Big South
A former conference: 16 schools on file. Our membership records under this name start in 2002. 2022 champion: Gardner-Webb.
2023 standings
Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied. Poll: the FCS coaches’ poll, final (else the final AP rank). Elo is our own rating, a measure of strength, not a prediction.
Against other conferences, 2023
Big South teams are 4–7 outside the conference.
- Big South-OVC2–4
- FBS teams0–1
- MEAC0–1
- MVFC0–1
- NEC1–0
- Others1–0
The bar is the share of those games won. Games against teams from the FBS count together.
Champions
Most titles
| Liberty | 8 | last 2016 |
| Coastal Carolina | 7 | last 2014 |
| Stony Brook | 4 | last 2012 |
| Gardner-Webb | 3 | last 2022 |
| Kennesaw State | 3 | last 2021 |
| Charleston Southern | 3 | last 2016 |
| Monmouth | 2 | last 2020 |
By year
| 2022 | Gardner-Webb |
| 2021 | Kennesaw State |
| 2020 | Monmouth |
| 2019 | Monmouth |
| 2018 | Kennesaw State |
| 2017 | Kennesaw State |
| 2016 | Charleston Southern, Liberty (shared) |
| 2015 | Charleston Southern |
| 2014 | Coastal Carolina, Liberty (shared) |
| 2013 | Coastal Carolina, Liberty (shared) |
| 2012 | Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Stony Brook (shared) |
| 2011 | Stony Brook |
9 earlier seasons, back to 2002
| 2010 | Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Stony Brook (shared) |
| 2009 | Liberty, Stony Brook (shared) |
| 2008 | Liberty |
| 2007 | Liberty |
| 2006 | Coastal Carolina |
| 2005 | Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina (shared) |
| 2004 | Coastal Carolina |
| 2003 | Gardner-Webb |
| 2002 | Gardner-Webb |
Conference titles as each program’s Wikipedia infobox lists them (CC BY-SA), shared titles counted for every co-champion; the conference’s earlier names count as the same conference.
Schools
Every school and its years (16)
Members
- Robert Morris 2020–2023
- Bryant 2022
- Campbell 2018–2022
- Charleston Southern 2002–2022
- Gardner-Webb 2002–2022
- North Carolina A&T 2021–2022
- Hampton 2019, 2021
- Kennesaw State 2015–2021
- Monmouth 2014–2021
- North Alabama 2019–2021
- Presbyterian 2008–2019
- Liberty 2002–2017
- Coastal Carolina 2003–2015
- VMI 2003–2013
- Stony Brook 2008–2012
- Elon 2002
Football membership as CollegeFootballData.com records it under this conference’s name, from 2002; a school’s separate stays are listed apart.
Who came and went
8 earlier moves
| 2016 | Coastal Carolina | Left to play as an independent (football only) | Source | |
| 2015 | Kennesaw State | Joined from No team (football only) | September 4, 2013 | |
| 2014 | Monmouth | Joined (independent before) (football only) | February 14, 2013 | |
| 2014 | VMI | Left for Southern Conference | May 30, 2013 | |
| 2013 | Stony Brook | Left for CAA (football only) | August 7, 2012 | |
| 2008 | Presbyterian | Joined (independent before) | Source | |
| 2003 | Elon | Left for Southern Conference | May 30, 2002 | |
| 2003 | VMI | Joined from Southern Conference | Source |
Football moves from Wikipedia’s lists of NCAA Division I conference changes; the season is the first one played in the new conference, and the date the one the lists or their sources give for the announcement. † Our membership records (CollegeFootballData.com) date the move to another season, or don’t show it. SportsDataverse’s football memberships agree with ours in 131 of 132 team-seasons from 2002. the member tables in the conference’s Wikipedia article agree with ours in 29 of 30 team-seasons from 2008. Conference realignment: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); memberships: SportsDataverse.
The money
The Big South Conference is a nonprofit. Its IRS Form 990 for the year to June 2025 reports $5.6 million in revenue, $2.7 million of it from tournament, and $6.5 million in expenses; it ended the year with $8.5 million in assets. Its best-paid, commissioner/secretary Sherika Montgomery, was paid $331,000.
By year
| Year | Revenue | Expenses | Assets | Top pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | $5.6M | $6.5M | $8.5M | $331K |
| 2023-24 | $6.1M | $5.8M | $10.0M | $191K |
| 2022-23 | $6.8M | $7.9M | $9.0M | $390K |
| 2021-22 | $8.7M | $6.4M | $10.2M | |
| 2020-21 | $5.6M | $5.4M | $8.6M | $346K |
| 2019-20 | $5.5M | $5.2M | $6.5M | $350K |
| 2018-19 | $6.5M | $6.1M | $8.6M | $351K |
| 2017-18 | $6.1M | $5.1M | $7.6M | $308K |
| 2016-17 | $5.2M | $5.9M | $6.0M | |
| 2015-16 | $5.4M | $5.0M | $4.8M | |
| 2014-15 | $5.4M | $5.3M | $3.9M | |
| 2013-14 | $5.5M | $5.0M | $3.9M | |
| 2012-13 | $5.7M | $4.7M | $3.4M | |
| 2011-12 | $4.8M | $4.6M | $2.4M |
Best paid, 2024-25
| Sherika Montgomery, commissioner/secretary | $331,000 |
Grants it lists, 2024-25
| Charleston Southern | general support | $102,000 |
| Gardner-Webb | general support | $102,000 |
| High Point University | general support | $102,000 |
| Longwood University | general support | $102,000 |
| Presbyterian | general support | $102,000 |
| Radford University | general support | $102,000 |
| Unc Asheville | general support | $102,000 |
| South Carolina | general support | $102,000 |
1 more
| Winthrop University | general support | $102,000 |
From the organization’s IRS Form 990, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer and the IRS’s e-file data. Fiscal years end in June; top pay is the best-paid person’s total compensation on the return, listed for e-filed years (2018 on). Grants are the ones the conference lists on Schedule I; bowl payments are the ones bowls list on theirs. See every filing at ProPublica (EIN 57-0759570).