For more than 40 years, the Big South Conference has been an exemplary leader in college athletics, dedicated to developing student-athletes through the pursuit of excellence in the classroom, community, and field of play. As an NCAA Division I athletic conference, the Big South represents and advocates for its member institutions by delivering outstanding championship experiences and fostering the holistic development of more than 3,000 student-athletes. Guided by its foundational mantra, “Where Winners Are Made,” the conference aligns its 18 championship sports under a strategic positioning framework built on Academic Centrality, Athletics Excellence, Integrity, Student-Athlete Well-Being, and Collegiality. With a bold vision that leverages basketball success as a catalyst to fuel conference-wide excellence, national relevance and sustainable future growth, the Big South continues to cultivate champions for life who excel as students, athletes, and leaders in a global society.
The Big South Conference has experienced numerous athletic and academic accomplishments since its founding in 1983, including the following in the last two decades:
• NCAA Baseball National Champion in 2016
• Nine individual National Champions
• NCAA Tournament wins in men’s soccer, men’s basketball, softball and baseball in the same season (2025-26)
• Reached the NCAA “Sweet 16” in men’s soccer, women’s basketball, baseball and women’s lacrosse
• Five NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament wins, including two appearances in the Round of 32
• Four victories in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament
• Reached the NCAA Softball Regional Championship game six times
• Became the first Division I multi-sport conference to sponsor Women’s Flag Football
• Two Top 10 finishes in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship -- including fifth in 2007
• Three Top 24 finishes in the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship since 2011
• The No. 1 seed in the NCAA Baseball Regionals four times, including the national No. 4 seed in 2010
• Three berths in the NCAA Baseball Super Regionals
• Multiple teams in the NCAA Baseball Regionals nine times
• Qualified three teams for NCAA Championships in the same sport for the first time in 2015-16 (men’s soccer, men’s golf)
• Multiple postseason berths in at least four sports for five straight years from 2014-18
• First-ever appearance in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Doubles Championship
• Appearances in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Men’s Singles Championship
• First All-Americans in men’s and women’s cross country, and men’s tennis
• No. 1-ranked collegiate men’s golfer (Dustin Johnson, 2007) and men’s tennis doubles team (Henry Patten & Oli Nolan, 2019)
• The first-ever national finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year
• The No. 1 ranked team in the national polls in 2014 and 2015 (football)
• Reached the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs five times in a six-season span from 2013-18
• Multiple teams in the FCS playoffs five times from 2012-19
• A Big South-record 45 All-Americans in 2021-22
• A Big South-record 13 Academic All-Americans in 2003-04 and 2013-14
• A Big South-record 32 NCAA Public Recognition Awards for APR Success in 2019 and 2020
• A Big South-record 90 percent Graduation Success Rate in 2021 – the sixth consecutive year at or above 85 percent
On April 24, 1983, Charleston Southern (then Baptist College) Athletic Director Howard Bagwell and Augusta President George Christenberry began recruiting members into the fledgling league, and less than four months later on August 21, the Big South Conference was formed when Augusta, Charleston Southern, Campbell, Coastal Carolina and Winthrop committed to the new conference. One month later, Dr. Edward M. Singleton was selected as the league’s first Commissioner and continued to solicit new members. His efforts led to the additions of Armstrong State, Radford and UNC Asheville, giving the Big South more than the required six members to constitute an official conference. The Big South’s first year of competition was in the Fall of 1984, and in September 1986, the Big South Conference was granted full-fledged NCAA Division I status.
During its infancy and prior to securing automatic bids to NCAA Championships, the Big South made early strides in earning at-large berths in several national postseason events, including volleyball, women’s basketball and women’s golf. In 1989, George F. “Buddy” Sasser replaced the retiring Dr. Singleton as Commissioner, and in 1990, the league received its first automatic bid -- an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Baseball Championship. Under Sasser’s seven years of leadership, the conference implemented its public relations and compliance programs, and introduced its first-ever men’s basketball television package.
In August 1996, Kyle B. Kallander replaced Sasser as the league’s third Commissioner, and in his 27 years at the helm of the Big South before retiring in June 2023, Kallander was instrumental in aggressively promoting the conference to unprecedented heights. During his tenure, men’s and women’s indoor track & field (1997), football (2002) and women’s lacrosse (2013) were added as sponsored sports. The conference also enjoyed record levels in marketing revenue, in addition to extensive television coverage for women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball and women’s lacrosse for the first time. The league as a whole enjoyed increased national television exposure through aggressive and unique television packages – including the women’s basketball championship game televised on a national linear network for the first time in 2022. Conference membership was solidified with double-digit full members for 14 consecutive years during his administration with the additions of High Point, Gardner-Webb, Presbyterian College Longwood and USC Upstate. Kallander’s long range vision included technological advancements, as the conference introduced its first live streaming event in 2005 and has consistently provided video offerings of more than 850 annually through a partnership with the member institutions, as well as the creation of several online and social media platforms. Ongoing equipment upgrades have allowed these productions to reach linear television quality, while the emphasis on video integration has allowed the conference to expand its reach globally as well as serve as a model for peer conferences to emulate. Kallander also pushed initiatives around student-athlete wellness, such as an annual Health & Safety Summit that began in 2016, along with programs and services to address racial inequality and social injustice.
Under Kallander’s leadership, the Big South developed and initiated its first long-range strategic plan, re-affirming the league’s vision as a distinctive athletic conference committed to the quality of institutional life through athletic competition. An updated strategic plan was launched in 2015 with five primary areas of focus established: basketball success, media exposure, academic centrality, student-athlete experience and messaging/branding. In 2017, the league overhauled its identity with the most comprehensive rebrand in the 33-year history of the Big South Conference.
The rebrand included a new brand identity featuring a more favorable and distinctive color scheme, the introduction of a secondary logo and an extensive advertising campaign to enliven the conference’s distinct values, its roots in the Southeast region of the United States and its vision for the future. The foundation of the rebrand was built from the conference’s Live, Love and Life pillars, which are externally expressed through the conference’s “Where Winners Are Made” mantra. Crafted in collaboration with conference leadership and student-athletes, the tagline (and corresponding #BigSouthMade hashtag) embodies and affirms the Big South’s commitment to developing student-athletes for profound success through Division I collegiate athletics and transformative academics to achieve their full potential as students, athletes and citizens.
In April 2023, former Big South student-athlete and administrator Sherika A. Montgomery was named the successor to the retiring Kallander, and she began her tenure a month later on May 15 as the conference’s fourth Commissioner. In her three years of leadership, the Big South…
• Celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023-24
• Had four different sports (men’s soccer, men’s basketball, softball, baseball) earn NCAA Tournament wins in the same season (2025-26) for the first time since 2017-18 and just the fourth time overall
• Had the Big South’s first National Seed in the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship since 1996 (High Point – No. 10 in 2025) and second overall
• Had two men’s soccer teams nationally-ranked in the same season (2025) for the first time since 2012
• Advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for the second time in league history
• Extended the conference’s long-standing partnership with ESPN through 2030-31
• Developed a multi-year basketball scheduling series with the Southern Conference starting in 2026-27
• Added Women’s Flag Football as a championship sport to begin in 2027-28
• Updated and implemented the Conference’s Strategic Positioning beginning in 2026-27
• 44 total victories over power conference members since 2023-24, including a win over the nation’s No. 1-ranked men’s soccer program
• Has had multiple NCAA postseason participants in a sport 10 times
• Elevated the student-athlete experience with ingenious approaches and enhancements to Conference Championships
• Had a student-athlete provide testimony before members of the U.S. House of Representatives as Radford volleyball player and Big South SAAC Chair Meredith Page presented during the “NIL Playbook: Proposal to Protect Student Athletes’ Dealmaking Rights” hearing of the House Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee
• Had the women’s basketball championship televised on ESPN2 for the first time in 2024 and each year since
• Had a men’s basketball program compete in the finals of a postseason event for the first time as High Point played for the championship of the 2024 College Basketball Invitational
• In 2023-24, just the third time in Big South history that every full-time member won a conference championship – but with the most members from a number standpoint (9)
• Conducted the first-ever Individual Tennis Championships in Conference history in October 2024
• Multiple National Softball Freshman of the Year finalists for the first time in 2025
• Enjoyed a record 81.22 percentage of student-athletes maintaining a 3.0 grade point average for the 2024-25 academic year
• Addition of associate members Bryant University (men’s tennis) and NJIT (men’s and women’s tennis)
Prominent Big South athletic alumni include three-time Grand Slam Champion Henry Patten, ESPN personality Kelsey Riggs Cuff, WNBA Champion Cheyenne Parker, NBA player Javonte Green; multi-Olympians Amber Campbell and Taylor Milne; two-time Major Champion Dustin Johnson; MLB players Cedric Mullins, Zach Neto, Mason Miller and former MLB manager Mike Shildt; former NFL cornerback Josh Norman, former NFL running back and “Dancing with the Stars” champion Rashad Jennings; three-time NFL Pro Bowler Justin Bethel, former U.S. National Men’s Soccer Team member Dante Washington, former WNBA veteran Avery Warley and Paralympian Gold Medalist Nick Mayhugh.
Distinguished alumni from Big South member institutions include U.S. Senator Tim Scott (Charleston Southern), Basketball Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore (Gardner-Webb), NASCAR driver Austin Dillon (High Point), former LPGA player Tina Barrett (Longwood), former HGTV President Jim Samples (Presbyterian), ESPN personality Marty Smith (Radford), former Weather Channel anchor Kristina Abernathy (UNC Asheville), NBA player Torrey Craig (USC Upstate) and actress Andie MacDowell (Winthrop).
The conference’s on-field accomplishments have been duplicated in the classroom. For the past seven years, more than 60 percent of conference’s student-athletes have been named to the Big South’s Presidential Honor Roll for maintaining a 3.0 grade-point average for the academic year -- including a league-record 81.22 percent in 2024-25 followed by a conference-record 295 student-athletes with a 4.0 GPA in 2025-26. The league experienced year-to-year APR improvement during a seven-year period during the 2010s, and the conference achieved its highest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) from 2019-21 – including a record 90 percentage in 2021 to mark the sixth consecutive year at or above the 85 percentile.