Why Wait?: After recently announcing that the school would leave Division I in a couple of years, Birmingham Southern decided to expedite the process and request a leave this year. The Big South Conference has approved the motion to let Birmingham Southern leave immediately. So the Panthers are officially out of Division I despite having a conference-winning baseball team and competitive basketball team. After the school said it would leave D-I in 2007-08, many basketball and baseball players bolted for another team.
Birmingham Southern originally cited financial and philosophical reasons for the move. As part of the move, future student-athletes will not receive full scholarships for playing sports. The school will join the D-III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, which includes several schools ranked in the top 50 for academics, including Sewanee, Rhodes, Centre, DePauw and Trinity. The Big South looks prescient now with its recent addition of Presbyterian College, which will take the spot of Birmingham Southern to keep the conference’s membership at nine. [6/16/06]
