The Southern States Athletic Conference was established as the Georgia–Alabama–Carolina Conference (GACC) on March 16, 1999. On June 27, 2004, the conference changed its name to the Southern States Athletic Conference.[1]
Chronological timeline
Southern States Athletic Conference
150km 100miles
Brewton–Parker
UT Southern
Thomas
Point
Life
Abraham Baldwin
Stillman
Middle Georgia State
Dalton State
Blue Mountain
William Carey
Mobile
Loyola New Orleans
Faulkner
Location of SSAC members: current, departing, and future
2006 - Georgia Southwestern State left the SSAC and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the Peach Belt (PBC) after the 2005–06 academic year.
2014 - Three institutions left the SSAC and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks and their respective new home primary conferences: Emmanuel (Ga.) and Southern Wesleyan to the Conference Carolinas (CC) and Spring Hill to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). Southern Poly announced that it would drop its athletic program and close once it is consolidated by Kennesaw State University. All changes were effective after the 2013–14 academic year.
2015 - Belhaven left the SSAC and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division III ranks and the American Southwest Conference after the 2014–15 academic year.
2016 - Auburn–Montgomery left the SSAC and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks as an NCAA D-II Independent (which would later join the Gulf South (GSC) beginning the 2017-18 academic year) after the 2015–16 academic year.
2017 - Two institutions left the SSAC to join their respective new home primary conferences: Brenau to join the Appalachian (AAC) and Coastal Georgia to join the Sun Conference, both effective after the 2016–17 academic year.
^Middle Georgia State's main campus is in Macon, where the women's cross-country and volleyball teams and men's and women's tennis teams are housed; the other intercollegiate athletics teams compete on the Cochran campus.
^Middle Georgia State, pending approval from the NCAA, will leave the SSAC for Division II's Peach Belt Conference, projected to be in 2025.
^UT Southern initially joined the SSAC in the 2013–14 school year under its old name Martin Methodist College, before leaving after the 2019–20 school year, and then rejoining under its current name before the 2023–24 school year.
The SSAC had 19 former full members, all but five were private schools. School names and nicknames reflect those used in the final school year of SSAC membership:
^Bethel was already a Mid-South Conference affiliate in archery and football. Bethel returned to the MSC in track and field, and transferred all other sports to that conference as a full member.
^This institution is a women's college, therefore it does not compete in men's sports.
^This institution was a women's college, but has since then been a co-educational institution, therefore it does compete in some men's sports [Columbia (S.C.) since 2020–21].
^Currently known as Emmanuel University since 2023.