ASUN Conference
The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and will begin sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. Originally established as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) in 1978, it was renamed as the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001, and then rebranded as the ASUN Conference in 2016. The conference headquarters are located in Atlanta. The conference has undergone significant growth in membership in recent years. In 2018, the University of North Alabama arrived  from the Division II Gulf South Conference, and Liberty University left the Big South for the ASUN. Most recently, in 2020–21 with the arrival of Bellarmine University from the Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference and the departure of NJIT to the America East Conference. The ASUN officially announced the addition of the University of Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky University and Jacksonville State University, as incoming members on January 29, 2021, also announcing the addition of football in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The ASUN statement, however, did not specify when conference competition in football would begin. On September 17 , 2021, the ASUN announced Austin Peay State University as a new member for the 2022–23 season. Member schools. Former members. School names and nicknames listed here reflect those used during the schools' time in the TAAC/ASUN. One school has changed both its name and nickname, and three others have changed only their nicknames: Membership timeline. Sports sponsored. As of the 2021–22 school year, the ASUN sponsors championship competition in nine men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports. In 2008, the ASUN, in an agreement with the Southern Conference (SoCon), Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), and Big South  Conference, formed the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) for schools sponsoring men's and women's swimming and diving within the associated conferences. For the past several years, the ASUN's Commissioner has served as the president of what was initially a swimming & diving-only conference. In 2014 the CCSA expanded to include several other schools from other conferences, and the following year the conference added beach volleyball (women-only at the NCAA level) as a sponsored sport, changing its name to the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association. Currently the conference has 17 member schools, with five men's swimming and  diving teams, nine women's swimming & diving teams, and six beach volleyball teams. A more recent change to the roster of ASUN sports took place after the 2013–14 school year. Under a cooperative agreement between the ASUN and SoCon, the two leagues agreed to split lacrosse sponsorship. The SoCon took over the ASUN men's lacrosse league, while women's lacrosse sponsorship remained with the ASUN. The full alliance in women's lacrosse amicably ended after the 2017 season, with the SoCon sponsoring that sport from the 2018 season forward, but the two leagues continued in a cross-scheduling agreement  until the SoCon dropped women's lacrosse after the 2021 season. Still more recently, on September 13, 2016, the ASUN and Big South announced a football partnership that allows any ASUN members with scholarship football programs to become Big South football members, provided they are located within the general geographic footprint of the two conferences. At the time of announcement, the only ASUN member with a scholarship football program, Kennesaw State, was already a Big South football member. Should any ASUN member add scholarship football, or any non-scholarship football program of an ASUN school (at the time of announcement , Jacksonville and Stetson) upgrade to scholarship football, that team will automatically join Big South football. North Alabama joined Big South football under the terms of this agreement; although the school's home state of Alabama had no schools in either conference at the time it was announced as a future ASUN member, three of its neighboring states were home to six of the ASUN's eight members at that time. When the ASUN announced the July 2021 entry of Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville State, it also stated that it would launch a scholarship FCS football league, but did  not specify when football competition will begin. No current member is required to add football or change its current football standing. At a press conference on February 23, 2021, the ASUN announced that it had entered into a separate football partnership with the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), which had previously announced the relaunch of its football league at the FCS level in fall 2021 with the arrival of four new FCS member schools. The three incoming ASUN members joined the four incoming WAC members in a round-robin schedule branded as the "ASUN–WAC Challenge". Both conferences proposed an amendment  to NCAA bylaws that would allow the alliance to receive an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. The alliance had seven members, one more than the six normally required for an automatic bid, but were not in the same league for an adequate period to meet the current NCAA "continuity" requirement. The two leagues' proposal was successful, resulting in an automatic qualifier from the seven-team Challenge, colloquially dubbed "AQ7". With the 2022 arrival of Austin Peay providing the ASUN its sixth scholarship FCS program, the ASUN is now all but certain to start its football league in the 2022  season. Shortly after the addition of football was announced, the ASUN announced that it would reinstate men's lacrosse in the 2022 season, with the lacrosse partnership with the SoCon retained for the time being. The two full ASUN members with men's lacrosse programs, Bellarmine and Jacksonville, separated for that sport, with Bellarmine joining the new ASUN lacrosse league and Jacksonville remaining in SoCon men's lacrosse. Air Force moved from SoCon men's lacrosse; men's lacrosse independent Utah joined; and all three Horizon League members with men's lacrosse programs also joined, with Detroit Mercy moving from  the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Cleveland State and Robert Morris moving from independent status. The SoCon maintained its automatic NCAA tournament berth by adding another lacrosse independent, Hampton. The ASUN men's lacrosse league was initially to be administered through the CCSA while operating under the ASUN name as part of the ASUN's intended plan to split into two conferences. This arrangement was scrapped along with the planned conference split once NJIT left for the America East; the men's lacrosse league is now directly administered by the ASUN. The ASUN added two new beach volleyball members, Charleston  and UNCW, in July 2021. At the same time, Coastal Carolina left ASUN beach volleyball for the newly formed Conference USA beach volleyball league. With the demise of SoCon women's lacrosse after the 2021 season, Coastal Carolina and Delaware State returned to the ASUN in that sport after respectively spending one and four seasons in the SoCon. Men's sports. Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the league which are played by ASUN schools: Women's sports. Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the league which are played by ASUN schools: Facilities. Future members in gray. Departing  members in red. All Sports Championships. The Jesse C. Fletcher and Sherman Day Trophies are awarded each year to the top men's and women's program in the conference. The Bill Bibb Trophy, combining the men's and women's results for the best overall program, was first awarded in 2006–07. East Tennessee State won this overall trophy seven of the nine years it has been awarded; Florida Gulf Coast won in 2012–13, 2014–15 and 2015-16. Championships. Men's basketball. "This is a partial list of the last 10 champions. For the full history, see ASUN Men's  Basketball Tournament." Women's basketball. "This is a partial list of the last 10 champions. For the full history, see ASUN Women's Basketball Tournament."