Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference Explained

Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference
Founded:	1992
Association:	NAIA
Teams:	13 (12 on 2025)
Sports:	27
Mens:	14
Womens:	13
Region:	Midwest (East North Central)
Headquarters:	Livonia, Michigan
Commissioner:	Eric Ward
Website:	www.whac.net
Map:	WHAC conference map.png
Map Size:	250px

The Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), headquartered in Livonia, Michigan. The conference consists of twelve colleges and universities located in the U.S. states of Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Founded in 1992, the conference was created as a successor group for the now-defunct NAIA District 23.

History

The WHAC announced on January 27, 2012, added bowling and lacrosse for both men and women as conference sports effective the fall of 2012, becoming the first NAIA conference to offer championships in these sports.^[1]

On October 13, 2016, the Council of Presidents unanimously voted to accept Rochester College (now Rochester Christian University) into the conference beginning with the 2017–18 academic year.^[2]

Men's ice hockey was added as a conference sport effective the fall of 2017, making the WHAC the first conference in the NAIA to offer ice hockey as a conference championship sport.^[3] Initially, the five conference members that sponsor ice hockey will participate in a conference championship.^{[3] [4]} In July 2017, Concordia University Ann Arbor announced that the university will begin an ice hockey program and begin competition in the NAIA Division and WHAC Hockey Conference in the 2018–19 season.^[5]

Chronological timeline

• 1992 – The Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) was founded. Charter members included Aquinas College, Concordia College Ann Arbor (now Concordia University Ann Arbor), Cornerstone College (now Cornerstone University), Siena Heights College (now Siena Heights University), Spring Arbor College (now Spring Arbor University) and Tri-State University (now Trine University), beginning the 1992–93 academic year.
• 1997 – Madonna University joined the WHAC in the 1997–98 academic year.
• 1998 – Indiana Institute of Technology (Indiana Tech) joined the WHAC in the 1998–99 academic year.
• 2003 – Tri-State left the WHAC and the NAIA to join the Division III ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as an NCAA D-III Independent (which would later join the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), beginning the 2004–05 academic year) after the 2002–03 academic year.
• 2004 – Spring Arbor left the WHAC to join the Mid-Central College Conference (MCCC; now the Crossroads League) after the 2003–04 academic year.
• 2004 – The University of Michigan–Dearborn joined the WHAC in the 2004–05 academic year.
• 2005 – Davenport University joined the WHAC in the 2005–06 academic year.
• 2010 – The University of Northwestern Ohio joined the WHAC in the 2010–11 academic year.
• 2011 – Lourdes University joined the WHAC in the 2011–12 academic year.
• 2012 – Lawrence Technological University and Marygrove College joined the WHAC in the 2012–13 academic year.
• 2016 – Two institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members: Rochester College (now Rochester Christian University) for baseball, and Spring Arbor re-joining for bowling, both effective in the 2016–17 academic year.
• 2017 – Davenport left the WHAC and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) after the 2016–17 academic year.
• 2017 – Rochester had uprgraded to join the WHAC for all sports in the 2017–18 academic year.
• 2017 – Marygrove left the WHAC as the school announced that it would close at the end of the fall 2017 semester, which occurred during the 2017–18 academic year.
• 2018 – Cleary University joined the WHAC in the 2018–19 academic year.
• 2018 – Four institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members: Bethel University of Indiana for women's lacrosse, Goshen College for men's volleyball, Huntington University for bowling, and Taylor University for men's lacrosse, all effective in the 2019 spring season (2018–19 academic year).
• 2019 – Mount Vernon Nazarene University joined the WHAC as an affiliate member for bowling; while Taylor added women's lacrosse to its WHAC affiliate membership, both effective in the 2019–20 academic year.
• 2020 – Taylor left the WHAC as an affiliate member for women's lacrosse after the 2020 spring season (2019–20 academic year).
• 2020 – Four institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members: Bethel (Ind.) adding bowling to its WHAC affiliate membership, Brescia University and Point Park University for competitive cheerleading, Marian University adding men's wrestling to its WHAC affiliate membership, and Mount Vernon Nazarene for men's volleyball, all effective in the 2020–21 academic year.
• 2024 – Point Park left the WHAC as an affiliate member for competitive cheerleading to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the Mountain East Conference (MEC) after the 2023–24 academic year.
• 2024 – Defiance College joined the WHAC in the 2024–25 academic year.
• 2024 – Concordia–Ann Arbor announced that they would be discontinuing all athletic programs and leaving the WHAC at the end of the 2024–25 academic year.

Member schools

Current members

The WHAC currently has 13 full members, all but one are private schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Basketball?
Aquinas College	Grand Rapids, Michigan	1886	Catholic	2,300	Saints	1992	both
Cleary University	Howell, Michigan	1883	Nonsectarian	600	Cougars	2018	both
Concordia University Ann Arbor	Ann Arbor, Michigan	1963	Lutheran LCMS	1,200	Cardinals	1992	both
Cornerstone University	Grand Rapids, Michigan	1941	Interdenominational	2,200	Golden Eagles	1992	both
Defiance College	Defiance, Ohio	1850	United Church	505	Yellow Jackets	2024	both
Indiana Institute of Technology	Fort Wayne, Indiana	1930	Nonsectarian	7,000	Warriors	1998	both
Lawrence Technological University	Southfield, Michigan	1932	Nonsectarian	3,000	Blue Devils	2012	both
Lourdes University	Sylvania, Ohio	1958	Catholic	1,500	Gray Wolves	2011	both
Madonna University	Livonia, Michigan	1930	Catholic	3,100	Crusaders	1997	both
	Dearborn, Michigan	1959	Public	9,500	Wolverines	2004	both
	Lima, Ohio	1920	Nonsectarian	3,500	Racers	2010	both
	Rochester Hills, Michigan	1959	Churches of Christ	1,100	Warriors	2017	both
Siena Heights University	Adrian, Michigan	1919	Catholic	2,500	Saints	1992	both

Notes

Affiliate members

The WHAC currently has nine affiliate members, all are private schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	WHAC sport(s)	Current conference
Bethel University	Mishawaka, Indiana	1947	Missionary	1,964	Pilots	2018–19; 2020–21	women's lacrosse bowling	Crossroads
Brescia University	Owensboro, Kentucky	1925	Catholic	1,100	Bearcats	2020–21	competitive cheerleading	River States (RSC)
Goshen College	Goshen, Indiana	1894	Mennonite	971	Maple Leafs	2018–19	men's volleyball	Crossroads
Huntington University	Huntington, Indiana	1897	United Brethren in Christ	1,089	Foresters	2018–19	bowling	Crossroads
Marian University	Indianapolis, Indiana	1851	Catholic	3,595	Knights	2020–21	men's wrestling	Crossroads
Mount Vernon Nazarene University	Mount Vernon, Ohio	1964	Nazarene	2,622	Cougars	2019–20; 2020–21	men's volleyball	Crossroads
Point Park University	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1960	Nonsectarian	3,376	Pioneers	2020–21	competitive cheerleading	River States (RSC)
Spring Arbor University	Spring Arbor, Michigan	1873	Free Methodist	2,600	Cougars	2016–17	bowling	Crossroads
Taylor University	Upland, Indiana	1846	Nondenominational	1,887	Trojans	2018–19	men's lacrosse	Crossroads

Notes:

Former members

The WHAC had four former full members, all were private schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current conference
Davenport University	Grand Rapids, Michigan	1866	Nonsectarian	6,456	Panthers	2005	2017	Great Lakes (GLIAC)
Marygrove College	Detroit, Michigan	1899	Catholic	N/A	Mustangs	2012	2018	Closed in 2019
Spring Arbor University	Spring Arbor, Michigan	1873	Free Methodist	2,600	Cougars	1992	2004	Crossroads
Tri-State University	Angola, Indiana	1884	Nonsectarian	4,104	Thunder	1992	2003	Michigan (MIAA)

Notes:

Former affiliate members

The WHAC had one former affiliate member, which was also a private school:

Notes:

Membership timeline

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bar:3 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text:Cornerstone (1992–present)

bar:4 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text:Siena Heights (1992–present)

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bar:6 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2003 text:Trine (1992–2003) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2003 till:2004 text:D-III Ind. bar:6 shift:(30) color:OtherC2 from:2004 till:end text:MIAA

bar:7 color:FullxF from:1997 till:end text:Madonna (1997–present)

bar:8 color:FullxF from:1998 till:end text:Indiana Tech (1998–present)

bar:9 color:FullxF from:2004 till:end text:Michigan–Dearborn (2004–present)

bar:10 color:FullxF from:2005 till:2017 text:Davenport (2005–2017) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2017 till:end text:GLIAC

bar:11 color:FullxF from:2010 till:end text:Northwestern Ohio (2010–present)

bar:12 color:FullxF from:2011 till:end text:Lourdes (2011–present)

bar:13 color:FullxF from:2012 till:end text:Lawrence Tech (2012–present)

bar:14 color:FullxF from:2012 till:2018 text:Marygrove (2012–2018)

bar:15 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:2017 text:Rochester (2016–present) bar:15 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2024 bar:15 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text:Rochester Christian

bar:16 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text:Cleary (2018–present)

bar:17 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Bethel (Ind.) (2018–present)

bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Goshen (2018–present)

bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Huntington (2018–present)

bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Taylor (2018–present)

bar:21 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:end text:Mount Vernon Nazarene (2019–present)

bar:22 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text:Brescia (2020–present)

bar:23 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text:Marian (Ind.) (2020–present)

bar:24 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text:Point Park (2020–present)

bar:25 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end shift:(-15) text:Defiance (2024–present)

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Sports

WHAC offers 14 men's and 13 women's sports.

Notes and References

1. Web site: WHAC Adds Two Conference Sports for 2012-13. 27 January 2012. WHAC. January 28, 2012.
2. Web site: Rochester College Unanimously Accepted Into Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference. Rochester College. October 13, 2016.
3. Web site: WHAC adds hockey and Tech gets tourney. The Journal Gazette. July 5, 2017. July 21, 2017.
4. Web site: 2017-18 MEN'S ICE HOCKEY. WHAC. 2017. July 21, 2017.
5. Web site: HOCKEY TO BE ADDED TO CUAA ATHLETIC PROGRAM OFFERINGS. Concordia University Ann Arbor. June 23, 2017. July 21, 2017.