Asbury Athletics is working to schedule games and events for the Fall 2023 season with their new conference, the Collegiate Conference of the South.
After making the transition to Division III in 2020, Asbury has been looking for a conference to join in the NCAA. They announced the acceptance into the conference at the beginning of Oct.
“Asbury University is honored and excited to join the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS),” said Dr. Kevin Brown, President of Asbury University. “We are proud to join a conference whose schools strive for academic rigor, student development, and high-level athletic performance that prioritizes effort, excellence, hospitality, and character. We are excited for the days ahead.”
According to the CCS website, the Collegiate Conference of the South is a proud NCAA Division III athletic conference consisting of nine member institutions.
“In addition to sharing the member institutions’ geographic identity, the name ‘Collegiate Conference of the South’ is indicative of a shared commitment to academic excellence, which is commensurate with the NCAA Division III philosophy,” the website said.
They sponsor 14 teams including men’s and women’s soccer, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s outdoor track & field, men’s and women’s tennis and women’s volleyball.
According to Asbury’s Atheltics webpage, the CCS Commissioner Beth Vansant has been looking to expand membership and found Asbury to be an ideal fit.
“Asbury truly understands the NCAA Division III philosophy and commitment to a holistic approach for student-athletes,” Vansant said. “I look forward to developing relationships with the community of Asbury in the years to come.”
Asbury has been in talks with CCS for around two years while trying to determine what would be the best fit for the program.
“For us, we wanted to find institutions that were focused on high academics and also really committed to having a robust athletics program,” said Mark Whitworth, Asbury’s VP for Intercollegiate Athletics & University Communications.
After some consideration with the Heartland Conference, which is based in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, Whitworth said it wasn’t a “great fit,” which is why the decision was ultimately CCS.
Being a part of a conference will benefit athletics with more ease of scheduling and allows Asbury to find common ground with other universities.
“It also provides us a postseason championship opportunity as well and so in all the sports that they sponsor will have the opportunity to compete for a conference championship,” Witworth said.
In addition to continuing membership with the National Christian College Athletic Association, Asbury will compete for conference titles, as they have in the past.
With most of the conference being located further away, it will mean more travel for athletes, which means more planning and expenses.
“The other thing that we’re taking a really close look at is we’ll probably do more charter bus trips,” Witworth said. “The longer the trips, the more important it is for us to be in motorcoach with a professional certified driver and that kind of thing. So there will be some increased costs in in our travel. But that’s really just to ensure that we are traveling as safely as we possibly can.”
While there is still planning to do, Whitworth expressed his and athletes excitement about the change and finding a home in CCS.
“It is such a departure from what we’ve been doing the last couple of years that it’s a welcome change,” Whitworth said. “We knew that we would have to go through some, some rough waters to make that change from in NAIA to the NCAA. And the conference was really the last piece of that puzzle.”
After finishing out its final provisional year with the NCAA, Asbury will be a fully confrefnce member effective July 1.