HBCU Athletic Conference
(Redirected from Gulf Coast Athletic Conference)
The HBCU Athletic Conference is an NAIA conference with members located across the South from Texas to South Carolina. The conference was formed as the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference in 1981 by charter members Xavier, Spring Hill, Bellhaven, Dillard, Tougaloo, and Louisiana College.
In 2010-2011, Belhaven College, Loyola University New Orleans, Spring Hill College, University of Mobile, and William Carey University left the conference to join the Southern States Athletic Conference, while Louisiana State University in Shreveport left to join the Red River Athletic Conference.
By 2011, Edward Waters College, Tougaloo College, and Talladega College were the only conference members offering baseball, making it a sport not officially sponsored by the conference. As of 2023, the conference had added four baseball playing schools, while Dillard added the sport, and the conference began sponsoring baseball.
The GCAC extended a membership invitation for the 2023–24 academic year to the University of the Virgin Islands, the first from a U.S. territory to join an NAIA or NCAA conference in the 21st century. The conference rebranded to the HBCU Athletic Conference on July 1, 2024.
2024 Schools[edit]
- Dillard University
- Oakwood University
- Philander Smith College
- Rust College
- Southern University at New Orleans
- Talladega College
- Tougaloo College
- Wiley University
Non-Baseball School[edit]
- Fisk University
- University of the Virgin Islands
Conference Baseball Champions[edit]
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