Sun Conference (TSC) |
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Established | 1990 |
Association | NAIA |
Members | 11 |
Sports fielded | 16 (men's: 8; women's: 8) |
Region |
Southern United States Region XIV of the NAIA |
Former names | Florida Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (1990–1992) Florida Sun Conference (1992–2008) |
Headquarters | Daytona Beach, Florida |
Commissioner | Mark Pope (since 2011) |
Website | thesunconference.com |
Locations | |
The Sun Conference (TSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NAIA. Nine of the eleven full member institutions are located in Florida, with two in Georgia and one in South Carolina. In addition there are two football-only affiliate members, one each in Florida and Georgia. The Sun Conference competes in the NAIA in all sponsored sports.
The conference was created in March 1990 as the Florida Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (FIAC), and renamed to the Florida Sun Conference in 1992. Charter members consisted of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Flagler College, Florida Memorial University, Nova University of Advanced Technology (now Nova Southeastern University), Palm Beach Atlantic University, Saint Thomas University, Webber International University and Warner Southern College (now Warner University).
The league later grew to nine members with the addition of Northwood University in 1994 (now Keiser University). Between 2002 and 2006, Nova Southeastern (2002), Palm Beach Atlantic (2003) and Flagler (2006) moved to NCAA Division II. But the league was able to recruit new members as Savannah College of Art and Design joined in 2004, followed by Edward Waters College in 2006. It adopted its current name in August 2008 to reflect its expansion to institutions outside of Florida. With the addition of the University of South Carolina at Beaufort in 2007, Johnson and Wales University, Southeastern University and Ave Maria University in 2009, and Thomas University of Georgia in 2012, years, along with Edward Waters’ move to the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference after the 2009–10 season, the league membership now stands at 12 schools, as of the 2012–13 season.