The Sun Belt Conference ( SBC ) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA 's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The 14 member institutions of the Sun Belt are distributed across the Southern United States .
122-524: The Sun Belt Conference was founded on August 4, 1976, with the University of New Orleans , the University of South Alabama , Georgia State University , Jacksonville University , the University of North Carolina at Charlotte , and the University of South Florida . Over the next ten years the conference would add Western Kentucky University , Old Dominion University , the University of Alabama at Birmingham , and Virginia Commonwealth University . New Orleans
244-459: A "counter" as "an individual who is receiving institutional financial aid that is countable against the aid limitations in a sport." The number of scholarships that Division I members may award in each sport is listed below. In this table, scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a decimal point ; for equivalency sports, they are listed with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if required. The NCAA also has rules specifying
366-613: A conference to sponsor football at the FBS level) for the 2013 season. Appalachian State University accepted an invitation on March 27, 2013 to join the Sun Belt effective July 1, 2014. Georgia Southern University accepted a similar Sun Belt invitation at the same time as Appalachian State. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern both joined for all sports from the Southern Conference on July 1, 2014. Both schools had been very successful within
488-756: A decimal point. Numbers for equivalency sports are indicated with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if needed. Notes: The following table lists the men's individual D-I sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by number of athletes. D-I college wrestling has lost almost half of its programs since 1982. The following table lists the women's individual D-I sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by number of athletes. NCAA Division I schools have broadcasting contracts that showcase their more popular sports — typically football and men's basketball — on network television and in basic cable channels. These contracts can be quite lucrative, particularly for D-I schools from
610-746: A few blocks south of the main campus and caused the flooding of the first floor of the Bienville Hall dormitories, the Lafitte Village couples apartments, and the Engineering Building. UNO was the first of the large, damaged universities in New Orleans to re-open, albeit virtually, by using web-based courses starting in October 2005. The university was able to offer classes in the fall semester immediately following Hurricane Katrina at satellite campuses;
732-493: A four-year public school to move upward in athletic classification, including FCS to FBS. The legislative committee that must review the move did not meet until November 5, after the state's gubernatorial election . The committee unanimously approved JMU's move from FCS to FBS, and the Sun Belt move was officially announced on November 6. The original Action Network report also stated that the two full non-football SBC members, Little Rock and UT Arlington, would no longer be members of
854-422: A later vote of the league's school presidents and athletic directors and has since increased to 45. The Patriot League only began awarding football scholarships in the 2013 season, with the first scholarships awarded only to incoming freshmen. Before the conference began its transition to scholarship football, athletes receiving scholarships in other sports were ineligible to play football for member schools. Since
976-544: A member of the non-football West Coast Conference , effective in 2023. The American in turn responded on October 21 by adding six schools from Conference USA (C-USA), with 2023 as the most likely entry date. Following this move, rumors began to circulate that the Sun Belt was planning to take on another three members (the University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM), Marshall University , and former Sun Belt member Old Dominion University ) from C-USA, likely in response to that conference's remaining teams worried of
1098-626: A men's soccer affiliate when that school joined the Big 12 Conference in 2023. In men's soccer, the conference is not a "mid-major" conference, but a "power" conference due to the quasi-alliance of the Big 12 and SEC schools, plus the presence of a recent national champion in Marshall. On June 6, the SBC presidents & chancellors approved adding two new women's sports, beach volleyball and swimming & diving, no later than
1220-626: A near-complete membership turnover that saw the conference stripped of all but two of its football-sponsoring members. The two remaining football-sponsoring schools, Idaho and New Mexico State , played the 2013 season as FBS independents before becoming football-only members of the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. Both left Sun Belt football in 2018, with Idaho downgrading to FCS status and adding football to its all-sports Big Sky Conference membership and New Mexico State becoming an FBS independent. The WAC added two more football-sponsoring schools with
1342-410: A specific bowl game bid for which the conference has a tie-in. Some conferences have numbers in their names but this often has no relation to the number of member institutions in the conference. The Big Ten Conference did not formally adopt the "Big Ten" name until 1987, but unofficially used that name when it had 10 members from 1917 to 1946, and again from 1949 forward. However, it has continued to use
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#17328691139201464-820: A substantial number of players in Championship Subdivision programs are on full scholarships. A former difference was that FCS schools had a limit of 30 players that could be provided with financial aid in a given season, while FBS schools were limited to 25 such additions per season. These limits were suspended in 2020 before being completely eliminated for both subdivisions in 2023. Finally, FCS schools are limited to 95 individuals participating in preseason practices, as opposed to 105 at FBS schools (the three service academies that play FBS football are exempt from preseason practice player limits by NCAA rule). A few Championship Subdivision conferences are composed of schools that offer no athletic scholarships at all, most notably
1586-566: A title game, the NCAA Division I Football Championship . As of the 2018 season, the tournament begins with 24 teams; 10 conference champions that received automatic bids, and 14 teams selected at-large by a selection committee. The postseason tournament traditionally begins on Thanksgiving weekend in late November. When I-AA was formed 46 years ago in 1978, the playoffs included just four teams for its first three seasons, doubling to eight teams for one season in 1981. From 1982 to 1985, there
1708-411: A year earlier for all sports in the 2000-01 school year) and added FBS Independent University of Louisiana at Monroe and Big West member University of Idaho as football-only members. These new members gave the Sun Belt seven football playing members in their first season, as Arkansas State and Louisiana were already full members which sponsored football. Another Big West school, Utah State University ,
1830-485: A year early, departing on July 1, 2013 with FIU and North Texas. Western Kentucky also accepted an invitation to join Conference USA on April 1, 2013, and departed from the Sun Belt on July 1, 2014. These moves depleted the Sun Belt and made the need to expand their membership more urgent than ever, as the Sun Belt was left with ten full members and only eight members that sponsor football (the minimum number required for
1952-465: Is "a one-stop shop for all your enrollment needs." This location includes offices of Enrollment, Orientation, the Bursar, Financial Aid, and Academic Advising. Not only is this building home to many enrollment services, but this building also has a Coffee Shop run by dining services and different academic resources on each floor. The first floor is home to a large study area known as the "Learning Commons" which
2074-505: Is Old Dominion, which won one title in women's basketball and five in the non-SBC sport of field hockey during its first conference tenure from 1982 to 1991. Six other current members have won NCAA Division I team championships prior to joining the conference. Coastal Carolina won its only D-I national title on the day before it officially joined the SBC, while representing the Big South Conference. See also: List of NCAA schools with
2196-553: Is a building located on the west side of campus). Retail franchises include Subway, Chick Fil A, Fujisan Sushi, Bowl Life, and Brewed Awakening (which brews Starbucks Coffee). Moe's Southwest Grill and the Sandbar at the Cove are under temporary closure due to low student enrollment. Additionally, Chartwells manages three convenience "Markets" on campus known as the Market NOLA (which is located in
2318-521: Is considered an FBS member for scheduling purposes. The newest full FBS members are Jacksonville State , James Madison , and Sam Houston , which completed the transition from FCS prior to the 2024 season . The next school to become a full FBS member is Kennesaw State , which joined Conference USA (CUSA) in 2024 and will become a full FBS member a year later. Delaware and Missouri State are set to join CUSA in 2025 and become full FBS members in 2026. Since
2440-524: Is distributed in more than a dozen ways — almost all of which directly support NCAA schools, conferences and nearly half a million student-athletes. About 60% of the NCAA's annual revenue — around $ 600 million — is annually distributed directly to Division I member schools and conferences, while more than $ 150 million funds Division I championships" (NCAA 2021). Finances Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet
2562-583: Is home to a large computer lab in the front, an open-concept study area in the rear, the offices of Student Accountability/Disability Services & the Learning Resource Center, and group study room. The second floor is home to quiet computers, additional group study rooms, periodicals, the Women's Center, and the UNO Press. The third floor houses the silent study room, the honors program, the innovation suite,
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#17328691139202684-509: Is important to note that the main office for the graduate school is located here and not in the Library. The university's campus is home to three on-campus housing options for students all located on UNO's main campus: Prior to the construction of the two Pontchartrain Halls following Hurricane Katrina, students lived at a dormitory known as Bienville Hall. After being used as office space while campus
2806-652: Is named for its series of postseason bowl games , with various polls ranking teams after the conclusion of these games, while the FCS national champion is determined by a multi-team bracket tournament. For the 2020–21 school year, Division I contained 357 of the NCAA's 1,066 member institutions, with 130 in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), 127 in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and 100 non-football schools, with six additional schools in
2928-658: Is the Atlantic Coast Conference . For the first 60 years after its 1953 founding, the ACC consisted entirely of schools in Atlantic Coast states. However, in 2013 , the conference added three new schools, two of which ( Pittsburgh and, for non-football sports, Indiana-based Notre Dame ) were in states without an Atlantic shoreline. The following year saw the ACC add another non-Atlantic school in Louisville . Then, in 2023 ,
3050-458: Is the official student government association. Registered organizations are separated into categories of either religious, honorary, political, professional, social, service, organizations, or special interests. The Driftwood was the UNO weekly newspaper and was published every Thursday. UNO also owns and operates WWNO , a local radio station. WWNO began transmitting in 1972. The Greek community at
3172-407: The 2016 season , all FBS conferences have been allowed to conduct a championship game that does not count against the limit of 12 regular-season contests. Under the current rules, most recently changed in advance of the 2022 season, conferences have complete freedom to determine the participants in their championship games. From 2016 to 2021, FBS rules allowed such a game to be held either (1) between
3294-457: The 2022 season , with all participating in one of 14 conferences. The "I-AA" designation was dropped by the NCAA in 2006, although it is still informally and commonly used. FCS teams are limited to 63 players on scholarship (compared to 85 for FBS teams) and usually play an 11-game schedule (compared to 12 games for FBS teams). The FCS determines its national champion through an NCAA-sanctioned single-elimination bracket tournament , culminating in
3416-465: The Greater New Orleans region. UNO is a member of the University of Louisiana System and is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The university consists of eight schools and colleges offering 40 bachelor 's, 45 master 's and 17 doctoral degrees. Among its academic offerings are the only civil, mechanical and electrical engineering programs in New Orleans,
3538-622: The Ivy League and the Pioneer Football League (PFL), a football-only conference. The Ivy League allows no athletic scholarships at all, while the PFL consists of schools that offer scholarships in other sports but choose not to take on the expense of a scholarship football program. The Northeast Conference also sponsored non-scholarship football, but began offering a maximum of 30 full scholarship equivalents in 2006, which grew to 40 in 2011 after
3660-523: The Mid-American Conference ). Additionally, it was announced that Kentucky , South Carolina , and West Virginia would join as men's soccer affiliate members beginning in fall 2022, giving the conference an inaugural soccer membership of 9. Kentucky and South Carolina were previously also affiliated with C-USA, while West Virginia was affiliated with the MAC. The SBC later announced it would add UCF as
3782-693: The NCAA's Division III . In order to maintain athletic scholarships, UNO instead opted for entry into Division II . On April 20, 2011, UNO officially received transition approval from the NCAA Division II Membership Committee. (UNO later decided to remain in Division I, and joined the Southland Conference in 2013.) On April 9, 2012, Georgia State, one of the founding members of the Sun Belt Conference, announced that it would be returning to
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3904-450: The Salute to Veterans Bowl . Football rivalries involving Sun Belt teams include: For the upcoming season, see 2024–25 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball season . This list goes through the 2021–22 season. This list goes through the 2022–23 season. Since the 2022–23 season, the Sun Belt Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments, held in early March, have involved all 14 of
4026-707: The Sun Belt Championship game . Following the July 30, 2021 announcement of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma both moving from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference , the world of college athletics faced the prospect of realignment once again. The Big 12 responded on September 10 by adding three schools from the American Athletic Conference (The American) and BYU , an FBS independent and otherwise
4148-585: The UNO Lakefront Arena . UNO also owns and operates The Beach, a research and technology park adjacent to its main campus. The university's athletic teams are the Privateers . A total of 14 Privateer teams compete in the NCAA Division I Southland Conference . State Senator Theodore M. Hickey of New Orleans in 1956 authored the act which established the University of New Orleans. At the time New Orleans
4270-472: The University of Arkansas at Little Rock , then merged with the American South Conference , made up of Arkansas State University , Louisiana Tech University , the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette ), the University of Texas–Pan American (now merged into the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley ), New Orleans (re-joined), Lamar University , and
4392-458: The University of Central Florida . Although the American South was the larger conference, the merged league retained the Sun Belt name. In 1991, the league first began to explore the idea of sponsoring football. Central Florida left the league following the 1991–92 academic year due to a dispute over television rights, among other reasons. Lamar, Texas–Pan American, and Jacksonville departed at
4514-625: The WAC forced that conference to drop football after the 2012 season. Idaho and New Mexico State were the only remaining WAC members that sponsored football, and competed as FBS independents for the 2013 season before competing in the Sun Belt in 2014. Idaho is located by far the farthest away from the other Sun Belt conference members, but it was rejected by the Mountain West Conference , leaving it with no other choice. On September 1, 2015, Coastal Carolina University accepted an invitation to join
4636-426: The access bowls . FBS schools are limited to a total of 85 football players receiving financial assistance. For competitive reasons, a student receiving partial scholarship counts fully against the total of 85. Nearly all FBS schools that are not on NCAA probation give 85 full scholarships. As of the current 2024 college football season, there are 133 full members of Division I FBS, plus one transitional school that
4758-400: The 2006 season, it was possible for the number of Bowl Subdivision schools to drop in the future if those schools were not able to pull in enough fans into the games. Additionally, 14 FCS schools had enough attendance to be moved up in 2012. Under current NCAA rules, these schools must have an invitation from an FBS conference in order to move to FBS. The difference in the postseasons in each of
4880-467: The 2013–14 academic year. At the press conference to announce Texas State's addition, Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson also hinted that more changes could be on the way for the conference. On May 25, 2012, the conference announced that the University of Texas at Arlington (a non-football member) had accepted an invitation to join the conference and would become a full member by 2013. On May 4, 2012, FIU and North Texas announced that they would be leaving
5002-405: The 2013–2014 academic year. In November 2022, students overwhelmingly voted against a fee increase to add football, women's soccer, women's golf, and marching band to the campus. The official fight song of the University of New Orleans is "Let's Hear It For UNO". The song was adopted after a competition in 1981. The winner was Lois Ostrolenk. Before this, the melody from William Tell Overture
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5124-432: The 2014–15 fiscal year, the conferences that earned the most revenues (and that distributed the most revenues to each of their member schools) were: The NCAA has limits on the total financial aid each Division I member may award in each sport that the school sponsors. It divides sports that are sponsored into two types for purposes of scholarship limitations: The term "counter" is also key to this concept. The NCAA defines
5246-521: The 2020 arrival of Tarleton and Utah Tech (then Dixie State) from Division II; both schools planned to be FCS independents for the foreseeable future. The WAC would reinstate football at the FCS level in 2021, coinciding with the arrival of four new members with FCS football; for its first season, it entered into a formal partnership with the ASUN Conference to give it enough playoff-eligible members to receive an automatic playoff berth. This partnership
5368-538: The 2022 expansion, with the new dividing line being the Alabama–Georgia border. The winner of each division will meet in the Sun Belt Championship game. Since the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS season, the Sun Belt Conference has held a football championship game. As of the 2022–23 NCAA football bowl games , the Sun Belt Conference had tie-ins with the following bowl games: † The Camellia Bowl was later renamed
5490-433: The 2023–24 school year. They also announced that the conference would explore adding another women's sport, field hockey, at an undetermined future date. On January 18, 2023, the SBC officially announced that its beach volleyball league would launch that spring, with the four full members sponsoring the sport joined by Charleston , Mercer , UNC Wilmington , and Stephen F. Austin as affiliate members. On August 17, 2023,
5612-532: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in enrollment at universities across the United States, the University of New Orleans was particularly hard hit for a variety of reasons. Partially due to a large portion of UNO's non-traditional student base seeking education at non-traditional online universities, a failure to truly have in-person classes for traditional students in the years following COVID, and subsequent hurricanes
5734-484: The Chemical-Sciences Annex (1997), and Kirschman Hall (2004). The College of Engineering building is the tallest building on campus. It has nine floors and is home to the university's Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (NAME) Program, among other engineering programs. Two buildings on campus feature atrium designs as opposed to hallways. Kirschman Hall, the newest lecture building on campus and home of
5856-537: The College of Business Administration, features a large atrium in the center with a few satellite hallways connecting to it. It is considered to be the second largest lecture building on campus (after the engineering building). The University of New Orleans features three buildings that are considered to be the centers of campus life: The Earl K. Long Library is home to the Privateer Enrollment Center, which
5978-556: The Division II proposal to the LSU Board of Supervisors. Previously, UNO competed at the Division II level from 1969 to 1975. On March 9, 2012, President Peter J. Fos announced that UNO plans to remain a member of NCAA Division I, with potential homes being the Sun Belt or Southland Conference . On August 21, 2012, UNO announced that it would be joining the Southland Conference , effective
6100-557: The Engineering Building. The university's dining services are currently managed by Chartwells Higher Ed, a branch of Compass Group . They manage all dining locations on campus including the university's buffet-styled cafeteria is known as the Food Hall at the Galley. Retail dining locations are mainly located on the Deck (which is in the university center on the east side of campus) and the Cove (which
6222-619: The FCS from a lower division (or from the NAIA ) are also ineligible for the playoffs. Division I FCS schools are currently restricted to giving financial assistance amounting to 63 full scholarships. As FCS football is an "equivalency" sport (as opposed to the "head-count" status of FBS football), Championship Subdivision schools may divide their allotment into partial scholarships. However, FCS schools may only have 85 players receiving any sort of athletic financial aid for football—the same numeric limit as FBS schools. Because of competitive forces, however,
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#17328691139206344-472: The Football Championship Subdivision (124 schools in 2017), only four percent of football and five percent of men's basketball programs generated positive revenues. In 2012, 2% of athletic budgets were spent on equipment, uniforms and supplies for male athletes at NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision school, with the median spending per-school at $ 742,000. In 2014, the NCAA and the student athletes debated whether student athletes should be paid. In April,
6466-543: The Football Championship Subdivision, combining to win nine national championships since 1985. They upgraded to the Football Bowl Subdivision, and were eligible for Sun Belt conference championships in 2014, but were not postseason-eligible in football until 2015. The Sun Belt also granted football-only invites to Idaho and New Mexico State on March 28, 2013. Idaho and New Mexico State were both former Sun Belt members (Idaho for football only, New Mexico State for all sports) from 2001 to 2005. The large number of defections from
6588-555: The I-AA playoffs was Jackson State in 1997 ; the SWAC never achieved success in the tournament, going winless in 19 games in twenty years (1978–97). It had greater success outside the conference while in Division II and the preceding College Division. From 2006 through 2009, the Pioneer Football League and Northeast Conference champions played in the Gridiron Classic . If a league champion
6710-543: The Midwest (Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame), Upper South (Louisville, Memphis) and Southwest (Houston, SMU). The non-football conference that assumed the Big East name when the original Big East split in 2013 is another example of this phenomenon, as half of its 10 inaugural schools (Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette, Xavier) are traditionally regarded as being Midwestern. An even more extrema example of this phenomenon
6832-501: The NCAA approved students-athletes getting free unlimited meals and snacks. The NCAA stated "The adoption of the meals legislation finished a conversation that began in the Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet. Members have worked to find appropriate ways to ensure student-athletes get the nutrition they need without jeopardizing Pell Grants or other federal aid received by the neediest student-athletes. With their vote, members of
6954-687: The SBC officially announced the return of women's swimming and diving as a sponsored sport. Full members (all sports) Full members (non-football) Associate members (football-only) Associate members (other) Other Conference Other Conference In addition to the five Sun Belt commissioners, three future league leaders served on the Sun Belt staff prior to becoming conference commissioners, including Doug Elgin (Missouri Valley), John Iamarino (Northeast, Southern), and Tom Burnett (Southland). On October 12, 2011, ESPN reported that Wright Waters would retire, effective July 1, 2012. On February 15, 2012, Karl Benson
7076-642: The Sun Belt Conference sponsors championship competition in nine men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The most recent change to sports sponsorship was the reinstatement of women's swimming & diving in 2023–24. When Marshall was formally introduced as an incoming Sun Belt member, SBC commissioner Keith Gill also announced that the conference would reinstate men's soccer once all new members joined. Men's soccer resumed play in 2022–23 with six full members joined by three associates. Beach volleyball started play with eight members, evenly divided between full members and associates. Member-by-member sponsorship of
7198-643: The Sun Belt Conference. The university joined in all sports except for football starting July 1, 2016, with football joining in 2017. The conference announced on March 1, 2016, that the affiliation agreement with Idaho and New Mexico State would not be extended past the 2017 season. The conference announced that beginning in 2018, the conference (10 teams) would be divided into two divisions for football: East: Appalachian State , Coastal Carolina , Georgia Southern , Georgia State , and Troy ; West: Arkansas State , Louisiana , Louisiana–Monroe , South Alabama , and Texas State . The winner of each division will meet in
7320-444: The Sun Belt for Conference USA on July 1, 2013 as part of a Conference USA expansion effort involving four other schools. On November 29, 2012, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee State announced that they would also leave the Sun Belt for Conference USA. The move for Florida Atlantic and MTSU was originally scheduled to take place in 2014; however, the two schools announced on January 28, 2013 that they would leave for Conference USA
7442-536: The Sun Belt in July 2022. They claimed to have notified C-USA of their plans in December 2021, apparently seeking to negotiate a 2022 exit. C-USA had indicated in late January 2022 that it expected the three schools to remain in that league through the 2022–23 school year. Marshall escalated the situation by filing suit against C-USA in its local court in an attempt to force a 2022 move. On March 29, Conference USA agreed to let Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss move to
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#17328691139207564-498: The Sun Belt starting July 1, 2022. On April 6, with the entrance of three new men's soccer-sponsoring schools in James Madison, Marshall, and Old Dominion, the Sun Belt announced that men's soccer would be reinstated as a sponsored sport. The three aforementioned programs joined current Sun Belt members Coastal Carolina (previously affiliates with Conference USA) as well as Georgia State and Georgia Southern (previously affiliates with
7686-591: The UNO Bookstore, and various meeting spaces. University offices located here include counseling services, career services, student involvement and leadership, Greek life, student government association, student affairs, the HUB, the student pantry, student transitions, and the Juan LaFonta Diversity Engagement Center. It is also home to an Oschner Health Clinic and various leisure spaces. The lobby of
7808-466: The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted to accept an invitation for Little Rock to join the Ohio Valley Conference , and UT Arlington, which had been a Western Athletic Conference member in the 2012–13 school year , announced its return to that conference on January 21, 2022. Shortly thereafter, Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss announced that they planned to leave C-USA for
7930-561: The University of New Orleans is composed of about 15 fraternities and sororities. UNO has four colleges: College of Business Administration, College of Liberal Arts, Education and Human Development, College of Engineering, and College of Sciences. The university also offers a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. The university's campus is located in the New Orleans metropolitan area , sitting on Lake Pontchartrain at
8052-593: The addition of Arizona and Arizona State, and "Pac-12" (instead of "Pacific-12") in 2011 when Colorado and Utah joined . Conferences also tend to ignore their regional names when adding new schools. For example, the Pac-8/10/12 retained its "Pacific" moniker even though its four most recent additions (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah) are located in the inland West, and the original Big East kept its name even after adding schools (either in all sports or for football only) located in areas traditionally considered to be in
8174-540: The biggest conferences. For example, the Big Ten conference in 2016 entered into contracts with Fox and ESPN that pay the conference $ 2.64 billion over six years. The NCAA also holds certain TV contracts. For example, the NCAA's contract to show the men's basketball championship tournament (widely known as March Madness) is currently under a 14-year deal with CBS and Turner that runs from 2010 to 2024 and pays $ 11 billion. For
8296-473: The building features a large atrium with flags hanging down. These are placed the first time a student comes to the university from another nation. The Administration Building consists of two sections: the original administration building and the newer administration annex, an addition to the building that was built later. Many university administrative offices are located here though these are typically administrative and not often visited by students. However, it
8418-553: The champions of its East and West divisions. Also, three of its member schools traditionally do not finish their regular seasons until Thanksgiving weekend. Grambling State and Southern play each other in the Bayou Classic , and Alabama State plays Tuskegee (of Division II ) in the Turkey Day Classic . SWAC teams are eligible to accept at-large bids if their schedule is not in conflict. The last SWAC team to participate in
8540-556: The completion of the transition with the 2016 season, member schools have been allowed up to 60 full scholarship equivalents. Several Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision conferences have member institutions that do not compete in football. Such schools are sometimes unofficially referred to as I-AAA. The following non-football conferences have full members that sponsor football: The following Division I conferences do not sponsor football . These conferences still compete in Division I for all sports that they sponsor. Of these,
8662-534: The conference after the 2022–23 school year. Initial plans were for James Madison to compete as a de facto Sun Belt affiliate in sports other than football and men's soccer during the 2022–23 season. However, those plans would eventually change, with JMU and the SBC jointly announcing on February 2, 2022 that JMU would become a full SBC member, including football, in 2022–23. By the end of January 2022, both non-football members would announce their departures for other conferences, effective that July. On December 8, 2021,
8784-646: The conference announced it would expand in 2024 to the Pacific coast with San Francisco Bay Area rivals California and Stanford , and also add SMU from Dallas–Fort Worth . ** – "Big Four" or "Power Four" conferences that had guaranteed berths in the "access bowls" associated with the College Football Playoff before its 2024 expansion to 12 teams *** – "Group of Five" conferences The Division I Football Championship Subdivision ( FCS ), formerly known as Division I-AA , consists of 130 teams as of
8906-425: The conference as a full member in 2013. As part of the move, the football program began a transition from FCS to FBS in the 2012 season; it played a full Sun Belt schedule as a "transitional" FBS member in 2013, and became a full FBS member, with bowl eligibility, in 2014. On May 2, 2012, Texas State University announced it would leave the WAC after just one year and join the Sun Belt in July 2013 to begin play for
9028-452: The conference as an all-sports full member when the Warhawks left their former home, the Southland Conference . Longtime Sun Belt member Western Kentucky joined the Sun Belt's football conference in 2009 after its board of regents voted to upgrade the school's football program to Division I FBS . On November 11, 2009, New Orleans announced it was investigating a move from Division I to
9150-426: The conference folding. These moves would help to establish the market areas for the Sun Belt and The American, which cover similar geographic footprints. The American would now have most of its members in metropolitan areas, while the Sun Belt would instead have its members in smaller college towns . On October 22, The Action Network reported that Southern Miss had been accepted as a new Sun Belt member, with 2023 as
9272-404: The conference winner since 1978. South Alabama has won the most championships, at 13. University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans ( UNO ) is a public research university in New Orleans , Louisiana . First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans , it is the largest public university and one of two doctoral research universities in
9394-539: The conference's teams, and have been bracketed in a semi-stepladder format. The bottom four seeds play in the first round; seed 5 through 10 receive byes to the second round, and the top 4 seeds to the quarterfinals. All rounds are held in Pensacola, Florida at Pensacola Bay Center since 2022. Winners of the tournaments earn automatic bids to their respective NCAA Division I basketball tournament. The Sun Belt Conference has sponsored an annual baseball tournament to determine
9516-496: The conference. Up until 2009, the conference only had a contract with one bowl, the New Orleans Bowl . Following the Sun Belt's improved football success and geographical membership changes, other bowls began to sign contracts with the Sun Belt Conference. As of October 2021, the conference had seven bowl game tie-ins ( Cure , Boca Raton , LendingTree , New Orleans , Myrtle Beach , Frisco , and Camellia ) Throughout
9638-404: The council said they believe loosening NCAA rules on what and when food can be provided from athletics departments is the best way to address the issue." According to the finance section of the NCAA page, "The NCAA receives most of its annual revenue from two sources: television and marketing rights for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship and ticket sales for all championships. That money
9760-424: The day after Marshall named its next president, both the Sun Belt and Marshall issued tweets announcing that school's entry; a formal announcement followed the next day and an introductory press conference was held on November 1. As for James Madison, its board met on October 29 to discuss a potential Sun Belt invitation, but its timeline was also affected by a Virginia state law that requires legislative approval for
9882-574: The end of Elysian Fields Avenue and on the former site of NAS New Orleans. The UNO Research and Technology Park, referred to as "The Beach" is located adjacent to campus on the former site of the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park. The Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena and Maestri Field at Privateer Park, UNO's basketball and baseball facilities, are located at the corner of Franklin Avenue and Leon C. Simon Boulevard. UNO's classes were originally housed in
10004-541: The end of the 1997–98 academic year. Florida International University joined the Sun Belt in 1998, and the University of Denver was added in 1999. Louisiana Tech departed after the 2000–01 academic year. The conference did not sponsor football until 2001, when the league added former Big West Conference members New Mexico State University and the University of North Texas and former Ohio Valley Conference member (an FBS Independent on football) Middle Tennessee State University as full members (all three of them joined
10126-567: The eponymous post-season championship tournament. The Ivy League was reclassified to I-AA (FCS) following the 1981 season , and plays a strict ten-game schedule. Although it qualifies for an automatic bid, the Ivy League has not played any postseason games at all since becoming a conference, citing academic concerns. The Ivy League member to play in a bowl game was Columbia in the 1934 Rose Bowl . The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) has its own championship game in mid-December between
10248-471: The existence of an official NCAA championship in the latter subdivision. Before the 2023 season, the NCAA required that FBS schools average at least 15,000 attendance, allowing schools to report either total tickets sold or the number of persons in attendance at the games. The requirement was a minimum average of 15,000 people in attendance every other year. These numbers are posted to the NCAA statistics website for football each year. With new rules starting in
10370-594: The following criteria: FBS conferences must meet a more stringent set of requirements for NCAA recognition than other conferences: † "Power Four" conferences that had guaranteed berths in the New Year's Six , the bowl games associated with the College Football Playoff , before the playoff's 2024 expansion to 12 teams ‡ "Group of Five" conferences Sports are ranked according to total possible scholarships (number of teams x number of scholarships per team). Scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without
10492-632: The latter of which will move football to the Patriot League in 2025). The MAAC stopped sponsoring football in 2007, after most of its members gradually stopped fielding teams. Among current MAAC members that were in the conference before 2007, only Marist , which plays in the Pioneer Football League, still sponsors football. From 2013 to 2021, the Western Athletic Conference was a non-football league, having dropped football after
10614-474: The likely entry date. The report also stated that the Sun Belt would add three more members—the aforementioned Marshall and Old Dominion, plus James Madison University , a member of the FCS Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Southern Miss and Old Dominion were respectively announced as incoming members on October 26 and 27. At the time, both were to join no later than 2023. On October 29,
10736-399: The main campus re-opened in December 2005. Hurricane Katrina reduced enrollments at all colleges in New Orleans, but the University of New Orleans was particularly hard hit. This echoed the damage to New Orleans as a whole, since UNO serves as a leader in educating students from New Orleans. Since the hurricane, the student enrollment is on a steady increase toward pre-Katrina numbers. While
10858-516: The major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Division II and Division III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition. This level was previously called the University Division of the NCAA, in contrast to the lower-level College Division; these terms were replaced with numeric divisions in 1973. The University Division
10980-463: The meditation area, and private study rooms for faculty and graduate students. The fourth floor is where the quiet study area, the special collections/archives, the reading room, various conferences rooms, and additional offices are located. The university center is "the center of campus life at UNO." The building is home to dining services locations, the grand ball room, the Captain's Quarter's Game Room,
11102-526: The membership totals to 14 in 2023 and 16 effective in 2024. On the other hand, the Pac-12 Conference used names (official or unofficial) that have reflected the number of members from the establishment of its current charter in 1959 until its collapse in 2024 . The conference unofficially used "Big Five" (1959–62), "Big Six" (1962–64), and "Pacific-8" (1964–68) before officially adopting the "Pacific-8" name. The name duly changed to "Pacific-10" in 1978 with
11224-434: The most NCAA Division I championships , List of NCAA schools with the most Division I national championships , and NCAA Division I FBS Conferences For more information see Sun Belt Conference football . For the current season, see 2024 Sun Belt Conference football season . The Sun Belt first began sponsoring football in 2001. It originally consisted of seven football playing schools, three of which are still members of
11346-410: The name even after it expanded to 11 members with the addition of Penn State in 1990, 12 with the addition of Nebraska in 2011 , and 14 with the arrival of Maryland and Rutgers in 2014 . The Big 12 Conference was established in 1996 with 12 members, but continues to use that name even after a number of departures and a few replacements left the conference with 10 members, and later expansions brought
11468-401: The nine men's SBC sports for the 2023–24 academic year. Member-by-member sponsorship of the 11 women's SBC sports for the 2024–25 academic year. "RS" is regular season, "T" is tournament. Championships from the previous academic year are flagged with the calendar year in which the most recent season or tournament ended. The only school to have won a national title while an SBC member
11590-455: The only graduate hospitality and tourism program and PAB -accredited urban planning program in the state of Louisiana, and one of the few schools of naval architecture and engineering in the United States. UNO's 195-acre main campus is located on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain in Gentilly , New Orleans. The university's East Campus houses athletic facilities including Maestri Field and
11712-594: The remaining buildings following the closure of NAS New Orleans at that site. As a nod to campus' time as a Naval base, the oldest lecture buildings completed in 1960, the Liberal Arts Building and the Science Building, are both numbered and laid-out like a ship with Liberal Arts featuring exterior balconies for access to the classrooms as opposed to interior hallways, and both Liberal Arts and Science featuring two central courtyards in each building. Throughout
11834-477: The same season. The Pioneer Football League earned an automatic bid beginning in 2013. The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) began abstaining from the playoffs with the 2015 season. Like the SWAC, its members are eligible for at-large bids, and the two conferences have faced off in the Celebration Bowl as an alternative postseason game since the 2015 season. Schools in a transition period after joining
11956-447: The sport in which multi-sport athletes are to be counted, with the basic rules being: Subdivisions in Division I exist only in football . In all other sports, all Division I conferences are equivalent. The subdivisions were recently given names to reflect the differing levels of football play in them. As of the 2023 season, the main distinctions between Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision schools are scholarship policies and
12078-524: The subdivisions grant the FCS an advantage to have the best record in college football history, 17–0, while the FBS only allows a 15–0 record. FBS attendance requirements were abolished early in the 2023 season, effective immediately. In their place, Division I added new requirements for athletic funding. Effective in 2027–28, FBS schools must fund the equivalent of at least 210 full scholarships across all of their NCAA sports; spend at least $ 6 million annually on athletic scholarships; and provide at least 90% of
12200-417: The total number of allowed scholarship equivalents across 16 sports, including football. Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ), formerly known as Division I-A , is the top level of college football . Schools in Division I FBS compete in post-season bowl games , with the champions of five conferences, along with the highest-ranked champion of the other five conferences, receiving automatic bids to
12322-443: The transition from Division II to Division I. There was a moratorium on any additional movement up to D-I until 2012, after which any school that wants to move to D-I must be accepted for membership by a conference and show the NCAA it has the financial ability to support a D-I program. Division I athletic programs generated $ 8.7 billion in revenue in the 2009–10 academic year. Men's teams provided 55%, women's teams 15%, and 30%
12444-524: The two that most recently sponsored football were the Atlantic 10 and MAAC. The A-10 football league dissolved in 2006 with its members going to CAA Football, the technically separate football league operated by the all-sports Coastal Athletic Association. In addition, four A-10 schools ( Dayton , Fordham , Duquesne , and Massachusetts ) play football in a conference other CAA Football, which still includes two full-time A-10 members ( Rhode Island and Richmond ,
12566-538: The university center and serves PJ's coffee), Market Cove (located in the cove), and Market Pontchartrain (located in the residence hall on campus). The University of New Orleans currently has 14 varsity sports teams, and is a Division I member of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), competing in the Southland Conference. UNO originally attempted to reclassify to Division II's Gulf South Conference . On February 1, 2011, Provost Joe King submitted
12688-598: The university to conduct research, provide training, and create education opportunities. Tenants have many university services provided to them, including the university library and recreational facilities. NCAA Division I NCAA Division I ( D-I ) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States , which accepts players globally. D-I schools include
12810-400: The winners of each of two divisions, with each team having played a full round-robin schedule within its division, or (2) between the conference's top two teams after a full round-robin conference schedule. Before 2016, "exempt" championship games could only be held between the divisional winners of conferences that had at least 12 football teams and split into divisions. The prize is normally
12932-440: The years following, UNO's enrollment hit record lows, close to its post-Katrina numbers. Because of this, less than a year after her appointment to the position, President Kathy Johnson was required to lay off numerous employees and shrink budgets by over 15% during the summer of 2024. There are more than 120 registered clubs and organizations active at UNO, including roughly 15 fraternities and sororities . UNO Student Government
13054-849: The years, additional permanent buildings were built to accommodate a larger student body. These include Milneburg Hall (1969), the University Center (1969), the Earl K. Long Library (1970), the Geology/Psychology Building (1972), the Engineering Building (1987), the Life Sciences Complex (Phase 1: the Computer Center, Phase 2: the Biology Building, and Phase 3: the Mathematics Building; All completed between 1979 and 1984),
13176-522: The years, the conference has experienced flux in membership changes, similar to many other FBS conferences. The conference announced that beginning in 2018, the conference (10 teams after the departure of Idaho and New Mexico State ) would be divided into two divisions for football: East: Appalachian State , Coastal Carolina , Georgia Southern , Georgia State , and Troy ; West: Arkansas State , Louisiana , Louisiana–Monroe , South Alabama , and Texas State . The divisional alignments changed again with
13298-645: Was a 12-team tournament; this expanded to 16 teams in 1986. The playoffs expanded to 20 teams starting in 2010, then grew to 24 teams in 2013. Since the 2010 season, the title game is held in early January at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas . From 1997 through 2009, the title game was played in December in Chattanooga, Tennessee , preceded by five seasons in Huntington, West Virginia . The Football Championship Subdivision includes several conferences which do not participate in
13420-415: Was added as a football-only member in 2003, then departed in 2005 with Idaho and New Mexico State for the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). In 2004, Troy University became a football-only member before joining for all sports in the 2005–06 academic year. In 2005, Florida Atlantic became a football-only member before joining for all sports in the 2006-07 academic year. In 2006, Louisiana–Monroe joined
13542-551: Was being reconfigured after Katrina, the main residential section of the building finally closed down in 2010. The disused building was demolished in 2023 and the Hynes-UNO Charter School was built on the site. The rear Commons of the building was not included in the deconstruction. Once the cafeteria and amenities for on campus housing, it is now home to the Facility Services Workshop, and some storage for
13664-517: Was changed to "president." On August 29, 2005, the university suffered damage due to Hurricane Katrina . The main campus is on relatively high ground, so the damage was caused mostly by winds, rain-driven-water, and human activity during the storm. The university was used as an evacuation point and staging area by the National Guard . A levee breach on the London Avenue Canal occurred just
13786-449: Was forced out of the league in 1980 due to its small on-campus gymnasium that the conference did not deem suitable for conference competition. New Orleans competed as an independent before joining the newly formed American South Conference in 1987. After the 1990–91 basketball season, all members of the Sun Belt, except Western Kentucky, South Alabama, and Jacksonville, departed for other conferences. The Sun Belt, including incoming member
13908-425: Was hired as the new commissioner of the Sun Belt, after having been the commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference for 17 years. Waters would later move his departure date to March 15, allowing Benson to take over at that time. Keith Gill was named the commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference on March 18, 2019. He is the first African American to lead any FBS conference. As of the current 2023–24 school year,
14030-635: Was invited to the national championship playoff as an at-large bid (something the Pioneer league, at least, never received), the second-place team would play in the Gridiron Classic. That game was scrapped after the 2009 season when its four-year contract ran out; this coincided with the NCAA's announcement that the Northeast Conference would get an automatic bid to the tournament starting in 2010. The Big South Conference also received an automatic bid in
14152-574: Was named in Hickey's honor late in 2014, more than two decades after his death. The university was built on the New Orleans Lakefront when the United States Navy relocated Naval Air Station New Orleans . The Orleans Levee Board leased the closed base to the LSU Board of Supervisors. The renovation went quicker than expected. LSUNO opened for classes in 1958, two years ahead of schedule. It
14274-645: Was not categorized by sex or sport. Football and men's basketball are usually a university's only profitable sports, and are called "revenue sports". From 2008 to 2012, 205 varsity teams were dropped in NCAA Division I – 72 for women and 133 for men, with men's tennis, gymnastics and wrestling hit particularly hard. In the Football Bowl Subdivision (130 schools in 2017), between 50 and 60 percent of football and men's basketball programs generated positive revenues (above program expenses). However, in
14396-414: Was now a co-equal institution with LSU, its chief executive's title was changed from "vice president in charge" to "chancellor." After a decade of growth, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved a name change to the current "University of New Orleans." Nearly fifty years later, in 2011, the University of New Orleans was transferred from LSU to the University of Louisiana system , and its chief executive's title
14518-827: Was renamed Division I, while the College Division was split in two; the College Division members that offered scholarships or wanted to compete against those who did became Division II, while those who did not want to offer scholarships became Division III. For college football only, D-I schools are further divided into the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and those institutions that do not have any football program. FBS teams have more players receiving athletic scholarships than FCS teams and formerly (until 2024) had minimum game-attendance requirements. The FBS
14640-586: Was the first racially integrated public university in the South. For its first five years, it was reckoned as an offsite department of the main campus in Baton Rouge, and as such its chief administrative officer was originally called a dean (1958–1961), then a vice president in charge (1961–1962). In 1962, the LSU System of Higher Education was established, and LSUNO became a separate campus in that system. To signify that it
14762-436: Was the largest metropolitan area in the United States without a public university though it had several private universities , such as Tulane (which was originally a state-supported university before being privatized in 1884), Loyola , and Dillard . The institution was a branch of Louisiana State University , and as such was originally named Louisiana State University in New Orleans or LSUNO . The UNO University Ballroom
14884-456: Was used. A variation of the overture is still played to honor this tradition. The University of New Orleans has many club sports provided by the Department of Recreation and Intramural Sports. Club sports are available to all UNO students who have an interest. Active club sports include: The University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park is a research park whose tenants collaborate with
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