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| A new conference affiliation will match up Maryville with other Tennessee Division III schools in Sewanee and Rhodes. Maryville athletics photo by Suzi Carroll |
Maryville has accepted an invitation to join the Southern Athletic Association, and one of the founding members of the College Conference of the South has announced a new home after just two years in its new league.
The Scots become affiliate members of the conference in football and women’s golf starting in the fall of 2025. Both sports currently play in Maryville’s old conference, the USA South. The rest of Maryville’s NCAA sports will join the SAA one year later, in the fall of 2026.
The CCS, which Maryville was instrumental in founding, is eligible for an automatic bid this fall for the first time after a two-year waiting period.
Moving to the SAA, which has been in place for a little over a decade, means Maryville is in the same conference as the other two Division III schools in the state of Tennessee.
“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,” SAA Commissioner Stacey LaDew said. “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.”
The move gives the SAA a round number of eight members in football in 2025. When the rest of its sports join in the fall of 2026, there would be nine members overall, barring other changes.
“We’ve been building something special over the past five years,” Maryville athletic director 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.”
“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 president Bryan 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.”
Maryville joins an SAA roster of institutions made up of Rhodes and Sewanee in Tennessee, Centre in Kentucky, Berry and Oglethorpe in Georgia, and Millsaps in Mississippi. Texas schools Southwestern and Trinity are set to join in July 2025. Former member Birmingham-Southern closed its doors in May, and Arkansas member Hendrix is departing next summer.
“While there will be some periodic travel to Texas institutions in the SAA, we do not anticipate increases in missed class time,” Coker said. “And unlike some of our current conference institutions, all SAA members permit Sunday play.”
Four of Maryville’s five most common football opponents through the years play in the SAA. The Scots have played Centre 67 times, Rhodes 38, Sewanee 32 and Millsaps 31. Only Emory & Henry at 71 meetings is a more common all-time opponent for the Scots, but that series has been halted since 2017 with E&H’s move to the Division II ranks.
“The decision to leave our current conference, the Collegiate Conference of the South, is not one at which we have arrived easily given that we are founding conference members and I have served as founding chair since the conference’s inception,” Coker said. “We are immensely proud of what we have built in the CCS, which was formed in 2022 by a split in the USA South Athletic Conference.
“However, we cannot ignore the strategic opportunity offered by SAA affiliation, especially in these dynamic times for small independent colleges.”
Maryville has 19 varsity sports. In the SAA, Sewanee leads the way with 25, followed by Berry with 24, Centre 23, Rhodes 23, Southwestern 22, Millsaps 20, Trinity 20 and Oglethorpe 18.