Oakwood Ready to Embark on New Athletics Journey
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- After more than a decade in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), Oakwood University has embarked on a new journey.
The Ambassadors, who won four USCAA men's basketball national championships, recently became members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and joined the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC), which includes eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities from Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas.
GCAC officials had their spring meetings last week at Fisk University and officially welcomed Oakwood University along with Wiley College (Marshall, Texas) and Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO) to the league. SUNO was a member from 1986 through 2019, but school officials did away with the program due to Covid-19.
GCAC commissioner Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes said the league is thrilled to have Oakwood join the conference.
 "Oakwood has a lot in common with a number of our member institutions," Barnes said. "It's an institution that serves young black people and all of our schools are trying to create a good experience for them.
"It also brings a historic basketball program to our conference. It also helps us increase our economic footprint and it provides our schools an opportunity to recruit more students. We're very excited to have Oakwood as a member of our GCAC family."
 In addition to Oakwood, SUNO and Wiley College, other members include Dillard University (New Orleans, La.), Fisk University (Nashville, Tenn.), Philander Smith College (Little Rock, Ark.), Tougaloo College (Jackson, Miss.), and Rust College (Holly Springs, Miss.).
Oakwood athletics director Simon Jacob, who also serves as the men's basketball coach, said he's excited about moving the program forward.
"This is a great opportunity for our university and our athletic program," Jacob said. "We're in a conference with schools that are similar to us and have the same vision and goals. We can't wait to get started."
Currently, Oakwood fields five athletic teams, including men's and women's soccer, volleyball and men's and women's basketball. It will add baseball and softball in the spring as a result of joining the GCAC. Oakwood fielded baseball and softball programs in years past, but they were disbanded in 2010, according to Jacob.
"We've got some work to do, but we're going to get there," Jacob said. "We're going to do whatever we have to do to be competitive in the conference."