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 ten times since 1981. The expansions and additions from the original charter members were: in 1985 (Monmouth University, which left in 2013), in 1989 (Mount St. Mary's University, which left in 2022), in 1992 (Rider University, which left in 1997), in 1997 (Central Connecticut State University), in 1998 (Quinnipiac University which left in 2013, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County which left in 2003), in 1999 (Sacred Heart University, which is left in 2024), in 2008 (Bryant University, which also left in 2022), in 2019 (Merrimack College, which also left in 2024), in 2022 (Stonehill College), in 2023 (Le Moyne College), and in 2024 (Chicago State University and Mercyhurst University). The Northeast Conference's full membership was its 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. The conference dropped to 9 members in 2022 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] Le Moyne was announced as SFC's replacement that May.
The NEC added two affiliate members in 2023–24—Binghamton University in men's golf plus men's and women's tennis,[24] and Niagara University in bowling. Niagara added that sport for 2023–24 by effectively absorbing the bowling program of Medaille University, a nearby Division III school that closed at the end of the 2022–23 school year.[25]
In October 2023, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference announced that Merrimack and Sacred Heart were going to join the conference for the 2024-25 season.[26] This announcement came on the heels of the announcement that the NEC was going to support men's lacrosse as a conference sponsored sport for the 2024–25 academic year, after having to discontinue it two years earlier due to the lack of sponsoring members. The original plan was for full members Le Moyne, LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, and Wagner to be joined by two new associate members, the University of Detroit Mercy and the Virginia Military Institute (VMI).[27] The departure of Merrimack and Sacred Heart left the number of men's lacrosse programs in the conference with less than the 6 member minimum required for an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament. The NEC announced in November 2023 that Cleveland State University and former full member Robert Morris were going to join the league as men's lacrosse associates.[28] In November 2023, Robert Morris also announced that it was going to return to the NEC in football.[29] Shortly after this, Maryland Eastern Shore announced that it was going to add men's volleyball in the 2026 season (2025–26 school year) as an NEC associate member, increasing the number of its NEC teams to four. It became the first historically African-American Division I member to announce the addition of that sport.[30] In April 2024, Sacred Heart announced that it was going to leave NEC men's volleyballd, and that it was going to return to the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, where it had played that sport before the NEC established its own league.[31] Also in 2024–25, former full member Monmouth returned to the NEC as an associate member in bowling.[32] Soon after the start of the 2024–25 academic year, Manhattan University announced that it was going to add men's volleyball and become an NEC affiliate in 2025–26.[33]
In response to the departure of Merrimack and Sacred Heart, the NEC announced first in December 2023 that D-I independentChicago State University was going to join the NEC.[34] A few months later, in April 2024, Mercyhurst University announced that it was going to transition from Division II and join the NEC, bringing the league to 9 members again, for the 2024-25 season.[35]
Currently, a total of 18 affiliate members compete in football, women's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's swimming, women's bowling, and men's volleyball.
^The campus has a Syracuse mailing address, but almost entirely lies within the adjacent town of DeWitt.
^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.[37]
^Combined enrollment of the Brooklyn and Post campuses. All LIU varsity sports are open to undergraduates at either campus who meet NCAA eligibility requirements.
^Fairfield field hockey had previously competed in the NEC from the 2004 to 2006 fall seasons (2004–05 to 2006–07 school years).
^The UMES campus has a Princess Anne mailing address, but lies in unincorporated Somerset County.
^Merrimack had been a full NEC member from 2019–2024.
^Monmouth had been a full NEC member from 1985–2013.
^The Niagara campus is its own census-designated place and postal entity within the town of Lewiston.
^Rider was previously a full member from 1992 - 97 while field hockey had previously competed in the NEC from the 1998 to 2012 fall seasons (1998–99 to 2012–13 school years).
^Robert Morris had been a full NEC member from 1981-2020.
^Sacred Heart had been a full NEC member from 1999–2024.
^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.[40]
^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 members Full members (non-football) Football Affiliate Affiliate member (other sports) Other Conference Other Conference
Sports
The Northeast Conference currently sponsors championship competition in 11 men's and 13 women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[41] Twelve schools are associate members in 14 of those sports.
The most recent change to the NEC sports lineup is the reinstatement of men's lacrosse in 2024–25 after it had been eliminated in 2022. At the same time men's lacrosse was dropped, the NEC added men's volleyball.[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.
^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.
^The NCAA considers all acrobatics & tumbling schools that do not compete in the sport within a recognized NCAA conference to be independents.
^The NCAA considers all equestrian 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.
None; tournament canceled in progress due to COVID-19
2020-21
Mount St. Mary’s
Mount St. Mary’s
2021-22
Fairleigh Dickinson
Mount St. Mary’s
2022-23
Fairleigh Dickinson
Sacred Heart
2023-24
Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart
Football champions
Football champions
1996 – Robert Morris/Monmouth
1997 – Robert Morris
1998 – Monmouth/Robert Morris
1999 – Robert Morris
2000 – Robert Morris
2001 – Sacred Heart
2002 – Albany
2003 – Monmouth/Albany
2004 – Monmouth/Central Connecticut
2005 – Stony Brook/Central Connecticut
2006 – Monmouth
2007 – Albany
2008 – Albany
2009 – Central Connecticut
2010 – Robert Morris/Central Connecticut
2011 – Albany/Duquesne
2012 – Wagner/Albany
2013 – Sacred Heart/Duquesne
2014 – Sacred Heart/Wagner
2015 – Duquesne
2016 – Saint Francis (PA)/Duquesne
2017 – Central Connecticut
2018 – Duquesne/Sacred Heart
2019 - Central Connecticut
2020 - Sacred Heart
2021 - Sacred Heart
2022 - Saint Francis (PA)
2023 - Duquesne
Most conference championships
6 – Albany (3 shared)
6 – Robert Morris (3 shared)
6 – Central Connecticut (3 shared)
6 – Duquesne (4 shared)
6 – Sacred Heart (3 shared)
5 – Monmouth (4 shared)
2 – Saint Francis (PA) (1 shared)
2 – Wagner (2 shared)
1 – Stony Brook (1 shared)
NEC rivalries
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):
Non-conference
Constitution State Rivalry: Central Connecticut vs. Sacred Heart (non-conference starting in 2024–25)
Garden State Rivalry: Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Monmouth (non-conference since 2013–14)
Governor's Cup: Sacred Heart vs. Quinnipiac (non-conference since 2013–14, MAAC rivalry in 2024–25)
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)
Discontinued
Battle of Brooklyn: LIU vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (St. Francis Brooklyn dropped athletics after the 2022–23 academic year.)
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.
^ ab"Chicago State Officially Enters the Northeast Conference" (Press release). Chicago State Cougars Athletics. July 1, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2024. The full NEC conference membership will be for 13 of CSU's men's and women's sports while men's and women's tennis will remain in the Horizon League for one more season.
^"2012 Baseball Quick Facts"(PDF). grfx.CSTV.com. UMES Sports Information Department. Archived(PDF) from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
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