HOUSTON – Houston Baptist University has been extended and accepted an invitation to join the Southland Conference beginning with the 2013-14 academic year, HBU President Robert B. Sloan Jr. and Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett announced Monday. The Huskies will also add football to their current lineup of sports and begin Southland Conference play in 2014.
 
“I am thrilled at the invitation and believe entering the Southland Conference with its long-standing traditions is a great opportunity for HBU,” Sloan said. “We have for many years enjoyed competing against the other conference universities, and the continued development of these rivalries should enhance the connection of our students and alumni to HBU.
 
“We are honored to join this historic conference and to be able to work with so many outstanding colleagues in higher education.”
 
“This is certainly an exciting time for HBU athletics,” Director of Athletics Steve Moniaci said. “Joining the Southland Conference is a huge plus for us, and puts us where we want to be for a league home. We are looking forward to competing against, and building rivalries with, these great universities from our region that compete in the Southland.
 
“Not only will this be fantastic for our student-athletes – who will soon have the opportunity to challenge for automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, but it will also give our fans the opportunity to travel to these schools, see us compete, and support the Huskies.”
 
HBU will officially become the 11^th member of the Southland on July 1, 2013, joining Lamar, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, McNeese State, Southeastern Louisiana, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Central Arkansas, and Oral Roberts. The Huskies will also give the league nine members competing in football, with Oral Roberts and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi the only members not fielding the sport.
 
HBU's search for its first head football coach will begin shortly, as the Huskies prepare to begin Southland play in 2014.
 
“The addition of Houston Baptist is the latest step in the effort of the Southland presidents to ensure future membership stability for the league,” Burnett said. “As we've mentioned previously, the Board has only shown interest in institutions that clearly bring added value to the league. The group clearly sees the benefits of adding a football-playing institution in the biggest city within the Southland's current footprint.”
 
The Houston area serves as the largest alumni base for Southland institutions, but HBU will be the first Southland member actually located in the nation's fourth-largest city and 10^th-largest media market. Approximately 20,000 students from metropolitan Houston attend Southland institutions each year, and nearly 90,000 active alumni live in the area. The league has also hosted its annual men's and women's postseason basketball tournament in the area since 2007.
 
The Huskies recently completed a successful transition back to NCAA Division I athletic competition after 17 years as a powerhouse in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). HBU, enjoying its first year back as a full member of the NCAA, previously competed at the Division I level from 1973-89 as a member of the Trans America Athletic Conference, now known as the Atlantic Sun.
 
HBU currently fields 14 sports in which the Southland Conference offers a championship, with the only exception being men's soccer, which will compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation beginning in 2012. The other Husky programs will continue to compete in the Great West Conference for the 2012-13 season.
 
Houston Baptist University is a Christian liberal arts university that instills in students a passion for academic, spiritual, and professional excellence. Founded in 1960 and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, HBU offers more than 40 undergraduate and 10 graduate areas of study through its College of Arts and Humanities, College of Science and Mathematics, Honors College, Graduate School, and Schools of Business, Education, and Nursing and Allied Health.
 
The University's diverse student body, which includes more than 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students from every social and economic background, reflects the unique demographics of the Houston metropolitan area. Its 150-acre residential campus in southwest Houston provides students with access to all the cultural advantages of one of the largest metropolitan centers in the country.