North Coast Athletic Conference
AssociationNCAA
Founded1983
CommissionerKeri Alexander Luchowski
Sports fielded
  • 23
    • men's: 11
    • women's: 12
DivisionDivision III
No. of teams9
HeadquartersCleveland, Ohio
RegionGreat Lakes
Official websitehttp://www.northcoast.org
Locations
Location of teams in {{{title}}}
North Coast Athletic Conference
🌍
Location of NCAC members: full members

The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference composed of colleges located in Ohio and Indiana. When founded in 1984, the league was a pioneer in gender equality, offering competition in a then-unprecedented 10 women's sports. Today it remains true to that legacy, sponsoring 23 sports, 11 for men and 12 for women.

The NCAC is respected for the academic strength of its member institutions — all of which have Phi Beta Kappa chapters. In its most recent college rankings, U.S. News & World Report recognized all 10 members as top-tier liberal arts colleges, and ranked five NCAC institutions among the nation's top 70 such colleges.

History

The formation of the NCAC was announced at joint news conferences in Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh in February 1983. Allegheny College, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, and The College of Wooster were charter members in 1984, the same year that NCAC athletic conference play began.

In 1988, Earlham College and Wittenberg College accepted invitations to join the NCAC, pushing conference membership to nine schools in three states. The two schools would begin play in the fall of 1989. In 1998, Hiram College, and Wabash College accepted invitations to join the NCAC, pushing conference membership to 10 schools in three states, which both schools began play in the fall of 1999. Case Western Reserve, a charter member of the NCAC, announced that it would leave the NCAC following the 1998–99 academic year. The Spartans would compete on a full-time basis in the University Athletic Association (UAA) after more than a decade of joint conference membership affiliation.

Earlham announced it would depart the NCAC for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC), beginning with the 2010–11 season. DePauw University became the 10th member of the NCAC beginning in the 2011–12 season.

Allegheny left the NCAC after the 2021–22 school year to return to its former home of the Presidents' Athletic Conference. Allegheny and Earlham remain single-sport NCAC members in field hockey.[1]

The most recent change to the NCAC membership was announced on November 15, 2022. Transylvania University and Washington & Jefferson College will join the NCAC as single-sport members in the sport of field hockey, beginning with the 2023 season.

Chronological timeline

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives

In 2019, the NCAC was one of the first NCAA conferences to participate in the organization's LGBTQ OneTeam Program, which launched in fall 2019. Two facilitators from the NCAC – Seth Hayes of Denison University and Rhea Debussy of Kenyon College – were among the first 30 facilitators for this NCAA Division III program.[2] In 2021, the NCAA announced that two NCAC staff members – Kate Costanzo of Allegheny College and Rhea Debussy of Kenyon College – were finalists for the NCAA Division III LGBTQ Administrator/Coach/Staff of the Year Award.[3]

Member schools

Current members

The NCAC currently has nine full members, all private schools.

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment 2022 US News
ranking[4]		 2021 Forbes
Top Colleges[5]		 Nickname Joined Colors
Denison University Granville, Ohio 1831 Nonsectarian 2,100 42 288 Big Red 1984    
DePauw University Greencastle, Indiana 1837 Methodist 2,350 46 130 Tigers 2011    
Hiram College Hiram, Ohio 1850 Disciples of Christ 1,395 — — Terriers 1999    
Kenyon College Gambier, Ohio 1824 Episcopal/Anglican 1,640 30 287 Owls[6] 1984    
Oberlin College Oberlin, Ohio 1833 Nonsectarian 2,850 37 290 Yeomen (men's)
Yeowomen (women's)		 1984    
Ohio Wesleyan University Delaware, Ohio 1842 Nonsectarian[lower-alpha 1] 1,850 98 446 Battling Bishops 1984    
Wabash College[lower-alpha 2] Crawfordsville, Indiana 1832 Nonsectarian 850 57 327 Little Giants 1999  
Wittenberg University Springfield, Ohio 1845 Lutheran ELCA 2,050 155 435 Tigers 1989    
The College of Wooster Wooster, Ohio 1866 Nonsectarian 1,827 71 428 Fighting Scots 1984    
Notes
  1. ↑ Formerly affiliated with the United Methodist Church until 2019.
  2. ↑ This institution is a men's college, therefore it does not compete in women's teams.

Affiliate members

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined NCAC

sport

 Primary

conference

Allegheny College Meadville, Pennsylvania 1815 Methodist 1,442 Gators 2022–23 field hockey PAC
Earlham College Richmond, Indiana 1847 Quaker 900 Quakers 2021–22 HCAC
Transylvania University Lexington, Kentucky 1780 Disciples of Christ 963 Pioneers 2023–24 HCAC
Washington & Jefferson College Washington, Pennsylvania 1781 Nonsectarian 1,168 Presidents 2023–24[7] PAC

Former members

The NCAC has three former full members, all private schools. Allegheny and Earlham remain NCAC members in field hockey.

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined Left Current
conference
Allegheny College Meadville, Pennsylvania 1815 United Methodist 2,100 Gators 1984–85 2021–22 Presidents'
Case Western Reserve University[lower-alpha 1] Cleveland, Ohio 1826 Nonsectarian 11,824 Spartans 1984–85 1998–99 University (UAA)
Earlham College Richmond, Indiana 1847 Quakers 1,181 Quakers 1989–90 2009–10 Heartland (HCAC)
Notes
  1. ↑ Case Western Reserve had dual athletic conference membership with the University Athletic Association from 1986–87 to 1998–99, then the Spartans left the NCAC in order to fully align with the UAA.

Membership timeline

Washington and Jefferson CollegeTransylvania UniversityDePauw UniversityWabash CollegeHiram CollegeWittenberg CollegeHeartland Collegiate Athletic ConferenceEarlham CollegeCollege of WoosterOhio Wesleyan UniversityOberlin CollegeKenyon CollegeDenison UniversityUniversity Athletic AssociationCase Western Reserve UniversityPresidents' Athletic ConferenceAllegheny College

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Allegheny College Announces Return to the Presidents' Athletic Conference Beginning July 1, 2022" (Press release). Allegheny Gators. August 23, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  2. ↑ Smola, Jennifer (2019-11-19). "Denison, Kenyon training other colleges to better support LGBTQ athletes as part of NCAA program". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
  3. ↑ @NCAC (January 14, 2021). "NCAA LGBTQ Award 2021" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ↑ "National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  5. ↑ "Forbes America's Top Colleges List 2021". Forbes. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  6. ↑ "Introducing the Kenyon Owls".
  7. ↑ "W&J Field Hockey joins North Coast as affiliate member, set to begin NCAC play in 2023". Washington & Jefferson College Athletics. 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
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