The Southland Conference was founded in 1963 with institutions including Lamar, which has spent 49 years in the conference. The 12 current full-time members have an average tenure of 25 years, providing remarkable stability.
The Southland comprises 12 schools within a driving range of the states of Louisiana and Texas as the conference celebrates regionality in college athletics the “Gas Tank League,” making it more accessible and more manageable for family, friends, and fans to travel to away contests.
Those 12 institutions include Houston Christian University, the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Lamar University in Beaumont, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, the University of New Orleans, Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas A&M University at Commerce, Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, and the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley.
The Southland has also taken a lead role in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision by serving as the host conference for the annual DI national championship game in the league office’s base of Frisco, Texas, since 2011. Working with its partners, the City of Frisco and Hunt Sports Ventures, the Southland’s hosting role has been reaffirmed three times since the initial game, that will remain at Frisco’s Toyota Stadium at least through the 2025 game.
Since joining I-AA/FCS, the Southland has appeared in nine NCAA Championship games, with six national titles, and overall, the league sports 70 all-time playoff victories. McNeese State boasts a league-best 16 national playoff appearances and played in the 1997 and 2002 NCAA Championship games. Nicholls has seven playoff berths, while Northwestern State has six, followed by Southeastern with five and UIW with three, who made their debut in 2018 and the FCS semifinals in 2022.
Since 2010, five offensive individuals from the Southland Conference have won the illustrious Walter Payton Award, given to the top offensive player in FCS and named after the legendary Bears running back. The Southland has already had two recipients in this decade in Lindsey Scott, Jr. of UIW in 2022 and Cole Kelly of Southeastern in the spring of 2021. Scott broke nearly every FCS record, including 71 total touchdowns and 60 passing scores.
The Southland Conference has made its impact on the NFL as well, with 11 alumni on NFL rosters in 2021 and seven in 2022. Houston Christian's Caleb Johnson made his NFL debut with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2023. This past April, two Southland football student-athletes heard their names called at the NFL Draft as Jalyx Hunt of HCU was selected in the third round by the Philadelphia Eagles on Day Two and Levi Drake Rodriguez of Texas A&M-Commerce was selected in the seventh round by the Minnesota Vikings.
Southland Conference teams have won 18 games in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, including Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last year. This season, the McNeese Cowboys entered March Madness as a 12-seed, the highest seed a Southland member has earned since 2015.
Men’s basketball has also experienced a tremendous amount of success during the Southland’s history. The league has sent four teams to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, as well as a squad to the NIT Final Four. Basketball stars Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, Jeff Foster, Dwight “Bo” Lamar, Andrew Toney, Mike Oliver and Thomas Walkup played in the Southland Conference.
In 2013-14, Stephen F. Austin set numerous Southland records, including marks for victories in a season (32) and consecutive wins overall (29 straight) and in Conference play (23 in a row), and playing as a 12th seed, knocked off fifth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth, 77-75, in the NCAA’s second round.
In 2006, Northwestern State, playing as the No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament, defeated No. 3 seed Iowa, 64-63, in first-round action. The league saw a record seven men’s basketball teams reach the postseason in 2018, and overall, 24 teams have earned postseason tournament berths since 2015.
The Southland Conference has sent 16 players to the NBA, including Kevon Harris, who is currently with the Orlando Magic. Thomas Walkup will play in the 2024 Paris Olympics for Greece.
Current Southland Conference institutions have sent 28 players to Major League Baseball, including four in 2023 – Grant Anderson (Texas Rangers), Jace Peterson (Arizona Diamondbacks), Tanner Rainey (Washington Nationals), and Wade Miley (Milwaukee Brewers. David Fry (Cleveland Guardians) was named an MLB All-Star in 2024.
The Southland has reached many firsts in their partnerships since Commissioner Chris Grant took the reigns in 2022. The Conference rebranded its image after 20 years in the Spring of 2023, partnered with Thrive Global in the Summer of 2022 as a tool for student-athlete support in mental health, announced a partnership with INFLCR in the Fall of 2023 by offering the NIL Marketplace to all of its membership, and partnered with Living For Zachary to provide AEDs to all athletic training staffs.