Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

UCA making shift to the Atlantic Sun

- ELI LEDERMAN

The University of Central Arkansas will move from the Southland Conference to the Atlantic Sun Conference later this year, UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague confirmed to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday.

UCA is one of five Southland schools leaving the conference this year and will debut in the Atlantic Sun during the 2021 fall sports season. UCA’s final day in the Southland, which the Bears joined in 2007, is June 30. A formal announceme­nt by the Atlantic Sun is expected at the end of this month.

Teague’s confirmati­on came hours after the long rumored departures of four of the Southland’s Texas schools — Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Lamar and Abilene Christian — was made official by the Western Athletic Conference, which the four athletic programs will call home beginning July 1.

Athletic conference­s across the country have

seen the challenges of covid-19 expose fractures among member institutio­ns over the past year, and the Southland is just one of a number of conference­s across college sports where movement is taking shape.

UCA began to consider a move last year when the four Texas schools in the Southland began developing their exit to the WAC. In the Atlantic Sun, the Bears will join a conference that includes Florida Gulf Coast, Liberty, North Alabama and Kennesaw State, and are set to be a part of a newly formed football league within the conference. North Alabama and UCA were once members of the Gulf South Conference together in NCAA Division II.

“I could see the landscape changing, and we wanted to be out in front of it and not behind it,” Teague, who has been with UCA since 2007, said.

UCA’s exit, coupled with the exodus of the four programs to the WAC, leaves the Southland with eight member institutio­ns. In a statement released Thursday morning, Southland Conference commission­er Tom Burnett indicated that the conference has plans for realignmen­t and further expansion.

“Throughout 2020, some Southland Conference member institutio­ns have actively considered opportunit­ies elsewhere, and that will lead to league realignmen­t in the coming year,” Burnett said. “… A reimagined Southland configurat­ion with new regional partner universiti­es is exciting, and our membership is confidentl­y working toward an outstandin­g outcome.”

The move to the Atlantic Sun offers new opportunit­ies for UCA both on and off the

field and possibly the next step with its football program.

“We certainly would like to study what a [Football Bowl Subdivisio­n] move

would look like for us and that could be down the road,” Teague said.

The new conference also gives the school a presence

in states such as Mississipp­i, Florida, Alabama and Georgia, a region where UCA has a strong alumni base and has also turned its attention in recruiting in recent years.

“We’ll have some new places to play and some new competitio­ns in different cities is exciting for our whole program,” Teague said. “I know our student-athletes and coaches are excited about it. I think our fans will be extremely excited about it as well.”

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Teague
 ?? (AP file photo) ?? Members of the Central Arkansas women’s basketball team celebrate in 2016 after defeating Sam Houston State in the championsh­ip game of the Southland Conference Tournament. Athletic Director Brad Teague confirmed Thursday that UCA would be leaving the Southland Conference and joining the Atlantic Sun Conference in the fall.
(AP file photo) Members of the Central Arkansas women’s basketball team celebrate in 2016 after defeating Sam Houston State in the championsh­ip game of the Southland Conference Tournament. Athletic Director Brad Teague confirmed Thursday that UCA would be leaving the Southland Conference and joining the Atlantic Sun Conference in the fall.

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