| American Collegiate Athletic Association | |
| Founded: | 2017 |
| Dissolved: | 2020 |
| Conference: | NCAA |
| Division: | Division III |
| Teams: | 7 |
| Sports: | 8 |
| Region: | Northeastern United States, Great Lakes region, California |
| Map: | American Collegiate Athletic Association map.png |
| Map Size: | 200px |
The American Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) was an athletic conference with no regular-season competition. The ACAA competed in the NCAA's Division III. The conference was formed in 2017 primarily by Independent schools in the Northeastern United States, but also had members in Michigan, Wisconsin, and California.[1] The members of the ACAA merged with the Capital Athletic Conference in 2020.
The ACAA was formally announced as an NCAA Division III athletic conference in February 2017, with plans to start offering official conference championships in the 2017–18 academic year. Unofficial championships were held during the 2016–17 season.[2] Initial members were Alfred State College, Finlandia University, Mills College, State University of New York at Canton, State University of New York at Delhi, Pine Manor College, University of Maine at Presque Isle, and University of Valley Forge. Finlandia, Maine–Presque Isle, Mills, and Pine Manor were formerly members of the women's sports-sponsoring Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC), which disbanded after the 2015–16 season.
In November 2017, it was announced that SUNY Canton and UMPI departed the ACAA, effective July 1, 2018, and would join the North Atlantic Conference (NAC).[3]
In January 2018, it was announced that Mount Mary University of Wisconsin joined the ACAA, effective in the 2018–19 academic year. Mount Mary was formerly an NCAA Division III independent school.[4]
On February 16, 2018, Pratt Institute announced that the college also joined the ACAA, effective in the 2018-19 academic year.[5] Pratt was a member of the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) within the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). On June 28, 2018, it was announced that Alfred State College was leaving the ACAA, and joined the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC), effective in the 2019–20 school year.[6]
In July 2018, it was announced that Thomas More College, now known as Thomas More University, joined the ACAA effective immediately for the 2018–19 season. Thomas More was previously a full member of the Presidents' Athletic Conference. Thomas More had re-joined the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and joined the Mid South Conference beginning the fall of 2019.[7]
On November 30, 2018, SUNY Delhi, a North Atlantic Conference associate member in six sports (men's golf, men's lacrosse, men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's track & field), announced that it would leave the ACAA and become a full member of the NAC effective in the fall of 2019. At that time, five additional Delhi sports—men's and women's cross country, men's golf, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball—were about to begin NAC play. Three more sports—men's and women's basketball, plus softball—remained in the ACAA until starting NAC play in 2020–21.[8]
On June 6, 2019, it was announced that the University of Valley Forge was leaving the ACAA, and joined the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC), effective in the 2020–21 season.[9]
On July 11, 2019, it was announced that the University of California, Santa Cruz would be joining the ACAA in seven sports, effective 2019-20.[10]
On May 26, 2020, it was announced that the American Collegiate Athletic Association would merge with the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), later renamed the Coast to Coast Athletic Conference (C2C). The ACAA will have all of its full members join the CAC in the 2020–21 school year. Pine Manor College, which recently entered into a partnership with Boston College, will participate in the Conference for one academic year in four sports: men's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball and baseball.[11] After being acquired by Boston College, Pine Manor dissolved their athletics programs effective after the 2020-21 academic year.
The ACAA had seven full members in the conference's final season, all but one were private schools:
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment (2016)[12] | Nickname | Joined | Left | Subsequent conference | Current conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finlandia University | Hancock, Michigan | 1896 | Lutheran ELCA | 507 | Lions | 2017 | 2020 | Coast to Coast (C2C) (2020–23) | N/A |
| Mills College | Oakland, California | 1852 | Nonsectarian | 1,345 | Cyclones | Coast to Coast (C2C) (2020–22) | Discontinued athletics | ||
| Mount Mary University | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 1913 | Catholic | 1,209 | Blue Angels | 2018 | Coast to Coast (C2C) (2020–present) | ||
| Pine Manor College | Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts | 1911 | Nonsectarian | 419 | Gators | 2017 | Coast to Coast (C2C) (2020–21) | N/A | |
| Pratt Institute | Brooklyn, New York | 1877 | 4,829 | Cannoneers | 2018 | Coast to Coast (C2C) (2020–present) | |||
| University of California, Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz, California | 1965 | Public | 19,700 | Banana Slugs | 2019 | |||
| Phoenixville, Pennsylvania | 1939 | Assemblies of God | 877 | Patriots | 2017 | Colonial States (CSAC) (2020–present) | |||
The ACAA had five other full members during the conference's tenure, one was a private school:
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined | Left | Subsequent conference | Current conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfred State College | Alfred, New York | 1908 | Public | 3,500 | Pioneers | 2017 | 2019 | Allegheny (AMCC) (2019–present) | |
| University of Maine at Presque Isle | Presque Isle, Maine | 1903 | Public | 1,469 | Owls | 2018 | North Atlantic (NAC) (2018–present) | ||
| State University of New York at Canton | Canton, New York | 1906 | Public | 3,122 | Roos | ||||
| State University of New York at Delhi | Delhi, New York | 1913 | 3,088 | Broncos | 2019 | North Atlantic (NAC) (2019–present) | |||
| Thomas More University | Crestview Hills, Kentucky | 1921 | Catholic | 1,963 | Saints | 2018 | Mid-South (MSC) (2019–23) | Great Midwest (G-MAC) (2023–present) | |
The ACAA had two associate members during the conference's tenure, both were public schools:
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined | Left | ACAA sport | Current primary conference | Conference in former ACAA sport |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State University of New York at Delhi | Delhi, New York | 1913 | Public | 3,088 | Broncos | 2019–20 | 2019–20 | men's basketball; women's basketball; softball | North Atlantic (NAC) | |
| University of Wisconsin–Whitewater | Whitewater, Wisconsin | 1868 | 11,722 | Warhawks | men's soccer | Wisconsin (WIAC) | Coast 2 Coast (C2C) | |||
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2017 till:2025
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors =
id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2019 text:Alfred State (2017–2019) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2019 till:end text:AMCC
bar:2 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2020 text:Finlandia (2017–2020) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2020 till:2023 text:C2C
bar:3 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2018 text:Maine–Presque Isle (2017–2018) bar:3 shift:(60) color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:end text:NAC
bar:4 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2020 text:Mills (2017–2020) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2020 till:2022 text:C2C
bar:5 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2020 text:Pine Manor (2017–2020) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2020 till:2021 text:C2C
bar:6 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2018 text:SUNY Canton (2017–2018) bar:6 shift:(30) color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:end text:NAC
bar:7 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2019 text:SUNY Delhi (2017–2019) bar:7 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:2020 text:NAC (ACAA assoc.) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2020 till:end text:NAC (full)
bar:8 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2020 text:Valley Forge (2017–2020) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2020 till:end text:CSAC
bar:9 color:FullxF from:2018 till:2020 text:Mount Mary (2018–2020) bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2020 till:end text:C2C
bar:10 color:FullxF from:2018 till:2020 text:Pratt (2018–2020) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2020 till:end text:C2C
bar:11 color:FullxF from:2018 till:2019 text:Thomas More (2018–2019) bar:11 shift:(30) color:OtherC1 from:2019 till:2023 text:Mid-South bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:G-MAC
bar:12 color:FullxF from:2019 till:2020 text:UC Santa Cruz (2019–2020) bar:12 shift:(40) color:OtherC1 from:2020 till:end text:C2C
bar:13 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:2020 text:Wisconsin–Whitewater (2019–2020; men's soccer) bar:13 shift:(140) color:OtherC2 from:2020 till:end text:WIAC (C2C men's soccer)
bar:N color:red from:2017 till:2020 text:American Collegiate Athletic Association bar:N color:blue from:2020 till:end text:Post-ACAA
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2017
TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(250,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"American Collegiate Athletic Association membership history"
| School | Men's Basketball | Women's Basketball | Men's Cross Country | Women's Cross Country | Men's Soccer | Women's Soccer | Softball | Women's Volleyball | Total sports | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finlandia | 8 | |||||||||
| Mills† | 3 | |||||||||
| Mount Mary† | 5 | |||||||||
| Pine Manor | 8 | |||||||||
| Pratt | 7 | |||||||||
| Valley Forge | 8 | |||||||||
| UCSC | 7 | |||||||||
| Totals | 5+1 | 6+1 | 5 | 7 | 5+1 | 7 | 4+1 | 7 | 46+4 |