North Coast Athletic Conference


The North Coast Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division III athletic conference composed of colleges located in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. When founded in 1984, the league was a pioneer in gender equality, offering competition in a then-unprecedented 10 women's sports. Today it remains true to that legacy, sponsoring 23 sports, 11 for men and 12 for women.
The NCAC is respected for the academic strength of its member institutions — all of which have Phi Beta Kappa chapters. In its most recent college rankings, U.S. News & World Report recognized all 10 members as top-tier liberal arts colleges, and ranked five NCAC institutions among the nation's top 70 such colleges.

History

The formation of the NCAC was announced at joint news conferences in Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh on February 1983. Allegheny College, Case Western Reserve University, Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, and The College of Wooster were charter members in 1984, the same year that NCAC athletic conference play began.
In 1988, Earlham College and Wittenberg College accepted invitations to join the NCAC, pushing conference membership to nine schools in three states. The two schools would begin play in the fall of 1989. In 1998, Hiram College, and Wabash College accepted invitations to join the NCAC, pushing conference membership to 10 schools in three states, which both schools began play in the fall of 1999. Case Western Reserve, a charter member of the NCAC, announced that it would leave the NCAC following the 1998-99 academic year. The Spartans would compete on a full-time basis in the University Athletic Association after more than a decade of joint conference membership affiliation.
Earlham announced it would depart the NCAC for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, beginning with the 2010-11 season. DePauw University became the 10th member of the NCAC beginning in the 2011-12 season.

Member schools

Current members

The league currently has 10 full members:
InstitutionLocationNicknameColorsFoundedTypeEnrollment2017 US News
ranking		2017 Forbes
Top Colleges		Joined
Allegheny CollegeMeadville, PennsylvaniaGators 1815Private/Methodist2,100#82#3041984
Denison UniversityGranville, OhioBig Red 1831Private/Non-sectarian2,100#46#1201984
DePauw UniversityGreencastle, IndianaTigers 1837Private/Methodist2,350#53#1172011
Hiram CollegeHiram, OhioTerriers 1850Private/Disciples of Christ1,395#141#6191999
Kenyon CollegeGambier, OhioLords
Ladies 		1824Private/Episcopal1,640#26#631984
Oberlin CollegeOberlin, OhioYeomen
Yeowomen 		1833Private/Non-sectarian2,850#26#531984
Ohio Wesleyan UniversityDelaware, OhioBattling Bishops 1842Private/Methodist1,850#101#4081984
Wabash College*Crawfordsville, IndianaLittle Giants1832Private/Non-sectarian850#65#2141999
Wittenberg UniversitySpringfield, OhioTigers 1845Private/Lutheran2,050#158#3401988
The College of WoosterWooster, OhioFighting Scots 1866Private/Presbyterian1,827#63#2451984

* Wabash is an all-male institution, therefore does not sponsor women's teams.

Former members

Membership timeline


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1984 till:2018
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
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
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Allegheny
bar:2 color:Full from:1984 till:1999 text:Case Western Reserve
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1999 till:end text:UAA
bar:3 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Denison
bar:4 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Kenyon
bar:5 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Oberlin
bar:6 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Ohio Wesleyan
bar:7 color:Full from:1984 till:end text:Wooster
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1989 text:Earlham
bar:8 color:Full from:1989 till:2010
bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2010 till:end text:HCAC
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1989 text:Wittenberg
bar:9 color:Full from:1989 till:end
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2000 text:Hiram
bar:10 color:Full from:2000 till:end
bar:11 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2000 text:Wabash
bar:11 color:Full from:2000 till:end
bar:12 color:FullxF from:2011 till:2012 text:DePauw
bar:12 color:Full from:2012 till:end
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1985