Mid-South Conference
The Mid-South Conference (MSC) is an athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member institutions are located in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia. The league is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, and the commissioner is Eric Ward. The Mid-South Conference has 12 full members: Bethel (TN), Campbellsville, Cumberland (TN), Cumberlands (KY), Freed–Hardeman, Georgetown College (KY), Lindsey Wilson, Life, Pikeville, Shawnee State, Thomas More, and UT Southern. Eight of these members sponsor football; Freed–Hardeman, Life, Shawnee State, and UT Southern do not. The Mid-South Conference also has six  associate members that compete primarily in other conferences. Faulkner, Kentucky Christian, Union and recently former member Bluefield are associate members of the MSC for football and men's volleyball, and Reinhardt is an associate member of the MSC for football and men's volleyball. This gave the conference 13 members for football. In the spring of 2016, the conference expanded to 20 members, adding the six football members of the Sun Conference, as well as Faulkner University for football, On January 4, 2018, the conference added Keiser University for football, and St. Thomas announced in July they were joining the  conference for football in 2019. Another Sun Conference member, Florida Memorial in Miami Gardens, Florida joined the MSC as an affiliate member for football in 2020, after re-adding the sport. History. In April 2018, Thomas More University (then Thomas More College), which had been an NAIA member before moving to NCAA Division III in 1990, announced that it had been formally invited to re-join the NAIA effective in the 2019–20 academic year as a member of the Mid-South Conference. The school, while acknowledging that it was considering this move, denied published reports that it had accepted the  invitation. Thomas More eventually confirmed in July that it would join the Mid-South in 2019. In 2020, Bethel University became a Mid-South full member, brought track and field back to the MSC, and transferred all sports other than football and archery to the conference (prior to that, Bethel was an associate member of the MSC for football and archery only); additionally, Freed–Hardeman and UT Southern, then known as Martin Methodist College, also joined Mid-South. In December 2020, Life University also announced its departure from the MSC for the Southern States Athletic Conference in 2022–23. Most recently , Thomas More announced in August 2021 that it would return to the NCAA, but this time in Division II as a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC). It will join the G-MAC as a provisional member in July 2022, but will continue as an NAIA member and in the Mid-South through 2022–23, after which it will start G-MAC competition. Later, the Sun Conference published on December 22 its reinstatement of football for the 2022 season. Member schools. Full members. The Mid-South currently has 12 full members, all but two are private schools: Affiliate  members. The Mid-South currently has 25 associate members, all are private schools: Former members. The Mid-South had eight former full members, all but two were private schools: Former affiliate members. The Mid-South had 20 associate members, all but one were private schools: Sports. Member teams compete in 28 sports: 13 men's, 13 women's and 2 mixed. In addition, the Mid-South Conference also conducts championships for Esports and competitive dance. The MSC also stages invitational tournaments for junior varsity squads in the sports of men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, and women's  volleyball, if enough schools sponsor JV teams in a given year. Football divisions. Beginning with the 2017 season, The Sun Conference and Mid-South merged their football conferences into the largest football conference in college sports. Edward Waters was previously a full member of the Sun Conference from 2006 to 2010 and a football affiliate member from 2014 to 2016 seasons. Edward Waters left after the 2018 football season. The divisions are divided below. However, the Sun Division folded when its teams left Mid-South after the Sun Conference reinstated football for 2022, leaving Mid-South with 15 football members