![]() “Whether it’s been Conference USA or Sun Belt, our athletic department works to put together a very competitive season. “Obviously, it’s cool to go and see different schools,” said Ben Damge, a Kentucky junior soccer player. Still, the moves actually can help these programs recruit on more of a national level, sometimes including the appeal of competing closer to the athletes’ hometowns due to scheduling practices. Due to their recent move to the Sun Belt, upperclassmen on the Kentucky and South Carolina men’s soccer teams have played conference opponents across two leagues. The travel can be vastly different, like the Vanderbilt women’s bowling team, which faces tournament sites ranging from Dallas to Las Vegas, to New York and other cities. The student-athletes who participate in affiliate conferences have different experiences than their contemporaries on campus who play a sport that’s under the SEC umbrella. But there’s always a little apprehension or uneasiness when you’re switching entities or you have a new person in charge because you have no idea of their vision.” “I think that they’re going to continue to do the same things that the Southland did, so from a logistics standpoint, it shouldn’t change much. “We have yet to have (an official meeting) for what’s happening in 2023-24,” Vanderbilt coach John Williamson said. The conference told the affiliates it would be open to continuing to host the women’s bowling championship, but it might make more sense to find a conference that fielded bowling with full-time members. Austin departed for other conferences, and they were the only full-time members of the Southland, leaving affiliate members in flux. Former Southland members Sam Houston and Stephen F. Vanderbilt’s women’s bowling team, the reigning national champion, is transitioning from the Southland to Conference USA because of an extenuating circumstance. It’s kind of like, ‘How can we combine with people that are as close in vicinity as possible?’” Truthfully with lacrosse, it’s not as much about being in the correct conference. “Easier travel for some schools just made more sense. “Big East and the American kind of came together and realigned just to make it a little bit more compatible,” Hewitt said. Proximity was the motivation for Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse coach Beth Hewitt and Florida coach Amanda O’Leary in moving from the Big East to the AAC in 2018. The South Carolina and Kentucky men’s soccer teams sought competition in moving to the Sun Belt in 2022, and the Wildcats topped the Sun Belt standings last fall. Alabama coach Glenn Putyrae said the Big 12 worked with Alabama and Tennessee to add them to the conference so all seven teams from both leagues had an opportunity for the qualifier. The reasons these SEC programs picked their respective affiliate conferences vary by the situation.īig 12 women’s rowing had five teams in 2015, and the threshold for an automatic qualifier in the NCAA Tournament is six. It’s a distinction that coaches frequently make, from recruiting to everyday conversations. That means there are certain teams that are under the school’s SEC flag but have to compete in another conference. How exactly did these SEC teams end up in affiliate conferences? Because of Title IX and scholarship distribution rules, schools are required to have a proportionate number of men’s and women’s sports and scholarships. All have changed conferences at least once in the past 15 years, some more than once. Programs like Alabama and Tennessee women’s rowing (Big 12), Kentucky and South Carolina men’s soccer (Sun Belt) and Florida and Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse (American Athletic Conference) are pairs in the SEC that often work as package deals to other conferences. So to have another thing to be able to win is equally exciting.”įor programs competing in affiliate conferences, realigning to fit their best interest is a way of life. “Being an athlete at Alabama, your goal is always to win. That means one of those four teams simultaneously could hold multiple conference championships. As it stands, the plan is for all four programs to retain membership in the Big 12 because its championship comes with an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. If 25 percent of the member schools participate in a sport, the SEC can host a conference championship, so women’s rowing will be added next season. That will change in 2024 when Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC, including their women’s rowing teams. Alabama’s women’s rowing program competes in the Big 12 as an affiliate member, as does Tennessee, because the SEC doesn’t have enough teams for intraconference competition.
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