SUWANEE, Ga. — The Southern
Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) announced today that Texas
Lutheran University has accepted an invitation to join the
Conference.
"We are pleased and honored that Texas Lutheran University will
join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference beginning July 1,
2013,” said Austin College president Marjorie Hass, who
currently serves as the chair of the SCAC Board of Directors.
“Managing the membership of an athletic conference is
challenging work. It is wonderful to know that another private,
liberal arts and sciences college from the southwest region with an
engaging curriculum and similar commitment to the philosophy of the
NCAA Division III athletics program will join the Conference. The
addition of Texas Lutheran will bring the SCAC membership back to
eight, which will be helpful to the overall scheduling of the
Conference. We look forward to many competitive contests in the
future."
Currently a member of the American Southwest Conference, Texas
Lutheran will join the SCAC at the beginning of the 2013-14
academic year, becoming the eighth member of the reconstructed
league.
“This is an exciting opportunity for TLU
athletics,” said Texas Lutheran University President Stuart
Dorsey. “We are honored to be invited to join a conference of
institutions that have such an outstanding reputation for academics
and athletics success. We believe that the SCAC is an excellent fit
for TLU.”
Texas Lutheran, which is located in Seguin, Texas (34 miles east
of San Antonio), joins Austin College of Sherman, Texas; Centenary
College of Shreveport, Louisiana; Colorado College of Colorado
Springs, Colorado; the University of Dallas of Irving, Texas;
Schreiner University of Kerrville, Texas; Southwestern University
of Georgetown, Texas; and Trinity University of San Antonio, Texas.
Centenary’s membership in the SCAC begins in 2012-13 while
Schreiner and Texas Lutheran come aboard in 2013-14.
Dorsey cited several factors that led to the decision to join the
SCAC, including TLU’s similarity with the conference schools
in size, mission, curriculum, and athletics philosophy.
“TLU, like the other SCAC schools, provides an excellent
educational experience for all of our students, including our
student-athletes,” Dorsey said. “We’re proud that
TLU has been recognized repeatedly through the years by US News
& World Report and other national publications as one of the
top liberal arts colleges in the region. Membership in the
SCAC also will allow TLU to re-establish some historical
rivalries.”
Dorsey stressed that TLU will continue to emphasize and support
excellence in its athletics program.
“SCAC competition will be keen, and we intend to challenge
for conference championships in all sports. Intercollegiate
athletics is an important part of the fabric of TLU, and we have a
long, rich history of team championships and outstanding individual
performances that we wish to continue.”
“The addition of Texas Lutheran University marks a
significant step in the advancement of the SCAC,” said SCAC
commissioner Dwayne Hanberry. “Less than eight months ago, we
began the process of seeking new members who fit the profile we
consider to be a special and unique blend of academics and
athletics. With the additions of Centenary College of Louisiana,
Schreiner University and now Texas Lutheran University, we feel
like we are well on our way to achieving that goal.”
“We are excited that Texas Lutheran has agreed to become a
member of our conference and welcome them into the SCAC
family.”
The addition of Texas Lutheran insures that the SCAC will retain
its automatic bids in nine of its 14 AQ sports, including baseball,
men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball,
men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s tennis,
women’s tennis and volleyball.
The SCAC will continue to explore its options in other AQ sports
such as football, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s
lacrosse and women’s lacrosse.
Thirteen of TLU’s 14 intercollegiate sports programs will
join the SCAC. Football will play as an independent until the SCAC
has enough football members to qualify for the automatic
post-season bid that goes to NCAA Division III conference
champions. Trinity and Austin College are the only SCAC members
that currently field football teams, with Southwestern slated to
launch a football program in 2013.
“TLU is committed to fielding a football program that will
compete for the national championship,” said Dorsey.
“We anticipate that the SCAC will eventually reach the
minimum number of seven football-playing schools so that the
conference champion automatically qualifies for post-season play,
but until then we will build a competitive schedule against
regional and national opponents that we think will get us to that
level.”
TLU’s director of athletics Bill Miller expressed pleasure
about TLU’s move to the SCAC and continuing to compete
against ASC schools on a non-conference basis.
"We are excited about the opportunities being a member of the SCAC
presents us,” Miller said. “It will be a new, great
chapter for TLU and for our intercollegiate athletics program. As
we make this transition, we also look forward to continuing our
relationship with the ASC schools."
"The ASC was our home for football when we revived the sport in
1998, and it became the home for our 13 other sports starting in
2000. As a proud member of the ASC, TLU has won 16 conference
and 19 division championships and has made 35 NCAA DIII national
championship appearances. The ASC will always be a significant
part of our athletics history.”
Founded in 1891 in Brenham, Texas as an academy of the First
German Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Texas, Texas Lutheran moved to
Seguin in 1912. After merging with Trinity College of Round Rock,
Texas and Clifton College, the school was renamed Texas Lutheran
College in 1930. The institution was once again renamed to its
present title of Texas Lutheran University in 1996.
Texas Lutheran is recognized as one of America’s best and
most diverse liberal arts colleges by U.S. News & World
Report, and has been named as one of the “Best Western
Colleges” by The Princeton Review.
TLU sponsors 14 sports: basketball, cross country, golf,
soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball for
women; and baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer and tennis
for men. The Bulldogs have won 10 national championships: two in
football, two in women's volleyball, three individual titles in
golf, and three individual event titles in women's track and field.
Approximately one-third of TLU’s 1,300 full-time students
participate in intercollegiate athletics.