[3] The school competes in the Sun Belt Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and play home games at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana.

In 1968, Southwestern Louisiana was placed on two years' probation and barred from postseason play during that time for recruiting violations and for student-athletes receiving financial assistance from an outside organization.

The NCAA's punishment is considered one of the most extreme in its history and is only one of five times that the death penalty has been applied to a member institution.

An NCAA investigation found that now-former player Orien Greene had relied on 15 hours of correspondence courses taken through another institution in order to remain eligible for the 2004 spring semester and the entire 2004–05 academic year.

According to the NCAA, this was an "obvious error" that should have been caught right away, but the school's then-compliance coordinator, director of academic services and registrar all failed to catch it.

The Ragin Cajuns participated in the 2004 and 2005 NCAA tournaments, but both appearances were vacated due to major violations involving Orien Greene.