The Centennial Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the

NCAA 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. ...

's Division III. Chartered member teams are located in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

; associate members are also located in New York and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Eleven private colleges compose the chartered member teams of the Centennial Conference. Five of its 11 members rank among the top 50 national liberal arts colleges and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

is ranked sixth among national universities. On average, Centennial members sponsor 19

varsity team A varsity team is the highest-level team in a sport or activity representing an educational institution. Varsity teams train to compete against each other during an athletic season or in periodic matches against rival institutions. At high schools ...

s. Conference members have won seventeen NCAA team titles:

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained for mos ...

women's cross country (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021), Gettysburg women's lacrosse (2011, 2017, 2018), Haverford men's cross country (2010), Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse (2007, 2009), Ursinus field hockey (2006), Washington men's lacrosse (1998), and Washington men's tennis (1994, 1997).

History

According to the Centennial Conference's website, "On June 4, 1981, Keith Spalding, then-president of Franklin & Marshall College, made the announcement that "eight private colleges found it timely and appropriate to form a round-robin football schedule among institutions with similar attitudes and practices in intercollegiate football competition." With that statement, the Centennial Conference was born. Those private colleges were

Dickinson College Dickinson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1773 as Carlisle Grammar School, Dickinson was chartered on September 9, 1783, ...

, Franklin & Marshall College,

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about ...

, Muhlenberg College,

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

, Ursinus College, and Western Maryland College, later renamed and now known as

McDaniel College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland, United States. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to ...

. The conference moved from a football-only conference to an all-sports conference after a 1991 feasibility study. The study also recommended to expand from eight schools to eleven. The other schools recommended were

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

, and Washington College. Those three schools accepted and became charter members in 1992 as the conference expanded its sports offerings. All of the charter members defected from the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). Johns Hopkins and McDaniel College both played in the Mason-Dixon Conference prior to entering the MAC in 1975.

Recent changes

On August 21, 2019, Cabrini University joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for women's golf to replace Neumann University's spot, effective in the 2020 spring season (2019–20 academic year). On August 31, 2022, football affiliates Juniata College, Moravian University and Susquehanna University departed for a new football league in the Landmark Conference, beginning the 2023 fall season (2022–23 academic year). On August 6, 2024,

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

will join the Centennial as an associate football member, effective beginning the 2025 fall season (2025–26 academic year).

Chronological timeline

* 1981 – On June 4, 1981, the Centennial Conference was founded as a football-only league, then known as the Centennial Football Conference. Charter members included

, Franklin & Marshall College,

, Muhlenberg College,

, Ursinus College, and Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), beginning the 1981 fall season (1981–82 academic year). * 1992 – The Centennial Football Conference was rebranded as the Centennial Conference when the conference expanded to add other sports, beginning the 1992–93 academic year.

and Washington College also joined the newly-formed all-sports conference. * 1998 –

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for men's wrestling in the 1998–99 academic year. * 2001 – Johns Hopkins left the University Athletic Association (UAA) to fully align with the Centennial Conference for all the sports being sponsored in the 2001–02 academic year. * 2004 – The

United States Merchant Marine Academy The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipman, midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serv ...

(Merchant Marine) and

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a Private university, private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely de ...

(Stevens or Stevens Tech) joined the Centennial as affiliate members for men's wrestling in the 2004-05 academic year. * 2007 – Juniata College and Moravian College (now Moravian University) joined the Centennial as affiliate members for football in the 2007 fall season (2007–08 academic year). * 2009 – Susquehanna University joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for women's golf in the 2010 spring season (2009–10 academic year). * 2010 – Susquehanna added football into its Centennial affiliate membership in the 2010 fall season (2010–11 academic year). * 2012 –

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for men's wrestling in the 2012–13 academic year. * 2016 – NYU left the Centennial as an affiliate member for wrestling after the 2015–16 academic year. * 2017: ** Susquehanna left the Centennial as an affiliate member for women's golf after the 2017 spring season (2016–17 academic year). **

Marymount University Marymount University is a Private university, private Catholic university with its main campus in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. It was founded as Marymount College in 1950. Marymount offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degre ...

and Neumann University joined the Centennial as affiliate members for women's golf in the 2018 spring season (2017–18 academic year). * 2019: ** Two institutions left the Centennial as affiliate members, both effective after the 2018–19 academic year: *** Neumann for women's golf *** and Stevens for men's wrestling ** Cabrini University joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for women's golf to replace Neumann's spot in the 2020 spring season (2019–20 academic year). * 2022 –

left as an affiliate member in wrestling for their primary conference home, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), after the 2021–22 academic year. * 2023 – Juniata, Moravian and Susquehanna left the Centennial as football affiliates for a new football league within their primary conference home, the Landmark Conference, after the 2022 fall season (2022–23 academic year). * 2024 – Cabrini left the Centennial as an affiliate member for women's golf after the 2024 spring season (2024–25 academic year); as the school ceased operations in June 2024. * 2025 –

will join the Centennial as an associate football member, beginning the 2025 fall season (2025–26 academic year).

Member schools

Current members

The Centennial currently has 11 full members, all are private schools: ;Notes:

Affiliate members

The Centennial currently has two affiliate members, a private school and a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

school: ;Notes:

Future affiliate members

The Centennial will have one new affiliate member, a private school: ;Notes:

Former affiliate members

The Centennial had eight former affiliate members, all were private schools: ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1981 till:2033 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:40 top:5 Colors = 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:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Dickinson (1981–present) bar:1 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:2 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Franklin & Marshall (1981–present) bar:2 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:3 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Gettysburg (1981–present) bar:3 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:4 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text:

(1981–present) bar:4 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:5 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: McDaniel (1981–present) bar:5 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:6 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Muhlenberg (1981–present) bar:6 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:7 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Swarthmore (1981–present) bar:7 color:Full from:1992 till:2001 bar:7 color:FullxF from:2001 till:end bar:8 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Ursinus (1981–present) bar:8 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:9 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text: Bryn Mawr (1992–present) bar:10 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text: Haverford (1992–present) bar:11 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text: Washington (Md.) (1992–present) bar:12 color:AssocOS from:1998 till:2022 text: Washington and Lee (wrestling; 1998–2022) bar:13 color:AssocOS from:2004 till:end text: Merchant Marine (wrestling; 2004–present) bar:14 color:AssocOS from:2004 till:2019 text: Stevens (wrestling; 2004–2019) bar:15 color:AssocF from:2007 till:2023 text: Juniata (2007–2023) bar:16 color:AssocF from:2007 till:2023 text: Moravian (2007–2023) bar:17 color:AssocF from:2010 till:2023 text: Susquehanna (2010–2023) bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2012 till:2016 text: New York (wrestling; 2012–2016) bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2017 till:end text: Marymount (women's golf; 2017–present) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2017 till:2019 text:

Neumann Neumann () is a German language, German surname, with its origins in the pre-7th-century (Old English) word ''wikt:neowe, neowe'' meaning "new", with ''wikt:mann, mann'', meaning man. The English form of the name is Newman. Von Neumann is a varian ...

(women's golf; 2017–2019) bar:21 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:2024 text: Cabrini (women's golf; 2019–2024) bar:22 color:AssocF from:2025 till:end text: Carnegie Mellon (2025–future) bar:N color:powderblue from:1981 till:1992 text:Centennial Football Conference bar:N color:blue from:1992 till:end text:Centennial Conference ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:1981 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,20) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Centennial 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

The Centennial Conference sponsors championships in the following sports:

Men's sponsored sports by school

;Notes

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Centennial Conference that are played by Centennial schools

Women's sponsored sports by school