Editing Mid-South Conference (section)

{{Short description|College athletic conference in the United States}}
{{For|the Michigan high school athletics conference|Mid South Conference (MHSAA)}}

{{Primary sources|date=December 2013}}

{{Infobox sports league
| name         = Mid-South Conference
| logo         = Midsouth conference naia logo.png
| logo_size    = 200
| founded      = {{start date and age|1987}}
| association  = [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics|NAIA]]
| teams        = 7
| sports       = 26
| mens         = 13
| womens       = 13
| region       = [[Southern United States]]
| headquarters = [[Bowling Green, Kentucky]]
| commissioner = Eric Leach
| since        = July 1, 2023
| website      = [http://www.mid-southconference.org mid-southconference.org]
| map          = MSC-USA-states.PNG
| map_size     = 250
| color        = #005DAA; border: 2px solid black
| font_color   = white
}}

The '''Mid-South Conference''' ('''MSC''') is a [[List of college athletic conferences in the United States|college athletic conference]] affiliated with the [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics]] (NAIA). Member institutions are located in [[Kentucky]]  and [[Tennessee]]. The league is headquartered in [[Bowling Green, Kentucky]], and the commissioner is Eric Leach.

The Mid-South Conference has 7 full members: [[Bethel University (Tennessee)|Bethel (TN)]], [[Campbellsville University|Campbellsville]], [[Cumberland University|Cumberland (TN)]], [[University of the Cumberlands|Cumberlands (KY)]], [[Freed–Hardeman University|Freed–Hardeman]], [[Georgetown College (Kentucky)|Georgetown (KY)]] and [[Lindsey Wilson College|Lindsey Wilson]]. Six of these members sponsor football; Freed–Hardeman does not.

The Mid-South Conference also has six associate members that compete primarily in other conferences. [[Faulkner University|Faulkner]], [[Kentucky Christian University|Kentucky Christian]], [[Union Commonwealth University|Union Commonwealth]] and recently former member [[Bluefield College|Bluefield]] are associate members of the MSC for football and men's volleyball, and [[Reinhardt University Eagles|Reinhardt]] is an associate member of the MSC for football and men's volleyball. This gave the conference 13 members for football. In the spring of 2016, the conference expanded to 20 members, adding the six football members of the [[Sun Conference]], as well as [[Faulkner University]] for football,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wilson|first1=Michael|title=Local teams officially join Mid-South football conference|url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20160225/SPORTS19/160229601|access-date=February 27, 2016|publisher=The Lakeland Ledger|date=February 25, 2016}}</ref> On January 4, 2018, the conference added Keiser University for football,<ref name="KeiserAddsFootball">{{cite news|last1=Evenson|first1=Johyn|title=Keiser University Athletics adds football starting in 2018|url=http://cbs12.com/sports/content/keiser-university-adds-a-football-team-starting-in-2018|access-date=April 23, 2018|date=October 11, 2016}}</ref> and [[St. Thomas University Bobcats|St. Thomas]] announced in July they were joining the conference for football in 2019.<ref name="STU Football">{{cite news |last1=McPherson |first1=Jordan |title=This South Florida college will have a football team. And it'll start playing next year |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/state-college-sports/article217400965.html |access-date=October 10, 2018 |date=August 29, 2018}}</ref> Another Sun Conference member, [[Florida Memorial Lions|Florida Memorial]] in [[Miami Gardens, Florida]], joined the MSC as an affiliate member for football in 2020, after re-adding the sport.<ref>{{cite news |title=Football Joins Mid-South Conference As Affiliate Member |url=https://fmuathletics.com/news/2019/10/15/football-joins-mid-south-conference-as-affiliate-member.aspx |access-date=February 24, 2020 |work=fmuathletics.com |date=October 15, 2019}}</ref>