{"id":770362,"date":"2026-05-03T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T12:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/770362\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T12:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T12:05:00","slug":"asun-and-uac-partnership-explained-impact-on-university-of-north-florida-jacksonville-university-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/770362\/","title":{"rendered":"ASUN and UAC partnership explained: impact on University of North Florida, Jacksonville University athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 We first brought you the story on a potential pathway for the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University to one day add tackle football<\/a>, as their home conference \u2014 the Atlantic Sun \u2014 enters a first-of-its-kind partnership with the United Athletic Conference, formerly known as the Western Athletic Conference.<\/p>\n

But what does this mean for the current sports teams at both schools?<\/p>\n

Starting in July, the ASUN and UAC will officially form a consortium – a unique strategic alliance in college athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery forward-thinking,\u201d UNF vice president of intercollegiate athletics Nick Morrow said. \u201dNobody\u2019s doing it like this in the country, but on paper it makes a lot of sense – and now we\u2019re going to see it come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

While UNF and JU will remain two of the nine ASUN members, their teams will now see crossover competition with programs from the eight UAC schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest change you\u2019ll feel is a more focused student-athlete experience because the travel isn\u2019t as significant,\u201d JU senior vice president and athletic director Alex Ricker-Gilbert said.<\/p>\n

Even though the Ospreys and Dolphins will now be part of a broader footprint through the alliance, costs are expected to decrease – thanks to reduced travel, less missed class time, and an overall improvement in student-athlete well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still a broad geography,\u201d Atlantic Sun Conference commissioner Jeff Bacon said. \u201dOne league stretches from Florida to Kentucky, the other from Texas to Kentucky – but there\u2019s a little more separation, a little more regionality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job as a Division I athletic department is to bring exposure to the university,\u201d Morrow said. \u201dWe can drive enrollment, experience, and engagement like no one else on campus. Now our brand reaches Texas, and we\u2019re already in places like Nashville and Louisville. From an admissions standpoint, that\u2019s a big advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the addition of the University of West Florida this fall, half of the ASUN\u2019s member schools will now be based in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there will be a lot of excitement,\u201d Ricker-Gilbert said.<\/p>\n

So why form a strategic alliance instead of fully merging like the SEC or Big Ten? It comes down to NCAA Tournament access.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt our level of Division I athletics, what\u2019s really precious is automatic qualification into the NCAA Tournament,\u201d Bacon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you\u2019re going through fewer schools to earn that automatic qualifier,\u201d Morrow said. \u201dThat\u2019s important, because that\u2019s where you gain exposure – competing on that national stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The road to the NCAA Tournament – competing in the ASUN men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball championships – will remain in Jacksonville for the next four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may stay at 17 schools for a long time – we\u2019ll see,\u201d Bacon said. \u201dBut we are in a growth-oriented mode. If the right opportunity comes along, and the fit and value are there, we\u2019re open to expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both conferences will continue to be headquartered in Jacksonville, with ASUN commissioner Jeff Bacon overseeing the alliance.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 We first brought you the story on a potential pathway for the University of North…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":770363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,162981,233020,28117,3188,723,7310,143791,152629,267065,11009,62,315860,46512,267064,315861,67,586,132,5230,14645,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-770362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-asun","10":"tag-atlantic-sun-conference","11":"tag-college-athletics","12":"tag-fl","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-jacksonville-university","16":"tag-ju","17":"tag-ju-dolphins","18":"tag-ncaa-tournament","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-uac","21":"tag-unf","22":"tag-unf-ospreys","23":"tag-united-athletic-conference","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-university-of-north-florida","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116510557780825683","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}