The Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA) was a college sports association that operated from 1909 to 1932. All of its members were located in the US state of Texas.
History Founded in 1909 by Southwestern University, Austin College, Texas Christian University, Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor University and Trinity University the TIAA had a changing set of members that spun off into the Southwest Conference, Lone Star Conference and the Texas Conference. The league had been formed to rid college athletics of objectionable elements like gambling and place them entirely under the control of the schools. At first the league worked well, but soon the disparity in the sizes of the schools became an issue. The large state schools, with bigger stadiums and crowds, began to refuse to travel to the smaller schools and insisted on playing them at home.
This battle between the large and small schools led to the first big change in 1914, when Texas, A&M, Baylor and Southwestern left to form the Southwest Conference, with some considering themselves to be members of both. After two seasons, Southwestern left the Southwest conference and returned to the TIAA. The conferences became completely separate in 1917. In 1922, TIAA expanded by including North Texas. In 1923, TCU left to join the Southwest Conference and in 1924, Rice followed suit.
In 1925, the TIAA was split between members who wanted to allow freshmen and transfers to play and schools that did not. This fault line also separated the teachers colleges that had joined over the years and the church-sponsored schools that had been founders. In May 1925, those that wanted to allow them to play—Trinity, Simmons University (now Hardin–Simmons University), Austin College, Howard Payne, and Southwestern—left to form the Texas Conference, but they agreed to play out the fall 1925 football season within the TIAA. Play within the Texas Conference began with the 1926 basketball season. The five departing schools were all church supported and agreed to ally themselves "along denominational lines."
By 1930, the TIAA had expanded back to 11 members. This included teachers colleges such as Sul Ross, West Texas, East Texas, North Texas, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, and Southwest Texas as well as Abilene Christian College, Daniel Baker, Texas A&I and McMurry. But in May 1931, five TIAA schools joined together to form the Lone Star Conference. These were Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, East Texas, Southwest Texas and North Texas. As a result, the conference was dissolved in 1932. Many of the members became independents and eventually wound up in the short-lived Alamo Conference.
Championships Football Record Year Champion Conference Overall Head coach 1909 Texas A&M 4–0–1 7–0–1 Charley Moran 1910 Texas A&M 5–0 8–1 Charley Moran 1911 Texas 3–0 5–2 Dave Allerdice 1912 Texas A&M 4–0 8–1 Charley Moran 1913 Texas 4–0 7–1 Dave Allerdice 1914 Texas 4–0 8–0 Dave Allerdice 1915 Baylor (vacated) 4–0 7–1 Charles Mosley 1916 Baylor 6–1 9–1 Charles Mosley 1917 Texas A&M 5–0 8–0 Dana X. Bible 1918 Texas 4–0 9–0 William Juneau 1919 Texas A&M 7–0 10–0 Dana X. Bible 1920 TCU 3–0 9–1 William L. Driver 1921 Rice 3–0 4–4–1 Philip Arbuckle 1922 6–2 Raymond Morehart, Dave Pena, & Charles Robertson 1923 4–0–1 7–2–1 Pete Cawthon 1924 5–0 7–2 T. B. Amis 1925 4–0–1 5–3–1 Charles M. Edens 1926 Daniel Baker 4–0 7–2–1 Shorty Ransom 1927 3–0–2 4–1–2 Randolph M. Medley 1928 Daniel Baker 4–0 5–3–2 Herman Clark 1929 Southwest Texas State 4–0–2 6–1–2 Oscar W. Strahan 1930 Sam Houston State 5–0 9–1 J. W. Jones 1931 North Texas State Teachers 4–0 (Eastern Division) 8–3 Jack Sisco 1932 Texas A&I 3–0 6–2 Bud McCallum List of Conference football champions 1924-1931
References