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 November 15, 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. Please note that individual sports changes occurring in 2025-26 or later will be listed in the standalone article only.
We’ll break out the reports for each Division in the following order: Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, NAIA, and Realignment Trends. 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.
| School(s)/Conference | News Item | Realignment Change / Effective Year | Current Conference | New Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big 12 | Games to Air on TNT | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| Cal Maritime | Will Integrate with Cal Poly | Yes – 2026-27 | TBD | TBD |
| Felician University | Women’s Swimming & Diving to NE-10 | Yes – 2024-25 | METS (D2) | NE-10 (D2) |
| Keystone College | Accreditation Withdrawn | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| LeTourneau | Track & Field to SCAC | Yes – 2024-25 | ASC (D3) | SCAC (D3) |
| Mississippi College | Discontinuing Football | Yes – 2025-26 | Gulf South (D2) | N/A |
| Nevada State | Looking to start Athletic Department | TBD | N/A | TBD |
| Ohio State | Adding 91 Scholarships | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| Regent University | Joining C2C | Yes – 2025-26 | NCCAA | Coast-To-Coast (D3) |
| Temple | No Plans to Discontinue Football | No | N/A | N/A |
| Webster University | Designated with “financial distress” | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| West Coast Conference | Will Look at Public Schools for Realignment | TBD | N/A | N/A |
Some Big 12 Games to Move to TNT Sports
The Big 12 will have football and basketball games broadcast on TNT and TBS beginning in 2025 as part of a sublicensing agreement between ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery. 13 football and 15 basketball games will move from ESPN to TNT and TBS, which will help fill the void created by the NBA’s departure from WBD. It’s not the first time TNT has sublicensed games from ESPN as the network will broadcast two first-round College Football Playoff games each season from 2024 through 2028.
NCAA Division 1 Sports Changes
Matt Brown of Extra Points states that the West Coast Conference will look at adding public schools in its next round of realignment. Brown specifically noted that the schools targeted will be larger than Cal Baptist and Denver. The WCC is looking to replace Grand Canyon after they committed to join the WCC for 2025-26 only to say 5 months later it would join the Mountain West instead.
Ohio State will add 91 scholarships across its men’s and women’s sports teams after the House lawsuit is settled making it likely to happen in time for the 2025-26 academic year. The Buckeyes did not say how the 91 additional scholarships will be allocated. OSU has completed a 180 on scholarships in two months after saying it was reported in October it would cut men’s gymnastics scholarships, then backtracking earlier in November, and now adding scholarships. Arkansas State has also stated it wants to add sports teams post-House and Clemson plans to add 150 scholarships.
Temple has no plans to discontinue football following president John Fry’s comments that the university would “step back and assess” the program. Temple plays in the American Athletic Conference but has struggled since 2020 going a combined 13-41 entering the November 30th game against North Texas. The Owls have not finished above 10th in that time.
NCAA Division 2 Sports Changes
Felician University (Lodi and Rutherford, New Jersey) will move its women’s swimming & diving program from the Metropolitan Swimming Conference (METS) to the Northeast-10 Conference beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.
Mississippi College (Clinton, Mississippi) has discontinued its football program and will change its name to Mississippi Christian. The loss of football impacts the Gulf South Conference, which will be down to 4 members in 2025 with Delta State, Valdosta State, West Alabama, and West Florida. Current football affiliates Chowan, Erskine, and North Greenville are leaving the GSC to join Conference Carolinas beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.
NCAA Division 3 Sports Changes
LeTourneau University (Longview, Texas) will move its men’s and women’s track & field programs from the American Southwest Conference (ASC) to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. The YellowJackets will be immediately eligible for the SCAC championships and awards. LeTourneau will join the SCAC as a full member in 2025-26 after a quarter-century in the ASC.
Regent University (Virginia Beach, Virginia) will join the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Regent is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and an exploratory D3 member for the 2024-25 academic year. Regent’s recently announced baseball program will also join the C2C beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The addition of Regent puts the C2C at six full members with California-Santa Cruz, Christopher Newport, Mary Washington, Regent, Salisbury University, and Warren Wilson College.
Two D3 Schools Hit With Negative Accreditation and Financial News
Keystone College (La Plume and Factoryville, Pennsylvania) had its accreditation withdrawn by the Middle States Commission. Keystone intends to appeal the decision, which will allow the college to continue receiving funding until a final determination is made. If Keystone loses the appeal, it will not be eligible for federal aid. In August 2024, Keystone and the Washington Institute for Education and Research (WIER) announced an intent to merge the two schools. Should the merger continue, it will be completed in 2025. Keystone is a full member of the United East Conference and plays football in the Landmark Conference, which has already made a contingency plan should Keystone lose its status.
Webster University (Webster Groves, Missouri) was notified by the Higher Learning Commission of a “financial stress designation”. The HLC performed an audit of the university’s 2023 financials, which led to the designation. Webster will need to respond within 14 days, submit reports, and host the HLC to help remove the designation. The school will not lose its accreditation while the review is ongoing. Webster is a full member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC).
NAIA Sports Changes
Cal Maritime (Vallejo, California) will officially integrate with Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, California). The entire process will be complete by the start of the 2026-27 academic year. Cal Maritime announced in September 2024 that it would leave NAIA and California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) after the 2024-25 academic year but did not specify which affiliation it would join. The FAQs regarding the integration announcement made no mention of athletics or how either athletics program would be impacted.
Nevada State University May Add Athletics
Nevada State University (Henderson, Nevada) is looking to start an athletic department and would sponsor men’s track and field and women’s flag football. To help cover the costs, NSU is proposing a $9-per-credit-hour fee. In the school’s presentation to the Board of Regents, NSU laid out the different sports it could sponsor with football not being one of them. NSU also provided a breakdown of each potential affiliation with NCAA D2, NCAA D3, NAIA, USCAA, NJCAA, and independent requirements.
Overall Realignment Trends
In early November, an article was posted discussing which sports were being added the most. At the time, it was women’s flag football (22) followed by women’s wrestling (16), women’s golf (13), men’s volleyball (11), and men’s wrestling (9). As predicted in that article, women’s flag football continues to lead the way and has increased its lead over women’s wrestling (now 29 to 17). The rest of the top 10 sports remain the same. As for the total number of sports added in November, 12 women’s teams were added and 2 men’s teams were added. Here’s a chart showing the total number through November 30, 2024.
It was only a matter of time before the news of discontinued sports teams would begin as noted in early November. At the time, there were only 3 teams that were planned to end in 2025-26 but it is now up to 14 at the end of the month. There are 8 men’s teams and 6 women’s teams that will not be returning in 2025-26, which is a net of 172 teams added… for now. That wraps up the November realignment trends and we’ll keep tabs on all the changes going forward with more charts and information in the Realignment Report at the end of each month.
Photo Courtesy of the Big 12 Conference