The Ceos de Sun Belt voted to invite Louisiana Tech as the 14th member of the League on Monday morning, sources told ESPN, giving the conference a replacement for the state of Texas.
Louisiana Tech's entry date at the conference is not safe; The early thing is 2026. The date of entry is expected to be resolved in the coming weeks, since Louisiana Tech resolves its departure from the US conference, which is expected to cost at least $ 5 million.
It marks a return to Sun Belt for Louisiana Tech, which was part of the League from 1991 to 2001 before leaving for the WAC.
The addition of Louisiana Tech has been expected, since the school emerged as the favorite strong even before the PAC-12 officially added the state of Texas last month, fountains said. The Bulldogs had also been the focus on contingency conversations for the league in the fall of 2024.
The sources said that the impulse for the move came from schools in Sun Belt West, since Tech's location gave him natural synergy with Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Southern Miss and South Alabama as geographical rivals.
The movement is combined with the declared philosophy of the Sun Belt Keith Gill commissioner to focus on regional rivalries.
The recent history of Louisiana Tech football has been unstable, since the Bulldogs have not had a winning record since Skip Holtz was 10-3 in 2019. But there has been a strong success story, with Holtz reaching seven consecutive bowl games from 2014 to 2020, and Sonny Dykes authorizing a couple of good seasons in 2011 and 2012.
The movement is also strong for baseball and softball, Key Sun Belt Sports in which technology has succeeded for decades. The Tech male basketball program has 11 seasons of 20 wins since 2013, and the women's program won two national titles in the 1980s and has reached 10 four finals. The women's team has not reached the NCAA tournament since 2011.
This will mark the third League different from Louisiana Tech in the last two decades, since it went from the WAC to the United States Conference in 2013.
When Texas State flirted with Mountain West in the fall of 2024, Louisiana Tech emerged as the favorite to join the League. Sun Belt leaders began the discussions seriously, and those who moved.
There was a bit of rejection of the East of Sun Belt teams, according to the sources, but the League still achieved the 10 required votes of the 13 schools to approve the invitation. The other option discussed was that the League stayed in 13 teams.
The CEO of Sun Belt met practically Thursday and prepared the table for the move, with the vote on Monday morning being more a formality, the fountains said.
