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 May 10, 2025, and provide updates on previously discussed topics. As a reminder, all official moves starting with the 2025-26 academic year 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 since the most recent post.
NCAA Division 1 News
Two Sports Recommended for NCAA Championship Status
The sports of Acrobatics & Tumbling and STUNT were recommended for NCAA Championship status across all three. The NCAA requires at least 40 schools to sponsor the sport at the varsity level and the recommendation will need to be approved during the January 2026 NCAA Convention. The first NCAA Championship for each sport could be held as early as the 2026-27 academic year during the spring season.
Big Sky Adds Francis Marion for Golf
In February 2025, I noted in the realignment tracker that the Big Sky Conference was bringing back men’s golf as a sponsored sport. At the time, five teams were confirmed: Eastern Washington, Idaho, Northern Colorado, Sacramento State, and Weber State. The conference made it official this week and revealed the sixth team that would compete: Francis Marion University (Florence, South Carolina). FMU is an NCAA Division 2 member, but competes in NCAA Division 1 for men’s golf. The Patriots will leave the Southland Conference and join the Big Sky in 2025-26. The Southland will have 10 members in 2025-26.
Eastern Illinois Drops Tennis
Eastern Illinois is discontinuing its tennis programs beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. EIU men’s tennis competed in the Horizon League, which will have 9 members in 2025-26 (Northern Illinois will join in 2026-27). The women’s program was a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, which will have 7 schools in 2025-26.
Massachusetts Joins MVC for Men’s Swimming & Diving
Massachusetts has determined where its men’s swimming & diving team will compete in 2025-26. The Minutemen will join the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) as an affiliate in men’s swimming and diving next season. UMass is moving from the Atlantic 10 Conference to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as a full member next year, and the MAC doesn’t sponsor men’s swimming & diving anymore. UMass will join Ball State, Evansville, Illinois-Chicago, Miami (OH), Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso as the MVC’s seventh member. The Atlantic 10 will have 7 men’s teams for 2025-26.
Radford Makes Athletics Changes
Radford is making a series of changes to its athletic department that will see some sports get added and one sport cut. The good news: the school will add a men’s track & field team and focus on the long-distance program for the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2025-26. Radford will also add a women’s club flag football team in 2025-26. The bad news: men’s and women’s tennis will be discontinued. Both teams competed in the Big South Conference; however, the men’s 2024-25 season was canceled in February 2025 due to a lack of players. The Big South will have four men’s tennis programs and five women’s teams in 2025-26.
UTA Adding Flag Football
The University of Texas at Arlington is adding women’s flag football beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. UTA is the first WAC program to add the program as a varsity sport. Current WAC members (for now), Cal Baptist and Grand Canyon, both offer a club team. It’s not known if UTA will join a conference or compete as an independent.
NCAA Division 2 News
Western Colorado University (Gunnison, Colorado) will add women’s wrestling for the 2026-27 academic year and compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). WCU will become the sixth school to compete in the RMAC for women’s wrestling alongside Adams State, Chadron State, Colorado Mesa, Simon Fraser, and Texas Woman’s University. Women’s wrestling is the second most added sport by NCAA and NAIA schools with 29 over the next two academic years. Flag football is the fastest-growing sport at 73 additions.
NCAA Division 3 News
AMCC Names New Commissioner
The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) named Jeromy Yetter as its next commissioner. Yetter will take over the position on July 1, 2025, from outgoing commissioner Donna Ledwin, who is retiring. Yetter is currently the athletic director of the AMCC member Pittsburgh at Greensburg. The AMCC is comprised of 9 full members from New York and Pennsylvania.
Anderson Drops Lacrosse
Anderson University (Anderson, Indiana) has discontinued its men’s and women’s lacrosse programs effective immediately. Anderson competed in the Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Conference (HCLC), which now has four men’s teams and five women’s programs.
Two Illinois Schools Add Sports
Blackburn College (Carlinsville, Illinois) will add women’s flag football beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Blackburn is the first member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) to offer the sport. The school’s press release stated additional SLIAC members are “exploring its adoption in coming seasons.”
Eureka College (Eureka, Illinois) will add a men’s club volleyball team beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The team will compete in the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation’s (NCVF) Midwest Plains Volleyball Conference (MPVC). The school also said it plans to become a varsity program in the future and compete in the NCAA. Eureka is a member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC), which doesn’t sponsor men’s volleyball. SLIAC members Greenville (IL) and Westminster (MO) both sponsor the sport but compete as D3 independents. Spalding is adding the sport in 2025-26 and joining the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL).
Simmons Moves Tennis to NAC
Simmons University (Boston, Massachusetts) will move its women’s tennis team from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) to the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Simmons will join Husson, Lesley, SUNY Delhi, Thomas College (ME), Vermont State-Johnson, and Vermont State-Lyndon in the NAC to give the conference 7 members. The GNAC has only two members remaining: Albertus Magnus and Regis College (MA). In February, Colby-Sawyer and Saint Joseph (CT) announced they would leave the GNAC and move to the Conference of New England (CNE) for the 2025-26 academic year in women’s tennis.
Scranton, Landmark Conference Add Men’s Volleyball
The University of Scranton (Scranton, Pennsylvania) will add men’s volleyball beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Combined with Lycoming College’s announcement of men’s volleyball last month, the Landmark will begin sponsoring the sport in 2026-27. Drew University, Elizabethtown College, Juniata College, and Wilkes University will leave the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC). The CVC will be down to four members in 2026-27: Kean University, Marymount University, Rutgers-Newark, and Southern Virginia University.
Sweet Briar Adds Volleyball
Continuing the parade of volleyball news, Sweet Briar College (Sweet Briar, Virginia) will bring back its women’s volleyball program beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Sweet Briar discontinued the sport in 2010 and is bringing it back after the closure of St. Andrews. The school named AJ Escobar as the volleyball coach after previously coaching at St. Andrews, with numerous SAU players transferring to Sweet Briar. For 2025-26, Sweet Briar will play as an independent and will look to join the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The ODAC will have 13 women’s volleyball members in 2026-27, assuming no further realignment changes.
NAIA News
The College of Saint Mary (Omaha, Nebraska) will add women’s flag football beginning with the 2026-27 academic year and is planning to pursue an affiliate membership in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) for the sport. If accepted, the KCAC would have 11 members for flag football including two Saint Mary’s: Baker, Bethel (KS), Cottey, Graceland, Kansas Wesleyan, Midland, Ottawa (KS), Saint Mary (KS), Saint Mary (NE), Southwestern (KS), and William Woods.
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