TranSouth Athletic Conference

The TranSouth Athletic Conference (TSAC) was founded in 1996 and was composed of many schools from the Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference (TCAC). The conference changed its name to TranSouth Athletic Conference prior to the 1996-97 school year.

TheTranSouth is a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and is a perennial power with several national championships. Conference members have fielded NAIA national champions in women's basketball, men's basketball, baseball, cyling, women's soccer, and wrestling


The TranSouth expanded to eleven member schools for the 2006-07 athletic year. Those members span the State of Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Arkansas. The 2006-07 members schools are Bethel College (McKenzie, Tenn.), Blue Mountain College (Blue Mountain, Miss.), Crichton College (Memphis Tenn.), Cumberland University (Lebanon, Tenn), Freed-Hardeman University (Henderson, Tenn.), Lambuth University (Jackson, Tenn.), Lyon College (Batesville, Ark.), Martin Methodist College (Pulaski, Tenn.), Mid-Continent University (Mayfield, Ky.), Trevecca Nazarene University (Nashville, Tenn.), and Union University (Jackson, Tenn.).

HISTORY

The league was formed in 1996-97, and has included at one time or another 16 different institutions in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Arkansas. The conference offers regular season and/or tournament championships in the following sports: men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's golf, men's baseball, and women's fast-pitch softball.

Other schools that have been members at one time or another include Berry College (Rome, Ga.), Birmingham-Southern College (Birmingham, Ala.), Lee University (Cleveland, Tenn.), Lipscomb University (Nashville, Tenn.), and Williams Baptist College (Walnut Ridge, Ark.).

The TranSouth Athletic Conference is continuing a long and outstanding history dating back to the Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC). After the VSAC, Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference (TCAC) was formed. Some teams changed but the quality of the universities and the caliber of athletic competition remained as high as ever.

In 2003, Cumberland University rejoined their old conference peers from the TCAC days as they moved from the MidSouth Conference to the TranSouth Conference.

The TranSouth continues to be one of the most recognized leagues in the NAIA when it comes to national postseason events. In the first eleven years of the league's history, the TranSouth Conference has boasted seven NAIA National Champions: Union - Women's Basketball (1998, 2005), Lambuth - Women's Basketball (2007), Birmingham-Southern - Baseball (2000), Cumberland - Baseball (2004). Martin Methodist - Women's Soccer (2005, 2007).

In the 2006-07 school year Bethel College in McKenzie, Tenn. rejoined the conference. Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn., a former VSAC and TCAC member, and newcomer Mid-Continent University in Mayfield, Ky. joined the conference during the 2006-2007.

CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF TRANSOUTH