The Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Members of the conference are located in the Southeastern United States in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

History

The conference is the successor to the Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC), which began in the 1940s; and later the Tennessee-Virginia Athletic Conference (TVAC) that operated during the 1980s and 1990s. The Appalachian Athletic Conference was formed in 2000 with the additions of members from Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. In 2019 the conference added Kentucky Christian University as a full member and Savannah College of Art and Design as an associate member in men's and women's lacrosse. Bluefield College was a member of the AAC from 2000 until 2012 when it left to join the Mid-South Conference. On March 3, 2014, Bluefield announced that it would return to the AAC in fall 2014.

Chronological timeline

Member schools

Current members

The AAC currently has 16 full members, all are private schools. It is the largest conference in the NAIA:

Future member

The AAC will have one future full member for the 2025–26 school year:

Affiliate members

The AAC currently has ten affiliate members, all but one are private schools:

Future affiliate members

The AAC has one future affiliate member, which operates public and private institutions within a single entity.

Former members

The AAC had eight former full members, all but one were private schools:

Former affiliate members

The AAC had three former affiliate members, all private schools.

Membership timeline

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Conference sports

The Appalachian Athletic Conference currently fields 24 sports (13 men's and 11 women's):