SUWANEE, Ga. — The Southern Collegiate
Athletic Conference (SCAC) announced today that the University of
Dallas has accepted an invitation to join the Conference. Currently
a Division III independent, Dallas will join the SCAC at the
beginning of the 2011-12 academic year.
“We are excited and very pleased to have the University of
Dallas join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference,”
said SCAC commissioner Dwayne Hanberry. “Our foremost goal,
when seeking a new member, was to find an institution that shares
the vision of our membership, which is a commitment to the overall
educational experience where athletics serves as a proper
compliment to academics. We are confident that Dallas shares this
same vision.”
“The addition of the University of Dallas provides us
another valuable member of the conference,” said Oglethorpe
University president Lawrence Schall, who currently serves as the
chair of the SCAC Board of Directors. “It further affirms the
distinctive quality of the conference and it will certainly enhance
athletic competition within it.”
Dallas, which currently sponsors 14 of 21 SCAC sports, has been a
Division III independent since leaving the American Southwest
Conference following the 2000-2001 academic year.
“It is my pleasure to have the University of Dallas associate
with other Division III schools that have similar high academic
standards and profiles,” said University of Dallas president
Thomas Keefe. “We look forward to a mutually beneficial
relationship.”
“I am appreciative of this opportunity that the SCAC has
offered the University of Dallas,” said athletics director
Dick Strockbine. “Dallas already enjoys a scheduling
relationship with several SCAC institutions in a variety of sports.
We look forward to establishing those same relationships with the
rest of the membership.”
Founded in 1956, the University of Dallas is a Catholic,
co-educational university located in Irving, Texas, a city of
150,000 residents on the northwest boundary of the city of Dallas.
Its athletics teams are known as the Crusaders and wear team colors
of navy blue and white.
Dallas sponsors 14 intercollegiate varsity programs, including:
baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and
women’s cross country, men’s golf, men’s and
women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer,
softball, men’s and women’s outdoor track & field
and volleyball.
The current members of the SCAC are Austin College in Sherman,
Texas, Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Ala., Centre
College in Danville, Ky., Colorado College in Colorado Springs,
Colo., Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., Millsaps College in
Jackson, Miss., Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Ga., Rhodes
College in Memphis, Tenn., The University of the South (Sewanee) in
Sewanee, Tenn., Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and
Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
DePauw University, a member of the SCAC since 1998, announced in
June that it would leave the conference following the completion of
the 2010-11 academic year to pursue an offer of membership in the
North Coast Athletic Conference.