Delta State University’s football program will move to independent status after the Gulf South Conference announced it will no longer sponsor football beginning in the 2027–28 academic year, leaving the program without GSC football competition beyond the 2026 season.
Delta State Athletic Director Mike Kinnison told SuperTalk Mississippi that changes in membership left the conference with too few football-playing schools to sustain the sport. “The changes in football-playing members have dwindled to three this year and would be two next year, with Valdosta State’s announcement of moving to the Peach Belt Conference in 2027,” Kinnison said.
Only three football-playing schools remain in the GSC now — Delta State, West Alabama and Valdosta State — after a string of departures and program changes. Valdosta State announced earlier in October 2026 it would move all sports except football to the Peach Belt Conference and make its football program independent. The conference also lost West Florida after the 2025 season when that school moved to Division I, and previously lost Mississippi Christian University (which discontinued football) and North Greenville and Chowan (which moved to Conference Carolinas).
Kinnison said Delta State is exploring football scheduling alliances and potential membership in other conferences while preparing to operate as an independent. “All of this has to be balanced with financial capability to meet the demands of increased travel over larger distances,” he said.
Delta State will remain a member of the Gulf South Conference in all other sports, except that its swimming and diving teams compete in the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference. Delta State helped charter the Gulf South Conference in 1970, the school noted to SuperTalk Mississippi.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
