| American South Conference | |
| Founded: | 1987 |
| Dissolved: | 1991 |
| Association: | NCAA |
| Division: | Division I |
| Teams: | 7 |
| Headquarters: | Metairie, Louisiana |
| Commissioner: | Craig Thompson |
| Map: | American South Conference-USA-states.png |
| Map Size: | 250 |
The American South Conference was an NCAA Division I athletic conference that existed from 1987–88 to 1990–91. The charter members were Arkansas State University, Lamar University, Louisiana Tech University, the University of New Orleans, the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and the University of Texas–Pan American (now merged into the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). The University of Central Florida (UCF) became the only expansion school during the conference's final academic season before the conference merged with the Sun Belt Conference. The Sun Belt, which was losing all but three members, merged with the American South conference.[1] The combined conference retained the name of the older Sun Belt Conference. Craig Thompson, the American South's first and only commissioner, became commissioner of the merged Sun Belt. After serving as Sun Belt commissioner for eight years, he became commissioner of the newly formed Mountain West Conference in 1998.[2]
In its brief existence, the American South was home to the 1988 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Champion in Louisiana Tech, and also had two men's basketball teams earn NCAA at-large berths, Louisiana Tech in 1989 (defeated LaSalle in NCAA 1st Round) and New Orleans in 1991. Lamar's women's basketball team advanced to the NCAA round of eight in 1991 defeating Texas, LSU, and Arkansas before losing to tournament finalist Virginia.
| Institution | Nickname | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Joined | Left | Subsequent conference(s) | Current conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Wolves | Jonesboro, Arkansas | 1909 | Public | 1987 | 1991 | Sun Belt (1991–present) | ||
| Knights | Orlando, Florida | 1963 | 1990 | 1991 | various | Big 12 (2023–present) | ||
| Lamar University | Cardinals | Beaumont, Texas | 1923 | 1987 | 1991 | Sun Belt (1991–98) Western Athletic (2021–22) | Southland (1998–2021; 2022–present) | |
| Louisiana Tech University | Bulldogs &<br>Lady Techsters | Ruston, Louisiana | 1894 | 1987 | 1991 | Sun Belt (1991–2001) Western Athletic (2001–13) | C-USA (2013–present) | |
| Privateers | New Orleans, Louisiana | 1958 | 1987 | 1991 | Sun Belt (1991–2010) D-I Independent (2010–13) | Southland (2013–present) | ||
| Ragin' Cajuns | Lafayette, Louisiana | 1898 | 1987 | 1991 | Sun Belt (1991–present) | |||
| Broncs | Edinburg, Texas | 1927 | 1987 | 1991 | various | Western Athletic (2013–present) | ||
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1987 till:1992
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors =
id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text:Arkansas State (1987–1991) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text:Lamar (1987–1991) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text:Louisiana Tech (1987–1991) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text:New Orleans (1987–1991) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text:Southwestern Louisiana (1987–1991) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1991 text:Texas–Pan American (1987–1991) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1990 till:1991 text:Central Florida (1990–1991) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text:Sun Belt
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1987
See main article: American South Conference men's basketball tournament.