The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a

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 ...

-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is essentially the ancestor of today's

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

(CAA) football conference, and the continuation of the

New England Conference The New England Conference (full name: New England College Conference of Intercollegiate Athletics) was a collegiate sports conference in the Eastern United States, more specifically in New England, that operated from 1923 to 1947. As four of its ...

, though all three leagues were founded under different charters and are considered separate conferences by the NCAA. For the first half of its history, the Yankee Conference consisted of the flagship public universities of the six

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

states. Conference expansion in the 1980s and 1990s added several colleges and universities from the Mid-Atlantic region.

Formation

In 1945, Northeastern University, the only private school in the

, announced its departure. A committee formed by the remaining four members,

land-grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

colleges and universities representing

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, recommended that they join with the other two New England land-grant institutions, Massachusetts State College (which had also been a founding member of the NEC in 1923, but left in the 1930s) and the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

, in a new athletics league. This led to the formation of the Yankee Conference in December 1946, with athletic competition beginning in the 1947–48 school year.

Charter members

For its first 24 years, the conference consisted of the six charter members, each of which was the flagship public university of its state: *

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

(new name adopted in 1947) *

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...

(known as Rhode Island State College until 1951) *

During this time, Yankee Conference football teams competed in the

College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

of the NCAA, the lower of two tiers of varsity competition. The conference also sponsored several other sports, such as basketball and baseball. Conference bylaws required all members to field teams in all conference-sponsored sports.

1970s: In and out in New England

In 1971, the conference announced its first expansion, the addition of

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

. Both are private institutions (

nonsectarian Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. Academic sphere Examples of US universities that identify themselves as being nonsectarian include Adelp ...

and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, respectively), and fit within the conference's existing geographic footprint, giving it a presence in Massachusetts' largest (

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

) and second-largest (

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

) cities. Both had previously competed as independents, and had a long tradition of meeting Yankee Conference members in non-league games. Because their seasons were scheduled years in advance, neither BU nor HC were able to begin league play in football immediately. Though it officially joined the conference in 1971, Boston University did not start competing for the football championship until 1973; Holy Cross never did. Holy Cross had made another decision in the early 1970s that profoundly affected its athletics teams: the formerly all-male college began admitting women. Holy Cross already had by far the smallest enrollment in the conference, and administrators reached the conclusion that its shrinking male population would not be able to field competitive teams in all Yankee Conference sports. Accordingly, Holy Cross announced in November 1972 that it would quit the conference immediately. The conference rule that all members must compete in all sports was tested again in 1974, when Vermont announced it would drop its football program at the end of that season. In 1975, the conference allowed its members to choose conference participation on a sport-by-sport basis. Later in the year, however, it opted to drop sponsorship of all sports except football at the conclusion of the 1975–76 season, effectively ending Vermont's association with the conference. The 1970s also brought a change in how the NCAA classified football programs. In 1973, the old College Division was replaced by

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an 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 environmen ...

, for "minor" programs that offer

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...

s, and

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 stu ...

, for those without scholarships. The Yankee Conference programs were all placed in Division II. In 1978, the NCAA introduced

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

, a subdivision that allowed universities competing in Division I in other sports to field football teams in that division without having to match up with the major football powers. From that point, all Yankee Conference members have been members of Division I-AA, later renamed the Football Championship Subdivision.

1980s–90s: Expansion in the South

Through the late 1970s and early 1980s, the football-only Yankee Conference included six members: Boston University, UConn, Maine, UMass, UNH and URI. Starting in the mid-1980s, the conference began to admit members from outside New England, forming a second cluster of universities in the Mid-Atlantic region: *

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

in 1986 (in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

) *

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

in 1986 (in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

) *

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

in 1988 (in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

) *

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

in 1993 (in Virginia) *

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

in 1993 (in Virginia) Also in 1993, Northeastern University in Boston joined the Yankee Conference. Following the 1993 additions, the Yankee Conference had 12 members, and split into two six-team divisions, a "New England Division" consisting of the five remaining charter members plus Boston University, and a "Mid-Atlantic Division" consisting of the colleges that joined the conference in the 1980s and 1990s. Northeastern competed in the Mid-Atlantic despite being geographically located in New England.

1996: Merger with A-10

The 12-member, two-division arrangement continued until 1996, when the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

adopted rules limiting the influence of single-sport conferences over policy. Facing extinction, the conference merged with the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), which did not previously sponsor football, on November 13, 1996."Results Plus," ''The Associated Press'', Thursday, November 14, 1996.
Retrieved December 30, 2017 UMass and URI were already members of the A-10 in other sports; the other 10 Yankee members became associate members in football only. For the 1997 season, the A-10 football league had the exact same members and division structure as the 1996 Yankee Conference. After membership changes in the

over the following 10 years, management of the A-10 football conference, which continued to include most of the former Yankee Conference teams, passed to the CAA in 2007.

Member institutions

† Boston University joined the conference in 1971, but did not compete for the football championship until 1973.
‡ Holy Cross and Vermont ended their Yankee Conference affiliation in 1972 and 1976, respectively. Holy Cross never competed in the football championship, and Vermont ended its football program after 1974. All other conference members remained until 1996, when the league was absorbed by the Atlantic 10.

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:1947 till:2002 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:Full from:1947 till:1996 text:Connecticut (1947–1996) bar:2 color:Full from:1947 till:1996 text:Maine (1947–1996) bar:3 color:Full from:1947 till:1996 text:Massachusetts (1947–1996) bar:4 color:Full from:1947 till:1996 text:New Hampshire (1947–1996) bar:5 color:Full from:1947 till:1996 text:Rhode Island (1947–1996) bar:6 color:Full from:1947 till:1974 text:Vermont (1947–1976) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1974 till:1976 text: bar:7 color:FullxF from:1971 till:1972 text:Holy Cross (1971–1972) bar:8 color:FullxF from:1971 till:1973 text:Boston (1971–1996) bar:8 color:Full from:1973 till:1996 text: bar:9 color:Full from:1986 till:1996 text:Delaware (1986–1996) bar:10 color:Full from:1986 till:1996 text:Richmond (1986–1996) bar:11 color:Full from:1988 till:1996 text:Villanova (1988–1996) bar:12 color:Full from:1993 till:1996 text:James Madison (1993–1996) bar:13 color:Full from:1993 till:1996 text:Northeastern (1993–1996) bar:14 color:Full from:1993 till:1996 text:William & Mary (1993–1996) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:1947 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(370,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Yankee Conference membership history"

Overtime rule

The Yankee Conference was the first college football conference to implement college football's current overtime rules. The overtime rules known as the "

Kansas Playoff Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

" or "Kansas Plan", where each team is given a possession at the 25 yard line, was used by the Yankee Conference to determine the end to tie games well before it was adopted by the rest of the

in 1996.

Conference champions

Football

Men's basketball

Men's soccer

* 1965: Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut * 1966: Vermont * 1967: Vermont * 1968: Vermont, Rhode Island * 1969: Vermont * 1970: Massachusetts * 1971: Rhode Island, Vermont * 1972: Rhode Island * 1973: Connecticut * 1974: Connecticut * 1975: Vermont * 1976: Connecticut * 1977: Rhode Island * 1978: Connecticut * 1979: New Hampshire

Modern club football conference

The phrase "Yankee Conference" is alluded to in the 21st-centur
Yankee Collegiate Football Conference
which fields teams at the

club football This is a list of post-secondary colleges and universities that have club football teams. Operating independently of their colleges' athletics programs, these teams are typically administered, coached, and played by students. In addition to playi ...

level. Three of the schools in the original Yankee Conference,

, Maine and

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, fielded teams in the modern Yankee Conference: since neither Boston nor Vermont currently has a varsity team, the club football team was the highest ranking football team representing the school in both cases. The other two schools in the modern Yankee Conference were

Clarkson University Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region and Beacon, New York. It was founded in 1896 and has an enr ...

and

Onondaga Community College Onondaga Community College (OCC) is a public community college that serves Onondaga County, New York, at two campuses. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History The college was founded in 1961 and began instructi ...

. The conference also allowed an independent team, the Southwestern Connecticut Grizzlies, to play in the league and contest for the championship, even though it was not associated with any college or university. The modern conference last played in 2016.

References

{{Reflist Sports leagues established in 1946 Sports leagues disestablished in 1997 1946 establishments in the United States 1997 disestablishments in the United States Defunct NCAA Division I conferences Defunct NCAA Division II conferences