Peach Belt Conference
| Peach Belt Conference (PBC) |
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|---|---|
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| Established | 1990 |
| Association | NCAA |
| Division | Division II |
| Members | 14 (12 in 2017) |
| Sports fielded | 15 (men's: 7; women's: 8) |
| Region | Southeastern United States |
| Headquarters | Augusta, Georgia |
| Commissioner | David Brunk (since 2007) |
| Website | peachbeltconference.org |
| Locations | |
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The Peach Belt Conference (PBC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level. Since its inception in 1990-91, the Peach Belt has developed a consistent history of excellence which continues to this day with 30 national championships and 27 national finalists. Starting with only two championships in 1991, in men's and women's basketball, the conference has expanded to 13 championship sports with the addition of women's golf in the fall of 2009.
The conference traces its roots back to November 1988 when 11 schools first met in Greenville, S.C. to form a Division II conference. Following a second meeting on Dec. 3, 1989, five of those 11 schools, plus two others, formed the Peach Belt Athletic Conference and began play in the fall of 1990.
The seven charter members of the conference were Armstrong Atlantic State University (now Armstrong State University), Columbus State University, Francis Marion University, Georgia College (now Georgia College & State University), Lander University, USC Aiken, and USC Upstate. The name Peach Belt Athletic Conference was adopted in January 1990 and modified to Peach Belt Conference in May 2000.
Augusta State University joined the conference in 1991 and UNC Pembroke became the ninth member on July 1, 1992. They were followed by Kennesaw State University on July 1, 1994, Clayton State University on July 1, 1995 and the University of North Florida on July 1, 1997. Kennesaw State and North Florida departed for the Division I ranks in 2005, USC Upstate did the same in 2007, and the conference welcomed in North Georgia College & State University in 2005 and Georgia Southwestern State University in 2006. In 2009-10, the University of Montevallo and Flagler College were added, returning a league presence to Florida and broke new ground in Alabama. In 2012-13, the Peach Belt expanded to 14 members, the most the league has ever had, with the addition of Young Harris College. On January 8, 2013, the University System of Georgia finalized the mergers of two conference members into new institutions. Augusta State was merged into Georgia Regents University, which was renamed in 2015 as Augusta University, and NGCSU was merged into the University of North Georgia. In both cases, the new institutions inherited the Peach Belt memberships of the older schools.
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