the asun has added five members in the 2020s. first, three schools, one a returning member, joined in 2021. the first-time members were the university of central arkansas and eastern kentucky university, which respectively arrived from the southland conference and ohio valley conference (ovc). jacksonville state university, which had been an asun member from 1995 to 2003, returned after spending 18 years in the ovc. at that time, the asun technically began sponsoring football, but did not start conference play. it partnered with the western athletic conference, which was launching an fcs football league in the fall 2021 season. under the agreement, the three newest members, all of which play fcs football, became de facto wac football members for that season only.