But Sun Belt Conference teams like Troy have known about the Chanticleers for years. Coastal Carolina, representing the Big South Conference, captures the NCAA Division I baseball national championship yesterday. Today, the Chanticleers are the 12th member of the Sun Belt.
Last year, the Sun Belt officially invited the Chanticleers to join the league. Even though it was anticipated the NCAA would strike down a provision requiring a conference to have 12 teams in order to have a football conference championship game (which eventually occurred in January), the conference needed an even number of teams for scheduling purposes in other sports.