Southeastern Conference (SEC), American collegiate athletic association that grew out of the Southern Conference. The SEC has 16 members.
| school | year joined | |
|---|---|---|
| University of Alabama | 1932 | |
| University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) | 1992 | |
| Auburn University | 1932 | |
| University of Florida | 1932 | |
| University of Georgia | 1932 | |
| University of Kentucky | 1932 | |
| Louisiana State University | 1932 | |
| University of Mississippi | 1932 | |
| Mississippi State University | 1932 | |
| University of Missouri | 2012 | |
| University of Oklahoma | 2024 | |
| University of South Carolina | 1992 | |
| University of Tennessee | 1932 | |
| Texas A&M University | 2012 | |
| University of Texas at Austin | 2024 | |
| Vanderbilt University | 1932 | |
The conference was formed in 1932 when its members left the 11-year-old Southern Conference, believing that it had grown too large for competitive balance. In 1935 the SEC was the first conference to authorize athletic scholarships, and it led the movement in the National Collegiate Athletic Association to make this common practice in the 1950s. The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, an original member, dropped out of the conference in 1940, and both the Georgia Institute of Technology and Tulane University left in the 1960s. In 1992 Arkansas and South Carolina joined the conference, which was then organized into two divisions of six teams each, and with the additions of Missouri and Texas A&M in 2012, the divisions were expanded to seven teams. The divisions were removed in 2024 when the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma joined the SEC.