Georgia State Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick and Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson announced today that GSU will participate in the Sun Belt Conference Championships and will be considered an associate member in the league for 2012-13 in the sports of men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s indoor track and field, women’s indoor track and field, men’s outdoor track and field, women’s outdoor track and field, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s tennis and women’s tennis.
According the Levick, “discussions with the Sun Belt and the CAA centered only on the individual sports, and we appreciate the cooperation from both conferences to allow over 100 student-athletes a conference championship opportunity.”
This move was made possible because the sports involved are individual sports in which the programs compete in a conference championship tournament but do not play a regular-season conference schedule. The team sports including men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball, will still play a Colonial Athletic Association schedule in 2012-13, but will be unable to participate in postseason conference tournaments.
Georgia State will become a full member of the Sun Belt Conference on July 1, 2013 and will be eligible for all championships except football in 2013-14. The GSU football program will play a Sun Belt schedule in 2013 as part of the second year of its transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and then will become eligible for the Sun Belt title and postseason bowl games in 2014.