Big South

A former conference: 16 schools on file. Our membership records under this name start in 2002. 2022 champion: Gardner-Webb.

2023 standings

TeamConf.OverallPollEloLast 5
Robert Morris0–⁠04–⁠71101LLWWL

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.

The bar is the share of those games won. Games against teams from the FBS count together.

Champions

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

  1. Charleston Southern2002–⁠2022
  2. Elon2002
  3. Gardner-Webb2002–⁠2022
  4. Liberty2002–⁠2017
  5. Coastal Carolina2003–⁠2015
  6. VMI2003–⁠2013
  7. Presbyterian2008–⁠2019
  8. Stony Brook2008–⁠2012
  9. Monmouth2014–⁠2021
  10. Kennesaw State2015–⁠2021
  11. Campbell2018–⁠2022
  12. Hampton20192021
  13. North Alabama2019–⁠2021
  14. Robert Morris2020–⁠2023
  15. North Carolina A&T2021–⁠2022
  16. Bryant2022
Every school and its years (16)

Members

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

SeasonSchoolMoveAnnounced
2023CampbellLeft for Coastal Athletic Conference (football only)August 3, 2022
2023North Carolina A&TLeft for Coastal Athletic Conference (football only)February 22, 2022
2022BryantJoined from NEC (football only)March 29, 2022
2022HamptonLeft for CAA (football only)January 25, 2022
2022Kennesaw StateLeft for Atlantic Sun Conference (football only)January 29, 2021
2022MonmouthLeft for CAA (football only)January 25, 2022
2022North AlabamaLeft for Atlantic Sun Conference (football only)January 29, 2021
2022 †North Carolina A&TLeft for CAAFebruary 18, 2022
2021North Carolina A&TJoined from MEACFebruary 7, 2020
2020PresbyterianLeft to play as an independent (football only)November 20, 2017
2020Robert MorrisJoined from NEC (football only)June 15, 2020
2019HamptonJoined (independent before) (football only)Source
2019North AlabamaJoined (independent before) (football only)December 6, 2016
2018CampbellJoined from Pioneer Conference (football only)November 14, 2016
2018LibertyLeft to play as an independent (football only)February 16, 2017
8 earlier moves
2016Coastal CarolinaLeft to play as an independent (football only)Source
2015Kennesaw StateJoined from No team (football only)September 4, 2013
2014MonmouthJoined (independent before) (football only)February 14, 2013
2014VMILeft for Southern ConferenceMay 30, 2013
2013Stony BrookLeft for CAA (football only)August 7, 2012
2008PresbyterianJoined (independent before)Source
2003ElonLeft for Southern ConferenceMay 30, 2002
2003VMIJoined from Southern ConferenceSource

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

YearRevenueExpensesAssetsTop 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 Southerngeneral support$102,000
Gardner-Webbgeneral support$102,000
High Point Universitygeneral support$102,000
Longwood Universitygeneral support$102,000
Presbyteriangeneral support$102,000
Radford Universitygeneral support$102,000
Unc Ashevillegeneral support$102,000
South Carolinageneral support$102,000
1 more
Winthrop Universitygeneral 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).