The Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) is a

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

affiliated with the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA), headquartered in

Livonia, Michigan Livonia ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as ...

. The conference consists of twelve colleges and universities located in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

states of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Founded in 1992, the conference was created as a successor group for the now-defunct NAIA District 23.

History

The WHAC announced on January 27, 2012, added bowling and lacrosse for both men and women as conference sports effective the fall of 2012, becoming the first NAIA conference to offer championships in these sports. Men's ice hockey was added as a conference sport effective the fall of 2017, making the WHAC the first conference in the NAIA to offer ice hockey as a conference championship sport. Initially, the five conference members that sponsor ice hockey will participate in a conference championship.

Chronological timeline

* 1992 – The Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) was founded. Charter members included Aquinas College, Concordia College Ann Arbor (now Concordia University Ann Arbor), Cornerstone College (now Cornerstone University), Siena Heights College (now Siena Heights University), Spring Arbor College (now Spring Arbor University) and Tri-State University (now Trine University), beginning the 1992–93 academic year. * 1997 – Madonna University joined the WHAC in the 1997–98 academic year. * 1998 – Indiana Institute of Technology (Indiana Tech) joined the WHAC in the 1998–99 academic year. * 2003 – Tri-State left the WHAC and the NAIA to join the Division III ranks of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) as an NCAA D-III Independent (which would later join the

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) is an List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's Division III (NCAA), Division III. There are nine ...

(MIAA), beginning the 2004–05 academic year) after the 2002–03 academic year. * 2004 – Spring Arbor left the WHAC to join the Mid-Central College Conference (MCCC; now the Crossroads League) after the 2003–04 academic year. * 2004 – The

University of Michigan–Dearborn The University of Michigan–Dearborn (UM-Dearborn) is a public university in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1959 with a gift from the Ford Motor Company, it was initially known as the Dearborn Center, operating as a remote branc ...

joined the WHAC in the 2004–05 academic year. * 2005 –

Davenport University Davenport University is a private university with campuses throughout Michigan and online. It was founded in 1866 by Conrad Swensburg and currently offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees; diplomas; and post-grad certification prog ...

joined the WHAC in the 2005–06 academic year. * 2010 – The University of Northwestern Ohio joined the WHAC in the 2010–11 academic year. * 2011 – Lourdes University joined the WHAC in the 2011–12 academic year. * 2012 –

Lawrence Technological University Lawrence Technological University (Lawrence Tech, LTU) is a private university in Southfield, Michigan. It was founded in 1932 in Highland Park, Michigan, as the Lawrence Institute of Technology (LIT) by Russell E. Lawrence. The university moved ...

and Marygrove College joined the WHAC in the 2012–13 academic year. * 2016 – Two institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members, both effective in the 2016–17 academic year: ** Rochester College (now Rochester Christian University) for baseball ** and former full member Spring Arbor for men's and women's bowling * 2017 – Davenport left the WHAC and the NAIA to join the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

ranks and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) after the 2016–17 academic year. * 2017 – Rochester had joined the WHAC for all sports in the 2017–18 academic year. * 2017 – Marygrove left the WHAC as the school announced that it would close at the end of the fall 2017 semester, which occurred during the 2017–18 academic year. * 2018 – Cleary University joined the WHAC in the 2018–19 academic year. * 2018 – Four institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members, all effective in the 2019 spring season (2018–19 academic year): ** Bethel University of Indiana for women's lacrosse **

Goshen College Goshen College is a Private college, private Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, a ...

for men's volleyball ** Huntington University for men's and women's bowling ** and

Taylor University Taylor University is a Private university, private, Interdenominationalism, interdenominational, evangelical Christian university in Upland, Indiana. Founded in 1846, it is one of the oldest evangelical Christian universities in the United Stat ...

for men's lacrosse * 2019 – Two institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or added other single sports into their affiliate memberships), all effective in the 2019 spring season (2018–19 academic year): ** Mount Vernon Nazarene University for men's and women's bowling ** Spring Arbor for competitive cheer and dance ** and Taylor for women's lacrosse * 2020 – Three institutions left the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or removed other single sports from their affiliate memberships), all effective after the 2019–20 academic year: ** Mount Vernon Nazarene for men's and women's bowling ** Spring Arbor for competitive cheer and dance ** and Taylor for women's lacrosse * 2020 – Five institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or added other single sports into their affiliate memberships), all effective in the 2020–21 academic year: ** Bethel (Ind.) for men's and women's bowling **

Brescia University Brescia University is a private Catholic college in Owensboro, Kentucky, United States. It was founded as a junior college for women and is now a coeducational institution, offering undergraduate and master's programs. History Brescia Universit ...

and

Point Park University Point Park University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly known as Point Park College, the school name was revised in 2004 to reflect the number of graduate programs being offered. In 2021, it had a total undergraduate ...

for competitive cheer ** Marian University for men's wrestling ** and Mount Vernon Nazarene for men's volleyball * 2021 – Bethel (Ind.), Huntington and Spring Arbor left the WHAC as affiliate members for men's and women's bowling after the 2020–21 academic year. * 2022 – Three institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or added other single sports into their affiliate memberships), all effective in the 2022–23 academic year: ** Bethel (Ind.) and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College for men's volleyball ** and Marian (Ind.) for women's lacrosse * 2023 – Brescia left the WHAC as an affiliate member for competitive cheer after the 2022–23 academic year. * 2023 – Marian (Ind.) added competitive dance to its WHAC affiliate membership in the 2023–24 academic year: * 2024 – Two institutions left the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or removed other single sports from their affiliate memberships), both effective after the 2023–24 academic year: ** Point Park for competitive cheer to join the

ranks and the

Mountain East Conference The Mountain East Conference (MEC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level and officially began competition on September 1, 2013. It consists of 11 schools, m ...

(MEC) ** and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods for men's volleyball * 2024 – Defiance College joined the WHAC in the 2024–25 academic year. * 2024 – Two institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or added other single sports into their affiliate memberships), both effective in the 2024–25 academic year: ** The University of St. Francis for men's and women's bowling ** and Saint Xavier University for eSports * 2024 – Concordia–Ann Arbor announced that they would be discontinuing all athletic programs and leaving the WHAC at the end of the 2024–25 academic year.

Member schools

Current members

The WHAC currently has 13 full members, all but one are

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schools: ;Notes

Affiliate members

The WHAC currently has seven affiliate members, all are

schools: ;Notes:

Former members

The WHAC had four former full members, all were

schools: ;Notes:

Former affiliate members

The WHAC had nine former affiliate members, all were

schools: ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1992 till:2028 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.9,0.8,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.8,0.9,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text:

Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

(1992–present) bar:2 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2025 text: Concordia–Michigan (1992–2025) bar:3 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text:

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(1992–present) bar:4 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text: Siena Heights (1992–present) bar:5 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2004 text: Spring Arbor (1992–2004) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2004 till:end text: Crossroads bar:5 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:2021 text: Crossroads (WHAC assoc. sports) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2003 text: Trine (1992–2003) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2003 till:2004 text: D-III Ind. bar:6 shift:(30) color:OtherC2 from:2004 till:end text: MIAA bar:7 color:FullxF from:1997 till:end text:

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

(1997–present) bar:8 color:FullxF from:1998 till:end text: Indiana Tech (1998–present) bar:9 color:FullxF from:2004 till:end text: Michigan–Dearborn (2004–present) bar:10 color:FullxF from:2005 till:2017 text: Davenport (2005–2017) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2017 till:end text: GLIAC bar:11 color:FullxF from:2010 till:end text: Northwestern Ohio (2010–present) bar:12 color:FullxF from:2011 till:end text:

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(2011–present) bar:13 color:FullxF from:2012 till:end text: Lawrence Tech (2012–present) bar:14 color:FullxF from:2012 till:2018 text: Marygrove (2012–2018) bar:15 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:2017 text: Rochester (2016–present) bar:15 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2024 bar:15 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text: Rochester Christian bar:16 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text: Cleary (2018–present) bar:17 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text: Bethel (Ind.) (2018–present) bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text: Goshen (2018–present) bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:2021 text: Huntington (2018–2021) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:

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(2018–present) bar:21 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:end text: Mount Vernon Nazarene (2019–present) bar:22 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:2023 text:

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(2020–2023) bar:23 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text: Marian (Ind.) (2020–present) bar:24 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:2024 text: Point Park (2020–2024) bar:25 shift:(-30) color:AssocOS from:2022 till:2024 text: Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (2022–2024) bar:26 shift:(-20) color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text: Defiance (2024–present) bar:27 shift:(-50) color:AssocOS from:2024 till:end text: St. Francis (Ill.) (2024–present) bar:28 shift:(-60) color:AssocOS from:2024 till:end text: Saint Xavier (Ill.) (2024–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1992 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,25) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference membership history" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

Sports

WHAC offers 14 men's and 13 women's sports.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference College sports in Indiana College sports in Michigan Sports in Grand Rapids, Michigan College ice hockey conferences in the United States Sports organizations established in 1992 1992 establishments in the United States