View source for Southwest Conference (1914-1996)

[[image:Southwest_Conference.png|right]]
The '''Southwest Conference''' was a Division I FBS conference which was created in 1914 by several schools in Texas and Oklahoma, as well as [[Arkansas]].  Over the years, the Oklahoma schools drifted away while more Texas schools joined.  The conference was known as a football league, with basketball somewhat of an afterthought; unfortunately, as football became bigger and bigger business, the schools in the conference were continually caught up in recruiting scandals which eventually saw all but three schools in the league on probation at the same time.  Eventually tiring of this, Arkansas decamped to the [[Southeastern Conference]], leaving the conference as a Texas-only organization.

Faced with the realities of modern revenue generation and the increase in television contracts, conference members began pursuing options.  In the end, after discussions with the [[Big 12 Conference|Big 8 Conference]] regarding the possibility of a full merger, four schools -- [[Texas]] and [[Texas A&M]], with [[Baylor]] and [[Texas Tech]] shoehorned into the deal by the Texas legislature -- joined what would be called the Big 12, while [[Houston]] moved on to the newly-formed [[Conference USA]] and the remaining three schools joined the [[Western Athletic Conference]].

=='''Data'''==
{{list-2col-02| col1=120
| item01a='''Began play:'''
| item01b=1914-15
| item02a='''Affiliation:'''
| item02b=NCAA I FBS
}}

=='''Historical Data'''==
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[[Southwest Conference Women's Basketball]]

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