Editing Sun Belt Conference (section)

=== Early 2020s realignment ===
{{Main|2021–2026 NCAA conference realignment}}
{{Location map+  
| USA 
| width=600 
| caption=Sun Belt Member locations<br />[[File:Blue pog.svg|10px]] – Full member, [[File:Yellow pog.svg|10px]] – current associate member<!--, [[File:Green pog.svg|10px]] – future associate member-->
| places=
<small>
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Appalachian State University|App State]] | position=left | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Applachian State University| lat= 36.2168 | long= -81.6746 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Coastal Carolina University|Coastal Carolina]] | position=right | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Coastal Carolina University| lat= 33.7966 | long=-79.0134 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Georgia Southern University|Georgia Southern]] | position=bottom | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Georgia Southern University | lat= 32.4205 | long=-81.7865 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Georgia State University|Georgia State]] | position=top | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Georgia State University | lat= 33.7531 | long=-84.3853 }}
{{Location map~ | USA | label={{nowrap|[[James Madison University|James Madison]]}} | position=right | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=James Madison University| lat= 38.4351 | long=-78.8698    }} 
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Marshall University|Marshall]] | position=top | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Marshall University| lat=38.3 | long=-82.3 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Old Dominion University|Old Dominion]] | position=right | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Old Dominon University| lat= 36.8853 | long=-76.3059 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Arkansas State University|Arkansas State]] | position=left | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Arkansas State University | lat=35.8 | long=-91 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[University of Louisiana at Lafayette|Louisiana]] | position=left | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=University of Louisiana at Lafayette| lat= 30.2114 | long=-92.0204 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[University of Louisiana at Monroe|Louisiana–Monroe]] | position=left | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=University of Louisiana at Monroe| lat= 32.5267 | long=-92.0732 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[University of South Alabama|South Alabama]] | position=bottom| mark=Blue pog.svg | link=University of South Alabama | lat= 30.6959 | long=-88.1842 }}
  {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[University of Southern Mississippi|Southern Miss]] | position=top | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=University of Southern Mississippi| lat= 31.3296 | long=-89.3338 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Texas State University|Texas State]] | position=bottom | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Texas State University| lat=29.8889 | long=-97.9389 }}
 {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Troy University|Troy]] | position=bottom | mark=Blue pog.svg | link=Troy University| lat= 31.8011 | long=-85.9573 }}

   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[University of Kentucky|Kentucky]] | position=left | mark=Yellow pog.svg | link=University of Kentucky | lat=38.01763 | long=-84.50083 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[University of South Carolina|USC]] | position=top | mark=Yellow pog.svg | link=University of South Carolina | lat=33.9877 | long=-81.025 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[West Virginia University|WVU]] | position=top | mark=Yellow pog.svg | link=West Virginia University | lat=39.651667 | long=-79.984167 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[University of Central Florida|UCF]] | position=bottom | mark=Yellow pog.svg | link=University of Central Florida | lat=28.60765 | long=-81.1952 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[College of Charleston|CofC]] | position=bottom | mark=Yellow pog.svg | link=College of Charleston | lat=32.784167 | long=-79.938056 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[Mercer University|Mercer]] | position=left | mark=Yellow pog.svg | link=Mercer University | lat=32.829167 | long=-83.648611 }}
   {{Location map~ | USA | label=[[University of North Carolina Wilmington|UNCW]] | position=top | mark=Yellow pog.svg | link=University of North Carolina Wilmington | lat=34.225833 | long=-77.873333 }}</small>
}}

Following the July 30, 2021 announcement of the [[University of Texas at Austin]] and the [[University of Oklahoma]] both moving from the [[Big 12 Conference]] to the [[Southeastern Conference]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 30, 2021|title=Texas, Oklahoma regents accept SEC invitation|url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/31920686/texas-longhorns-oklahoma-sooners-unanimously-accept-invitation-sec|access-date=October 21, 2021|website=ESPN.com|language=en}}</ref> the world of college athletics faced the prospect of realignment once again. The Big 12 responded on September 10 by adding three schools from the [[American Athletic Conference]] (The American) and [[BYU Cougars|BYU]], an [[NCAA Division I FBS independent schools|FBS independent]] and otherwise a member of the non-football [[West Coast Conference]], effective in 2023.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://big12sports.com/news/2021/9/10/big-12-conference-adds-four-new-members.aspx |title=Big 12 Conference Adds Four New Members |publisher=Big 12 Conference |date=September 10, 2021 |access-date=September 10, 2021}}</ref> The American in turn responded on October 21 by adding six schools from [[Conference USA]] (C-USA), with 2023 as the most likely entry date.<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 19, 2021|title=6 schools officially apply to join AAC, source says|url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32432496/six-schools-officially-apply-join-american-athletic-conference|access-date=October 21, 2021|website=ESPN.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=https://theamerican.org/news/2021/10/21/general-american-athletic-conference-announces-the-addition-of-six-universities.aspx |title=American Athletic Conference Announces the Addition of Six Universities |publisher=American Athletic Conference |date=October 21, 2021 |access-date=October 21, 2021}}</ref> Following this move, rumors began to circulate that the Sun Belt was planning to take on another three members (the [[University of Southern Mississippi]] (Southern Miss or USM), [[Marshall University]], and former Sun Belt member [[Old Dominion University]]) from C-USA, likely in response to that conference's remaining teams worried of the conference folding.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sun Belt, Conference USA considering adding teams amid AAC expansion|url=https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/sun-belt-conference-usa-considering-adding-teams-amid-aac-expansion/|access-date=October 21, 2021|website=CBSSports.com|date=20 October 2021 |language=en}}</ref> These moves would help to establish the market areas for the Sun Belt and The American, which cover similar geographic footprints. The American would now have most of its members in metropolitan areas, while the Sun Belt would instead have its members in smaller [[college town]]s.

On October 22, [[The Action Network]] reported that Southern Miss had been accepted as a new Sun Belt member, with 2023 as the likely entry date. The report also stated that the Sun Belt would add three more members—the aforementioned Marshall and Old Dominion, plus [[James Madison University]], a member of the [[NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision|FCS]] [[Colonial Athletic Association]] (CAA).<ref name=Action1022>{{cite news|url=https://www.actionnetwork.com/ncaaf/southern-miss-joins-sun-belt-other-conference-usa-schools-expected-to-join-soon |title=Sources: Southern Miss Joins Sun Belt; Marshall, Old Dominion, JMU Will Join in Coming Days |first=Brett |last=McMurphy |website=The Action Network |date=October 22, 2021 |access-date=October 22, 2021}}</ref> Southern Miss<ref name=USM23>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2021/10/26/football-southern-miss-joins-sun-belt-conference.aspx |title=Southern Miss Joins Sun Belt Conference |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=October 26, 2021 |access-date=October 26, 2021}}</ref> and Old Dominion<ref name=ODU23>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2021/10/27/general-old-dominion-joins-sun-belt-conference.aspx |title=Old Dominion Joins Sun Belt Conference |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=October 27, 2021 |access-date=October 27, 2021}}</ref> were respectively announced as incoming members on October 26 and 27. At the time, both were to join no later than 2023. On October 29, the day after Marshall named its next president,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32480819/southern-miss-officially-joins-sun-belt-enter-league-no-later-july-2023 |title=Southern Miss officially joins Sun Belt, will enter league no later than July 2023 |first=Adam |last=Rittenberg |website=ESPN.com |date=October 26, 2021 |access-date=October 26, 2021}}</ref> both the Sun Belt and Marshall issued tweets announcing that school's entry; a formal announcement followed the next day<ref name=MU23>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2021/10/30/general-marshall-joins-sun-belt-conference.aspx |title=Marshall Joins Sun Belt Conference |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=October 30, 2021 |access-date=November 1, 2021}}</ref> and an introductory press conference was held on November 1.<ref name=Traylor>{{cite news|url=https://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/sun-belt-confirms-mens-soccer-being-reinstated/article_e08dea8c-b0bd-51cd-9810-0a1365bdc1e5.html |title=Sun Belt confirms men's soccer being reinstated |first=Grant |last=Traylor |newspaper=The Herald-Dispatch |location=Huntington, WV |date=November 1, 2021 |access-date=November 2, 2021}}</ref> As for James Madison, its board met on October 29 to discuss a potential Sun Belt invitation, but its timeline was also affected by a Virginia state law that requires [[Virginia General Assembly|legislative]] approval for a four-year public school to move upward in athletic classification, including FCS to FBS. The legislative committee that must review the move did not meet until November 5, after the [[2021 Virginia gubernatorial election|state's gubernatorial election]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dnronline.com/sports/college/va-s-gubernatorial-election-impacts-jmu-sun-belt-timeline/article_cea1d319-f46b-5a6d-881a-5b9f88c6b39e.html |title=Va.'s Gubernatorial Election Impacts JMU-Sun Belt Timeline |first=Greg |last=Madia |newspaper=Daily News-Record |location=Harrisonburg, VA |date=October 28, 2021 |access-date=October 28, 2021}}</ref> The committee unanimously approved JMU's move from FCS to FBS, and the Sun Belt move was officially announced on November 6.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/11/04/james-madison-sun-belt-caa/|title=James Madison's move to Sun Belt would trigger messy divorce from CAA|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=November 5, 2021|date=November 4, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2021/11/5/general-james-madison-joins-sun-belt-conference.aspx |title=James Madison Joins Sun Belt Conference |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=November 6, 2021 |access-date=November 6, 2021}}</ref> The original Action Network report also stated that the two full non-football SBC members, Little Rock and UT Arlington, would no longer be members of the conference after the 2022–23 school year.<ref name=Action1022/>

Initial plans were for James Madison to compete as a de facto Sun Belt affiliate in sports other than football and men's soccer during the 2022–23 season.<ref name=SunBelt>{{cite news |last=Mettler |first=Shane |title=Dukes Get Approval For Move To FBS, Join Sun Belt |url=https://www.dnronline.com/sports/college/dukes-get-approval-for-move-to-fbs-join-sun-belt/article_79109591-eb2f-5b26-8817-a158b82b02ce.html |access-date=November 20, 2021 |work=Daily News-Record |date=November 5, 2021 |quote=Sources said JMU's other sports would begin competition in the Sun Belt during the 2022-23 school year and it is expected the Dukes will be eligible for conference championships in their debut seasons.}}</ref> However, those plans would eventually change, with JMU and the SBC jointly announcing on February 2, 2022 that JMU would become a full SBC member, including football, in 2022–23.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://jmusports.com/news/2022/2/2/administration-james-madison-to-compete-in-sun-belt-conference-in-2022-2023.aspx |title=James Madison to Compete in Sun Belt Conference in 2022-2023 |publisher=James Madison Dukes |date=February 2, 2022 |accessdate=February 3, 2022}}</ref>

By the end of January 2022, both non-football members would announce their departures for other conferences, effective that July. On December 8, 2021, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted to accept an invitation for Little Rock to join the [[Ohio Valley Conference]],<ref>{{cite press release|title=Little Rock Receives Board Approval To Join Ohio Valley Conference|url=https://lrtrojans.com/news/2021/12/8/little-rock-announces-thursday-press-conference-regarding-future-of-trojan-athletics.aspx|access-date=2021-12-08|publisher=Little Rock Trojans|language=en}}</ref> and UT Arlington, which had been a [[Western Athletic Conference]] member in the [[2010–2013 Western Athletic Conference realignment|2012–13 school year]], announced its return to that conference on January 21, 2022.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://wacsports.com/general/2021-22/releases/20220120nrv7nj |title=University of Texas at Arlington Accepts Invitation to Join WAC |publisher=Western Athletic Conference |date=January 21, 2022 |accessdate=January 22, 2022}}</ref>

Shortly thereafter, Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss announced that they planned to leave C-USA for the Sun Belt in July 2022. They claimed to have notified C-USA of their plans in December 2021, apparently seeking to negotiate a 2022 exit. C-USA had indicated in late January 2022 that it expected the three schools to remain in that league through the 2022–23 school year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/33269116/sun-belt-bound-marshall-old-dominion-southern-miss-announce-plans-depart-conference-usa-june |title=Sun Belt-bound Marshall, Old Dominion, Southern Miss announce plans to depart Conference USA in June |first=Adam |last=Rittenberg |website=ESPN.com |date=February 11, 2022 |accessdate=February 11, 2022}}</ref> Marshall escalated the situation by filing suit against C-USA in its [[Cabell County, West Virginia|local]] court in an attempt to force a 2022 move.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/33354627/marshall-sues-conference-usa-push-departure-sun-belt |title=Marshall sues Conference USA to push up departure for Sun Belt |first=Heather |last=Dinich |website=ESPN.com |date=February 23, 2022 |accessdate=February 23, 2022}}</ref> On March 29, Conference USA agreed to let Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss move to the Sun Belt starting July 1, 2022.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/33626016/move-marshall-old-dominion-southern-miss-conference-usa-sun-belt-now-complete |title=Move of Marshall, Old Dominion, Southern Miss from Conference USA to Sun Belt now complete |first=Pete |last=Thamel |author-link=Pete Thamel |website=ESPN.com |date=March 29, 2022 |accessdate=March 29, 2022}}</ref>

On April 6, with the entrance of three new men's soccer-sponsoring schools in James Madison, Marshall, and Old Dominion, the Sun Belt announced that men's soccer would be reinstated as a sponsored sport. The three aforementioned programs joined current Sun Belt members Coastal Carolina (previously affiliates with Conference USA) as well as Georgia State and Georgia Southern (previously affiliates with the [[Mid-American Conference]]). Additionally, it was announced that [[Kentucky Wildcats men's soccer|Kentucky]], [[South Carolina Gamecocks men's soccer|South Carolina]], and [[West Virginia Mountaineers men's soccer|West Virginia]] would join as men's soccer affiliate members beginning in fall 2022, giving the conference an inaugural soccer membership of 9.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2022/4/6/sun-belt-conference-announces-return-of-mens-soccer-this-fall.aspx |title=Sun Belt Conference Announces Return of Men's Soccer This Fall |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=April 6, 2022 |accessdate=April 6, 2022}}</ref> Kentucky and South Carolina were previously also affiliated with C-USA, while West Virginia was affiliated with the MAC. The SBC later announced it would add [[UCF Knights men's soccer|UCF]] as a men's soccer affiliate when that school joined the [[Big 12 Conference]] in 2023.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2022/6/21/ucf-mens-soccer-to-join-sun-belt-conference-in-fall-2023.aspx |title=UCF Men's Soccer to Join Sun Belt Conference in Fall 2023 |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=June 21, 2022 |access-date=June 22, 2022}}</ref>  In men's soccer, the conference is not a "mid-major" conference, but a "power" conference due to the quasi-alliance of the Big 12 and SEC schools, plus the presence of [[Marshall Thundering Herd men's soccer|Marshall]], which has played in two national championship games in the 2020s, winning one.

On June 6, the SBC presidents & chancellors approved adding two new women's sports, beach volleyball and swimming & diving, no later than the 2023–24 school year. They also announced that the conference would explore adding another women's sport, field hockey, at an undetermined future date.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2022/6/9/general-sun-belt-presidents-chancellors-conclude-spring-meeting.aspx|title=Sun Belt Presidents/Chancellors add two sports, look into adding third |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=June 9, 2022 |accessdate=June 9, 2022}}</ref>

On January 18, 2023, the SBC officially announced that its beach volleyball league would launch that spring, with the four full members sponsoring the sport joined by [[Charleston Cougars|Charleston]], [[Mercer Bears|Mercer]], [[UNC Wilmington Seahawks|UNC Wilmington]], and [[Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks|Stephen F. Austin]] as affiliate members.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2023/1/17/general-sun-belt-conference-adds-beach-volleyball-for-2023.aspx|title=Sun Belt Conference Adds Beach Volleyball For 2023 |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=January 18, 2023 |accessdate=January 19, 2023}}</ref>

On August 17, 2023, the SBC officially announced the return of women's swimming and diving as a sponsored sport.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2023/8/17/sun-belt-conference-announces-return-of-womens-swimming-and-diving-for-2023-24.aspx|title=Sun Belt Conference Announces Return of Women's Swimming and Diving For 2023-24 |publisher=Sun Belt Conference |date=August 17, 2023 |accessdate=August 17, 2023}}</ref> However, the SBC would only sponsor the sport for two seasons before dropping it after the 2024–25 season.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://swimswam.com/liberty-james-madison-and-marshall-womens-swim-dive-will-join-the-aac-in-2025-2026/|title=Liberty, James Madison, and Marshall Women's Swim & Dive Will Join the AAC in 2025-2026|last=Keith|first=Braden|publisher=swimswam.com|date=December 13, 2024|access-date=December 18, 2024}}</ref>