The CAA was founded in 1979 as the ECAC South basketball league. It was renamed the Colonial Athletic Association in 1985 when it added championships in other sports (although a number of members maintain ECAC affiliation in some sports). As of 2006, it organizes championships in 21 men's and women's sports. The addition of Northeastern University in 2005 gave the conference the NCAA minimum of six football programs needed to sponsor football. For the 2007 football season, all of the Atlantic 10 Conference's football programs joined the CAA football conference, as agreed in May 2005. The football league operates under CAA administration as the technically separate entity of CAA Football.
The conference most recently added Hampton University, Monmouth University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Stony Brook University in 2022. Stony Brook, already a member of CAA Football, joined in other sports at that time; Hampton and Monmouth joined both the all-sports CAA and CAA Football; and NC A&T joined the all-sports CAA in 2022 and will join CAA Football in 2023.[1][2] The CAA has since announced that Campbell University will join both sides of the league in 2023.[3]
History
Logo used until 2013.
Colonial Athletic Association
Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues.
On the playing field, the CAA has produced 16 national team champions in six different sports (the most recent being the James Madison University Dukes who won the 2018 Division I Women's Lacrosse championship), 33 individual national champions, 11 national coaches of the year, 11 national players of the year and 12 Honda Award winners. In 2006, George Mason became the first CAA team to reach the Final Four. In 2011, the VCU Rams became the second CAA team to reach the Final Four, as well as the first team to win five games en route, due to their participation in the First Four round.
On March 25, 2013, George Mason University left the CAA to join the Atlantic 10 Conference.[8] Shortly after, the CAA ceased sponsorship of wrestling due to the lack of teams.
The 2015–16 basketball season saw the conference RPI reach its highest rating when it finished the season ranked 9th in the nation.
During another phase of realignment that started in 2021, the CAA was affected when longtime member James Madison University announced it would leave the CAA, transition its football program to the Football Bowl Subdivision, and join the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). Initially, JMU was to join the SBC in July 2023.[9] However, the timeline changed when the CAA chose to ban JMU from subsequent championship events, citing a conference bylaw that allows it to impose such a ban on a departing member. Thus, JMU officially joined the Sun Belt in July 2022 instead (at which time it was counted as an FBS member for scheduling purposes after meeting an NCAA minimum requirement of five FBS opponents at home), housing all of its sports in that league, including men's soccer, which would be sponsored by the SBC again, but one season earlier.[10][11]
Shortly before JMU announced its departure, it was reported that the CAA sought to expand by several schools, allowing it to split into a divisional format for most of its sports in order to reduce travel costs for its members. Among the schools named as possible candidates were Fairfield University, Howard University, Monmouth University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.[12][13] In January 2022, reports emerged that Hampton University, a historically black institution that had been working toward a CAA move since at least 1995, would likely join the CAA that July. Monmouth was again named as a potential CAA expansion candidate. Also, Stony Brook University, already a member of CAA Football, was named as a candidate for membership in the all-sports CAA.[14] On January 18, local media in Monmouth's home of New Jersey reported that a CAA invitation to that school was imminent.[15]
The CAA later announced on January 25 that Hampton, Monmouth, and Stony Brook would become members of the all-sports CAA that July, with Hampton and Monmouth joining Stony Brook in CAA Football.[16] On February 22, the CAA announced that North Carolina A&T State University would join the all-sports CAA that July and CAA Football in 2023.[2] Still later, Campbell University was announced as a new member of both sides of the league effective in 2023.[3]
^Towson joined the league as a charter member in the 1979–80 season, left after the 1980–81 season to join the ECAC-Metro Conference (now known as the Northeast Conference), and rejoined the CAA effective the 2001–02 season.
^Stony Brook has been a member of CAA Football since 2013.
^University of Baltimore dropped intercollegiate athletics after the 1982–83 academic year.
Associate members
In all tables below, dates of joining and departure reflect the calendar years these moves took effect. For spring sports, the year of arrival is the calendar year before the first season of competition. For fall sports, the year of departure is the calendar year after the final season of competition.
^La Jolla is a neighborhood of San Diego that has its own postal identity.
^While the CAA officially announced UC San Diego's entry into CAA rowing in March 2021, the Tritons competed during the spring 2021 season, part of the 2020–21 school year.[17]
^UConn planned to drop women's rowing after the 2020–21 season,[19] but after a federal judge issued a restraining order against the university in a Title IX lawsuit brought by team members, the university announced that it would reinstate the sport for a minimum of two years.[20]
^Boston University dropped wrestling after the 2013–14 school year.
^Buffalo dropped women's rowing after the 2016–17 school year.
^Liberty dropped wrestling after the 2010–11 school year.
^UNC Greensboro dropped wrestling after the 2010–11 school year.
^Villanova men's lacrosse left the CAA once the Big East began sponsoring the sport in the 2009–10 school year. Villanova has been a CAA women's rowing member since 2015–16, and is also a CAA Football member.
^Wagner dropped wrestling after the 2008–09 school year.
Membership timeline
Full membersFull members (non-football)Assoc. members (football only)Assoc. member (list sports)
Sports
The CAA sponsors championship competitions in ten men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Eleven schools are associate members in three sports.[21]
^Equestrianism is part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, but the national championship is sanctioned by the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association and not the NCAA. While several conferences exist under the IHSA umbrella, the NCAA treats all women's equestrian teams that do not compete within a recognized NCAA conference as independents.
^Squash is a coeducational sport that is not sanctioned by the NCAA.
^Triathlon is part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, but the national championship is sanctioned by the sport's national governing body, USA Triathlon, and not the NCAA. No NCAA conference in any division currently sponsors this sport.
^Delaware plays women's ice hockey at club level in the ACHA, but treats this club as a varsity team.
In addition to the above, Charleston counts its female cheerleaders (though not its male cheerleaders) and all-female dance team as varsity teams. Neither cheerleading nor dance team competitions are sponsored by the NCAA.
Current champions
RS = regular-season champion; T = tournament champion
