KSU’s varsity football program will compete as an associate member of the Big South Conference when it kicks off in 2015, according to an announcement made by KSU President Daniel Papp at a press conference at Fifth Third Bank Stadium on Wednesday.
KSU had been searching for a conference to play in since it announced the football program in the Spring. The Ohio Valley Conference was considered the other most likely option, according to Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams in an interview with The Sentinel two weeks ago.
“We are extremely pleased to join the Big South Conference as an associate member for football, and look forward to participating in the conference when we play our first football games in 2015,” Papp said. “We also look forward to continuing to be an active member of our current conference, the Atlantic Sun, in all other sports in which we participate.”
KSU’s other athletic teams will continue to compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The A-Sun and Big South are both NCAA Division I conferences, but the A-Sun does not sponsor football. In the past few seasons, A-Sun members Jacksonville and Stetson also started football teams as associate members in other leagues. Mercer and East Tennessee State will move their football programs to the Southern Conference in the next few years.
Big South Conference Commissioner Kyle B. Kallander, who attended the announcement, sees KSU as a perfect fit.
“The Big South Conference is very pleased to welcome Kennesaw State University as a football member,” Kallander said. “We have been impressed by the Owls’ leadership and commitment to building a strong FCS program with integrity and character.”
“Once the football program was announced, the next task was to find a conference for our football team,”Williams said. Williams continued to give the nod to both conferences.
“We look forward to our football program building great traditions and rivalries in the Big South, just as our other athletic teams are doing in the Atlantic Sun Conference.”
The Big South’s other football members include Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, Liberty, Presbyterian, and another associate member in Mommouth. KSU’s associate membership with the conference is for four years.
KSU will immediately be eligible to compete for a conference title, as well as qualify for the FCS playoffs.
“We look forward to building a competitive team as quickly as possible,” head coach Brian Bohannon said. Continuing to build the steam, Williams and Bohannon were the feature speakers at the Touchdown Club of Atlanta’s weekly luncheon on Monday. KSU will also present the team’s official helmet design that it will wear in its inaugural season with an unveiling at halftime of Friday’s home soccer match against Ole Miss.
KSU students, faculty, staff and fans were asked to vote on the helmet design via an online poll over the course of the past month.
