Above photo: McMurry, who played in the ASC as a full-time member through the 2023-24 academic year, is returning the conference along with Schreiner, according to a press release from the ASC on Tuesday
The American Southwest Conference has found a sense of stable footing after years of uncertainty and questions surrounding the future of the league’s four remaining institutions in Division III.
On Tuesday morning, the league confirmed multiple reports from Monday afternoon, announcing that McMurry and Schreiner, current members of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), will indeed join the ASC beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The addition of the two Texas institutions, both of whom are former members of the ASC, raises the conference’s membership to six institutions starting in 2026.
Of note, all six institutions signed a 10-year agreement, maintaining that this development in the ASC’s history will be long-term. Most importantly, it ensures the conference will have automatic bids to the NCAA postseason in all sponsored sports for the foreseeable future.
“In a world in which college athletics seems mired in uncertainty, Schreiner University is honored to join our colleagues in constituting a renewed American Southwest Conference that will provide stability and certainty – as well as a commitment to excellence – for our student-athletes and coaches for years to come,” Schreiner President Dr. Charlie McCormick said in the ASC’s press release.
McMurry and Schreiner both sponsor football, with Schreiner’s program set to begin with a junior varsity season this fall. The Mountaineers’ first varsity campaign will coincide with their first season in the ASC. McMurry went 7-3 overall last year in its first season in the SCAC.
A conference is required by the NCAA to have a minimum of six institutions in any sport in which is seeks to hold an AQ, which is why finding two additional football-playing members was such an immediate priority. The loss of an AQ had been the primary reason for concern when the ASC began losing members in 2021, eventually seeing eight full-member institutions announce decisions to leave between 2021-2024. Four of those (Louisiana College, Belhaven, Sul Ross State, and McMurry) sponsored football, though departures from UT-Dallas, LeTourneau, Ozarks, and Concordia dropped the conference to four members heading into 2025-26.
While the ASC will still have four member institutions in 2025-26, as McMurry and Schreiner close out their time in the SCAC, the conference remains under an NCAA grace period, allowing the league to maintain its AQ next year. The ASC will meet the required six-member minimum again beginning in 2026-27.
“I’m proud of the faithful leadership of our member institution presidents for their commitment to focus on the long-term future of the Conference,” said David Flores, Commissioner of the ASC, in the release. “The addition of these two respected institutions, located squarely in the membership footprint, will ensure continuity and enhanced success of the American Southwest Conference.”
The SCAC released a statement of its own on Tuesday morning, acknowledging the departures that leave the conference on shaky ground from a football standpoint. While the conference has five non-football playing institutions, keeping the SCAC stable with the loss of McMurry and Schreiner, the league will have just five football-playing members in 2026. That is one fewer than the required number of six to earn an automatic bid to the D-III playoffs. The SCAC brought back football this past fall as the result of McMurry leaving the ASC and joining the conference, which had not sponsored football since 2017.
“We were made aware on Monday that Schreiner University and McMurry University intend to transition to a different athletic conference effective the 2026-27 academic year,” SCAC commissioner Dwayne Hanberry said in a statement posted to X/Twitter. “We will look forward to a final year of competition with both institutions in 2025-26.
“The SCAC is proud of our long and distinguished record of providing quality experiences for our student-athletes and member institutions. As always, we remain committed to being a leader in pursuit of excellence in Division III athletics.”
Below is Monday’s breaking news story from True To The Cru on the reports that McMurry and Schreiner will both leave the SCAC for the ASC:
First reported by D3VBWest.com on Monday afternoon, and also reported by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, McMurry University and Schreiner University, current members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), will both join the ASC. The moves are expected to take effect for the 2026-2027 academic year, raising the number of full-time members in the ASC to six. DCTF reports an official announcement is expected on Tuesday morning. True To The Cru has also confirmed this news with multiple sources familiar with the situation.
The groundbreaking announcement means the ASC will maintain its automatic bid to the NCAA postseason in all sports, meeting the required minimum of six full-time members. The conference dropped to five full-time members this year and will be at four next year, the second—and final year—of its NCAA grace period. Without the addition of McMurry and Schreiner, the ASC would have lost its AQ after 2025-26, with the only path to any NCAA Tournament at that point coming via an at-large bid.
McMurry’s return to the ASC comes after the Warhawks left the conference this past summer, joining the SCAC for the 2024-25 academic year. McMurry’s football program went 7-3 overall and 7-1 in the SCAC’s double round-robin format in 2024. The women’s basketball team also notably reached the Sweet 16 of its NCAA Tournament, the deepest tournament run for the program since 2000. McMurry was in the ASC from 1996-2012 before briefly moving up to Division II, only to return to the ASC and Division III two years later in 2014.
Schreiner is also a former ASC member, having been in the conference from 1996-2013. The Mountaineers joined the SCAC in 2013-14, and are launching a football program that begins play this fall with a junior varsity schedule.
Schreiner’s first season of varsity football will now take place in the ASC, leaving the SCAC with just five football-playing institutions in 2026, one shy of the six needed for an automatic bid. Hendrix College is set to join the SCAC for the upcoming academic year in 2025-26.
The six-member ASC in 2026 will be composed of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin-Simmons, East Texas Baptist, Howard Payne, Schreiner, and McMurry. Geographically, it leaves ETBU on an island, over four hours from the other five institutions. However, all six schools will be located inside the Lone Star State, with the ASC preserving its future beyond next year, maintaining that three different Division III conferences will continue to be represented in Texas, with the ASC, SCAC, and SAA.
This story will be updated as more information comes available.
Great news for the conference