CANTON, Ga. (July 18, 2024) – Maryville College has accepted a unanimous invitation to join the Southern Athletic Association (SAA). The Scots 19 programs will become members of the SAA beginning with the 2026-27 season while the football and women’s golf programs are set to be conference affiliates starting in the 2025-26 academic year.
“Today marks another historic chapter in the Southern Athletic Association's history,” remarked Jennifer Collins, Rhodes College President and Chair of the SAA President’s Council. “We are delighted to welcome Maryville to the league and look forward to robust and collegial competition for years to come.”
Maryville will join the SAA from the Collegiate Conference of the South where they were founding members in 2021. They have won back-to-back men’s basketball conference titles and were joined last season by women’s soccer, baseball, and softball as CCS champions. Maryville’s football and women’s golf programs play in the USA South and will be eligible for SAA championships in 2025-26. Scots football dates back to 1889 and boasts an appearance in the 1947 Tangerine Bowl.
“We are honored and excited to accept the SAA’s invitation for membership and look forward to joining these colleges with whom we have longstanding and historic relationships,” Maryville College President Bryan F. Coker said. “The SAA will be a fitting league for us among institutions with a strong focus on rigorous academics and high-quality athletics programs.”
"The SAA is dedicated to promoting competitive excellence, fostering sportsmanship, and supporting the holistic development of student-athletes, and we are confident that Maryville College exemplifies these principles and will be a great asset to our conference," shared SAA Commissioner Stacey LaDew. "The Scots commitment to both athletic and academic distinction aligns perfectly with our mission to offer a comprehensive and competitive athletic experience within a nurturing environment, and we look forward to Maryville joining the association."
“We’ve been building something special over the past five years,” Maryville College Director of Athletics Sara Quatrocky said. “It’s been exciting to witness the success for our student-athletes, and now we are thrilled that a group of institutions like the SAA notice that we are on the rise. The Scots tradition is one that is prideful on hard work and dedication to a strong culture, and we will continue being true to the Orange and Garnet through our conference transition. We look forward to the challenge of strong competition and building our brand on offering an exceptional student-athlete experience, which is a shared belief among the schools in the SAA.”
2026-27 SAA Member Schools
Berry College | Mount Berry, Ga.
Centre College | Danville, Ky.
Maryville College | Maryville, Tenn.
Millsaps College | Jackson, Miss.
Oglethorpe University | Atlanta, Ga.
Rhodes College | Memphis, Tenn.
The University of the South | Sewanee, Tenn.
Southwestern University | Georgetown, Texas
Trinity University | San Antonio, Texas
About the SAA
The Southern Athletic Association (SAA) is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. The SAA current members include Berry College, Centre College, Hendrix College, Millsaps College, Oglethorpe University, Rhodes College, and the University of the South. Trinity University (Texas) and Southwestern University are affiliate members in the sport of football and will be full members in 2025-26. The Southern Athletic Association provides opportunities for premier liberal arts institutions to offer a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletic program as an integral part of an exceptional learning experience. SAA members are committed to adhering to the conference’s four tenets of academic excellence, athletic excellence, exceptional culture and co-curricular learning.
About the Maryville College
Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years, they have educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience, and to launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200 students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, six pre-professional programs, and career preparation from their first to their last day on campus. Today, the more than 10,000 Maryville alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”