![]() ![]() That changed in 1940 when Sewanee, also known as the University of the South, decided to leave the conference. Defections and Changesįor the first eight years of its existence, the SEC rolled along with 13 teams. The Southern Conference still exists today at the Football Championship Subdivsion level. Many of the remaining members Southern Conference would eventually leave the conference about 20 years later in order to form the Atlantic Coast Conference. ![]() The original member schools of the Southeastern Conference, which began play in 1933, were Alabama, Auburn (then Alabama Polytechnic Institute), Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State (then Mississippi A&M), Sewanee, Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt. The teams located west and south of the Appalachian Mountains would be splitting off to form their conference, to be known as the Southeastern Conference. Partly due to the difficulty of travel in those days, the Southern Conference announced it would be splitting up at its conference meetings in December 1932. It was a swollen behemoth of a conference, home to 23 schools across 10 states. More than half of the schools in the conference were soon-to-be members of the Southeastern Conference.īy the early ’30s, the conference grew too big for its own good. Formation of the SECīack in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Southern Conference was the dominant force in college athletics, taking over the the Southern Interscholastic Athletic Association in that regard. Let’s take a quick spin through history to see where the SEC came from and hit on some major points in its existence. The conference looks much different than it did when it began more than 80 years ago. It is home to 14 schools that compete in just about every sport across college athletics, it has its own television network and it inspires regional pride unrivaled across the nation. This has left another imbalance in the divisions, this time with the red having 2 more members than the white.The SEC is known throughout the country these days as a money-printing, championship-winning behemoth across college sports. In 2021 Ypsi moved back to the white, and Dexter and Lincoln moved to the red. Both schools were put into the White division however, this has left an imbalance in the number of schools in each division. Pinckney rejoined the conference in 2017 after leaving the Kensington Lakes Activities Association, while Jackson joined in 2018 coming from the Capital Area Activities Conference. The school district consolidated with Ypsilanti Willow Run in 2013, resulting in not only another mascot change (Grizzlies), but a color change from Purple and Gold to Black and Gold. Ypsilanti had changed their name from Braves to Phoenix in 2010, after phasing out Native American mascots since the 1990s. The White Division consisted of Adrian, Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Tecumseh, and another school leaving the Michigan Mega, Ypsilanti. The conference reintroduced divisions in 2009, the Red being formed by Bedford, Huron, Pioneer, Saline, and two new members, new school Ann Arbor Skyline and Monroe, who left the Michigan Mega Conference. The Southeastern scrapped the divisional format in 2006 in anticipation of another former South Central school joining that next year, Ann Arbor Huron. The conference now split into Red and White divisions: Adrian, Bedford, Pioneer, and Saline made up the Red, and the White consisted of Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, and Tecumseh. Bedford joined from the Great Lakes League, and were joined by two schools that had been independent since the South Central Conference folded in 1996 (Adrian and Ann Arbor Pioneer). The league was stable until 2000, when Milan and Pinckney left for the Huron League and Kensington Valley Conference, respectively. Western returned to the Cascades Conference in 1983, as their replacement, Pinckney, left the Kensington Valley Conference in 1984. Tecumseh left the Huron League to join the Southeastern in 1980, bringing the conference to seven members. Parma Western joined that year, having been independent since leaving the Cascades Conference in 1976. 1979 also brought major change to the conference, as Brighton, Novi, and South Lyon left for the Kensington Valley Conference. In 1973 Dundee left for the Michigan-Ohio Border Conference, and was replaced by Brighton, joining from the Wayne-Oakland League. The league expanded to eight by 1969, with Novi joining from the Lakeland Conference that year, and Milan joining from the Huron in 1967. The SEC was formed by three schools from the disbanding Washtenaw County League ( Chelsea, Dexter, and Saline), two from the Huron League (Dundee and Ypsilanti Lincoln), and independent South Lyon. Locations of the members of the Southeastern Conference based on divisional setup.
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