Peach Belt Accepts USCB as Newest League Member
The Peach Belt Conference Board of Directors is pleased to announce that, following a unanimous vote, the University of South Carolina Beaufort has been invited to join the league - pending acceptance into the NCAA Division II provisional process.
PEACH BELT CONFERENCE
BLUFFTON, S.C. – The Peach Belt Conference Board of Directors is pleased to announce that, following a unanimous vote, the University of South Carolina Beaufort has been invited to join the league pending acceptance into the NCAA Division II provisional process. Upon acceptance, USCB will begin competition in the Peach Belt in the 2022-23 academic year and will become the 11th PBC member institution.
"This is a great moment for the Peach Belt and we are very pleased to welcome USC Beaufort to the conference," said PBC Commissioner David Brunk. "This day has been a long time coming and we are very proud to be able to provide them a home in NCAA Division II. The mission and core values of this institution align perfectly with those that we have maintained for the last 30 years and the Sand Sharks will be a wonderful addition to the Peach Belt."
USCB will make application to the NCAA prior to Feb. 1, 2022, and will receive notice of their acceptance prior to September of 2022. Upon being accepted into the process, UCSB will begin a three-year transition that will culminate in their elevation to full NCAA Division II status beginning in the fall of 2025. The Sand Sharks will play full conference schedules beginning with the 2022-23 season and participate in all PBC conference championships that do not carry an NCAA automatic bid.
"After many productive discussions over several years, we are thrilled to accept the invitation and formalize our intention to join the Peach Belt Conference," said USCB athletic director Quin Monahan. "We appreciate the years of partnership with the NAIA and the Sun Conference, which have been a terrific home for us since launching our athletic program. Prospectively, we are excited about growth opportunities and about USCB's future with the Peach Belt and Division II."
USCB sponsors 11 sports – five for men and six for women – all of which are also sponsored by the Peach Belt Conference with the exception of men's and women's indoor track and field. The Sand Sharks will compete for PBC men's championships in baseball, cross country, golf and track & field while the women will compete in cross country, golf, track & field, soccer and softball.
"We are proud that USCB is an institution positioned for tremendous growth," said USCB chancellor Dr. Al M. Panu. "A significant factor of this growth is development of curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular programming that keeps pace with best-in-class university experiences across the country. Joining the Peach Belt Conference and NCAA Division II is another step in this direction for our student athletes and for all USCB Sand Sharks."
Begun as Beaufort College in 1795 with the first campus construction done in 1805, today USC Beaufort has an undergraduate enrollment of 2,100 across three campuses: Bluffton, Beaufort and Hilton Head. The central campus located in Bluffton was completed in 2004, at which time the institution began awarding baccalaureate degrees and established their intercollegiate athletics program.
"We are thrilled to welcome USC Beaufort to the Peach Belt Conference," said Dr. Richard Cosentino, president of Lander University and chair of the PBC Board of Directors. "Having visited the campus and seen what great things are occuring there, I could not think of a better fit for USC Beaufort and for the Peach Belt. I am also happy to have another school from our state of South Carolina in the conference and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship."
USC Beaufort began intercollegiate athletics in 2007. Entering the fall 2020 semester, the Sand Sharks have accumulated 252 All-Sun Conference selections, 211 Academic All-Conference selections, made 29 NAIA national tournament appearances, won 10 Sun Conference championships and had 49 NAIA All-Americans.
- press release courtesy of the Peach Belt Conference -
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