After a long period of stability and success, the conference's overall athletic prowess began to decline throughout the 1980s, due in part to numerous member schools violating NCAA recruiting rules, culminating in the suspension of the entire SMU football program ("death penalty") for the 1987 and 1988 seasons.

[3] The first organizational meeting of the conference was set for April 30, 1914; since not all schools involved could send representatives to attend that date, it was ultimately held on May 5 and 7 at the Oriental Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

The Southwest Intercollegiate Athletic Conference became an official body on December 8 at a formal meeting at the Rice Hotel in Houston.

The series between Texas and Oklahoma would still continue as a non-conference matchup in the annual Red River Rivalry game held in Dallas.

[1] After its organizational years, the conference settled into regularly scheduled meetings among its members and began to gain stature nationwide.

In 1969, Texas won another national championship by beating #2-ranked Arkansas 15–14 in the regular season's final game (dubbed the "Big Shootout").

[5] Texas also won the 1970 United Press International (UPI) National Championship (i.e., the coaches' poll), which until 1974 was awarded prior to the bowl games.

In 1977, Notre Dame became the last team to win a national championship in the Cotton Bowl Classic by beating Texas in the January 1978 game.

The early 1980s were the glory years of SWC basketball, including the Phi Slama Jama teams at the University of Houston.

Arkansas's famed Triplets - Marvin Delph, Ron Brewer and Sidney Moncrief - gave the rest of the league fits.

The passion of Arkansas fans for their Razorbacks often overran the confines of SWC basketball venues, so much so, that Reunion Arena in Dallas (annual site of the SWC postseason tournament) was deemed "Barnhill South" (after the Razorbacks' on-campus arena) based on the numbers and intensity of Hog fans present.

The Hogs have continued this tradition since moving to the SEC, reaching the CWS four times under Arkansas alumnus Dave Van Horn, and were the 2018 national runners-up.

Baylor's Michael Johnson, Texas A&M's Randy Matson, Rice's Fred Hansen, Houston's Carl Lewis, and Arkansas' Mike Conley all went on to win Olympic gold medals.

The primary function of the CFA was to negotiate television broadcast rights for its member conferences and independent colleges.

This was spearheaded by Notre Dame, who left the CFA and sold their home game broadcast rights to NBC in time for the 1991 season.

[10] In February 1994, the Southeastern Conference announced that they would be leaving the CFA and negotiate independently for a television deal that covered SEC schools only.

In football, John Heisman, Dana X. Bible, Paul "Bear" Bryant, Darrell Royal, Frank Broyles, Hayden Fry, Lou Holtz, Bill Yeoman, Gene Stallings, and Grant Teaff all served as head coaches in the conference.

Some notable SWC players included Davey O'Brien, Sammy Baugh, Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Tom Landry, Bob Lilly, Don Meredith, Earl Campbell, Andre Ware, Mike Singletary, John David Crow, Lance Alworth, Dan Hampton, Steve Atwater, Joe Ferguson, and Eric Dickerson.

Outstanding basketball coaches included Nolan Richardson, Tom Penders, Eddie Sutton, Abe Lemons, Guy V. Lewis, Shelby Metcalf, and Gerald Myers.

Great SWC hoops players included the aforementioned Triplets, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Vinnie Johnson, Jon Koncak, Alvin Robertson, Ricky Pierce, Darrell Walker, Joe Kleine, Day, Mayberry, Miller, and U.S. Reed among others.

In 1997, the official records of the conference from 1914 to 1996 were moved from Dallas to the campus of Texas Tech University, becoming part of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library.