America South?

[KSDAWG]

Can anybody tell me who whas in the America South Conference and when were we members. That was a little before my time and I can't find anything on the internet about it.

[CaptFun]

Not real sure about the dates, but it was the conference we were in when I was in school. This was a basketball centered conference that included Tech, USL, UNO, Ark State, Lamar, and I think UT Pan American and Western Kentucky.

This is the league that PJ Brown, Bear Dade, Ron Ellis, Eric Brown, and JoJo Goldsmith played against.


Edit...This league wound up merging with the Sun Belt.

[RealityCheck]

The American South Conference was formed in January 1987 and began play with the 1987-88 school year. Tech could not stay in the Southland Conference due to its move back up to Division I-A from Division I-AA. There were six charter members--Arkansas State, Lamar, Tech, UNO, Pan American, and USL. Craig Thompson was the conference commissioner.

[Reckless Abandon]

The American South Conference was formed in January 1987 and began play with the 1987-88 school year. Tech could not stay in the Southland Conference due to its move back up to Division I-A from Division I-AA. There were six charter members--Arkansas State, Lamar, Tech, UNO, Pan American, and USL. Craig Thompson was the conference commissioner.

You = Encyclopedia

[Dwayne From Minden]

The American South Conference was formed in January 1987 and began play with the 1987-88 school year. Tech could not stay in the Southland Conference due to its move back up to Division I-A from Division I-AA. There were six charter members--Arkansas State, Lamar, Tech, UNO, Pan American, and USL. Craig Thompson was the conference commissioner.

This was a VERY good basketball and baseball conference...

[RXDAWG]

I just liked the road trips to Biloxi for the tournament!

[KSDAWG]

Thanks for the info. I would have to agree that sounds like a great BB conference.

[DustyDog]

Interestingly, even though it was the younger conference, the ASC was actually the stronger entity in the Sun Belt merger. The remaining Sun Belt teams were prepared to become ASC members, but the decision was made by Thompson and others that the Sun Belt "brand" was more established and recognizable on a national level. Therefore, the Sun Belt moniker was maintained. Personally, I prefered the American South name. It was disctinctive, the initials sounded and looked good together, it was a growing "brand" and it was always listed alphabetically at the top of the conference charts in the national publications.

Of course, none of that matters to us now anyway because we still would have had to leave.

[brody191]

i know this is a little off topic but I think someone in a fantasy world should try to recreate the SWC. Here is my dream list of teams.

1. Tech
2. Houston
3. Rice
4. Baylor
5. SMU
6. Tulsa
7. UTSA - when the football team is up and going
8. Texas State - i think could make the move to the big leagues.
9. UTEP
10. ULL - just to try and even out the state alignments
11. TCU

This conference would make the most economic sense and all the teams could make a profit operating wise. Even though this alignment is half private schools, each school is strong in at least one sport. If this was an actual conference 6 of the schools would be in a 5 hour drive from Ruston.

VIVA LA SWC

its ok to dream sometime