The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is a

college athletic conference In college athletics in the United States, institutions typically join in conferences for regular play under different governing bodies. Varsity sports There are several national and regional associations governing the varsity teams of colleges ...

which competes in

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

. All 13 of the member schools are located in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

and are private institutions, with only two being non-sectarian.

History

On March 15, 1920, a formal constitution was adopted and the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with founding members

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowlin ...

Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavus gets its name ...

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline ...

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

Saint John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and the Patron Saint Olaf ...

, and the College of St. Thomas (now University of St. Thomas). Concordia College joined the MIAC in 1921,

Augsburg University Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the ...

in 1924, and Saint Mary's University in 1926. Carleton dropped membership in 1925, rejoining in 1983. St. Olaf left in 1950, returning in 1975. The

University of Minnesota Duluth The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and offers 16 bachelor's degrees in 88 majors, graduate programs in 25 different fields, and a two-year pro ...

was a member of the MIAC from 1950 to 1975. Bethel University joined in 1978. The MIAC initiated women's competition in the 1981–82 season. Two all-women's schools subsequently joined the conference, St. Catherine University in 1983 and the

College of St. Benedict The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are two closely related private, Catholic higher education institutions in Minnesota. The College of Saint Benedict is a women's college located in St. Joseph, while Saint John's Univ ...

in 1985. The conference did not play sports from the fall 1943 to the spring of 1945 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Saint Mary's discontinued its football program in 1955. Macalester football left the conference in 2002, but subsequently rejoined. St. Catherine and St. Benedict, being both women's colleges, also do not sponsor football. Together with Saint John's, one of only a handful of men's colleges, St. Benedict forms a joint academic institution, known commonly by the initialism CSB/SJU. From 1947 to 2003 the MIAC had a strong men's wrestling program, which was discontinued following the 2002–03 season. The strongest teams over the history of the conference were Augsburg with 31 team championships, and Saint John's with 14 team championships. The MIAC teams and individual wrestlers demonstrated a strong national and Olympic presence in the 1970s and beyond. On May 22, 2019, it was announced that the MIAC had expelled the University of St. Thomas effective at the end of spring 2021 at the latest, giving it time to make other athletic arrangements were that much time to become necessary. St. Thomas by this point had over twice the enrollment of any other member institution. and on May 28, 2020, the conference announced the addition of the

College of St. Scholastica The College of St. Scholastica (CSS) is a Private college, private Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine college in Duluth, Minnesota. Founded in 1912 by a group of pioneering Benedictine Sisters, today St. Scholastica educates almost 4,000 student ...

after leaving the

Upper Midwest Athletic Conference The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) is a college-level athletic conference. The UMAC is a conference of NCAA Division III since the 2008–09 season. Prior to that, it was a non scholarship conference affiliated with National Associati ...

in 2021. The conference split into two divisions for football in 2021. The Northwoods Division consists of Carleton College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint John's University, St. Olaf College, and The College of St. Scholastica. The Skyline Division consists of Augsburg University, Bethel University, Concordia College, Hamline University, and Macalester College.

Chronological timeline

* 1920 - On March 15, 1920, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) was founded. Charter members included

and the College of St. Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas), effective beginning the 1920-21 academic year. * 1921 - Concordia College at Moorhead joined the MIAC, effective in the 1921-22 academic year. * 1924 -

Augsburg Seminary Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...

(now Augsburg University) joined the MIAC, effective in the 1924-25 academic year. * 1925 - Carleton left the MIAC, effective after the 1924-25 academic year. * 1926 - Saint Mary's College (now Saint Mary's University) joined the MIAC, effective in the 1926-27 academic year. * 1950 - St. Olaf left the MIAC to become an Independent (who would later join the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC), effective beginning the 1952-53 academic year), effective after the 1949-50 academic year. * 1951 - The University of Minnesota at Duluth joined the MIAC, effective in the 1951-52 academic year. * 1974 - St. Olaf re-joined back to the MIAC, effective in the 1974-75 academic year. * 1975 - Minnesota–Duluth left the MIAC to join the

Northern Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference In college athletics in the United States, institutions typically join in conferences for regular play under different governing bodies. Varsity sports There a ...

(NIC), effective after the 1974-75 academic year. * 1977 -

Bethel College and Seminary Bethel University is a private Christian university and seminary in Arden Hills, Minnesota. It was founded in 1871 as a seminary and is affiliated with Converge. The university enrolls 5,600 students in undergraduate, graduate, and seminary p ...

(now Bethel University) joined the MIAC, effective in the 1977-78 academic year. * 1983 - St. Catherine University joined the MIAC (with Carleton re-joining back), effective in the 1983-84 academic year. * 1985 - The

College of Saint Benedict The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are two closely related private, Catholic higher education institutions in Minnesota. The College of Saint Benedict is a women's college located in St. Joseph, while Saint John's Univ ...

joined the MIAC, effective in the 1985-86 academic year. * 2021 ** St. Thomas left the MIAC to join the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

ranks and the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

, effective after the 2020-21 academic year. ** The

joined the MIAC, effective in the 2021-22 academic year.

Member schools

Current members

The MIAC currently has 13 full members, all

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

schools. ;Notes:

Former members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1920 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:20 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:0"<# Legend = orientation:hor Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) legend:Full # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) legend:Non-football # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) legend:WWII_(1943-45) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) legend:Football-only # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1920 till:1925 text: Carleton (1920–1925) bar:1 color:Full from:1983 till:end text:(1983–present) bar:2 color:FullxF from:1920 till:1921 text:

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(1920–present) bar:2 color:Full from:1921 till:1941 bar:2 color:FullxF from:1941 till:1942 bar:2 color:Full from:1942 till:1943 bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:2 color:Full from:1945 till:end bar:3 color:Full from:1920 till:end text: Hamline (1920–present) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:3 color:FullxF from:1945 till:1947 bar:3 color:Full from:1947 till:end bar:4 color:Full from:1920 till:1924 text:

Macalester Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S t ...

(1920–present) bar:4 color:FullxF from:1924 till:1926 bar:4 color:Full from:1926 till:1928 bar:4 color:FullxF from:1928 till:1929 bar:4 color:Full from:1929 till:1943 bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:4 color:Full from:1945 till:2002 bar:4 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2014 bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2014 till:2021 text:Midwest (fb. only) bar:4 color:Full from:2021 till:end bar:5 color:Full from:1920 till:1928 text: Saint John's (Minn.) (1920–present) bar:5 color:FullxF from:1928 till:1929 bar:5 color:Full from:1929 till:1943 bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:5 color:Full from:1945 till:end bar:6 color:Full from:1920 till:1929 text: St. Olaf (1920–1950) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1928 till:1929 bar:6 color:Full from:1929 till:1943 bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:6 color:Full from:1945 till:1950 bar:6 color:AssocF from:1950 till:1952 bar:6 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1975 bar:6 color:Full from:1975 till:end text:(1975–present) bar:7 color:Full from:1920 till:1943 text: St. Thomas (Minn.) (1920–2021) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:7 color:Full from:1945 till:2021 bar:8 color:Full from:1921 till:1943 text: Concordia–Moorhead (1921–present) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:8 color:Full from:1945 till:end bar:9 color:FullxF from:1924 till:1926 text:

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

(1924–present) bar:9 color:Full from:1926 till:1935 bar:9 color:FullxF from:1935 till:1939 bar:9 color:Full from:1939 till:1943 bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:9 color:Full from:1945 till:end bar:10 color:FullxF from:1927 till:1928 text: Saint Mary's (Minn.) (1926–present) bar:10 color:Full from:1928 till:1930 bar:10 color:FullxF from:1930 till:1935 bar:10 color:Full from:1935 till:1943 bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:10 color:Full from:1945 till:1955 bar:10 color:FullxF from:1955 till:end bar:11 color:AssocF from:1950 till:1951 bar:11 color:Full from:1951 till:1975 text: Minnesota–Duluth (1951–1975) bar:12 color:FullxF from:1977 till:1978 text: Bethel (Minn.) (1977–present) bar:12 color:Full from:1978 till:end bar:13 color:FullxF from:1983 till:end text: St. Catherine (Minn.) (1983–present) bar:14 color:FullxF from:1985 till:end text: Saint Benedict (Minn.) (1985–present) bar:15 shift:(-100) color:Full from:2021 till:end text: St. Scholastica (Minn.) (2021–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1920

Sports

Member teams compete in 22 sports, 11 men's and 11 women's. ;Men's sports *

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

* cross country *

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

indoor track and field Track and field is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

;Women's sports *

* cross country *

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

The conference no longer sponsors

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

or men's and women's

Nordic skiing Nordic skiing encompasses the various types of skiing in which the toe of the ski boot is fixed to the Ski binding, binding in a manner that allows the heel to rise off the ski, unlike alpine skiing, where the boot is attached to the ski from toe ...

Rivalry trophies

;Football * The Goat ( Carleton v. St. Olaf) founded 1931 * The Old Paint Bucket (Macalester v. Hamline) founded 1965 * The Troll (Concordia v. St. Olaf) founded 1974 * The Book of Knowledge (Carleton v. Macalester) founded 1998 * The Hammer (Augsburg v. Hamline) founded 2005 ;Other sports *The Goat (Carleton and St. Olaf, men's basketball) founded 1913 *The Karhu Shoe (Carleton v. St. Olaf, men's and women's cross country) founded 1972 *The Margate Memorial Trophy (Carleton v. St. Thomas, swimming and diving) founded 1995 *The Presidents Cup (Carleton v. St. Olaf, women's basketball) founded 2001 *The Rolex (Carleton v. St. Olaf, men's track and field) *The Rusty Putter (Carleton v. St. Olaf, men's golf) ;Defunct * The Power Bowl (Concordia v. Minnesota State University-Moorhead, football) founded 1984, through 1998 as the American Crystal Sugar Bowl, from 1999–2007 as the Power Bowl * The Holy Grail ( Saint John's v. St. Thomas) founded 2001, became defunct after the 2019 game, after which St. Thomas moved to Division I. Source:

All-Sports Trophy

The All-Sports Trophy is given to the school with the best overall record for all MIAC sports in each gender. The men's trophy was first awarded for 1962-63 to Macalester College. St. Olaf College received the first women's trophy in 1983-84. The University of St. Thomas won both the men's and women's trophies from 2008 to 2017. The men's is named the George Durenberger Trophy and the women's is named the Pat Wiesner Trophy Not awarded 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to Covid pandemic.

Football

Conference titles

c = Co-champions
No 1943 and 1944 seasons due to World War II.
No 2020 season due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

.
Source:

Soccer

Men's soccer regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No championship awarded for 2020 due to Covid pandemic
Source:

Women's soccer regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No championship awarded for 2020 due to Covid pandemic
Source:

Basketball

Men's basketball regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons due to World War II.
No championship awarded for 2020-21 due to Covid pandemic.
Source:

Women's basketball regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No championship awarded for 2021 due to Covid pandemic
Source:

Ice hockey

Men's ice hockey regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No seasons from 1942–43 to 1945–46.
No championship awarded for 2020-21 due to Covid pandemic.
Source:

Men's ice hockey conference tournament

Women's ice hockey regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No championship awarded for 2021 due to Covid pandemic
Source:

Women's ice hockey conference tournament

Facilities

Commissioner

The executive director, a position that was created in 1994, serves as the conference commissioner. * Carlyle Carter (1994–2005) * Daniel McKane (2005–present)

References

External links

*
MIAC First 50 Years
{{NCAA Division III hockey conferences College sports in Minnesota Private and independent school organizations