UT Dallas Accepts Invitation to Join Lone Star Conference (original) (raw)

RICHARDSON, Texas – The University of Texas at Dallas has accepted an invitation to join the Lone Star Conference as a full member.

All 15 men's and women's sponsored varsity sports are tentatively scheduled to move to the new league in the fall of 2025. With the move to the LSC, UT Dallas will apply to join NCAA Division II in February of 2024. Once accepted as a D-II member, a three-year provisional period will begin. UT Dallas has been a member of the American Southwest Conference and Division III for the entirety of the department's athletic history beginning in 1998.

"We are delighted to be joining the Lone Star Conference as we transition to NCAA Division II," said Angela Marin, UTD's Director of Athletics. "We thank the American Southwest Conference and its members for 25 memorable years. Our decision to depart the ASC was a difficult one, but we believe this is an exciting opportunity for our institution."

Marin noted that the LSC, which has deep roots in Texas dating to 1931, is regarded as an elite Division II conference with 80 NCAA team national championships in the past 40 years.

"The LSC's core values of competitive and academic excellence, student-athlete well-being, respect, leadership-building and community service, align with ours at UT Dallas," she said. "It is an opportunity to build new rivalries and rekindle old ones with programs with rich, athletic traditions."

UTD is in the first phase of a $30 million facility upgrade that includes a new track & field facility and upgrades to the baseball and soccer fields.

"Our program is poised to take this step to compete at a national level in Division II," Marin said.

Schools in the LSC span four states – Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico – and currently has 17 members. The institutions include Angelo State University, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, Cameron University, Dallas Baptist University, Eastern New Mexico University, Lubbock Christian University, Midwestern State University, Oklahoma Christian University, St. Edward's University, St. Mary's University, Texas A&M International University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, University of Texas Permian Basin, Texas Woman's University, University of Texas at Tyler, West Texas A&M University and Western New Mexico University. Fellow ASC member Sul Ross State University has also accepted an invitation to join the league. Arkansas-Fort Smith will leave the conference in 2024.

The Lone Star Conference is committed to providing an elite competitive athletic environment for its NCAA Division II member institutions and nurturing its student-athletes' academic excellence, ethical and social development, and fostering leadership and community engagement. As the leader in NCAA Division II athletics, the LSC will provide an exemplary competitive experience for its member institutions and will support the holistic development of its student-athletes. The conference was formed in 1931.

Designated as such since 1973, NCAA D-II provides a level of competition bridging Division I and the scholarship-prohibited Division III. D-II is home to 300 members across the 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Canada.

The University of Texas at Dallas, home to more than 31,000 students, is an innovative institution in the heart of North Texas. UT Dallas offers rigorous academic programs, with curricula serving a variety of undergraduate and graduate student interests. With eight schools offering more than 145 undergraduate and graduate programs, plus professional certificates and fast-track programs, UTD also is recognized as an R1 institution — a Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education denoting the top tier of doctoral institutions with very high research activity.