13 Schools•Division III•Est. 1984
The North Coast Athletic Conference, or NCAC, was announced in February 1983 at joint news conferences in Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh. Its seven charter members were Allegheny, Case Western Reserve, Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster, and competition began in the fall of 1984.
The NCAC was built on a bold idea. Its constitution's preamble called for equity between women's and men's sports, making it the first conference to state that equity as a key operating goal. The league treated every sport as important, not just football and men's basketball, and placed college presidents in charge. It opened with championships in 21 sports, the most of any Division III conference at the time.
Success came quickly. Oberlin won the first NCAC championship, in women's cross country, in October 1984, and Wooster claimed the first all sports title in 1985 as Kenyon swept national titles in men's and women's swimming. Ohio Wesleyan's men's basketball team won a national championship in 1988, and Allegheny's football team followed in 1990. In 2003, Kenyon's Ashley Rowatt became the first Division III student athlete to win the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
The NCAC holds to its founding belief that intercollegiate athletics can and should complement academic life.
Official Website
The North Coast Athletic Conference, or NCAC, was announced in February 1983 at joint news conferences in Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh. Its seven charter members were Allegheny, Case Western Reserve, Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster, and competition began in the fall of 1984.
The NCAC was built on a bold idea. Its constitution's preamble called for equity between women's and men's sports, making it the first conference to state that equity as a key operating goal. The league treated every sport as important, not just football and men's basketball, and placed college presidents in charge. It opened with championships in 21 sports, the most of any Division III conference at the time.
Success came quickly. Oberlin won the first NCAC championship, in women's cross country, in October 1984, and Wooster claimed the first all sports title in 1985 as Kenyon swept national titles in men's and women's swimming. Ohio Wesleyan's men's basketball team won a national championship in 1988, and Allegheny's football team followed in 1990. In 2003, Kenyon's Ashley Rowatt became the first Division III student athlete to win the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
The NCAC holds to its founding belief that intercollegiate athletics can and should complement academic life.
Official Website
NCAC basketball brings together 9 member schools, with 9 men's and 6 women's programs competing in NCAA Division III. The conference was founded in 1984.
Denison University, DePauw University, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, The College of Wooster, Wabash College, Wittenberg University.
RallyFuel tracks 388 NCAC basketball athletes across the conference, from 28 states and 13 other countries. The most common home states are Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.