POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The Sooner Athletic Conference, the NAIA conference leader in national championships by member institutions, will officially welcome its 13th and newest member next summer.
SAC Commissioner John Martin announced Friday that the College of the Ozarks (Mo.) will join the conference on July 1, 2024 after the move was unanimously approved by the SAC Council of Presidents this week. The Bobcats will begin play as full league members that fall.
"We are pleased to welcome President Brad Johnson and the entire College of the Ozarks community into the Sooner Athletic Conference," Martin said. "C of O has been a leading institution in our region for many years, and our conference will benefit greatly in this partnership."
College of the Ozarks is located in Point Lookout, Mo., and was recently readmitted to the NAIA after a brief separation from 2021-2023. C of O is a former member of the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference, which dissolved in 2015, and most recently competed in the Continental Athletic Conference. College of the Ozarks currently fields women's volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and men’s and women’s track and field.
The addition of the College of the Ozarks’ baseball program will increase the league to 10 teams, allowing the Sooner Athletic two automatic berths into the NAIA Baseball Championships annually.
"College of the Ozarks is honored to join the highly-regarded Sooner Athletic Conference," said Dr. Brad Johnson, president at College of the Ozarks.
"The College, and specifically our athletic program, looks forward to this opportunity to engage in a high level of competition while continuing to develop the character and values of our student-athletes. We are grateful to Dr. Bobby Hall, the SAC Council of Presidents, the Directors of Athletics, and SAC Commissioner John Martin for their support and warm welcome," Johnson added.
C of O’s addition expands the SAC geographic footprint to five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and now, Missouri.
About College of the Ozarks »
College of the Ozarks is a private, Christian, liberal arts college, located in Point Lookout, Missouri, on a 1,000-acre campus. Christian values, hard work, and financial responsibility comprise the fundamental building blocks of the “Hard Work U.” experience. The College earns numerous accolades yearly, including No. 1 Most Innovative School in the Midwest, No. 1 Best Value Regional College in the Midwest, and No. 1 Top Performer on Social Mobility in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report for 2022-23. College of the Ozarks also earned No. 1 Best Christian Colleges and Universities by College Consensus for 2022 and No. 3 Best Bang for the Buck by Washington Monthly for 2022. To achieve its vision, the College pursues academic, vocational, Christian, patriotic, and cultural goals. These goals are mirrored in School of the Ozarks, a laboratory school that completes the K-college model.
About the Sooner Athletic Conference »
The Sooner Athletic Conference, founded in 1978 as a five-member conference of Oklahoma-based institutions, is a 12-member league of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics competing in 18 sports with six members in Oklahoma, four in Texas, and one each in Arkansas and Kansas.
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