SUWANEE, Ga. – With the additions of
Centenary College of Louisiana, Schreiner University and, most
recently, Texas Lutheran University, the Southern Collegiate
Athletic Conference (SCAC) has reaffirmed its status as an active
NCAA Division III conference for the 2012-13 academic year and
beyond.
The presidents from the six institutions who will comprise the SCAC
next year met on the campus of the University of Dallas on Thursday
to discuss the current state of the conference as well as the
league’s future, which is considerably different – and
much brighter – than it was in June of 2011.
“It has been a pleasure to work with the presidents of the
other SCAC schools to pull this together,” said Austin
College president Marjorie Hass, who currently serves as the chair
of the SCAC Board of Directors. “Speaking on behalf of the
Board of Directors, I would like to thank our commissioner, Dwayne
Hanberry, for his leadership throughout this challenging process.
Knowing the league will be back at eight members in 2013-14 is
satisfying for all of us.”
Austin College, Colorado College, the University of Dallas,
Southwestern University and Trinity University will be joined in
the SCAC by Centenary College of Louisiana in 2012-13. Schreiner
University and Texas Lutheran University come aboard in
2013-14.
“Just eight short months ago, our conference was down to five
members and the future was a great unknown,” said
commissioner Dwayne Hanberry. “I am proud to say today that
the state of the SCAC is strong and based on the inquiries we
continue to receive from interested parties, possibilities exist
for the league to become even stronger.”
“We achieved our initial goal of shoring up league
membership,” said Hanberry, “but we will continue to
seek out partners – both as core members and for
sport-specific affiliate membership – where it makes sense
philosophically and geographically.”
The addition of Texas Lutheran on February 16 insures that the SCAC
will retain its automatic bids in nine of its 14 AQ sports,
including baseball, men’s basketball, women’s
basketball, softball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer,
men’s tennis, women’s tennis and volleyball.
The SCAC will continue to explore its options in other AQ sports
such as football, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s
lacrosse and women’s lacrosse.
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| Pictured from left to right: Centenary College President David Rowe, Austin College President Marjorie Hass, Southwestern University President Jake Schrum, SCAC Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry, University of Dallas President Thomas Keefe, Trinity University President Dennis Ahlburg, Colorado College President Jill Tiefenthaler |