History UsefulNotes / NCAA

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, as of the upcoming 2024 NCAA soccer season, five FBS conferences--the Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and SEC--sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the 2024 season, FIU (CUSA) plays in the American Athletic Conference; Akron (MAC) plays in the Big East Conference; Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan (all MAC) play in the Missouri Valley Conference; Liberty (CUSA) plays in the Ohio Valley Conference; Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), UCF, and West Virginia (both Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference. San Diego State had played in the Pac-12, but that conference's collapse has left the Aztecs in conference limbo. Speaking of the Pac-12, it will only have two members in 2024, with only Oregon State sponsoring men's soccer; the Beavers will house that sport in the West Coast Conference.[[/note]] There are also a small number of conferences that exist only to serve this need. The largest are the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference [[note]]220 schools across all three divisions in 15 mens and women's sports apiece[[/note]] and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation[[note]]38 schools, in 11 Division I sports; in 2024-25 MPSF will add beach volleyball with six of its seven teams coming from 2023-24 Pac-12, including the two (USC and UCLA) that won the first seven NCAA championships in the sport[[/note]].

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, as of the upcoming 2024 NCAA soccer season, five FBS conferences—the Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and SEC—sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the 2024 season, FIU (CUSA) plays in the American Athletic Conference; Akron (MAC) plays in the Big East Conference; Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan (all MAC) play in the Missouri Valley Conference; Liberty (CUSA) plays in the Ohio Valley Conference; Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), UCF, and West Virginia (both Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference. San Diego State had played in the Pac-12, but that conference's collapse has left the Aztecs in conference limbo. Speaking of the Pac-12, it will only have two members in 2024, with only Oregon State sponsoring men's soccer; the Beavers will house that sport in the West Coast Conference.[[/note]]

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, as of the upcoming 2023 NCAA soccer season, five FBS conferences—the Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and SEC—sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the 2024 season, FIU (CUSA) plays in the American Athletic Conference; Akron (MAC) plays in the Big East Conference; Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan (all MAC) play in the Missouri Valley Conference; Liberty (CUSA) plays in the Ohio Valley Conference; Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), UCF, and West Virginia (both Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference. San Diego State had played in the Pac-12, but that conference's collapse has left the Aztecs in conference limbo. Speaking of the Pac-12, it will only have two members in 2024, with only Oregon State sponsoring men's soccer; the Beavers will house that sport in the West Coast Conference.[[/note]]

** Currently (2023), there's a strong move within the men's soccer community to adopt a "split season" model in which the number of matches would not change, but the season would be split between the fall and spring, with the championship in the spring. Women's soccer is so far not affected by this.

* Division I — The highest level, with the greatest numbers of scholarships.[[note]]Although some conferences restrict the number of scholarships, especially in football, to a lower level than the NCAA allows. Most notably, the UsefulNotes/IvyLeague does not allow athletic scholarships in any sport.[[/note]] Football is subdivided into FBS (top level) and FCS; see our pages on college football conferences ([[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Power Five]]; [[UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences Group of Five]], [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballConferences FBS independents, and FCS]]) or The Other Wiki for more details.

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, as of the current 2023 NCAA soccer season, five of the 10 FBS conferences—the Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and SEC—sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the 2023 season, FIU (C-USA) plays in the American Athletic Conference; Akron (MAC) plays in the Big East Conference; Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan (all MAC) play in the Missouri Valley Conference; Liberty (C-USA) plays in the Ohio Valley Conference; Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), UCF, and West Virginia (both Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; San Diego State (MW) plays in the Pac-12; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference.[[/note]]

* Wrestling[[note]]Incidentally, men's and women's college wrestling use separate rulesets. Men's wrestling uses its own ruleset, described by The Other Wiki as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_wrestling collegiate wrestling]]. Women's wrestling uses the same [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_wrestling freestyle]] ruleset seen in the Olympics.[[/note]]

In sports that do not have separate national championships for D-II or D-III, lower-division schools are allowed to compete alongside D-I members. D-II members may operate under D-I rules and scholarship limits in those sports. The sport most notably affected by this rule is ice hockey; the NCAA has never had a D-II women's championship in that sport, and abolished its D-II men's championship in the late '90s. While the NCAA previously allowed D-II schools to compete in D-I in sports other than football and basketball, even if D-II championships were available, it shut off that ability in 2011, though a {{grandfather clause}} allows a few D-II schools to "play up" despite the existence of D-II championships to this day.[[note]]As of the 2023–24 school year, the last such schools are Augusta in men's and women's golf; Dallas Baptist in baseball; Francis Marion in men's golf; and Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, and Lock Haven in men's wrestling.[[/note]]

* Division I — The highest level, with the greatest numbers of scholarships.[[note]]Although some conferences restrict the number of scholarships, especially in football, to a lower level than the NCAA allows. Most notably, the UsefulNotes/IvyLeague does not allow athletic scholarships in any sport.[[/note]] Football is subdivided into FBS (top level) and FCS; see our pages on college football conferences ([[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballPower5Conferences Power Five]]; [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballConferences Group of Five, FBS independents, and FCS]]) or The Other Wiki for more details.

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, as of the current 2023 NCAA soccer season, five of the 10 FBS conferences—the Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and SEC—sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the upcoming 2023 season, FIU (C-USA) plays in the American Athletic Conference; Akron (MAC) plays in the Big East Conference; Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan (all MAC) play in the Missouri Valley Conference; Liberty (C-USA) plays in the Ohio Valley Conference; Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), UCF, and West Virginia (both Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; San Diego State (MW) plays in the Pac-12; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference.[[/note]]

* A sport has a limited number of schools sponsoring it. For example, ice hockey is highly regionalized, with sponsoring schools almost all being in areas with cold winters. Because of this, the only Division I all-sports conference[[note]]one that sponsors men's and women's basketball—while the NCAA's definition of "all-sports conference" is much more detailed, every conference with basketball meets NCAA criteria for "all-sports" status[[/note]] that sponsors the sport for either sex is the Big Ten, which only runs a men's league.[[note]]Technically, the Ivy League sponsors the sport for ''both'' sexes. However, it doesn't hold a postseason tournament. Instead, its six hockey-sponsoring schools, all with men's and women's teams, play as members of ECAC Hockey. Ivy champions are extrapolated from regular-season results in ECAC games that involve two Ivy teams.[[/note]] As a result, hockey has its own set of conferences separate from the all-sports structure.
* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, as of the upcoming 2023 NCAA soccer season, five of the 10 FBS conferences—the Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and SEC—sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the upcoming 2023 season, FIU (C-USA) plays in the American Athletic Conference; Akron (MAC) plays in the Big East Conference; Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan (all MAC) play in the Missouri Valley Conference; Liberty (C-USA) plays in the Ohio Valley Conference; Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), UCF, and West Virginia (both Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; San Diego State (MW) plays in the Pac-12; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference.[[/note]]

In sports that do not have separate national championships for D-II or D-III, lower-division schools are allowed to compete alongside D-I members. D-II members may operate under D-I rules and scholarship limits in those sports. The sport most notably affected by this rule is ice hockey; the NCAA has never had a D-II women's championship in that sport, and abolished its D-II men's championship in the late '90s. While the NCAA previously allowed D-II schools to compete in D-I in sports other than football and basketball, even if D-II championships were available, it shut off that ability in 2011, though a {{grandfather clause}} allows a few D-II schools to "play up" despite the existence of D-II championships to this day.[[note]]As of the 2022–23 school year, the last such schools are Augusta in men's and women's golf; Dallas Baptist in baseball; Francis Marion in men's golf; and Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, and Lock Haven in men's wrestling.[[/note]]

* Stunt – An all-female cheerleading discipline that heavily emphasizes acrobatics. To be added for Division II in 2023–24; Divisions I and III are considering adding it as well but have not yet done so.

* Equestrianism[[note]]called "equestrian" by the NCAA; the NCAA sport does not include all of the equestrian disciplines contested in the Olympics[[/note]]

* A sport has a limited number of schools sponsoring it. For example, ice hockey is highly regionalized, with sponsoring schools almost all being in areas with cold winters. Because of this, the only Division I all-sports conference[[note]]one that sponsors men's and women's basketball—while the NCAA's definition of "all-sports conference" is much more detailed, every conference with basketball meets NCAA criteria for "all-sports" status[[/note]] that sponsors the sport for either sex is the Big Ten, which only runs a men's league.[[note]]Technically, the Ivy League sponsors the sport for ''both'' sexes. However, it doesn't hold a postseason tournament. Instead, its six hockey-sponsoring schools, all with men's and women's teams, play as members of ECAC Hockey. An Ivy champion is extrapolated from regular-season results in ECAC games that involve two Ivy teams.[[/note]] As a result, hockey has its own set of conferences separate from the all-sports structure.

* A sport has a limited number of schools sponsoring it. For example, ice hockey is highly regionalized, with sponsoring schools almost all being in areas with cold winters. Because of this, the only Division I all-sports conference[[note]]one that sponsors men's and women's basketball—while the NCAA's definition of "all-sports conference" is much more detailed, every conference with basketball meets NCAA criteria for "all-sports" status[[/note]] that sponsors the sport for either sex is the Big Ten, which only runs a men's league.[[note]]Technically, the Ivy League sponsors the sport for ''both'' sexes. However, it doesn't hold a postseason tournament. Instead, its six hockey-sponsoring schools, all with men's and women's teams, play as members of ECAC Hockey. An Ivy champion is extrapolated from regular-season results in games involving two Ivy teams.[[/note]] As a result, hockey has its own set of conferences separate from the all-sports structure.

The NCAA, or the National Collegiate Athletic Association, is the primary organization for college level athletics in the United States. Founded in 1906 as a result of a plea by President UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt to reform college football as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, the organization now organizes and regulates events, scholarships, and recruiting in a number of sports in the US [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg (as well as Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, Canada)]] at all levels.

* A sport has a limited number of schools sponsoring it. For example, ice hockey is highly regionalized, with sponsoring schools almost all being in areas with cold winters. Because of this, the only Division I all-sports conference[[note]]one that sponsors men's and women's basketball—while the NCAA's definition of "all-sports conference" is much more detailed, every conference with basketball meets NCAA criteria for "all-sports" status[[/note]] that sponsors the sport for either sex is the Big Ten, which only runs a men's league. As a result, hockey has its own set of conferences separate from the all-sports structure.

In sports that do not have separate national championships for D-II or D-III, lower-division schools are allowed to compete alongside D-I members. D-II members may operate under D-I rules and scholarship limits in those sports. The sport most notably affected by this rule is ice hockey; the NCAA has never had a D-II women's championship in that sport, and abolished its D-II men's championship in the late '90s. While the NCAA previously allowed D-II schools to compete in D-I in sports other than football and basketball, even if D-II championships were available, it shut off that ability in 2011, though a {{grandfather clause}} allows a few D-II schools to "play up" despite the existence of D-II championships to this day.[[note]]As of the 2022–23 school year, the last such schools are Augusta in men's and women's golf, Dallas Baptist in baseball, and Francis Marion in men's golf.[[/note]]

Another grandfather clause, dating from 2004, has allowed an even smaller number of D-III schools to compete as D-I members with scholarships in one men's sport and one women's sport. The most notable examples of programs covered by this clause are Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse and Colorado College men's ice hockey.[[note]]The schools covered by this particular grandfather clause had competed at the highest level in a specific sport before the NCAA's first divisional split in 1956, long before women's sports were under NCAA authority. These schools were later allowed to add a scholarship women's team, presumably due to Title IX (i.e., a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in higher education).[[/note]] This rule changed in 2021, shortly after the NCAA gave each division the right to set its own rules without needing to go through approval by the entire membership. Not only can schools covered by the 2004 grandfather clause still offer scholarships in their D-I sports, but a D-III school that sponsors a sport that does not have a D-III championship can offer scholarships in that sport.

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, as of the upcoming 2023 NCAA soccer season, five of the 10 FBS conferences—the Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and SEC—sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the upcoming 2023 season, Akron (MAC) plays in the Big East Conference; Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan (all MAC) play in the Missouri Valley Conference; FIU (C-USA) plays in the American Athletic Conference; Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), UCF, and West Virginia (both Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; Liberty (C-USA) plays in the Ohio Valley Conference; San Diego State (MW) plays in the Pac-12; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference.[[/note]]

Each sport is subdivided into "Divisions" which denote level of play. The number of divisions and qualifications for them differ from sport to sport. See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Collegiate_Athletic_Association the page on the NCAA]] on [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] for more details. The basic divisions are:

* Division III — Does not allow athletic scholarships, period[[note]]"full stop" for our friends outside North America[[/note]]. Generally, these schools strongly emphasize academics over athletics, and treat athletics as just another student activity.
The NCAA first split into divisions for both legislative and competitive purposes in 1956, with the most competitive programs placed in the ''University Division'' and the rest of the membership placed in the ''College Division''. The current three-division setup, with divisions designated by Roman numerals, was created in 1973. The University Division was renamed Division I; the College Division was split, with schools wishing to continue awarding athletic scholarships (or compete alongside those that did) placed in Division II and those wishing a non-scholarship environment placed in Division III.

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, the Big 12, Mountain West, and SEC sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the upcoming 2023 season, Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), UCF, and West Virginia (both Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; San Diego State (MW) plays in the Pac-12; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference.[[/note]]

In sports that do not have separate national championships for D-II or D-III, lower-division schools are allowed to compete alongside D-I members. D-II members may operate under D-I rules and scholarship limits in those sports. The sport most notably affected by this rule is ice hockey; the NCAA has never had a D-II women's championship in that sport, and abolished its D-II men's championship in the late '90s. While the NCAA previously allowed D-II schools to compete in D-I in sports other than football and basketball, even if D-II championships were available, it shut off that ability in 2011, though a {{grandfather clause}} allows a few D-II schools to "play up" despite the existence of D-II championships to this day.

Another grandfather clause, dating from 2004, allows an even smaller number of D-III schools to compete as D-I members with scholarships in one men's sport and one women's sport. The most notable examples of programs covered by this clause are Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse and Colorado College men's ice hockey.[[note]]The schools covered by this particular grandfather clause had competed at the highest level in a specific sport before the NCAA's first divisional split in 1956, long before women's sports were under NCAA authority. These schools were later allowed to add a scholarship women's team, presumably due to Title IX (i.e., a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in higher education).[[/note]]

* Acrobatics & tumbling – A combination of the internationally recognized gymnastic disciplines of ''acrobatic gymnastics'' and ''tumbling'', this is one of the two newest emerging sports, being added for 2020–21.

* Wrestling — The other emerging sport added for 2020–21.[[note]]Incidentally, men's and women's college wrestling use separate rulesets. Men's wrestling uses its own ruleset, described by The Other Wiki as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_wrestling collegiate wrestling]]. Women's wrestling uses the same [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_wrestling freestyle]] ruleset seen in the Olympics.[[/note]]

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, the Big 12, Mountain West, and SEC sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, as of the 2022 season, Kentucky, South Carolina (both SEC), and West Virginia (Big 12) play in the Sun Belt Conference; San Diego State (MW) plays in the Pac-12; and Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference.[[/note]]

** Currently (2022), there's a strong move within the men's soccer community to adopt a "split season" model in which the number of matches would not change, but the season would be split between the fall and spring, with the championship in the spring. Women's soccer is so far not affected by this.

Each sport is subdivided into "Divisions" which denote level of play. The number of divisions and qualifications for them differ from sport to sport. See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Collegiate_Athletic_Association the page on the NCAA]] on [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] for more details. The basic divisions are:

** It's the only NCAA sport in which men and women compete against one another as equals.

* A school sponsors a sport that its main conference does not. This is not just the case in ice hockey, but in many more widely sponsored NCAA sports. For example, the Big 12, Mountain West, and SEC sponsor soccer for women but not for men. The schools in these conferences that have men's soccer teams house them in other all-sports conferences that do operate men's soccer leagues.[[note]]In the men's soccer example here, West Virginia (Big 12) plays in the Mid-American Conference; San Diego State (MW) plays in the Pac-12; Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV (all MW) play in the Western Athletic Conference; and Kentucky and South Carolina (both SEC) play in Conference USA.[[/note]]

** It's also the only NCAA sport in which two teams from the same school can directly compete against one another; schools may field any combination of men-only, women-only, and mixed-sex teams (only one of each type).

* Rifle (coeducational) – single championship for all three divisions
** Notably, rifle is the only NCAA sport in which men and women compete against one another as equals. It's also the only NCAA sport in which two teams from the same school can directly compete against one another; schools may field any combination of men-only, women-only, and mixed-sex teams (only one of each type).

* Division I — The highest level, with the greatest numbers of scholarships.[[note]]Although some conferences restrict the number of scholarships, especially in football, to a lower level than the NCAA allows. Most notably, the UsefulNotes/IvyLeague does not allow athletic scholarships in any sport.[[/note]] Football is subdivided into FBS (top level) and FCS; see our pages on college football conferences (UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballPower5Conferences Power Five]], [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballConferences Group of Five, FBS independents, and FCS]]) or The Other Wiki for more details.

* Division I — The highest level, with the greatest numbers of scholarships.[[note]]Although some conferences restrict the number of scholarships, especially in football, to a lower level than the NCAA allows. Most notably, the UsefulNotes/IvyLeague does not allow athletic scholarships in any sport.[[/note]] Football is subdivided into FBS (top level) and FCS; see UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballConferences or The Other Wiki for more details.

These sports have official NCAA championship events. The organization divides the academic year into three distinct "seasons"; these sports are organized by the seasons in which championship events are held.[[labelnote:*]]Due to [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]], the NCAA canceled all winter and spring championships in 2020 (except for those already completed), canceled some winter 2021 championships in Division III due to most D-III members opting out of competition, and [[UsefulNotes/COVID19PandemicReleaseDateChanges moved all of its fall 2020 championship events]] to spring 2021. The FBS championship, which is not operated by the NCAA, was not moved.[[/labelnote]]

These sports have official NCAA championship events. The organization divides the academic year into three distinct "seasons"; these sports are organized by the seasons in which championship events are held.