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After accepting an invitation to return to the Southland Conference in early April, Â鶹ÊÓƵ has announced an early transition back to the league. Effective immediately,Â鶹ÊÓƵ will officially be a full-fledged member of the league competing in 17 varsity sports. The decision to make the early move comes upon the heels of Jeff O’Malley joining the university as the new Director of Athletics on July 1.

“We are very excited to take advantage of this opportunity to make the move to the Southland Conference for the 2022-23 season for all sports,” O’Malley said."This is the best fit for the future of Â鶹ÊÓƵ Athletics, our fans and our student-athletes. I would like to thank Commissioner Grant and the leadership of the conference for working with us and providing a chance to join the league immediately.”

 
Established in 1963, the Southland Conference holds nearly 60 years of competitive success and encompasses nine league institutions across Texas and Louisiana, more than 140,000 current students and an alumni base of nearly 900,000. Â鶹ÊÓƵ originally joined the league in 1963 and, after a brief departure, rejoined the Southland in 1999. Cardinal fans enjoyed five decades of success in the Southland Conference. During Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s time in the conference, fans witnessed 109 regular-season championships across the university’s 17 varsity sports.

"This is an exciting time for Â鶹ÊÓƵ Athletics, and I am thankful for the support of Commissioner Grant on this careful decision to make the early move back to the Southland Conference,” said Â鶹ÊÓƵ President Jaime Taylor.

As afounding member of the SLC, Â鶹ÊÓƵ will join Houston Baptist University, McNeese State University, University of New Orleans, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-Commerce and University of Incarnate Word, bringing the Southland Conference total membership to ten.