- 2027 – Millsaps will leave the SAA to rejoin the SCAC after the 2026–27 academic year.
Member schools
Every member in the history of the SAA, whether current, former, full, or associate, has been a private school.
Full members
Current full members
The SAA currently has nine full members.
- Notes
- Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- Partially affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
Former full members
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Nickname | Joined[a] | Left[b] | Colors | Football? | Current conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham–Southern College | Birmingham, Alabama | 1856 | United Methodist | Panthers | 2012 | 2024 | Yes | Closed in 2024 | |
| Hendrix College | Conway, Arkansas | 1876 | United Methodist | Warriors | 2012 | 2025 | Yes | Southern Collegiate (SCAC) |
- Notes
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.[18] 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.[19]
On November 18, 2015, Trinity University and Austin College announced they would affiliate with the SAA for football, renewing a relationship that was lost when the SAA split from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.[20] 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.[21]
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.[22] On March 9, 2023, the SAA announced that Southwestern University and Trinity University will join the SAA as full members in 2025.[2]
Former affiliate members
Six schools have been SAA affiliate members but have since either left the conference or upgraded to full membership.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined[a] | Left[b] | Colors | SAA sport(s) |
Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin College | Sherman, Texas | 1849 | Presbyterian | 1,278 | 'Roos | 2017 | 2021 | Football | Southern Collegiate (SCAC) | |
| University of Chicago | Chicago, Illinois | 1890 | Non-denominational | 5,134 | Maroons | 2015 | 2017 | University (UAA)[c] | ||
| Maryville College | Maryville, Tennessee | 1819 | Presbyterian (PCUSA) |
1,153 | Scots | 2025 | 2026 | Southern (SAA) | ||
| Southwestern University | Georgetown, Texas | 1840 | United Methodist | 1,507 | Pirates | 2023 | 2025 | Southern (SAA) | ||
| Trinity University | San Antonio, Texas | 1869 | Nonsectarian[d] | 2,423[17] | Tigers | 2017 | 2025 | Southern (SAA) | ||
| Washington University in St. Louis | St. Louis, Missouri | 1853 | Nonsectarian | 5,997 | Bears | 2015 | 2017 | University (UAA)[e] |
- Notes
- Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- Represents the calendar year when spring sports competition ends.
- After competing in the SAA as an affiliate member, Chicago's football team later joined the Midwest Conference (MWC) as of the 2017 fall season (2017–18 school year).
- Partially affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
- After competing in the SAA as an affiliate member, Washington (Mo.)'s football team later joined the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) as of the 2018 fall season (2018–19 school year).
Membership timeline
Full member (all sports) Full member (non-football) Associate member (football) Associate member (sport)
Sports
The Southern Athletic Association sponsors 11 men's sports and 12 women's sports. The members mostly sponsor all the sports in the conference except that Oglethorpe University does not have a football team.
| Sport | Men's | Women's |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball | 8 | - |
| Basketball | 8 | 8 |
| Cross country | 8 | 8 |
| Football | 8 | - |
| Golf | 8 | 9 |
| Lacrosse | 6 | 6 |
| Soccer | 8 | 8 |
| Softball | - | 7 |
| Swimming & diving | 7 | 7 |
| Tennis | 8 | 8 |
| Indoor track & field | 8 | 8 |
| Outdoor track & field | 8 | 8 |
| Volleyball | - | 8 |
Men's sponsored sports by school
| School | Baseball | Basketball | Cross Country | Football | Golf | Lacrosse | Soccer | Swimming & Diving | Tennis | Track & Field (Indoor) | Track & Field (Outdoor) | Total SAA Sports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berry | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Centre | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Maryville | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9 |
| Millsaps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 10 |
| Oglethorpe | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9 |
| Rhodes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Sewanee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Southwestern | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Trinity | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 10 |
| Totals | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 93 |
Women's sponsored sports by school
| School | Basketball | Cross Country | Golf | Lacrosse | Soccer | Softball | Swimming & Diving | Tennis | Track & Field (Indoor) | Track & Field (Outdoor) | Volleyball | Total SAA Sports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berry | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Centre | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Maryville | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9 |
| Millsaps | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 10 |
| Oglethorpe | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9 |
| Rhodes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Sewanee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Southwestern | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
| Trinity | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 10 |
| Totals | 9 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 93 |
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southern Athletic Association which are played by SAA schools:
| School | Field Hockey |
|---|---|
| Centre | CFHC |
| Rhodes | CFHC |
| Sewanee | CFHC |
