David Claybourn: Sports Views: Texas A&M-Commerce has played Southland teams before

Jul. 2—Texas A&M University-Commerce made it official on Friday.

The Lions have completed the necessary arrangements to make the transition up from NCAA Division II to Division I and from the Lone Star Conference to the Southland Conference.

This is no surprise because A&M-Commerce announced on Sept. 28 that it was accepting an invitation from the Southland Conference.

The good part about it is that the Lions' 14 sports for men and women can now compete for Southland Conference championships though they won't be able to compete for NCAA championships during the four-year transition period.

They're joining a conference with Texas schools Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as well as Louisiana schools McNeese, New Orleans, Nicholls, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana.

The Lions have played nearly of these schools in various sports in the past. They faced Incarnate Word when it was a member of the Lone Star Conference from 2010-2013.

A&M-Commerce's volleyball team played New Orleans once in 1982, losing in three sets, and Nicholls once in 1978, winning that match.

The Lions' football team has played Southeastern Louisiana, Houston Baptist, McNeese and Northwestern State in the past. They are 4-4-1 against Southeastern Louisiana with the last game in 2009. They are 1-0 against Houston Baptist including a 55-21 victory in 2013. The Lions are 1-1 against McNeese, with the last game in 1971. Northwestern Louisiana leads the series with the Lions, 17-10-2 with the last game in 2008.

The football team will also be playing some new opponents in non-conference play and some they haven't seen in a long time. They've played Tennesse Tech, one of the non-conference football opponents once but it was in 1953. The Lions won that one 33-0.

The Lions have played Sam Houston State, another non-conference opponent, 64 times in football but the last time was in 2015. The Bearkats are former members of the LSC. The Lions lead that series 39-24-1.

North American University of Houston and Lincoln of California are new opponents for the football team.

The Lion volleyball team is scheduled to open its season against a new opponent: Air Force on Aug. 26 in a tournament in Colorado. They're also to play some other new non-conference opponents: Drake, California State Northridge, Furman, Appalachian State and Eastern Washington, to name a few.

The Lions have played A&M-Corpus Christi in women's basketball, losing to the Islanders twice in 2006.

The Lions were charter members of the Lone Star Conference, which was formed in 1931 along with North Texas, Sam Houston State, Southwest Texas State and Stephen F. Austin. They are scheduled to play some of those schools in non-conference play.

They're leaving a conference that now has 18 members from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. The Lions have had strong rivalries with Angelo State, Midwestern State, Texas A&M-Kingsville and West Texas A&M in the LSC. Perhaps they'll see some of these opponents again. They are to play Tarleton State, a former LSC member, in volleyball.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Lions against what should be tougher competition. NCAA Division I teams offer more athletic scholarships than Division II schools so they usually have stronger depth.

"Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine" picked the Lions' football team to finish sixth of six teams in its first season in the Southland. The Lions are not used to being picked that far down in football in recent years after going 46-7 in conference over the last seven seasons and winning the NCAA Division II national championship in 2017. — My hat's off to French 400-meter hurdler Wilfried Happio, who got punched in the left eye by some crazed individual while warming up for the French Elite Athletics Championship in France and still won the race wearing an eye patch over the injury. Happio ran a personal-best time of 48.57 seconds to qualify for the upcoming world championships later this month in Eugene, Oregon.

The 400-meter hurdles is a tough enough race without an eye patch and hurdlers often trip and fall in that race and in the 110-meter hurdles. But not Happio.

I hope he runs well in the world championship and this time without an eye patch.

David Claybourn is sports editor of the Herald-Banner.