The History of the Sun Belt: College Sports' Most Resilient G5 Conference

It wasn't that long ago that the Sun Belt Conference was seen as one of the weakest in division 1 FBS college sports. It was the team you put your created team in before you moved them up to the ACC or SEC in NCAA 14. But after some significant changes to the mid-major world following, of course, Power 5 realignment, the Sun Belt managed to make a case for itself as one of the strongest in the G5 world.

The Sun Belt's story is a long one, involving many southeastern teams from its inception as a basketball league in 1976 to the present day, with its current programs of Texas State, UL Monroe, Louisiana, Arkansas State, Southern Miss, South Alabama, Troy, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina, Appalachian State, Marshall, James Madison, and Old Dominion. Some of its more prime memories recently are the football runs of Jamey Chadwell's Coastal teams in 2020 and 2021, App State's knockoff of Texas A&M, Old Dominion and James Madison beating the ACC Virginia teams, and the still-improbable 1977 run of the Charlotte 49ers to the Final 4.

Join me as I take a short, quick look back in time at the creation, life, and modern days of the Sun Belt.