N.C. A&T’s departure to CAA helps spark creation of new college football conference

North Carolina A&T’s short stay in the Big South is among the changes that has the Big South looking for new ways to survive.

The Big South and Ohio Valley conferences will combine into a single league in football beginning in 2023, officials of both leagues said Tuesday.

The pact will extend for four years and enable the two leagues to retain an automatic FCS playoff berth with a minimum of six teams.

The Big South said the pact will “benefit all football members.”

The alliance was needed because the ongoing realignment of college athletic conferences – set in motion last year by Oklahoma and Texas announcing they would depart the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference at the FBS level – would leave the Big South and Ohio Valley with not enough member schools in football to gain the automatic FCS berth.

The Big South is losing six of its 10 football members over the next 18 months. Its four remaining football members come 2023 are Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb and Robert Morris.

North Carolina A&T, which joined the Big South last season, announced last week that it would join the Colonial Athletic Association, but will play one more football season in the Big South.

Three of the departures had been expected. Kennesaw State and North Alabama are members of the ASUN but played football in the Big South because the ASUN did not crown a football champion. Starting this fall, the ASUN is adding football.

Also previously announced was Presbyterian’s departure in football to the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League, which also includes Davidson. Presbyterian will remain a Big South member in other sports.

The surprise came when Monmouth (a Big South member in football only) and Hampton (a member in all sports) announced they would leave the Big South this summer for the Colonial Athletic Association. Then N.C. A&T’s decision followed.

The NCAA grants leagues in flux a two-year waiver to increase membership, so the Big South will retain its FCS berth this fall.

The Ohio Valley Conference is losing football-playing members Austin Peay and Murray State. Austin Peay is leaving for the ASUN and Murray State for the Missouri Valley Conference.

That will leave the OVC with five football members – Eastern Illinois, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin.

According to Tuesday’s announcement, the combined Big South/Ohio Valley will give the nine schools a game against everyone in the conference.

The Big South said final details will be announced “in the coming months.”

“This move has the unanimous support of the CEOs of the football schools in the Big South Conference, and we look forward to enlarging and enlivening the field of competition for our teams,” said Dr. J. Bradley Creed, president of Campbell University and chair of the Big South Council of Football Members.

The alignment will not affect the Big South in other sports.

Starting this fall, the conference will have 10 members in non-football sports: Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Longwood, Presbyterian, Radford, South Carolina Upstate, UNC Asheville and Winthrop.

This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 4:58 PM.