FB: Southern Athletic Association

[Ralph Turner]

Birmingham-Southern campus finally sells... to the Coast Guard? ok

https://www.al.com/news/2026/03/sold-birmingham-southern-college-campus-has-new-owner.html

That makes sense. I like that.

Now which conference gets them. SAA or CCS?

[Ron Boerger]

Don't think they are going to have college athletics, it's being pitched as a "new training center" rather than a baccalaureate institution. 

[jknezek]

yeah. it's not going to be a college from all reports. The Coast Guard Academy will stay in CT on a beautiful campus next to Conn College, on a bluff overlooking the Thames River.

This is a training center for officers and enlisted men, so I'm assuming advanced skills coursework. Can't imagine there will be much practical seamanship in Birmingham! But it will be interesting to see what they do with it.

There was a limited audience for a college campus in a rough area of town, it can't exactly be redeveloped into premium housing or senior housing or any of the other things we've seen defunct campuses do. So it's nice that there will be a use for it, even if I wish it was still B-SC.

[Ron Boerger]

Long-timers (lol, not many of us still around) probably still remember the call by a Trinity student, Jonathan Wiener, of the "miracle" ending to the Trinity-Millsaps game way back in 2007.  At the time there was a lot of "this kid has a future in broadcasting" commentary - turns out he is a news anchor for the ABC station in Houston, KRTK, where he heads up the 4 and 6:30 pm broadcasts.  He goes by "Jonathan Bruce" as his professional name.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity announced their schedule for the upcoming season - basically a repeat of last year with McMurry replacing Belhaven in the second game - in San Antonio.  TLU and PLU will return 2025's visits; a week 5 contest with Berry marks the start of SAA competition in San Antonio after a bye the previous week.  The team's first "road" game will be at Southwestern the following week, after which Maryville will pay its first visit to San Antonio.  That means that other than the short bus trip to Georgetown, Trinity won't travel until week 8 (Oct 24) when they play at Millsaps.  That will begin a run of three away games in four weeks, interrupted by a home game Halloween against Sewanee.  The season closes at Centre and Rhodes.

[Ron Boerger]

Construction is underway on Southwestern's new football / multi-sport complex, but they are still raising funds to pay for the $9.2M complex (which includes a field house) as a new challenge grant was announced in late January.

Former Trustee Brent Austin, in honor of his wife, Joanne Powers Austin '74, has generously pledged a $500,000 Challenge Match for the multi-purpose sport complex. This powerful gift comes at a pivotal moment, propelling us toward the final stretch of our $9.2 million goal. Now is the time to stand together, invest in the future, and bring this dream across the goal line.

The YT vid attached to the announcement shows a somewhat more modest rendering for the new Dice Field than earlier presentations.  Stands will only be present on the press box side (which has been the case throughout). 

When I drove past towards the end of February, the only visible signs of progress were a scraped off area with a huge mound of dirt piled in the middle, so they have their work cut out for them for the facility to be ready by the start of the 2026 season (not yet published) as planned.