Conference Carolinas

Conference Carolinas

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Location of Conference Carolinas members: full, future

Conference Carolinas dates to its inception on December 6, 1930. The conference was formed then as an athletic association "for the greater advantage of the small colleges in North Carolina". The official name given back then was the North State Intercollegiate Conference but known informally as the Old North State Conference. The birthplace was the Washington Duke Hotel in Durham, North Carolina, and the seven charter members were Appalachian, Atlantic Christian (now Barton College), Catawba, Guilford, Elon, High Point, and Lenoir–Rhyne.

The conference followed a policy of expansion for a period of time. Western Carolina became a member in 1933, East Carolina in 1947, Pfeiffer in 1960, Newberry in 1961, and Presbyterian in 1964, followed closely by Mars Hill.

With the acceptance of the first member from South Carolina in Newberry College, a name change became necessary. Thus on May 20, 1961 the official name of the conference was changed to the Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC) but commonly known less formerly as the Carolinas Conference.

East Carolina resigned in 1962 to join the Southern Conference and Appalachian and Western Carolina followed. Football sponsorship in the Carolinas Conference was dropped in 1973 when Lenoir–Rhyne, Newberry, Presbyterian, and Mars Hill joined the South Atlantic Conference.

Pembroke State University, now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, became a first-time member in 1976 followed by Wingate College in 1979, and Lenoir–Rhyne rejoined in 1984.

While Guilford College withdrew in 1988, St. Andrews and Mount Olive were added that same year.

The 1989–90 academic year started a new era as Catawba, Elon, Lenoir–Rhyne and Wingate all withdrew to compete in the first year that the South Atlantic Conference provided championships in all sports, not just football.

The Carolinas Conference then added Belmont Abbey in 1989, Coker College (now Coker University) in 1991, and Lees-McRae in 1993. Pembroke State left in 1992.

The 1993–94 academic year brought a change to the conference national affiliation. The conference began the process of transferring membership to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) after years as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) member. During the transition, it was a dual member of the NCAA's Division II and the NAIA's Division I.

The 1995–96 year brought dramatic change to the conference. First, full membership into NCAA Division II was acquired and NAIA affiliation dropped. Thus, this was the first official year of full competition and championship play for the conference in NCAA DII status. Secondly, this was also the same year that Erskine, Longwood, & Queens were accepted as full members of the conference. With Longwood becoming the first Virginia member, another name change occurred and the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference (known more universally as the 'CVAC') was born.

Following the 1997 academic year High Point resigned to join the NCAA DI ranks while in 1998 Limestone soon joined and were quickly followed by Anderson in 1999.

In 2003, Longwood University left the conference to explore possibilities in NCAA Division I. Then in 2005 the CVAC added Converse College (becoming Converse University in July 2021) as an affiliate member before becoming a full member starting in the 2007–08 season.

With the lone Virginia school in Longwood leaving, the league decided to go back to its roots and change its name to Conference Carolinas June 1, 2007.

On June 1, 2011, King College and North Greenville University became official members of the conference and opened the conference to its first Tennessee member in King.

In 2013–14, Emmanuel College (Georgia) and Southern Wesleyan University became official members of the conference and opened the conference to its first Georgia member in Emmanuel. Southern Wesleyan began official full NCAA DII membership in 2016–17 while Emmanuel started in 2018–19.

After 57 years as a league member Pfeiffer University moved down to the NCAA DIII ranks on June 1, 2017.

Conference Carolinas and the South Atlantic Conference entered into a partnership in the 2018–19 school year by which the two leagues would operate as a single conference in field hockey and wrestling, with championships immediately conducted in both sports. The leagues agreed that CC would coordinate the wrestling championship, while the SAC would fill the same role for field hockey. Accordingly, all CC field hockey programs became de facto affiliates of the SAC, while SAC wrestling programs became de facto CC affiliates.[1] The CC–SAC alliance is officially branded as "South Atlantic Conference Carolinas".[2]

After the completion of the 2018–19 athletic year, former Commissioner Alan Patterson retired and was replaced by Chris Colvin. One of the first moves made by Colvin was to move the league headquarters to Greenville, South Carolina to be more centrally located to all member institutions.

The league now has 11 members, with the most recent change being the 2020 departure of Limestone College (now Limestone University) for the SAC.[3]

Many institutions have been members of the league during its rich history including Anderson, Appalachian, Barton (formerly Atlantic Christian), Belmont Abbey, Catawba, Coker, Converse, East Carolina, Erskine, Emmanuel, Guilford, Elon, High Point, King, Lees-McRae, Lenoir–Rhyne, Limestone, Longwood, Mars Hill, Mount Olive, Newberry, North Greenville, Pfeiffer, Presbyterian, Queens, St. Andrews, UNC Pembroke (as Pembroke State), Western Carolina and Wingate.

Barton is the only remaining charter member followed in longevity by Mount Olive's joining in 1988.

For the 2020–21 school year, CC added acrobatics & tumbling, newly added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program in that same school year, as its newest sport. Initially, five full members and one associate were to start competition,[4] but two more associates were added before competition began.[5]

Francis Marion University and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke announced that they would leave the Peach Belt Conference to join Conference Carolinas, beginning in the 2021–22 school year. Francis Marion is joining for the first time, while UNC Pembroke is returning after an absence of nearly 30 years.[6] They will be the first public schools to join CC since Longwood's 2003 departure. At the same time, Converse will admit men to its residential undergraduate program for the first time, and also add men's sports, initially fielding seven teams.[7] Also in 2021–22, current SAC member Lincoln Memorial University will add men's wrestling,[2] and Emory & Henry College, which sponsors that sport, will start a transition from Division III to Division II, joining the SAC (although it currently does not plan to start full SAC competition until 2022–23).[8] Both schools will become de facto CC affiliates as part of South Atlantic Conference Carolinas.

When Barton became the sixth member to sponsor men's volleyball in 2011–12, Conference Carolinas became the fourth official scholarship-granting conference in NCAA men's volleyball. It also became the first all-sports conference (i.e., one that sponsors men's and women's basketball) ever to sponsor men's volleyball as a scholarship sport,[9] and is also the first men's volleyball conference to consist solely of Division II members. No D-I all-sports conference sponsored the sport until the Big West Conference launched a men's volleyball league in the 2018 season (2017–18 school year).

Conference Carolinas sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in the following sports:

Conference sports

Sport	Men's	Women's
Acrobatics & tumbling		Y
Baseball	Y
Basketball	Y	Y
Cross Country	Y	Y
Golf	Y	Y
Lacrosse	Y	Y
Soccer	Y	Y
Softball		Y
Swimming & Diving	Y	Y
Tennis	Y	Y
Track & Field Indoor	Y	Y
Track & Field Outdoor	Y	Y
Volleyball	Y	Y
Wrestling	Y

In field hockey and wrestling, Conference Carolinas and the South Atlantic Conference operate as a single league known as South Atlantic Conference Carolinas, holding joint conference tournaments in each sport. As noted previously, CC operates only the wrestling championship.

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Volleyball [lower-alpha 1]	Wrestling	Total CC Sports
Barton	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		11
Belmont Abbey	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Chowan	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y					8
Emmanuel	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	12
Erskine	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y			Y		7
King	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Lees–McRae		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		9
Mount Olive	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
North Greenville	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y		10
Southern Wesleyan	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y	Y	Y			8
Totals	9	10	10	9	7	10	5	10	8	8	8	4	99
Affiliate members
Coker												Y	1
Limestone												Y	1
Newberry												Y	1
Queens												Y	1
Future members
Converse[lower-alpha 2]		Y	Y			Y		Y	Y	Y	Y		7
Francis Marion	Y	Y	Y				Y	Y	Y				7
UNC Pembroke	Y	Y	Y						Y	Y		Y	6
Future affiliate members
Emory & Henry												Y	1

1. De facto Division I sport. The NCAA operates a combined Division I/II championship in men's volleyball, and scholarship limits in that sport are the same for members of both divisions.
2. Current member adding men's sports in 2021.

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Acrobatics & Tumbling	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Volleyball	Total CC Sports
Barton		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Belmont Abbey	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Chowan	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y			Y	10
Converse	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	12
Emmanuel		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Erskine	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y			Y	9
King	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Lees–McRae		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Mount Olive		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	10
North Greenville		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Southern Wesleyan		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Totals	5	11	11	10	10	11	11	6	11	9	9	11	115
Affiliate members
Coker	Y												1
Lander	Y												1
Limestone	Y												1
Future members
Francis Marion		Y	Y			Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	8
UNC Pembroke		Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	9

• NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship, in which the CC champion receives an automatic berth

• Official website