Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I, and in football, in the Football Championship Subdivision.
Currently, the MEAC has automatic qualifying bids for NCAA postseason play in baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball, football, softball, men's and women's tennis, and volleyball. Bowling was officially sanctioned as a MEAC governed sport in 1999. Before that season, the MEAC was the first conference to secure NCAA sanctioning for women's bowling by adopting the club sport prior to the 1996–97 school year.
History
In 1969, a group, whose members were long associated with interscholastic athletics, met in Durham, North Carolina with the purpose of discussing the organization of a new conference. After the formulation of a committee, and their research reported, seven institutions: Delaware State University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State College agreed to become the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. South Carolina State had been a longtime member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, while the other charter members had been longtime members of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.The conference's main goals were to establish and supervise an intercollegiate athletic program among a group of educational institutions that shared the same academic standards and philosophy of co-curricular activities and seek status as a Division I conference for all of its sports.
The conference was confirmed in 1970, and had its first season of competition in football in 1971. The MEAC has had to date, three full-time commissioners. In 1978, the MEAC selected its first full-time commissioner, Kenneth A. Free, who served as Commissioner until he resigned in 1995. He was succeeded by Charles S. Harris, who served at the position until 2002. On September 1, 2002, Dennis E. Thomas became the conference's commissioner.
The MEAC experienced its first expansion in 1979 when Bethune–Cookman College and Florida A&M University were admitted as new members. That same year, founding members Morgan State University, North Carolina Central University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore withdrew from the conference. All three schools eventually returned to the conference; Maryland Eastern Shore rejoined in 1981, Morgan State in 1984, and North Carolina Central in 2010.
On June 8, 1978, the MEAC was classified as a Division I conference by the NCAA. Prior to that year, the league operated as a Division II conference. The following month the MEAC received an automatic qualification to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
In 1984, membership in the MEAC again changed as Florida A&M chose to leave. The university would return to the conference two years later. Coppin State College, now Coppin State University, joined the conference in 1985. The MEAC would find stability in membership with the addition of two HBCUs in Virginia, Hampton University and Norfolk State University in 1995 and 1997, respectively. For the next 10 years, the MEAC would remain an 11-member conference. In 2007, former CIAA member Winston-Salem State University was granted membership, but announced on September 11, 2009 that it would return to Division II at the end of 2009–10 and apply to return to the CIAA before ever becoming a full member of the MEAC.
North Carolina Central University rejoined the conference effective July 1, 2010. NCCU was one of seven founding member institutions of the MEAC, but withdrew from the conference in 1979, opting to remain a Division II member when the conference reclassified to Division I.
Savannah State University was announced as the newest member of the MEAC on March 10, 2010. Savannah State originally applied for membership into the MEAC in 2006 but faced an NCAA probationary period soon after. Membership was then deferred until the completion of the imposed probation period, which ended in May 2009. Savannah State then resubmitted their application for membership again in 2009 and was finally granted probationary membership status. On September 8, 2011, the university was confirmed as a full MEAC member.
While the MEAC has had no new full members since then, the conference added an associate member in 2014 when Augusta University, then known as Georgia Regents University, a Division II institution with Division I programs in men's and women's golf, joined for men's golf. Augusta became the MEAC's first associate member and first non-HBCU with any type of membership. The conference has since added two more non-HBCU associate members, with Monmouth University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham joining for bowling in 2018.
In April 2017, Savannah State announced that it would drop to Division II effective with the 2019–20 school year. In November 2017, Hampton announced they would leave the MEAC to join the Big South Conference beginning with the 2018–19 season.
In February 2020 North Carolina A&T announced departing MEAC to join Big South Conference effective July 2021. Within few months, in June 2020, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman also announced that they will leave the MEAC and join the SWAC starting in July 2021. As a result, the MEAC will have eight members remaining for 2021. The MEAC has hired a consulting firm to help assess its current schools and to help it identify potential institutions for addition to the conference . The conference plans to operate with eight current members, starting 2021 until further expansion, in a compact geographical footprint removing North and South divisions.
Member schools
Current members
- North Carolina A&T will leave the MEAC on July 1, 2021 and join the Big South Conference.
- Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman will leave the MEAC and join the Southwestern Athletic Conference starting in 2021.
Associate members
Former members
- Winston-Salem State University was a transitional member and never attained full membership in the MEAC or NCAA Division I before returning to Division II and the CIAA after the 2009–2010 school year. They were scheduled to begin full membership and gain access to NCAA tournaments in 2011.
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
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Period = from:1970 till:2025
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Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1970 till:1971 text:Delaware State
bar:1 color:Full from:1971 till:end
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1970 till:1971 text:Howard
bar:2 color:Full from:1971 till:end
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1970 till:1971 text:Maryland Eastern Shore
bar:3 color:Full from:1971 till:1979
bar:3 color:AssocF from:1979 till:1980
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1980 till:1981
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1981 till:end text:
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1970 till:1971 text:Morgan State
bar:4 color:Full from:1971 till:1979
bar:4 color:AssocF from:1979 till:1980
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1980 till:1984 text:D-II Independent
bar:4 shift: color:FullxF from:1984 till:1986 text:
bar:4 color:Full from:1986 till:end
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1970 till:1971 text:North Carolina A&T
bar:5 color:Full from:1971 till:2021
bar:5 color:AssocOS from:2021 till:end text:Big South
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1970 till:1971 text:North Carolina Central
bar:6 color:Full from:1971 till:1979
bar:6 color:AssocF from:1979 till:1980
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1980 till:2006 text:CIAA
bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:2006 till:2010 text:D-II Independent
bar:6 shift: color:FullxF from:2010 till:2011 text:
bar:6 color:Full from:2011 till:end
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1970 till:1971 text:South Carolina State
bar:7 color:Full from:1971 till:end
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1979 till:1980 text:Bethune–Cookman
bar:8 color:Full from:1980 till:2021
bar:8 color:AssocOS from:2021 till:end text:SWAC
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1979 till:1980 text:Florida A&M
bar:9 color:Full from:1980 till:1984
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1984 till:1986
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1986 till:1987 text:
bar:9 color:Full from:1987 till:2003
bar:9 color:FullxF from:2003 till:2005 text:Football Independent
bar:9 color:Full from:2005 till:2021
bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2021 till:end text:SWAC
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1985 till:end text:Coppin State
bar:11 color:FullxF from:1995 till:1996 text:Hampton
bar:11 color:Full from:1996 till:2018
bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:end text:Big South
bar:12 color:Full from:1997 till:1998 text:Norfolk State
bar:12 color:Full from:1998 till:end
bar:13 shift: color:OtherC2 from:2007 till:2010 text:Winston-Salem State Transitional
bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:2010 till:end text:CIAA
bar:14 color:FullxF from:2010 till:2011 text:Savannah State
bar:14 color:Full from:2011 till:2019
bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:2019 till:end text:SIAC
bar:15 color:AssocOS from:2014 till:end text:Augusta
bar:16 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Monmouth
bar:17 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:UAB
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text:^"MEAC membership history"
- > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#
- Maryland Eastern Shore was a founding member of the MEAC in 1970 and left after the 1978–79 school year. In 1980, UMES dropped football, and returned to the MEAC the next year as a full member that no longer had a football program.
- Florida A&M left the MEAC completely for one season in 1985 and competed as an NCAA D-I Independent after a disagreement with the MEAC office over the playing of the rivalry game between Florida A&M and Bethune–Cookman University when FAMU refused to play conference mate BCU at a neutral site in Tampa in 1983 and the game was not played again in 1984. Florida A&M returned all sports to the MEAC in the 1986 season. FAMU football left the conference in the 2004 season during an attempt to move up to Division I-A with all other sports remaining in the MEAC. Financial difficulties halted the move after the 2004 season, at which time FAMU football returned to the MEAC.
- Winston-Salem State was a transitional member from 2007 to 2010, but never attained full MEAC membership nor full membership in Division I. The school was scheduled to gain full membership after the 2009–2010 school year, but due to financial difficulties, returned to the CIAA in Division II before then.
Facilities
Sports
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and eight women's NCAA sanctioned sports:| Sport | Men's | Women's |
| Baseball | 5 | - |
| Basketball | 8 | 8 |
| Bowling | - | 8 |
| Cross country | 8 | 8 |
| Football | 6 | - |
| Golf | 4 | - |
| Softball | - | 8 |
| Tennis | 6 | 8 |
| Track and field | 8 | 8 |
| Track and field | 8 | 8 |
| Volleyball | - | 8 |
Men's sponsored sports by school
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference which are played by MEAC schools:| School | Soccer | Swimming & Diving |
| Howard | NEC | NEC |
Women's sponsored sports by school
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference which are played by MEAC schools:| School | Equestrian | Golf | Lacrosse | Soccer | Swimming & Diving |
| Delaware State | ECAC/ NCEA | IND. | SoCon | IND | — |
| Howard | — | NEC | NEC | NEC | NEC |
| UMES | — | IND. | — | — | — |
Championships
National championships
Current champions
| Sport | School |
| Baseball | Florida A&M |
| Basketball | Bethune-Cookman |
| Basketball | North Carolina Central |
| Bowling | Maryland Eastern Shore |
| Cross Country | Norfolk State |
| Cross Country | Norfolk State |
| Sport | School |
| Football | North Carolina A&T |
| Golf | Augusta University |
| Indoor Track & Field | North Carolina A&T |
| Indoor Track & Field | North Carolina A&T |
| Outdoor Track & Field | North Carolina A&T |
| Outdoor Track & Field | North Carolina A&T |
| Sport | School |
| Softball | Bethune-Cookman |
| Tennis | Morgan State |
| Tennis | SC State |
| Volleyball | Howard |
Football
The MEAC is one of two Division I conferences comprising HBCUs, the other being the SWAC. Until 2015, the MEAC sent its champion and occasional at-large schools to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Starting in 2015, the MEAC will give up its automatic postseason bid and will play an annual championship game against the SWAC champion in the Celebration Bowl in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.The MEAC is consistently among the top five FCS conferences for highest average attendance.
| Season | Champion |
| 1971 | Morgan State |
| 1972 | North Carolina Central |
| 1973 | North Carolina Central |
| 1974 | South Carolina State |
| 1975 | South Carolina State |
| 1976 | Morgan State/South Carolina State |
| 1977 | South Carolina State |
| 1978 | South Carolina State |
| 1979 | Morgan State |
| Season | Champion |
| 1980 | South Carolina State |
| 1981 | South Carolina State |
| 1982 | South Carolina State |
| 1983 | South Carolina State |
| 1984 | Bethune–Cookman |
| 1985 | Delaware State |
| 1986 | North Carolina A&T |
| 1987 | Delaware State |
| 1988 | Bethune–Cookman Delaware State Florida A&M |
| 1989 | Delaware State |
| Season | Champion |
| 1990 | Florida A&M |
| 1991 | Delaware State North Carolina A&T |
| 1992 | North Carolina A&T |
| 1993 | Howard |
| 1994 | South Carolina State |
| 1995 | Florida A&M |
| 1996 | Florida A&M |
| 1997 | Hampton |
| 1998 | Florida A&M Hampton |
| 1999 | North Carolina A&T |
| Season | Champion |
| 2000 | Florida A&M |
| 2001 | Florida A&M |
| 2002 | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2003 | North Carolina A&T |
| 2004 | Hampton South Carolina State |
| 2005 | Hampton |
| 2006 | Hampton |
| 2007 | Delaware State |
| 2008 | South Carolina State |
| 2009 | South Carolina State |
| Season | Champion |
| 2010 | Bethune–Cookman South Carolina State Florida A&M |
| 2011 | Norfolk State Vacated |
| 2012 | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2013 | Bethune–Cookman South Carolina State |
| 2014 | North Carolina Central Bethune–Cookman Morgan State North Carolina A&T South Carolina State |
| 2015 | North Carolina Central North Carolina A&T Bethune–Cookman |
| 2016 | North Carolina Central |
| 2017 | North Carolina A&T |
| 2018 | North Carolina A&T |
| 2019 | North Carolina A&T |
Celebration Bowl Results
Men's basketball
On June 8, 1980, the MEAC earned the classification as a Division I conference by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Since 1981, the MEAC has received a qualifying bid to NCAA post season play in the sport of basketball. In three cases, MEAC schools seeded 15th defeated second-seeded teams South Carolina, Iowa State and Missouri, respectively, in the NCAA tournament.Coppin State again made history, as it qualified for the tournament as the first 20-loss team to play in the NCAA Tournament.
| Season | Regular season champion | Tournament champion |
| 1972 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1973 | Maryland Eastern Shore | North Carolina A&T |
| 1974 | Maryland Eastern Shore | Maryland Eastern Shore |
| 1975 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1976 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1977 | South Carolina State | Morgan State |
| 1978 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1979 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1980 | Howard | Howard |
| 1981 | North Carolina A&T | Howard |
| 1982 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1983 | Howard | North Carolina A&T |
| 1984 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1985 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1986 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1987 | Howard | North Carolina A&T |
| 1988 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 1989 | South Carolina State | South Carolina State |
| 1990 | Coppin State | Coppin State |
| 1991 | Coppin State | Florida A&M |
| Season | Regular season champion | Tournament champion |
| 1992 | Howard | Howard |
| 1993 | Coppin State | Coppin State |
| 1994 | Coppin State | North Carolina A&T |
| 1995 | Coppin State | North Carolina A&T |
| 1996 | Coppin State South Carolina State | South Carolina State |
| 1997 | Coppin State | Coppin State |
| 1998 | Coppin State | South Carolina State |
| 1999 | South Carolina State Coppin State | Florida A&M |
| 2000 | South Carolina State | South Carolina State |
| 2001 | Hampton | Hampton |
| 2002 | Hampton | Hampton |
| 2003 | South Carolina State | South Carolina State |
| 2004 | South Carolina State Coppin State | Florida A&M |
| 2005 | Delaware State | Delaware State |
| 2006 | Delaware State | Hampton |
| 2007 | Delaware State | Florida A&M |
| 2008 | Morgan State | Coppin State |
| 2009 | Morgan State | Morgan State |
| Season | Regular season champion | Tournament champion |
| 2010 | Morgan State | Morgan State |
| 2011 | Bethune–Cookman | Hampton |
| 2012 | Savannah State | Norfolk State |
| 2013 | Norfolk State | North Carolina A&T |
| 2014 | North Carolina Central | North Carolina Central |
| 2015 | North Carolina Central | Hampton |
| 2016 | Hampton | Hampton |
| 2017 | North Carolina Central | North Carolina Central |
| 2018 | Hampton | North Carolina Central |
| 2019 | Norfolk State | North Carolina Central |
Tournament Performance by school
Women's basketball
| Season | Regular season champion | Tournament champion |
| 1978 | – | South Carolina State |
| 1979 | – | South Carolina State |
| 1980 | – | – |
| 1981 | – | – |
| 1982 | – | Howard |
| 1983 | – | South Carolina State |
| 1984 | South Carolina State | Bethune–Cookman |
| 1985 | South Carolina State | Howard |
| 1986 | South Carolina State | South Carolina State |
| 1987 | Howard | Howard |
| 1988 | North Carolina A&T | Howard |
| 1989 | North Carolina A&T | Howard |
| 1990 | North Carolina A&T | Howard |
| 1991 | South Carolina State | Coppin State |
| 1992 | South Carolina State | South Carolina State |
| 1993 | South Carolina State Coppin State Florida A&M | South Carolina State |
| Season | Regular season champion | Tournament champion |
| 1994 | South Carolina State | North Carolina A&T |
| 1995 | Florida A&M | Florida A&M |
| 1996 | Florida A&M | Howard |
| 1997 | Howard | Howard |
| 1998 | Howard | Howard |
| 1999 | Hampton | Florida A&M |
| 2000 | Howard | Hampton |
| 2001 | Howard | Howard |
| 2002 | Howard | Norfolk State |
| 2003 | Hampton | Hampton |
| 2004 | Delaware State Hampton | Hampton |
| 2005 | Coppin State | Coppin State |
| 2006 | Coppin State | Coppin State |
| 2007 | Coppin State | Delaware State |
| 2008 | North Carolina A&T | Coppin State |
| 2009 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| Season | Regular season champion | Tournament champion |
| 2010 | North Carolina A&T | Hampton University |
| 2011 | Hampton | Hampton |
| 2012 | Hampton | Hampton |
| 2013 | Hampton | Hampton |
| 2014 | Hampton | Hampton |
| 2015 | Hampton | Savannah State |
| 2016 | Bethune Cookman North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 2017 | Bethune Cookman | Hampton |
| 2018 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 2019 | North Carolina A&T | Bethune Cookman |
Baseball
| Season | Regular season champion | Tournament champion |
| 1972 | Howard | - |
| 1973 | South Carolina State | - |
| 1974 | North Carolina A&T | - |
| 1975 | Howard | - |
| 1976 | Howard | - |
| 1977 | Howard | - |
| 1978 | No Records Available | - |
| 1979 | No Records Available | - |
| 1980 | No Records Available | - |
| 1981 | No Records Available | - |
| 1982 | No Records Available | - |
| 1983 | No Records Available | - |
| 1984 | Howard | - |
| 1985 | Bethune–Cookman | - |
| 1986 | Howard | - |
| 1987 | Florida A&M | - |
| 1988 | Florida A&M | - |
| 1989 | Delaware State | - |
| 1990 | Florida A&M | - |
| 1991 | Florida A&M | - |
| 1992 | Florida A&M | - |
| 1993 | North Carolina A&T | - |
| 1994 | Florida A&M | - |
| 1995 | Coppin State | - |
| 1996 | Bethune–Cookman | - |
| 1997 | Bethune–Cookman | - |
| 1998 | Howard | - |
| 1999 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2000 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2001 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2002 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2003 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2004 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2005 | North Carolina A&T | North Carolina A&T |
| 2006 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2007 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2008 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2009 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2010 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2011 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2012 | Bethune–Cookman | Bethune–Cookman |
| 2013 | Delaware State | Savannah State |
| 2014 | Bethune–Cookman | |
| 2015 | Florida A&M | |
| 2016 | Bethune–Cookman | |
| 2017 | Bethune–Cookman | |
| 2018 | North Carolina A&T | |
| 2019 | Florida A&M |