James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss officially join Sun Belt Conference

(Source: Sun Belt Conference)
Published: Jul. 1, 2022 at 6:57 PM EDT

NEW ORLEANS (WMBF) - Coastal Carolina now has some new neighbors in the Sun Belt Conference.

The league officially welcomed James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Mississippi on Friday, expanding its ranks to 14 schools.

Marshall, ODU and Southern Miss are all coming from Conference-USA after reaching a legal settlement with their former league in March.

JMU comes from the Colonial Athletic Association and competed at the FCS level in football. Due to a transition period between FBS and FCS competition, the Dukes won’t be bowl eligible until 2024.

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Coastal Carolina will notably also face each new member in the 2022 football season.

The Sun Belt also saw two departures on Friday, with Little Rock leaving for the Ohio Valley Conference and UT-Arlington joining the Western Athletic Conference.

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