College Realignment Report for July 15, 2024

This is part of an ongoing series covering various college realignment news for all three NCAA Divisions as well as the NAIA. The roundup below will cover news and reports since June 30, 2024, and provide updates on previously discussed topics. As a reminder, all official moves starting with the 2024-25 academic year or later can be found here and all changes – full membership or individual sport changes – starting in 2025-26 can be found here.

We’ll break out the reports for each Division in the following order: Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, and NAIA. Clicking the links will bring you to that specific section. If a division is not highlighted, there has been no news in the preceding two weeks. We’ve also summarized the news items in a table below if you are more interested in a summary or specific news item rather than having to scroll to find it.

Mountain West and TNT Sports Agree to Rights Deal

The Mountain West Conference and TNT Sports have agreed to a new rights deal that will take effect with the 2024-25 academic year. For the 2024 football season, 14 games will be televised on TNT’s subsidiary truTV and Max. Financial terms were not disclosed for the latest TV deal. The Mountain West already has media agreements with CBS Sports and Fox Sports that began in 2020 and run through the 2025-26 academic years.

Temple Football Status Not Changing

In case anyone was wondering, Temple is not planning to cut its football team. The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a piece about incoming school president John A. Fry in which he was asked about previous comments on college football and how that might impact his decisions at Temple. Fry wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal in 2016, which was critical of college football’s impact on a university. At the time, Fry was the president of Drexel, which discontinued its football program in 1973 due to financial constraints. Temple is a member of the American Athletic Conference.

NCAA Division 1 Sports Changes

The Atlantic Sun is adding divisions for baseball and softball for their respective 2025 seasons (2024-25 academic year). The divisions will be named Northeast and Southeast. The Northeast Division will see Austin Peay, Bellarmine, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, Lipscomb, and North Alabama compete. The Southeast Division will have Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, North Florida, Queens, Stetson, and West Georgia. Teams will only play opponents within their division according to the release meaning cross-divisional games will not be played in 2025 for baseball and softball to help defray travel costs. The ASUN has a similar arrangement set up for the 2024-25 men’s and women’s basketball season.

Delaware will move its men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs to the Atlantic Sun beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The Blue Hens compete in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) but will be moving to Conference USA in 2025-26, which does not sponsor the sport. The ASUN began sponsoring the sport in the 2023-24 academic year and Delaware’s inclusion will put the men’s membership at 6 programs and the women’s membership at 8.

Manhattan College is adding three varsity sports beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The Jaspers will begin competing in Acrobatics and Tumbling (National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association), men’s volleyball (Northeast Conference), and women’s golf (MAAC). Manhattan is a full member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

Toledo is adding women’s rowing beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is unknown which conference Toledo will compete in as the school’s primary conference – the MAC – doesn’t sponsor the sport. Eastern Michigan (CAA) and Massachusetts (Atlantic 10) are the only other MAC programs that have women’s rowing teams although that may change soon.

NCAA Division 2 Sports Changes

The Conference Carolinas will start sponsoring women’s flag football beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and will have six teams in its inaugural season. Five of those teams will start programs in 2025-26 while a sixth – Emmanuel University (Franklin Springs, Georgia) – will start competing in 2024-25 as an independent and move to the Conference Carolinas in 2025-26. Chowan University (Murfreesboro, North Carolina), Ferrum College (Ferrum, Virginia), King University (Bristol, Tennessee), Lees-McRae College (Banner Elk, North Carolina), and the University of Mount Olive (Mount Olive, North Carolina) are the five schools that will add women’s flag football in 2025-26. Conference Carolinas is the second NCAA conference to add women’s flag football following Division 3’s Atlantic East Conference in the upcoming 2024-25 academic year.

The Great American Conference (GAC) will begin sponsoring Esports starting with the upcoming 2024-25 academic year. The GAC will partner with the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) to coordinate schedules and oversee competition. The GAC will compete in Leagues of Legends and Super Smash Bros. in the fall and Overwatch 2 and Rocket League in the spring. Arkansas-Monticello, East Central, Harding, Southeastern Oklahoma State, Southern Arkansas, and Southwestern Oklahoma State are the current GAC members that have an Esports program.

Conference Carolinas Eyes Expansion

The Conference Carolinas is looking to add two more schools and reach a total of 18 members, according to a recent interview by conference commissioner Chris Colvin. The CC is at 15 members going into the 2024-25 academic year and Ferrum will join in 2025-26. The push for 18 teams is led by a desire to add at least one additional football school to make it 8 football-playing schools (Conference Carolinas is sponsoring football starting in 2025-26) and to regionalize schedules with three separate 6-team divisions.

NCAA Division 2 Confirms Membership Changes for 2024-25

The NCAA Division 2 Management Council has confirmed which schools have advanced in the application process for the 2024-25 academic year. Allen University, Edward Waters, Emory & Henry, and Westmont are now D2 members. South Carolina-Beaufort and Thomas More will be in year three while Jessup, Menlo, Roosevelt, Sul Ross State, and Vanguard will enter year two of the provisional membership process. Jamestown, Point Park, Texas at Dallas, and UC Merced will begin the first year of the provisional membership process. Point Park has opted for the three-year process while the other three schools will enter the newly created two-year expedited provisional process.

NCAA Division 3 Sports Changes

The Little East Conference is adding three members for swimming & diving beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. Husson (Bangor, Maine), Maine Maritime (Castine, Maine), and SUNY Delhi (Delhi, New York) will join for men’s and women’s swimming & diving after previously competing in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) for both sports. The NAC had four members last season and Gordon College (Wenham, Massachusetts) is the only remaining school. The LEC is up to 7 men’s programs and 12 women’s programs in 2024-25.

Gallaudet University (Washington, D.C.) will move its football program from the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The ECFC will no longer exist after the 2024-25 academic year as the other three remaining members are also leaving to join other conferences in football. Alfred State is joining the Empire 8 while Anna Maria and Dean College are joining the MASCAC. Gallaudet will be joining at the same time Roanoke College starts its football program to give the ODAC 9 football-playing institutions.

Neumann University (Aston, Pennsylvania) is joining the United East Conference for men’s volleyball beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. The Knights previously competed as an independent from 2022 through 2024 and were a member of the Continental Volleyball Conference before that from 2018 through 2021. Neumann is a primary member of the Atlantic East Conference, which does not sponsor men’s volleyball.

Spalding University (Louisville, Kentucky) is adding men’s and women’s wrestling. Details are sparse as to when the programs will officially begin as the school is attempting to hire coaches for both teams. Given the current job openings for both teams, it’s more than likely the program will begin in 2025-26 or later. Spalding is a full member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC), which currently has four members with wrestling programs: Blackburn, Eureka (IL), Lyon, and Westminster. Fontbonne also sponsors wrestling but is closing after the 2024-25 academic year.

Clarks Summit Announces Immediate Closure

Clarks Summit University (Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania) has closed and will not be open for the Fall 2024 semester due to financial difficulties. The university has partnered with Cairn University (Middletown Township) and Liberty University (Lynchburg, University) for teach-outs for current students. Clarks Summit competed in the United East Conference before its closure.

SUNY New Paltz Reveals New Conference

After announcing it would leave the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) in April 2024, SUNY New Paltz has announced its future destination. The Hawks will join the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. SUNY New Paltz will become the NJAC’s 11th member when it joins.

D3 Membership News

The Division 3 Membership Committee is recommending that a waiver process be established for schools wishing to shorten the reclassification process from three years to two. The D2 Membership Committee instituted a similar process beginning for the upcoming 2024-25 academic year, which is being utilized by two new prospective members. Asbury University and Warren Wilson College are officially D3 members. Advancing to year three of the reclassification process are Lyon College and the University of Hartford while Carlow University has moved to year two.

Little East Conference Hires New Commissioner

The Little East Conference has selected Al Bean as its next commissioner. Bean is currently the athletic director at the University of Southern Maine and will take over the commissioner’s responsibilities beginning September 2, 2024. Bean is taking the spot vacated by Pamela Samuelson, who is retiring after five years as the LEC commissioner. Samuelson oversaw the addition of men’s and women’s hockey as sponsored sports with the LEC set to begin competition in those sports beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

MIAA Commissioner Steps Down

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Commissioner Chris Brown has resigned from his post after two years. Brown is seeking other opportunities in the athletics space. The MIAA was during Brown’s tenure with no changes in membership, which includes schools from Indiana and Michigan.

SCAC Signs Rights Deal With FloSports

The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) and FloSports have agreed to a rights deal. The SCAC will receive “seven figures” over the course of the multi-year agreement. The SCAC is the tenth conference to sign a media rights deal with FloSports following the Big East (D1), CAA (D1), California Collegiate Athletic Association (D2), Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (D2), Gulf South Conference (D2), South Atlantic Conference (D2), Landmark Conference (D3), NEWMAC (D3), SCIAC (D3). The deals are unlikely to stop considering the pending launch of FloCollege which is focused on providing coverage of NCAA Division 2 and 3 events.

NAIA Sports Changes

Mayville State (Mayville, North Dakota) is no longer pursuing membership in NCAA Division 3. The school left the door open for a possible path to D3 membership in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) according to reports from March 2024. However, the Comets appear to have abandoned that idea for now at least and will focus on its membership in the Frontier Conference beginning in the 2025-25 academic year.

Talladega College (Talladega, Alabama) has discontinued its women’s gymnastics program and will not compete in the 2024-25 academic year. The Tornadoes competed for only one season in 2023-24 but the HBCU does not have the resources to compete further. Talladega competed as an independent because its primary conference – the HBCU Athletic Conference – doesn’t sponsor the sport. The athletes have set up a fundraising campaign with a goal of $500,000 to keep the team for the 2024-25 academic year.

HBCUAC Eyes Additional Expansion

The HBCU Athletic Conference – formerly the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference – is looking to add three more members in the future including two by the start of the 2025-26 academic year. An additional three teams would push the membership to 16 for the HBCUAC. The conference recently expanded in 2024-25 with Stillman College (Tuscaloosa, Alabama), Vorhees University (Denmark, South Carolina), and Wilberforce University (Wilberforce, Ohio) joining. There are 23 HBCUs in the NAIA and the 10 that are not currently in the HBCUAC will be the likely targets for expansion. Those 10 schools include Arkansas Baptist, Florida Memorial, Harris-Stowe, Huston-Tillotson, Jarvis Christian, Langston, Morris College, Paul Quinn College, Texas College, and Xavier (LA).

GSAC Changes Name

The Golden State Athletic Conference has rebranded as the Great Southwest Athletic Conference starting with the 2024-25 academic year. The GSAC has added three additional members from Arizona in 2024: Benedictine-Mesa, Embry-Riddle-Prescott, and Park-Gilbert while losing five members from California since 2023. The new name reflects the updated geography of the conference’s membership.

Photo Courtesy of USA TODAY Sports / Ron Chenoy