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Collegiate Conference of the South approved by the NCAA, following USA South separation

Feb. 18, 2022

Photo of a female soccer player

Nine member institutions of the USA South Athletic Conference (USAS) have officially formed and have been approved by the NCAA as a new Division III athletic conference, following a planned separation of USAS. 

This new conference, the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS), will include Agnes Scott College, Belhaven University, Berea College, Covenant College, Huntingdon College, LaGrange College, Maryville College, Piedmont University, and Wesleyan College. 

The USA South is currently the nation’s largest NCAA Division III conference, with 19 member institutions. After years of internal discussions, a two-conference separation strategy emerged, and more recently, the USAS Presidents Council formally committed to the establishment of two viable conferences. The new CCS was officially incorporated in the State of Georgia on Jan. 12, and application materials for conference membership were officially approved on Thursday, Feb. 17 by the NCAA Division III Membership Committee. 

The CCS Presidents Council and Executive Committee are led by Dr. Bryan F. Coker (President, Maryville College), chair; Dr. Susanna L. Baxter (President, LaGrange College), vice-chair; and Rev. J. Cameron West (President, Huntingdon College), at-large representative. CCS schools are being supported in forming this new conference by Dr. Kurt Patberg, who is currently serving as CCS Acting Commissioner. 

“We are grateful to our USA South colleagues for the productive and collegial manner in which this separation has been approached, and we are immensely excited about the possibilities which lay ahead for the new Collegiate Conference of the South,” Coker said. “In addition, we are thrilled that the NCAA has supported our application for membership as we move toward full competition in the fall of 2022.” 

In addition to sharing the member institutions’ geographic identity, the name Collegiate Conference of the South is indicative of their shared commitment to academic excellence, which is commensurate with the NCAA Division III philosophy. Now officially approved, the CCS plans to officially begin full-time operations in summer 2022, and compete in 14 championship sports beginning in fall 2022. 

The championship sports for men are baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, and track and field. For women, those leagues will include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. The sports of football, women’s golf, and men’s and women’s lacrosse will continue to compete in the USA South as associate members. 

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”