Austin Peay State University will leave Ohio Valley Conference next year, join ASUN

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Austin Peay State University Athletics is joining the exodus, leaving the Ohio Valley Conference for ASUN.

Govs Athletics Director Gerald Harrison announced the departure to ESPN Clarksville and Clarksville Now, saying the program will take its teams to the ASUN conference, joining ASUN on July 1, 2022.

“The Ohio Valley Conference has been our home for 59 years,” Harrison said. “And they have done a great job. Their motto is exactly what it is: They inspired excellence for a long time, and we really appreciate our membership there and our time there.”

“But as time goes along, we have to seize the moment. Our university’s growing, our athletics department is growing, and we’ve been better on the field and in competition.”

ASUN, formerly called the Atlantic Sun Conference, includes 12 schools: North Alabama, Lipscomb, Central Arkansas, Kennesaw State, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Liberty, North Florida, Stetson, Bellamine, Florida Gulf Coast University and Jacksonville University.

Why join ASUN?

Going to the ASUN, he said, will take the Govs to the next level, not only in competition but also in exposure for the university.

“We’re a Southern-facing university, so our student athletes come from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, some from Florida, and this conference is in that footprint,” Harrison said.

“You’re talking about 10 million homes that are in the ASUN market. That’s not where we live currently in the Ohio Valley Conference. So that kind of exposure’s not just good for athletics, it’s good for the university.”

That opens new opportunities for recruiting, on both the academic and athletic sides.

“These are schools that love both their sports programs and their academic programs,” he said. “They don’t want to separate the two – they want to do them both. And that’s really the heart of the Total Gov Concept, and that’s why we’re doing it now instead of waiting.”

Why not be big fish in little pond?

The departure of Jacksonville State from the OVC created the possibility that APSU could now dominate OVC football, winning conference titles for the next decade. Moving to ASUN puts APSU in a much more competitive field.

“When I was at Duke, Coach (David) Cutcliffe would always say you either run to it or you run from it, and we’re running to it,” Harrison said. “It’s more competitive, there are some challenges there. We’re going to have to grow, we’re going to have to recruit well, we’re going to have to build facilities, we’re going to have to do some things, yes.”

Moving to a tougher conference also pushes APSU to grow its program.

“You can be a big fish in a small pond, but you know what? You don’t get better that way,” Harrison said.

“We could stay there, and then where we are now, where we have grown to, with the work my predecessors have done to get Austin Peay athletics back up – we can stay there and say, ‘Yes, we’re going to dominate this,’ but is it really going to prepare us for ’22, ’23, ’24, ’25? This is as much about the next generation of Governors as it is about this group.”

Leaving the OVC

Both Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State joined the ASUN on July 1 after announcing their respective departures in January and February this year.

In August, the Ohio Valley Conference sued Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State, contending they have not paid $1 million exit fees.

APSU officials confirmed to Clarksville Now the school will have to pay an exit fee, but the amount was not immediately available.

EKU was among the OVC’s founding members in 1948; JSU joined in 2003. APSU joined the OVC in 1962. The league has 10 remaining members, 9 once APSU steps away.

OVC responds

Friday afternoon, the OVC sent this statement, from OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche:

“We have received notification from Austin Peay that they will be leaving the OVC effective June 30, 2022. We appreciate their many contributions to the conference over the years and are committed to providing their student-athletes with an exemplary Championships experience this year.

“We are clearly in a time of change for intercollegiate athletics, and the Ohio Valley Conference embraces this moment, committed to the institutions and student-athletes whom we serve and confident in our future.

“That future is rooted in membership growth, and we are currently in discussions with other institutions that share our philosophy and want to prosper in today’s intercollegiate athletic environment by being part of the OVC.

“Our philosophy remains a fundamental one, tied to the basics that underpin the college experience: the benefits of highly competitive athletics; the overall development of our student-athletes; distinctive pathways for them to succeed in their sports and in life; and leadership opportunities across the academic, service, and social justice spectrums.

“We look forward to adding schools who, like the members of the OVC, are committed to our principles and our goals. We invite other colleges who are seeking this type of conference experience, for the betterment of their institutions, to contact us. The OVC welcomes those conversations.”

Ryan Ploeckelman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.