The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. The Big South, founded in 1983, is firmly rooted in the South Atlantic region of the United States, with full member institutions located in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Associate members are located in Georgia and South Carolina.
History
Charter members included Armstrong State (later Armstrong Atlantic State University and now merged into Georgia Southern University as its Armstrong Campus) (1983–1987), Augusta (later Augusta State University and now merged into Augusta University) (1983–1990), Campbell University (1983–1994; 2011–2023), Baptist College (now Charleston Southern University) (1983–present), Coastal Carolina University (1983–2016), Radford University (1983–present) and Winthrop University (1983–present).
The expansion of membership occurred during the 1980s and 1990s. Some of those members are the University of North Carolina at Asheville (1984–present), Davidson College (1990–1992), Liberty University (1991–2018), the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (1992–1998), the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1992–1997), Towson University (1992–1995), Elon University (1999–2003), High Point University (1999–present) and Birmingham–Southern College (2000–2006).
The Big South Conference began sponsoring football in 2002, with Charleston Southern, Elon (at the time) and Liberty (Gardner–Webb University also joined as a football-only member) fielding teams; Coastal Carolina and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) joined the conference as football-only members in 2003. In that same athletic year, VMI also joined the conference for all sports, but left to re-join the Southern Conference in 2014. Presbyterian College joined the conference in 2007, moving up from Division II, and became eligible for regular-season championships and conference honors during the 2008–09 athletic year. Gardner–Webb, which had been a football-only member since 2002, joined the conference for all sports on July 1, 2008. Campbell rejoined the Big South for all sports except football in the 2011–12 athletic year. Longwood University accepted an invitation to join the Big South on January 23, 2012, and membership formally began July 1 of that year; Longwood had been independent since 2004, during their transition to Division I. In 2014, following the departure of VMI, the conference returned to a single-division structure. On September 1, 2015, Coastal Carolina announced they would leave the conference following the 2015–16 school year to transition to FBS-level football and the Sun Belt Conference. On June 30, 2016, the day before the school joined the Sun Belt, Coastal Carolina won the 2016 College World Series in baseball. This was the first time in conference history that a team won an NCAA championship in any sport.
In September 2016, the Big South and the ASUN Conference (ASUN) announced a football partnership that effectively combined the two conferences in that sport. Under its terms, any members of either conference that add or upgrade to scholarship football, provided they fall within the current geographic footprint of the two leagues, automatically join Big South football. At the time of announcement, the only ASUN member that played scholarship football, Kennesaw State, was already a Big South football member. The partnership also provides a guaranteed football home to the leagues' non-scholarship football programs (at that time, Campbell from the Big South, and Jacksonville and Stetson from the ASUN) should they upgrade to scholarship status.
In November 2016, Campbell announced that it would begin offering scholarships and move its football program from the Pioneer Football League to the Big South in 2018.
In December 2016, the University of North Alabama, ASUN, and the Big South Conference announced that, effective in 2018, the school will leave the Division II Gulf South Conference and will join ASUN in non-football sports and the Big South in football. UNA has won three Division II NCAA national championships in football and has won at least a share of the Gulf South Conference football championship for four consecutive seasons through 2016.
Three months later, Liberty announced that it would begin a transition to FBS football in July 2017 and leave the Big South football league in 2018. Liberty and the Big South agreed later in 2017 that the school would continue to house all of its non-football sports (except for field hockey and women's swimming, neither of which is sponsored by the Big South) in that conference for the immediate future. Once Liberty became a full FBS member at the start of the 2019–20 school year, it would have technically become a Big South associate member (barring the school joining an FBS conference). However, Liberty's plans would change several months later, as it instead announced in May 2018 that it would move its non-football sports to the ASUN effective that July (except for the aforementioned field hockey and women's swimming, also not sponsored by the ASUN).
In November 2017, the University of South Carolina Upstate and Hampton University announced that they would be leaving the ASUN and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, respectively, to join the Big South, starting in the fall of 2018.
On November 19, 2017, Presbyterian College announced it would be moving its football program to the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League. Presbyterian's last Big South football season was in 2019; the Blue Hose planned to play the 2020 season as an independent before joining the Pioneer League for 2021 and beyond. The Blue Hose remain a member of the Big South in all other sports.
A more recent change to its core membership was the July 2021 arrival of North Carolina A&T State University from the MEAC as a full member, including football. At the same time, Robert Morris University was planned to join as a football-only member. North Carolina A&T joined on the originally planned schedule, but Robert Morris became a Big South football member in November 2020. COVID-19 led the conference to move its 2020 football season to spring 2021. Since two of the eight Big South football members (apart from RMU) chose to play in the originally scheduled fall 2020 season and a third chose not to play football at all in 2020–21, the Big South chose to bring the Colonials into the football league for spring 2021.
More recently, the Big South added three new single-sport members in women's lacrosse effective with the 2022 season (2021–22 school year): Furman University, Mercer University, and Wofford College. All three are full members of the Southern Conference (SoCon), which disbanded its women's lacrosse league after the 2021 season.
On January 25, 2022, the Colonial Athletic Association (now the Coastal Athletic Association) announced that Hampton University would join that conference, as well as CAA Football, its technically separate football league, on July 1, 2022. On February 22, that conference announced that North Carolina A&T State University would be leaving the Big South, joining the all-sports CAA on July 1. North Carolina A&T would play Big South football in 2022 and join CAA Football on July 1, 2023.
Also on February 22, the conference announced its intent to combine its football membership with the Ohio Valley Conference beginning in 2023 and operate as the OVC–Big South Football Association."Big South Conference and OVC Announce Football Agreement" OVCSports.com. Retrieved 2022-02-22. The following month saw Bryant University announced as a new football-only member effective with the 2022 season. Campbell announced on August 3 that it would join both sides of the CAA in 2023 as well. This was followed by Bryant announcing that it would join CAA Football in 2024. On November 28, it was announced that Robert Morris would also leave the association and return football to its previous home, the Northeast Conference effective after the 2023 football season. This alliance effectively ended on June 18, 2026, when the OVC announced it would return to the OVC name and branding for its football-playing members and brought in Charleston Southern and Gardner–Webb as affiliate members.
On March 21, 2026, the conference announced it would start sponsoring women's flag football in the 2028 season (2027–28 school year), making it the first Division I conference to make such an announcement. At the time of announcement, five full members (Charleston Southern, Gardner–Webb, Radford, UNC Asheville, USC Upstate) had either already added the sport or committed to adding it in the near future. However, it would not be the first D-I conference to officially sponsor the sport; the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference announced in May 2026 that it would hold its first conference championship in spring 2027.
Member schools Current full members Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Endowment Nickname Joined Colors Charleston Southern University North Charleston, South Carolina 1964 SouthernBaptist 3,414 $24 Buccaneers 1983 Gardner–Webb University Boiling Springs, North Carolina 1905 SouthernBaptist 3,594 $70.5 Runnin'Bulldogs 2008 High Point University High Point, North Carolina 1924 UnitedMethodist 4,545 $138.5 Panthers 1999 Longwood University Farmville, Virginia 1839 Public 4,470 $100 Lancers 2012 Presbyterian College Clinton, South Carolina 1880 Presbyterian 1,330 $88.1 Blue Hose 2007 Radford University Radford, Virginia 1910 Public 10,700 $55.2 Highlanders 1983 Asheville, North Carolina 1927 Public 3,762 $52.4 Bulldogs 1984 Spartanburg, South Carolina 1967 Public 6,000 $74 Spartans 2018 Winthrop University Rock Hill, South Carolina 1886 Public 6,073 $62.3 Eagles 1983
Notes
Current associate members Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Nickname Joined Colors Big Southsport(s) Primaryconference Bryant University Smithfield, Rhode Island 1863 Nonsectarian 3,751 Bulldogs 2025 America East (AmEast) Furman University Greenville, South Carolina 1826 Nonsectarian 2,629 Paladins 2021 Women's lacrosse Southern (SoCon) Mercer University Macon, Georgia 1833 Nonsectarian 9,026 Bears 2021 Women's lacrosse Southern (SoCon) New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey 1881 Public 12,332 Highlanders 2025 America East (AmEast) Wofford College Spartanburg, South Carolina 1854 UnitedMethodist 1,773 Terriers 2021 Women's lacrosse Southern (SoCon)
Notes
Former full members Institution Location Founded Type Nickname Joined Left Colors Currentconference Armstrong State College Savannah, Georgia 1935 Public Pirates 1983 1987 N/A Augusta University Augusta, Georgia 1785 Public Jaguars 1983 1990 Peach Belt (PBC) Birmingham–Southern College Birmingham, Alabama 1856 UnitedMethodist Panthers 2000 2007 Closed in 2024 Campbell University Buies Creek, North Carolina 1887 SouthernBaptist FightingCamels 1983 1994 Coastal (CAA) 2011 2023 Coastal Carolina University Conway, South Carolina 1954 Public Chanticleers 1983 2016 Sun Belt (SBC) Davidson College Davidson, North Carolina 1837 Presbyterian Wildcats 1990 1992 Atlantic 10 (A10) Elon University Elon, North Carolina 1889 Nonsectarian Phoenix 1999 2003 Coastal (CAA) Hampton University Hampton, Virginia 1868 Nonsectarian Pirates 2018 2022 Coastal (CAA) Liberty University Lynchburg, Virginia 1971 Nondenominational Flames &Lady Flames 1991 2018 Conf. USA (CUSA) Catonsville, Maryland 1966 Public Retrievers 1992 1998 America East (AmEast) North Carolina A&T State University Greensboro, North Carolina 1891 Public Aggies 2021 2022 Coastal (CAA) Greensboro, North Carolina 1891 Public Spartans 1992 1997 Southern (SoCon) Towson University Towson, Maryland 1866 Public Tigers 1992 1995 Coastal (CAA) Virginia Military Institute Lexington, Virginia 1839 S.M.C. Keydets 2003 2014 Southern (SoCon)
Notes
Former associate members