The list of eligible conferences has always excluded all conferences that sponsor
FBS football except for the MAC and the Sun Belt. The
Atlantic 10 Conference, which has not sponsored football at all since 2006, has also been excluded throughout the award's history. Following
major conference realignment that peaked in 2013, the WAC, which
dropped football after the 2012 season, was added to the eligible list, while both offshoots of the
original Big East Conference—the FBS
American Athletic Conference and the current non-football
Big East—were excluded from eligibility. Definitions of the term "mid-major" in the context of college basketball vary widely. For purposes of both the Henson Award, Collegeinsider.com has established its own definition of the term, which includes members of the following conferences, as well as any
basketball independents. •
America East Conference •
Atlantic Sun Conference •
Big Sky Conference •
Big South Conference •
Big West Conference •
Coastal Athletic Association •
Horizon League •
Ivy League •
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference •
Mid-American Conference •
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference •
Missouri Valley Conference •
Northeast Conference •
Ohio Valley Conference •
Patriot League •
Southern Conference •
Southland Conference •
Southwestern Athletic Conference •
Summit League •
Sun Belt Conference •
West Coast Conference •
Western Athletic Conference ==Key==