The conference's name was changed to its present form on August 1, 1988.[2] Other names considered were Big North, Great North, North Shore, Northern, Northeastern, Eastern and Eastern Private Intercollegiate.[3]
The Northeast Conference has admitted new members nine times since 1981. The expansions and additions from the original charter members were in 1985 (Monmouth University, which left in 2013), 1989 (Mount St. Mary's University, which left in 2022), 1992 (Rider University, which left in 1997), 1997 (Central Connecticut State University), 1998 (Quinnipiac University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County which respectively left in 2013 and 2003), 1999 (Sacred Heart University), 2008 (Bryant University, which also left in 2022), 2019 (Merrimack College), and 2022 (Stonehill College). The Northeast Conference's full membership was largest at 12 in 2008 with the addition of Bryant University.[4] It then dropped to 10 in 2013 with the departure of Monmouth and Quinnipiac for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), returned to 11 with the 2019 addition of Merrimack, and again dropped to 10 in 2020 with the departure of Robert Morris for the Horizon League. In 2022, the conference dropped to 9 members with the departure of Bryant and Mount St. Mary's, respectively for the America East Conference and the MAAC, plus the addition of Stonehill. On March 20, 2023, St. Francis Brooklyn announced that all intercollegiate sports would be dropped effective at the end of the 2022-23 season, dropping the NEC down to 8 full members. This was followed on May 10, 2023 by the announcement that Le Moyne College would begin a transition from Division II and join the NEC on July 1.[5]
Additional changes were announced in 2018 and took effect with the 2019–20 school year. First, on September 10, the NEC announced it would add Merrimack.[6] Then, on October 3, Long Island University announced that it would combine its two existing athletic programs—NEC member LIU Brooklyn and the Division II program at LIU Post—into a single Division I program under the LIU name. The new LIU program, nicknamed Sharks,[7] maintains LIU Brooklyn's previous memberships in Division I and the NEC.[8] Another recent change took place on July 1, 2020, when charter member Robert Morris left to join the Horizon League. The next changes in membership were on July 1, 2022, with Bryant leaving for the America East Conference,[9] Mount St. Mary's leaving for the MAAC,[10] and Stonehill arriving from NCAA Division II.[11]
The Northeast Conference has a total of 9 full members in 24 championship sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's bowling, men's and women's cross country, women's field hockey, football, men's and women's golf, men's and women's indoor track & field, women's lacrosse, men's and women's outdoor track & field, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's volleyball.
Men's lacrosse became the league's 23rd sport for the 2011 season.[12] The number of sports dropped to 22 after the 2012–13 school year, when the conference dropped field hockey. The departure of Monmouth and Quinnipiac to become all-sports members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in July 2013 gave the MAAC four full members that sponsored the sport; the other two were NEC single-sport affiliates Rider and Siena. The MAAC then decided to add field hockey as a sponsored sport for the 2013 season,[13] and all of the NEC's remaining field hockey programs eventually joined the MAAC except for Saint Francis (PA), which joined the Atlantic 10 Conference. The NEC reinstated field hockey as a sponsored sport for the 2019 season with seven members—full members Bryant, LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, and Wagner, plus associate members Fairfield and Rider.[14] Saint Francis (PA) rejoined the NEC in field hockey during the 2021-22 season. A more recent addition to the NEC's sports roster was men's swimming & diving, added for 2020–21 with full members Bryant, LIU, Mount St. Mary's, St. Francis Brooklyn, and Wagner plus incoming associate member Howard.[15]
In 2022–23, the NEC added one sport and dropped another. On September 30, 2021, the NEC announced that it would begin sponsoring men's volleyball in 2022–23 with six members.[16] Before the end of the 2021–22 school year, the NEC announced that two Division II schools from the Buffalo, New York area, Daemen and D'Youville, would also become part of the new men's volleyball league.[17] In a May 9, 2022 Twitter post, NEC commissioner Noreen Morris indicated that the NEC would shut down its men's lacrosse league after the then-ongoing 2022 season. The NEC had already lost two full members that sponsored the sport, and would eventually lose its two affiliate members in that sport when the Atlantic 10 Conference announced it would launch a men's lacrosse league in the 2023 season.[18] Three of the remaining four NEC men's lacrosse programs became affiliate members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The other program, Merrimack, was in talks with several lacrosse-sponsoring conferences for affiliate membership,[19] and eventually joined the America East in time for the 2023 season.[20]
In July 2022, the Northeast Conference announced a partnership with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in which MEAC schools sponsoring baseball and men's and women's golf would become affiliate members in their respective sports beginning in the 2022-23 season.[21] That September, the NEC announced that MEAC member Delaware State, which had just joined NEC baseball and women's golf, would add women's lacrosse and women's soccer to its NEC membership in 2023–24.[22]
In March 2023, St. Francis College (Brooklyn) announced that it would discontinue its athletic programs at the end of the spring 2023 schedule.[23]
Currently, a total of 12 affiliate members compete in football, women's golf, women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's swimming, women's bowling, and men's volleyball.
^Prior to 2019–20, LIU operated two separate athletic programs, with only that of the school's Brooklyn campus being an NEC member.
^The merged LIU athletic program bases some sports at the Brooklyn campus and others at the Post campus in Brookville, New York.[24]
^Combined enrollment of the Brooklyn and Post campuses. All LIU varsity sports are open to undergraduates at either campus who meet NCAA eligibility requirements.
^St. Francis will drop intercollegiate athletics after the 2022-23 school year.[23]
^ abCAA Football is technically a separate entity from the all-sports Colonial Athletic Association, though both share the same administration.
^NJIT left NEC men's lacrosse after only one season when it became a full member of the America East Conference, which sponsors that sport.[28]
^St. John's dropped football after the 2002 fall season (2002–03 school year).
^When Saint Peter's was an NEC associate, its men's teams used the nickname Peacocks, with women's teams using Peahens. The university has since adopted Peacocks for all teams.
^Saint Peter's dropped bowling after the 2017–18 school year.
^Siena dropped field hockey after the 2017 fall season (2017–18 school year).
^The VMI men's swimming program joined the NEC for the 2003–04 school year. The women's swimming team became a varsity program during the 2005–06 school year.
^At the time of their membership in the Northeast Conference, VMI was a member of the Big South. In 2014, they became full members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). In swimming, the Keydets left the NEC to join the league now known as the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association, and have competed in the America East Conference since the 2017–18 school year.
Membership timeline
Full membersFull members (non-football)Football AffiliateAffiliate member (other sports)Other ConferenceOther Conference
Sports
The Northeast Conference currently sponsors championship competition in 11 men's and 13 women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[29] Seven schools are associate members in five of those sports.
The most recent changes to the NEC sports lineup came in 2022 with the addition of men's volleyball and the elimination of men's lacrosse.[19]
^Fencing is a coeducational sport, with schools having men's and women's squads and all individual matches involving members of the same sex. While four NEC members sponsor fencing, only LIU and Sacred Heart field both men's and women's squads, though Wagner will add a men's squad in 2023–24.
^LIU added men's ice hockey in 2020. It has yet to join a conference in that sport, but has entered into a scheduling partnership with Atlantic Hockey.[30]
^Fencing is a coeducational sport, with schools having men's and women's squads and all individual matches involving members of the same sex. Of the four NEC members that sponsor the sport, LIU and Sacred Heart have both men's and women's squads (with LIU having added men's fencing in 2022–23), and Fairleigh Dickinson and Wagner field only women's squads. Wagner will add a men's squad to its existing women's squad in 2023–24.
^Merrimack has not yet announced a women's rowing affiliation.
^ abThe NCAA considers all equestrian schools that do not compete in the sport within a recognized NCAA conference to be independents.
^The NCAA considers all rugby schools that do not compete in the sport within a recognized NCAA conference to be independents.
^The NCAA considers all triathlon schools that do not compete in the sport within a recognized NCAA conference to be independents.
^Merrimack was ineligible for the NEC tournament due to being in its first transitional year (of four) from NCAA Division II.
^Starting with the 2023 edition, NEC tournament eligibility was extended to transitional D-I members effective with the third year of the transition, making fourth-year transitional member Merrimack tournament-eligible. However, it remained ineligible for the NCAA tournament. Merrimack's opponent in the NEC final, Fairleigh Dickinson, received the NEC automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Before the 2013 departure of Monmouth and Quinnipiac, the NEC had 6 rivalry matchups in the conference; which is most prevalent during NEC's men's and women's basketball "Rivalry Week." The concept of playing back-to-back games against a local rival the same week is the only one of its kind among the nation's 31 NCAA Division I conferences. The pre-2013 NEC rivalries are as follows (with the current NEC team listed first in the matchups that are now non-conference):
Currently in-conference
Battle of Brooklyn: LIU vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (Discontinued since 2023-24)
Constitution State Rivalry: Central Connecticut vs. Sacred Heart
Non-conference
Garden State Rivalry: Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Monmouth (non-conference since 2013–14)
Governor's Cup: Sacred Heart vs. Quinnipiac (non-conference since 2013–14)
Keystone Clash: Saint Francis (PA) vs. Robert Morris (non-conference since 2020–21)
NY–MD Showdown: Wagner vs. Mount St. Mary's (non-conference since 2022–23)
Brenda Weare Commissioner's Cup
The NEC Commissioner's Cup was instituted during the 1986-87 season with Long Island winning the inaugural award. Cup points are awarded in each NEC sponsored sport. For men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, football, women's bowling, softball, men's and women's lacrosse, and baseball, the final regular season standings are used to determine Cup points. Starting with the 2012-13 season, the Conference began awarding three bonus points to the NEC Tournament champion in those sports. In all other sports, points are awarded based on the finish at NEC Championship events.
^The Terriers' former home, Generoso Pope Athletic Complex, was closed shortly after the start of the 2022–23 season. The closure was part of the college's move from its former campus in Brooklyn Heights to a new campus on Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Since the new campus lacks basketball facilities, St. Francis Brooklyn is using the facilities of nearby Pratt Institute for the immediate future.
