On May 26, 2020, it was announced that the American Collegiate Athletic Association would merge with the Capital Athletic Conference. All full ACAA members and an associate member joined the CAC in the 2020–21 school year; the announcement also stated that the expanded CAC planned to adopt a new name. The post-merger conference does not conduct regular-season competition in any sports; members establish their own schedules, with NCAA championship bids handed out in conference tournaments or championship meets, depending on the sport.
On November 18, 2020, the Capital Athletic Conference announced its rebranding as the "Coast to Coast Athletic Conference".
On March 17, 2021, Mills announced that it would end conferment degrees to become a research institution after the 2022-23 school year, thus dissolving their athletic programs. This was later revised to be acquired by Northeastern University to become Northeastern University at Mills College. Through this merger, Mills transitioned to a co-ed university and would discontinue athletics after the 2021-22 season.[1][2][3]
On January 11, 2022, the University of Wisconsin–Platteville joins the C2C as an associate member for men's soccer, starting in the 2022 fall season (2022-23 academic year).[4][5]
1991 – Salisbury State University (now Salisbury University) joined the CAC in all sports, effective in the 1991-92 academic year.
1993 – Goucher College joined the CAC in all sports, effective in the 1993-94 academic year.
2005 – Catholic and Goucher announced they would be departing for the newly-formed Landmark Conference, effective after the 2006-07 academic year.
2006 – Hood College and Villa Julie College (now Stevenson University) joined the CAC for some sports, effective in the 2006-07 academic year.
2007 – Wesley College joined the CAC in all sports (along with Hood and Stevenson), effective in the 2007-08 academic year.
2010 – Gallaudet left the CAC to join the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC; now the United East Conference), effective after the 2009-10 academic year.
2016 – William Paterson departed from the CAC as an associate member for men's golf, effective after the 2016 spring season (2015-16 academic year).
2018 – Marymount and Wesley departed the CAC for the newly-formed Atlantic East Conference (AEC), effective after the 2017-18 academic year.[11]
2018 – Babson College joined the CAC as an associate member for men's golf, effective in the 2019 spring season (2018-19 academic year).
2019 – Frostburg State began the transition to the Division II for the 2019-20 academic year, thus departed the CAC to join the Mountain East Conference, effective after the 2018-19 academic year.
2019 – Penn State Harrisburg departed the CAC to return to the NEAC, effective after the 2018-19 academic year.[12]
2019 – Carnegie Mellon University joined the CAC as an associate member for men's golf, effective in the 2020 spring season (2019-20 academic year).
2020 – York departed the CAC to join the MAC, effective after the 2019-20 season.[13]
2020 – The Capital Athletic Conference announced that it would rebrand as the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C).[16]
2020 – The conference dropped men's and women's swimming and golf as conference sports after the 2020-21 season, therefore, men's golf associates, Babson, Carnegie Mellon and New Jersey City departed.
2021 – St. Mary's departed the C2C to join the United East Conference, effective after the 2020-21 academic year.[17] St. Mary's rejoined as an associate member in men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field.[18]
2021 – Pine Manor was acquired by Boston College, thus dissolving their athletics programs, effective after the 2020-21 academic year.
2022 – Mills left the C2C to become a research institution, thus dissolving their athletics programs, effective after the 2021-22 academic year.
2022 – The University of Wisconsin–Platteville joined the C2C as an associate member for men's soccer, effective beginning in the 2022 fall season (2022-23 academic year).
2022 – On July 26, The Coast to Coast Athletic Conference announced that it would form the Coastal Lacrosse Conference therefore the C2C no longer sponsored men's lacrosse.[20]
2022 – Warren Wilson College joined the C2C as a full member, effective in the 2022-23 academic year.
2023 – In March 2023, Finlandia University announced that it would close following the 2022-23 school year, thus departing the conference.[21]
^Finlandia University closed in 2023, ending all athletic programs.
^This institution was a women's college, therefore it did not compete in men's sports.
^Mills was acquired by Northeastern University in 2023, becoming part of that university's extended operations in the San Francisco Bay Area. In advance of this, Mills dropped athletics after the 2021–22 school year.
^Carnegie Mellon joined as an associate member in the 2019–20 season, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then men's golf was dropped as a conference sport after the 2019–20 season, therefore Carnegie Mellon never participated in a conference championship.
^St. Mary's (Md.) was a full member of the C2C (back then, the CAC) from 1989–90 to 2020–21.
^ Baseball will be in danger of not being eligible for NCAA championship bids in the 2023-24 season if new members teams do not join C2C in those sports. According to the NCAA rules for a conference sport to be considered for NCAA championship bids there must be five or more teams competing in that sport, which all of the sports listed had four teams or less fielding that sport after the 2020-21 season.
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the C2C that are played by C2C schools
^ ab Field hockey and women's lacrosse will be in danger of not being eligible for NCAA championship bids in the 2023-24 season if new members teams do not join C2C in those sports. According to the NCAA rules for a conference sport to be considered for NCAA championship bids there must be five or more teams competing in that sport, which all of the sports listed had four teams or less fielding that sport after the 2020-21 season.
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by C2C that are played by C2C schools
^While equestrian is recognized by the NCAA as one of its "Emerging Sports for Women", the NCAA does not sponsor a championship in that sport. Championships are organized by the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association.