| North Coast Athletic Conference | |
| Founded: | 1983 |
| Association: | NCAA |
| Division: | Division III |
| Teams: | 9 |
| Sports: | 23 |
| Mens: | 11 |
| Womens: | 12 |
| Region: | Great Lakes |
| Headquarters: | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Commissioner: | Keri Alexander Luchowski |
| Website: | http://www.northcoast.org |
| Map: | NCAC-USA-states.png |
| Map Size: | 250 |
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The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III which is composed of colleges located in Ohio and Indiana. It sponsors 23 sports, 11 for men and 12 for women.
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. The conference offered 10 women's sports, the most offered by a conference at that time.
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 (PAC). Allegheny and Earlham remain single-sport NCAC members in field hockey.[1] Later in 2022, Transylvania University and Washington & Jefferson College were announced as single-sport NCAC members for field hockey, beginning with the 2023 season.
The most recent changes to the NCAC membership were announced in 2024. First, on January 18, John Carroll University announced it was leaving the Ohio Athletic Conference to join the NCAC.[2] Then on April 23, Hiram announced it would leave the NCAC in 2025 to return to the PAC, which it had left in 1989.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5]
The NCAC currently has nine full members, all private schools. Departing member Hiram is indicated in pink.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | 2022 US News ranking[6] | 2021 Forbes Top Colleges[7] | 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[8] | 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 | 1,850 | 98 | 446 | Battling Bishops | 1984 | ||
| Wabash College | Crawfordsville, Indiana | 1832 | Nonsectarian | 850 | 57 | 327 | Little Giants | 1999 | ||
| Wittenberg University | Springfield, Ohio | 1845 | Lutheran ELCA | 2,050 | 155 | 435 | Tigers | 1989 | ||
| Wooster, Ohio | 1866 | Nonsectarian | 1,827 | 71 | 428 | Fighting Scots | 1984 |
The NCAC will have one future full member, which is also a private school.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined | NCAC sport(s) | Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegheny College | Meadville, Pennsylvania | 1815 | United Methodist | 1,442 | Gators | 2022 | field hockey | Presidents' (PAC) |
| Earlham College | Richmond, Indiana | 1847 | Quaker | 900 | Quakers | 2021 | Heartland (HCAC) | |
| Transylvania University | Lexington, Kentucky | 1780 | Disciples of Christ | 963 | Pioneers | 2023 | Heartland (HCAC) | |
| Washington & Jefferson College | Washington, Pennsylvania | 1781 | Nonsectarian | 1,168 | Presidents | 2023[10] | Presidents' (PAC) |
The NCAC has three former full members, all private schools. Allegheny and Earlham remain in the NCAC as affiliate 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 | 2022 | Presidents' (PAC) | |
| Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland, Ohio | 1826 | Nonsectarian | 11,824 | Spartans | 1984 | 1999 | University (UAA) | |
| Earlham College | Richmond, Indiana | 1847 | Quakers | 1,181 | Quakers | 1989 | 2010 | Heartland (HCAC) |
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1984 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:40 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:Full from:1984 till:2022 text:Allegheny (1984–2022) bar:1 color:AssocOS from:2022 till:end text:PAC (NCAC field hockey)
bar:2 color:Full from:1984 till:1999 text:Case Western Reserve (1984–1999) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1999 till:end text:UAA
bar:3 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Denison (1984–present)
bar:4 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Kenyon (1984–present)
bar:5 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Oberlin (1984–present)
bar:6 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Ohio Wesleyan (1984–present)
bar:7 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Wooster (1984–present)
bar:8 color:Full from:1989 till:2010 text:Earlham (1989–2010) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2010 till:2022 text:HCAC bar:8 color:AssocOS from:2022 till:end text:HCAC (NCAC field hockey)
bar:9 color:Full from:1989 till:end text:Wittenberg (1989–present)
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2000 text:Hiram (1999–2025) bar:10 color:Full from:2000 till:2025 bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2025 till:end text:PAC
bar:11 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2000 text:Wabash (1999–present) bar:11 color:Full from:2000 till:end
bar:12 color:FullxF from:2011 till:2012 text:DePauw (2011–present) bar:12 color:Full from:2012 till:end
bar:13 color:AssocOS from:2023 till:end text:Transylvania (2023–present)
bar:14 shift:(-60) color:AssocOS from:2023 till:end text:Washington and Jefferson (2023–present)
bar:15 shift:(-40) color:Full from:2025 till:end text:John Carroll (2025–future)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1984
TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,25) tabs:(400-center) text:^"North Coast Athletic Conference membership history"