Tennessee State University, located in the heart of Nashville Tenn. is home to the Tiger football team that currently participates in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The OVC is an NCAA division I athletic conference. Schools in OVC are Midwest and Southeast public universities, from Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky; acquiring a total of 11 schools in the conference. Most recently however, the Southwestern Athletic Conference has invited Tennessee State to join its division. SWAC is also a NCAA division I athletic conference that also participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
The SWAC conference is made up of 10 southern historically black colleges and universities, which is among the reasons why it found interest to acquire TSU to join, as it is also a HBCU and the only HBCU in the OVC. Alabama A&M University was the last university to join the SWAC team in 1999; TSU would be the 12th school to join in over 10 years.
Teresa Phillips, athletic director at TSU, seemed to share little to no comment about whether TSU would join the SWAC family, though she did provide reporters with this statement, “We had a study looking at several things, including conference affiliation, but we never had a conclusion to that, conversation is always somewhere. It’s always on the tip of our tongue,” Phillips said.
According to the Huntsville times, one TSU official who asked to not be identified, proclaimed that no decision would be made in reference to switching into the SWAC division, as a provisional president will be holding office when Dr. Melvin Johnson steps down from his current presidential position.
Football Coach Anthony Jones and Basketball Coach Vann Pettaway of Alabama A&M are overly excited with the thought of TSU joining the conference.
“They seem to play two or three teams in our league every year”, said Jones, “They’ll make our conference stronger. It’ll be great for us because it’ll be a close game. That would shorten our travel as far as our conference is concerned.”
Pettaway said, “It would be a great addition for the SWAC, Tennessee State and A&M because it’s another built-in rivalry; I think they’d be a perfect fit.”
SWAC is on a mission to end its football championship games and label a seasonal champion, sending the winner to play in the Legacy Bowl against the Mid-eastern conference champion of that particular year. The MEAC is a NCAA division I athletic conference that along with SWAC, participates with the FCS.
MEAC is home to 12 mideastern and southern HBCUs and will be home to its 13th member after Savannah State University becomes its latest member when the school obtains its full membership to participate in the division.