NCAA Division I independent schools

In American college sports, NCAA Division I independent schools are four-year institutions that do not belong to a conference for a particular sport.

Baseball

New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) was the only institution listed as a Division I Independent in baseball. In the Fall of 2016, NYIT informed the NCAA of its desire to move the baseball program to Division II with the rest of the school's athletic teams and to be immediately eligible to compete in that division, rather than transitioning back over a period of years.. This was approved by the NCAA in August 2017.[1]

Basketball

There are no independent programs in NCAA Division I basketball as of the 2017–18 season. The last Division I basketball season to feature an independent program was the 2014–15 season, in which the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) competed as such. The Highlanders were forced into independent status in 2013 with the collapse of their former home of the Great West Conference. NJIT joined the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) in 2015, thus all NCAA Division I basketball teams are part of a conference.

Bowling

Bowling, currently a women-only sport at the NCAA level, conducts a single national championship open to members of all three NCAA divisions. As of the 2018–19 season, at least nine bowling programs compete as independents. This list is likely incomplete, as Division III independents have not yet been analyzed.

InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Belmont Abbey CollegeCrusadersBelmont, North Carolina1876Private1,320Conference Carolinas (Division II)
Chestnut Hill CollegeGriffinsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania1924Private2,301Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (Division II)
Kentucky Wesleyan CollegePanthersOwensboro, Kentucky1858Private785Great Midwest Athletic Conference (Division II)
Lewis UniversityFlyersRomeoville, Illinois1932Private6,573Great Lakes Valley Conference (Division II)
University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska)CornhuskersLincoln, Nebraska1869Public25,260Big Ten Conference (Division I)
Post UniversityEaglesWaterbury, Connecticut1890Private7,317Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (Division II)
Ursuline CollegeArrowsPepper Pike, Ohio1871Private1,136Great Midwest Athletic Conference (Division II)
Walsh UniversityCavaliersNorth Canton, Ohio1960Private2,766Great Midwest Athletic Conference (Division II)
Wilmington UniversityEaglesNew Castle, Delaware1968Private20,522Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (Division II)

Football

Football Bowl Subdivision

As of the current 2018 college football season, there are six NCAA Division I FBS independent schools.

Institution Founded Nickname First season Location Type Enrollment Primary conference
United States Military Academy
(Army)		 1802 Black Knights 1890 West Point, New York Federal 4,294 Patriot League
Brigham Young University 1875 Cougars 1922 Provo, Utah Private 29,672 West Coast Conference
Liberty University 1971 Flames 1973 Lynchburg, Virginia Private 15,000[lower-alpha 1] ASUN Conference
New Mexico State University 1888 Aggies 1893 Las Cruces, New Mexico Public 18,497 Western Athletic Conference
University of Notre Dame 1842 Fighting Irish 1887 Notre Dame, Indiana Private 12,179 Atlantic Coast Conference
[lower-alpha 2]
University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) 1863 Minutemen 1879 Amherst, Massachusetts Public 29,269 Atlantic 10
Notes
  1. ↑ Does not include roughly 100,000 students enrolled in online programs.
  2. ↑ Notre Dame remains officially an independent football team, and is not a member of the ACC in any capacity for football. However, as part of the agreement to join the ACC in other sports, Notre Dame agreed to schedule 5 games per year against ACC opponents.[2]

Football Championship Subdivision

Three FCS schools are playing as independents in the 2018 season. Two of them, Hampton and North Alabama, are independent only for that season, after which they will join the Big South Conference. Hampton joined the Big South in other sports in 2018, but due to scheduling issues could not immediately join Big South football.[3] North Alabama moved from Division II to the non-football ASUN Conference in 2018, with the football team joining the Big South in 2019 under the terms of an alliance between the two conferences that provides any full member of either league that sponsors scholarship football with a guaranteed football home in the Big South.[4] The third independent, North Dakota, left the Big Sky Conference to join the non-football Summit League. While North Dakota is playing as an FCS independent in 2018 and 2019, it continues to play a full Big Sky football schedule due to contractual commitments; games against North Dakota in those seasons count in the Big Sky standings for their opponents. The Fighting Hawks will then join the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020.[5]

The next FCS independent after North Dakota's move to the MVFC will be Presbyterian. In 2017, the school announced that it had started a transition to non-scholarship FCS football. The Blue Hose will leave Big South football after the 2019 season and play the 2020 season as an independent before joining the Pioneer Football League, a football-only conference made up entirely of non-scholarship FCS programs, in 2021. Presbyterian will remain a full non-football Big South member.[6]

Institution Founded Nickname First season Location Type Enrollment Primary conference
Hampton University1868Pirates1902Hampton, VirginiaPrivate4,500Big South Conference
University of North Alabama1830Lions1912Florence, AlabamaPublic7,233ASUN Conference
University of North Dakota1883Fighting Hawks1894Grand Forks, North DakotaPublic14,906Summit League

Ice hockey

Men

There is currently one NCAA Division I independent in men's ice hockey. The Sun Devils moved up from club hockey in the ACHA to full varsity status. Arizona State began playing a full Division I schedule in 2016–17, and expected to be in a hockey conference for 2017–18, but no conference move has yet materialized.

InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentYearsPrimary Conference
Arizona State UniversitySun Devils[7]Tempe, Arizona1885Public50,2462015–presentPac-12 Conference

Women

There are currently five NCAA Division I independent teams in women's ice hockey. The NCAA conducts a National Collegiate championship tournament open to Division I and Division II members, with a small number of Division III schools having been grandfathered into the National Collegiate level. A separate Division III championship is also held.

Four of the current independents are full members of Division II; Sacred Heart is the only current women's hockey independent that is a full Division I member. In 2019–20, another Division I member, LIU Brooklyn, will add women's hockey. All current independents participate in a scheduling agreement known as the New England Women's Hockey Alliance, which formed in advance of the 2017–18 season. With LIU Brooklyn announcing that it will also participate in the NEWHA, the alliance will have the six members needed to become an officially recognized NCAA conference, and has formally organized as a conference and announced plans to gain NCAA recognition for 2019–20 and beyond.[8]

The most recent departure from the independent ranks was by Holy Cross, which joined Hockey East as a women-only member in 2018.

The Sacred Heart Pioneers moved up from Division III (where they were a member of the ECAC East) in 2003. Its men's team plays in Atlantic Hockey, which does not sponsor women's hockey.

The Franklin Pierce Ravens moved up from Division III (where they were a member of the New England Hockey Conference) in 2017. Its men's team plays in Division II as a member of the Northeast-10 Conference.

The Saint Anselm Hawks moved up from Division III (where they were a member of the New England Hockey Conference) in 2017. Its men's team plays in Division II as a member of the Northeast-10 Conference.

The Saint Michael's Purple Knights moved up from Division III (where they were a member of the New England Hockey Conference) in 2017. Its men's team plays in Division II as a member of the Northeast-10 Conference.

The Post Eagles have participated in the NEWHA since the 2017–18 season. They launched their women's program in 2016–17, playing as a de facto Division III independent in their first season. The Eagles men's team plays in Division II as an independent, but with a cross-scheduling agreement with the Northeast-10.

InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentYearsPrimary Conference
Sacred Heart UniversityPioneers[9]Fairfield, Connecticut1963Private8,5322003–presentNortheast Conference
Post UniversityEagles[10]Waterbury, Connecticut1890Private7,0592017–presentCentral Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Franklin Pierce UniversityRavens[11]Rindge, New Hampshire1962Private2,3812017–presentNortheast-10 Conference
Saint Anselm CollegeHawks[12]Manchester, New Hampshire1889Private1,9682017–presentNortheast-10 Conference
Saint Michael's CollegePurple Knights[13]Colchester, Vermont1904Private2,3162017–presentNortheast-10 Conference
Possible future independent
InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentYearsPrimary Conference
Long Island University BrooklynBlackbirds[14]Brooklyn, New York1926Private11,2002019–futureNortheast Conference

Soccer

Men

There are no men's soccer independents as of the 2018 season.

The last NCAA men's soccer season which included independent schools was the 2013 season, in which five schools played as independents. All of these schools left the independent ranks after that season. Two of these are now in the Sun Belt Conference, which reinstated men's soccer as a sponsored sport in 2014; a third played in the Sun Belt for two years until joining Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) men's soccer in 2016. At the time the Sun Belt relaunched its men's soccer league, Georgia State University was already a full Sun Belt member, while Howard University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) became Sun Belt affiliates.[15] Howard remains in Sun Belt men's soccer to this day; NJIT joined the ASUN as a full member in 2015, but remained in Sun Belt soccer for the 2015 season to honor its two-year contractual commitment to that league. Belmont University became an affiliate of the Horizon League,[16] and the University of the Incarnate Word became an affiliate of the Western Athletic Conference.[17]

Women

Two schools are independents in women's soccer in the current 2018 season. The most recent departure from the independent ranks was Hampton University, which joined the Big South Conference, which sponsors women's soccer, for 2018.[18]

InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Delaware State UniversityHornetsDover, Delaware1891Public3,400Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
South Carolina State UniversityLady BulldogsOrangeburg, South Carolina1896Public3,000Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Men's Volleyball

Men's volleyball has a truncated divisional structure in which members of both Division I and Division II compete under identical scholarship limits for a single national championship. In the 2019 season, nine men's volleyball programs, all Division II members, will compete as independents.

InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Alderson Broaddus UniversityBattlersPhilippi, West Virginia1871Private1,052Great Midwest Athletic Conference
Coker CollegeCobrasHartsville, South Carolina1908Private1,000South Atlantic Conference
Daemen CollegeWildcatsAmherst, New York1947Private3,005East Coast Conference
Lincoln Memorial UniversityRailsplittersHarrogate, Tennessee1897Private2,579South Atlantic Conference
University of Puerto Rico at BayamónCowboysBayamón, Puerto Rico1971Public5,014Independent[lower-alpha 1]
University of Puerto Rico at MayagüezTarzansMayagüez, Puerto Rico1911Public13,146Independent[lower-alpha 1]
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras CampusGallitosSan Juan, Puerto Rico1903Public18,653Independent[lower-alpha 1]
Queens University of CharlotteRoyalsCharlotte, North Carolina1857Private2,100South Atlantic Conference
Urbana CollegeBlue KnightsUrbana, Ohio1850Private1,505Mountain East Conference
  1. 1 2 3 While no member of the University of Puerto Rico system is part of a recognized NCAA conference, all are members of Liga Atlética Interuniversitaria de Puerto Rico, which governs college sports competitions in both Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Wrestling

One Division I member, Presbyterian, will compete as a wrestling independent in the 2018–19 season. This will be the only season in which the Blue Hose compete as such, as the school will become a wrestling-only member of the Southern Conference for 2019–20 and beyond.

InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Presbyterian CollegeBlue HoseClinton, South Carolina1880Private1,379Big South Conference

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Baseball program to immediately be eligible for ECC, NCAA championships". New York Institute of Technology. August 16, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Notre Dame Goes To ACC: Bowl Security, Football Scheduling Flexibility Key To Move". Sports Business Daily. Street and Smith’s Sports Group. September 13, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
  3. ↑ Johnson, Dave (May 15, 2018). "As an FCS independent, HU releases its 2018 schedule". Daily Press. Newport News, VA. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  4. ↑ "North Alabama To Join Big South Football in 2019" (Press release). Big South Conference. December 6, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  5. ↑ "UND athletics accepts invites to The Summit League, Missouri Valley Football Conference" (Press release). North Dakota Fighting Hawks. January 26, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Presbyterian College to join Pioneer Football League in 2021" (Press release). Pioneer Football League. November 20, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Sun Devil Athletics Announces Addition of Men's Ice Hockey as NCAA Sport" (Press release). Arizona State Athletics. November 18, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ "NEWHA announces intent to be recognized as NCAA national collegiate women's hockey conference". USCHO.com. September 26, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Statistics :: History :: Sacred Heart :: Women's Hockey :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online". USCHO.com. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  10. ↑ "Statistics :: History :: Post :: Women's Hockey :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Statistics :: History :: Franklin Pierce :: Women's Hockey :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Statistics :: History :: Saint Anselm :: Women's Hockey :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Statistics :: History :: Saint Michael's :: Women's Hockey :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Women's Ice Hockey Added as Varsity Sport at LIU Brooklyn; Morgan Tabbed as Inaugural Head Coach" (Press release). LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. September 10, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Sun Belt Men's Soccer to Re-Debut in Fall 2014" (Press release). Sun Belt Conference. February 11, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Belmont University to Join Horizon League as Affiliate Member" (Press release). Horizon League. April 21, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ "UIW Joins WAC as Affiliate Member in Men's Soccer" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. December 18, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Big South Adds Hampton University as Full Member" (Press release). Big South Conference. November 16, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
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