13 Schools•Division III•Est. 1976
The Old Dominion Athletic Conference competes in NCAA Division III, with member schools concentrated in Virginia and one in North Carolina. The league is unusual in its makeup, bringing together coeducational colleges, women's colleges and a men's college under one banner.
The conference was founded in 1975 as the Virginia College Conference and took its current name on the first day of 1976. Competition began the following academic year with eight Virginia charter members. Women's sports arrived in the early 1980s and the league has added sports and schools steadily since.
Salem, Virginia has become the conference's showcase city. Since the early 1990s the ODAC and Salem have partnered to host Division III national championships across a range of sports, and the city remains one of the most familiar postseason destinations in the division.
The Olympic thread runs through the league as well. Dan Wooldridge, the conference's first commissioner and a Lynchburg graduate, officiated at the Montreal Games. Roanoke soccer standout Shelley Olds later found cycling and rode for the United States in London.
The signature rivalry is The Game, played by Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon since 1893 and widely described as the oldest small college rivalry in the South. It closes the regular season each November, often with the conference title in the balance, and the rivalry now runs through every sport the two schools share.
Official Website
The Old Dominion Athletic Conference competes in NCAA Division III, with member schools concentrated in Virginia and one in North Carolina. The league is unusual in its makeup, bringing together coeducational colleges, women's colleges and a men's college under one banner.
The conference was founded in 1975 as the Virginia College Conference and took its current name on the first day of 1976. Competition began the following academic year with eight Virginia charter members. Women's sports arrived in the early 1980s and the league has added sports and schools steadily since.
Salem, Virginia has become the conference's showcase city. Since the early 1990s the ODAC and Salem have partnered to host Division III national championships across a range of sports, and the city remains one of the most familiar postseason destinations in the division.
The Olympic thread runs through the league as well. Dan Wooldridge, the conference's first commissioner and a Lynchburg graduate, officiated at the Montreal Games. Roanoke soccer standout Shelley Olds later found cycling and rode for the United States in London.
The signature rivalry is The Game, played by Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon since 1893 and widely described as the oldest small college rivalry in the South. It closes the regular season each November, often with the conference title in the balance, and the rivalry now runs through every sport the two schools share.
Official Website