Northeast 10 Conference

History

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 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 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) were joined by College of Saint Rose giving the NE-10 15 members. In 2008, Bryant University announced it would begin the five-year process that would make them a full Division I member by 2012; at the same time the NE-10 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 2008-2009 academic year the NE-10 still had 15 members and expanded to 16 in 2009-10.

With that major expansion, the NE-10 now stands as the second-largest NCAA Division II conference in the nation. The strength in numbers was the guiding force in the addition and strengthening of a number of championship sports the league now offers. However, because the NE-10 is the sole Division II hockey league, its postseason champion cannot compete for the NCAA national hockey championship.

On July 1, 2013, UMass Lowell left the NE-10 to join the Division I America East Conference. With the departure of UMass Lowell, the Northeast-10 Conference has 15 remaining members.

Since the addition of those five institutions, the league has added football, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field as championship sports. While the expansion has added championships in certain sports, it has also increased the championship opportunities for countless student-athletes with the expansion of postseason tournaments for sports such as field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, and baseball.

The expansion continued in 2003-04 as the conference added another three championships to its diverse menu – men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, and men’s ice hockey – the only Division II ice hockey conference in the nation. The conference also continued to expand in the classroom. Each year, the NE-10 honors a record number of scholar athletes to the Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

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.

Affiliate members

Membership timeline

 Full member (all sports)   Full member (non-football)   Associate member (football-only)   Associate member (sport) 

Women's sponsored sports by school

Other sponsored sports by school