The Northeast-10 Conference ( NE-10 ) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of Connecticut , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont . It is the only Division II collegiate ice hockey conference in the United States.
23-598: The original 1980 conference was called the "Northeast 7" as the colleges were American International College , Assumption College , Bentley College , Bryant College , the University of Hartford , Springfield College , and Stonehill College . In 1981, Saint Anselm College was the eighth team to join and the resulting "NE-8" stayed this way until 1984 when the University of Hartford left and Merrimack College joined. The “Northeast-10” name came about in 1987 when Saint Michael's College and Quinnipiac College joined
46-807: A Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.) or Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (B.S.B.A). Certificates and other non-degree programs are also offered. The school competes in NCAA Division II , and is a member of the Northeast-10 Conference for all but four sports. Additionally, the institution's wrestling program, which is the only NCAA DII program in New England, competes as an independent. Among
69-566: A major football program. Division I-AA still had just 50 members when the four-year deadline set in January 1978 expired, forcing 41 schools that did not meet I-A criteria to reclassify to I-AA. Some successfully appealed the decision, including eight members of the Mid-American Conference along with Cincinnati , a football independent at the time. Thus I-AA membership hit an early peak of 91 in 1982, before settling down into
92-491: A program's admittance to I-A included (1) scheduling 60% of its games against other I-A teams, and either (2) having a 30,000-seat stadium and an average attendance of 17,000 for one year in the last four, or (3) drawing an average of 17,000 over the last four years. Division I football schools satisfying #1 and either #2 or #3 also had to maintain eight sports overall. Schools failing to meet either #2 or #3 could still qualify for I-A if they maintained twelve sports overall. (NOTE:
115-655: Is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts . American International College was originally established on July 18, 1885 by Calvin E. Amaron who sought to create an institution of higher learning that would provide the local French Canadian minority with access to higher education. The university offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including master's and doctoral degrees and certificates of advanced graduate study (CAGS). There are three schools which focus on their respective academic areas: Undergraduate students choose from 37 majors as they earn
138-465: The 1978 season. Meanwhile, another 35 reclassified from Division II to Division I-AA, including four entire conferences. Thus, at least initially, the creation of Division I-AA appeared to backfire; rather than serve as a home for the smaller or less competitive football programs of Division I, it created a pathway for football-playing Division II schools to join Division I without the burden of funding
161-525: The 80-90 range for the next several years. The next big increase in Division I-AA membership came after the January 1991 NCAA convention voted to require an athletic program to maintain all of its sports at the same divisional level by the 1993 season. In order to comply, 28 Division I schools with football programs at the Division II and Division III levels were forced to upgrade their teams to
184-547: The Division I level, and all of them (at least initially) chose Division I-AA as their new football home. At the same time, the number of football scholarships allowed in I-AA was reduced from the original 70 to 63, effective in 1994; it has remained at that number ever since. With the new additions, membership in I-AA hit a new high of 118 in 1993. The subdivision stabilized thereafter, maintaining at least 120 members from 1997 onward. Membership peaked at 130 in 2022 before settling at
207-601: The Division II LIU Post Pioneers , the latter of which was a NE10 affiliate member in field hockey and football at the time of announcement—into a single D-I athletic program under the LIU name. As such, the LIU Post field hockey team was merged with LIU Brooklyn's previously existing team in that sport, and the LIU Post football team became the new LIU football team, competing as a Division I FCS team in
230-586: The FCS level comprises 129 teams in 13 conferences as of the 2024 season . The FCS designation is relevant only for football; members of the subdivision compete in NCAA Division I in all other sports. From 1906 to 1955, the NCAA had no divisional structure for member schools. Prior to the 1956 college football season, NCAA schools were organized into an upper University Division and lower College Division . In
253-774: The Liberty Conference, while the women's team is a member of the NIRA . NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision ( FCS ), formerly known as Division I-AA , is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision . Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA),
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#1732783985777276-599: The NCAA national hockey championship. David Brunk, the first full-time commissioner in league history, announced in April he was resigning July 1, 2007 to take over the Peach Belt Conference . Brunk had been commissioner since 1998. Julie Ruppert became the next full-time commissioner in June 2008, becoming the first female Division II commissioner in the country. In 2008, Bryant University announced it would begin
299-575: The NCAA, at the time, governed male sports only; women's teams did not count toward these totals). Of 144 schools participating in Division I football in the 1977 season, 79 were expected to qualify for I-A, with the remaining 65 relegated to I-AA. But because the NCAA allowed four years for criteria #2 and #3 to be met, just eight schools (seven from the Southwestern Athletic Conference , a league of HBCUs that had just moved to Division I in 1977) opted for Division I-AA for
322-752: The NE10 to join the Division I America East Conference . With the departure of UMass Lowell, the Northeast-10 Conference had 15 remaining members. Two other changes to the conference membership, both taking effect with the 2019–20 school year, were announced in 2018. First, Merrimack announced that it would begin a transition to Division I and join the Northeast Conference (the same move that Bryant made in 2008). Then, Long Island University announced that it would unify its two athletic programs—the Division I LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds and
345-456: The Northeast Conference. Thus, the NE10 was at a total of 14 member schools. In 2022, the number was reduced to 13 with Stonehill College's announcement of its departure for Division I's Northeast Conference (NEC). The next change in conference membership took place on July 1, 2023 when Le Moyne left for the NEC, dropping the NE10 to 12 members for the 2023-24 season. In 2023, St. Rose announced it
368-442: The addition of those five institutions, the league has added football , indoor track and field , and outdoor track and field as championship sports. The expansion continued in 2003–04 as the conference added another three championships – men's swimming and diving , women's swimming and diving, and men's ice hockey . However, because the NE10 is the sole Division II men's ice hockey league, its postseason champion cannot compete for
391-480: The current 129. NCAA Division I-A and NCAA Division I-AA were renamed as NCAA Division I FBS and NCAA Division I FCS prior to the 2006 season. The FCS has held a post-season playoff to award an NCAA-sanctioned national championship since its inception in 1978. The size of the playoff bracket has increased from 4 teams in 1978 to 24 teams in the 2020 season. This makes the FCS the highest level of college football with an NCAA-sanctioned national championship. As of
414-589: The exceptions is the school's men's ice hockey team, which is a member of the Division I , Atlantic Hockey America . The team participated in its first NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship in 2019 and defeated nationally ranked No.1 St. Cloud State in the first round. AIC also has a college rugby program that was founded in 2009 and began play in 2010. The rugby program is part of the school's athletic department, has varsity status, with rugby scholarships available for students. AIC's men's team plays Division 1A in
437-425: The five-year process that would make them a full Division I member by 2012; at the same time the NE10 announced that it had given a bid to University of New Haven and they had accepted. In December 2007, Adelphi University announced it had joined the league and began playing in 2009–10. To start the 2008–09 academic year the NE10 still had 15 members and expanded to 16 in 2009-10. On July 1, 2013, UMass Lowell left
460-627: The league. The conference remained stable until 1995 when Springfield College left for Division III. The league stayed at ten members as Le Moyne College joined the league in 1996 from the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) and briefly expanded to eleven when Pace University joined in 1997 from the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference (NYCAC). Quinnipiac moved to the Division I Northeast Conference (NEC) to again return
483-524: The membership to ten. The last major expansion took place prior to 2000, when five new schools joined the fold. Franklin Pierce College , Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU; formerly New Hampshire College), the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell), and Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and the College of Saint Rose (Saint Rose) giving the NE10 15 members. Since
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#1732783985777506-492: The summer of 1973 , the University Division became Division I , but by 1976, there was a desire to further separate the major football programs from those that were less financially successful, while allowing their other sports to compete at the top level. Division I-AA was created in January 1978, when Division I was subdivided into Division I-A and Division I-AA for football only. The initial criteria for
529-647: Was ceasing operations after the 2023-24 academic year, dropping the NE10 to 11 members effective for the 2024-25 season. The NE10 currently has 11 full members; all but one are private schools. The NE10 currently has 5 affiliate members: The NE10 had nine former full members; all but one were private schools. The NE10 had one former affiliate member, which was also a private school. Full member (all sports) Full member (non-football) Associate member (football) Associate member (other) American International College American International College ( AIC )
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