Bobcats to Join New Athletic Conference in 2024

A few months after announcing a return to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the College of the Ozarks Athletic Programs have been accepted into a conference for 2024.

in a press release from C of O, the school announces they have been accepted into the Sooner Athletic Conference beginning with the 2024-25 school year. The conference was founded in 1975 and initially only included Oklahoma Schools but now is a 12-member league that has members in other states including Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas. C of O will be the 13th member of the conference and the first in Missouri.

C of O announced earlier this year their application to be return to the NAIA had been accepted after the school and the organization had parted ways in 2021. The school will continue its association with the National Christian College Athletic Association which will include hosting the NCCAA Division One Men's and Women's National Basketball Championships beginning in 2025. The school has also hosted the NCCAA Division One Women's Volleyball Championships the last several years. 

The full release from C of O Public Relations is below:

College of the Ozarks is set to become the Sooner Athletic Conference’s newest member in the 2024-2025 season. The move was unanimously approved by the SAC Council of Presidents this week.

The Sooner Athletic Conference, founded in 1978 as a five-member conference of Oklahoma-based schools, currently has a 12-member league with six members in Oklahoma, four in Texas, and one each in Arkansas and Kansas. College of the Ozarks will be the first institution from the state of Missouri to join the SAC.

The SAC participates in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and currently sponsors 18 championship sports. SAC teams have won 112 NAIA National Championships, the most of any NAIA conference.

The highly competitive and tradition-rich NAIA conference will grow to 13 full-time members with the addition of C of O.

“We are pleased to welcome President Brad Johnson and the entire College of the Ozarks community into the Sooner Athletic Conference,” SAC Commissioner John 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, Missouri, 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 competes in Volleyball, Men’s and Women’s Cross Country, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Baseball, and Men’s and Women’s Track and Field. 
“College of the Ozarks is honored to join the highly regarded Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC),” 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 Commissioner John Martin for their support and warm welcome,” Johnson added.

College of the Ozarks Director of Athletics Steve Shepherd is equally excited about joining the SAC.

“I am extremely happy that College of the Ozarks will be joining the Sooner Athletic Conference. We are thankful to the Council of Presidents and Commissioner John Martin for the opportunity to join a conference so rich in tradition. The Sooner Conference will give our athletes the opportunity to compete against some of the best athletes and teams in the NAIA.” 

Current full members of the SAC include Central Christian College (McPherson, Kan.); John Brown University (Siloam Springs, Ark.); Langston University (Langston, Okla.); Mid-America Christian University (Oklahoma City); Oklahoma City University (Oklahoma City); Oklahoma Panhandle State University (Goodwell, Okla.); Southwestern Assemblies of God University (Waxahachie, Texas); Southwestern Christian University (Bethany, Okla.); Texas Wesleyan University (Fort Worth, Texas): University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma (Chickasha, Okla.); Wayland Baptist University (Plainview, Texas); and University of North Texas Dallas (Dallas).