Goodbye Conference USA, hello Sun Belt. This morning, the Sun Belt Conference announced it is reinstating men’s soccer in fall 2022 and Kentucky will join as an affiliate member. Kentucky Men’s Soccer has competed in Conference USA since 2005, along with South Carolina. (The Cats and the Gamecocks are the only SEC schools with competitive men’s soccer teams, so they have to compete in a different league.)
Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia will compete in the Sun Belt as affiliate members for men’s soccer only, along with Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and James Madison and former C-USA rivals Coastal Carolina, Marshall, and Old Dominion.