TLU Football Slated to Rejoin and Compete in SCAC in 2024
SEGUIN, Texas -- After seven seasons as an affiliate member of the American Southwest Conference (ASC), Texas Lutheran University has decided to make the move to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) starting with the 2024-25 academic year. The SCAC announced the reinstatement of football as a conference sponsored sport in 2022 with the intention to start in 2024 and, with the move, allows Texas Lutheran to have all 18 NCAA sponsored sports compete in the conference.
Football was an officially sponsored sport of the conference from 1962 (when the league was formed as the College Athletic Conference) through the 2016 season. Texas Lutheran previously competed in the SCAC in football from 2013 to 2016 before joining the ASC as an affiliate. Texas Lutheran won three conference championships (2013-15) in the four years they were a member of the conference in football. As core members, Austin College, Centenary College, and McMurry University, along with affiliate member Lyon College, had each agreed to play football under the SCAC umbrella beginning in 2024. Texas Lutheran, who played as a football-only affiliate with the American Southwest Conference from 2017-2023, had previously committed to a 2025 start date in the SCAC but recently made a request to move that start date up one year.
Statement from Athletic Director Bill Miller
"Texas Lutheran University is thankful for the opportunities that our affiliate membership in the ASC provided for the last seven seasons. The ASC is a very strong football conference. However, TLU is tremendously excited about playing SCAC Football. The SCAC has been a good fit for TLU and it is going to be great to have all of our sports programs playing in the same conference once again."
Statement from President Debbie Cottrell
"Texas Lutheran University is very pleased to have its football program return to the SCAC. The SCAC is a strong and high quality conference, and a very good fit for our institution. I am excited to have all of our NCAA-sponsored sports operate within one conference and know this will provide many benefits to our student athletes and to our athletic program overall."
Statement from SCAC President Dwayne Hanberry
"I give a lot of credit to the football coaches and athletic directors at Austin College, Centenary, McMurry and Lyon for their willingness to adjust their schedules in order to bring Texas Lutheran aboard a season earlier. Once TLU expressed an interest in beginning their SCAC football journey in 2024, everyone was very excited to do what we could to accommodate their request." As a five-member football league, the SCAC will play a double round robin schedule in 2024 with each team playing the other home and away for an eight-game conference schedule. Conference competition will begin the second weekend of the season (September 14). The full release from the SCAC can be read here.
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