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| For Texas Lutheran, this will be a return to the ASC. Texas Lutheran athletics photo |
The American Southwest Conference will return to 10 teams for the 2017 football season as Southwestern will join the conference and Texas Lutheran will rejoin for football only.
On the heels of last month's announcement that Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference members Austin College and Trinity (Texas) would affiliate with the Southern Athletic Association for football, this announcement confirms that the two remaining SCAC football programs will find a home as well.
With the addition of Southwestern and TLU, American Southwest Conference football will number 10 teams playing a nine-game league schedule beginning in fall 2017. The additions also signal a return to a 10-team football alignment for the first time since 2005 and will make the ASC the 10th NCAA Division III conference with at least 10 football teams. The football affiliate membership of both institutions was accepted by unanimous vote of the ASC Council of Presidents.
"The American Southwest Conference is excited to bring both Southwestern and Texas Lutheran into our football program for the 2017 season, strengthening further the quality of ASC and NCAA Division III football within our Texas-Louisiana-Mississippi footprint," said Amy Carlton, ASC commissioner.
"We look forward to working with ASC football administrators and coaches in providing all students on our campuses the opportunity to enjoy spirited rivalries and top-level competition," Carlton added.
Southwestern and Texas Lutheran will join Belhaven, East Texas Baptist, Hardin-Simmons, Howard Payne, Louisiana College, Mary Hardin-Baylor, McMurry and Sul Ross State as ASC football-playing members. The ASC will continue moving forward toward regaining its automatic bid to the Division III playoffs with Southwestern and Texas Lutheran, active Division III members, coming under the league's football roster for the 2017-18 year and as both McMurry and Belhaven advance toward full Division III membership. Depending on the outcome of a vote at the NCAA Convention in mid-January, the American Southwest Conference could become eligible for an AQ as early as the 2018 season. Currently the conference has just six football-playing schools who are full members of Division III.
"We are very excited about our partnership with the American Southwest Conference," said Southwestern president Edward Burger. "We thoughtfully explored several options, but the ASC was the absolute best fit for our football program and our University. Joining the ASC reinforces our commitment to student-athlete success, as we continue to challenge our bright players to think, create and connect, both academically and athletically."
Southwestern carries a long history against several present ASC teams with a contest vs. Howard Payne in 1916 being the oldest. The Pirates initially competed against Hardin-Simmons (1926), McMurry (1930) and East Texas Baptist (1947) before football was discontinued. After a 63-year absence, Southwestern reinstated its football program and played its first game on Sept. 7, 2013 vs. Texas Lutheran.
Texas Lutheran joined the American Southwest Conference in 1998 as an affiliate member for football before moving to full sport membership in 2000. TLU departed the ASC for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference after the 2012-13 academic year. The Bulldogs sponsored football from 1912 through 1987, winning back-to-back NAIA national titles in 1974 and 1975. TLU reestablished football in 1998 and over the next 14 seasons twice finished as high as third in the ASC standings (2004, '06).
"TLU coaches, players and Bulldog fans are eagerly looking forward to the challenge of the ASC, which we believe is the most competitive Division III football conference in the nation, top to bottom," said Stuart Dorsey, Texas Lutheran president. "The TLU community will be treated to exciting, well-played football contests with our traditional rivals on fall Saturdays at our new stadium."
In three seasons with the SCAC (2013, '14, '15), Texas Lutheran has been one of the most successful football programs in Division III, going undefeated in the conference, winning three consecutive SCAC championships and posting a 25-5 overall record. In 2014 TLU was an at-large selection to the NCAA Division III Football Championship, facing ASC member Mary Hardin-Baylor in the first round.
Southwestern and Texas Lutheran remain as members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference for all sports except football.