The American South Conference was an NCAA Division I athletic conference that existed from 1987-88 to 1990-91. The charter members were Arkansas State University, Lamar University, Louisiana Tech University, the University of New Orleans, the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and the University of Texas–Pan American (now merged into the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). The University of Central Florida (UCF) became the only expansion school during the conference's final academic season before merging with the Sun Belt Conference. Losing all but three members, the Sun Belt merged with the American South conference. The combined conference retained the name of the older Sun Belt Conference. Craig Thompson, the American South's