Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association TIAA Provided the Roots of the American Southwest Conference TIAA ALL-TIME CHAMPIONS (PDF) The American Southwest Conference has been in existence since 1996, but its beginnings date back to 1976 with the formation of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA). The TIAA, a non-scholarship and coeducational athletic conference -- the first organization of its kind in the Southwest -- was formed on May 2, 1976 and consisted of five charter members: Austin College, McMurry College, Sul Ross State University, Tarleton State University and Trinity University. Before aligning with the new TIAA organization, Sul Ross State and Tarleton State were members of the Lone Star Conference, McMurry participated in the Texoma Conference and both Austin College and Trinity were independents. At the time of its formation, the member schools of the TIAA maintained their individual institutional affiliations with national intercollegiate athletic organizations such as the NCAA and NAIA before the conference solely became affiliated with NCAA Division III in 1996 (ASC). Initially, the conference sponsored championships in six sports for men and five for women. Football, basketball, track and field, golf, tennis and soccer titles were competed for among the men, and the women contested basketball, volleyball, golf, tennis and track and field championships. The ASC presently sponsors men's and women's championships in cross country, soccer, basketball, golf, tennis and track and field, in addition to championships in football, baseball, softball and women's volleyball. Expansion and membership changes within the TIAA during the late 1970s and into the 1980s played a large role in forming the current membership. Lubbock Christian College joined the conference in the spring of 1979, but withdrew in 1982 faced with a football program that never lived up to expectations (one conference win in four years and a national record setting 36-game losing streak). In 1981, Trinity became the first charter member to leave the TIAA. Howard Payne University moved to the TIAA from the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference in 1987. Midwestern State University was an associate member in 1987, competing only in football before becoming a full member in 1990. In June 1989, University of Dallas became the seventh conference member, and Hardin-Simmons University joined the TIAA in April 1990. Tarleton State became the second charter member to withdraw from the conference on May 15, 1991 becoming the first TIAA member to join the Lone Star Conference. Midwestern State moved to the LSC in 1995. Further expansion in the early-to-mid 1990s, with the addition of University of the Ozarks and Mississippi College, along with the hiring of the first commissioner, brought further exposure and recognition to the TIAA. At its spring meeting in May of 1996, the TIAA hired Fred Jacoby as its first commissioner and reorganized as the American Southwest Conference (ASC) to better reflect the geography of the conference. University of Mary Hardin-Baylor joined the conference in 1997, becoming the first school to be added to the newly named ASC. The end of 1997 brought four new schools into the conference with the addition of University of Texas at Dallas, Schreiner University, LeTourneau University, East Texas Baptist University and Concordia University at Austin. Texas Lutheran University and Louisiana College were added to the conference in 1998. The University of Dallas left the ASC in 2000 for independent status. The University of Texas at Tyler joined the conference in 2003. In 2006, Austin College left the ASC to join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.