Established 1975 Division Division III | Association NCAA Region South Atlantic | |
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Members 14 (4 associate members) Sports fielded 24 (men's: 11; women's: 13) | ||
The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference. Of its 14 member schools, all but one are located in Virginia; the other full member is in North Carolina. The conference also has four associate members in Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C..
Contents
History
The conference was founded in 1975 as the Virginia College Conference. On January 1, 1976, the name was changed to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The 1976–77 season was the first in which championships were offered. In 1982–83, women's sports were added. In 1981, Catholic University joined the conference after leaving Division I's Colonial Athletic Association. In 1988, Virginia Wesleyan was added as a member, and, in 1990, Guilford became the first member located outside D.C. and Virginia. Maryville College was an all-sports member in the 1980s. In 1989 Catholic left the conference to become a charter member of the Capital Athletic Conference, returning in 1999 as a football-only member. The next school to leave the conference was Mary Baldwin College, which left in 1999 to join the Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference.
In 2010 the ODAC announced the addition of Shenandoah University to its full-time membership, with its first full year of involvement during the 2012–13 academic year.
The league office moved its physical location from Salem, Virginia, to Forest, Virginia, just outside centrally located Lynchburg, and contracted with Jim Ward Design for its new marks.
On March 3, 2015, Sweet Briar College announced it was to close (cease operations) at the end of the 2015 summer session. However, on June 20, 2015, the Virginia Attorney General announced a mediation agreement that will keep Sweet Briar College open for the 2015–16 academic year. Sweet Briar reactivated its sports teams in the 2015-16 season and remained a full member of the ODAC.
On September 29, 2015, it was announced that Catholic University would withdraw in 2017 as associate member to join the new football league at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference.
The conference hosts the Division III championships in football and men's basketball, both of which are held in Salem, Virginia. DIII softball has called Salem home along with Division III women's lacrosse and volleyball. Since 1993 - the conference and city have hosted over 50 Division III national championships.
Current members
† - Women's college, therefore not competing in men's sports.
^ - Men's college, therefore not competing in women's sports.
% - Hollins University does not have an athletic nickname.
* - Formerly Randolph-Macon Woman's College prior to 2008, now co-educational.
Membership timeline
Purple denotes football playing member.
Green denotes non-football playing member.
Red denotes associate member (football-only).
Blue denotes associate member (swimming only).
Sports
The conference sponsors championships in the following sports: