The Conference of New England (CNE), formerly known as the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in

New England New England is a region consisting of 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 (state), New York to the west and by the ...

in the states of

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, and

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

Overview

The CCC and Commonwealth Coast Football unveiled a new family of logos during a June 2019 visual rebrand.

History

Recent events

On June 21, 2022, the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. It enrolled approximately 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students as ...

announced that it would join the CCC, starting the 2023–24 academic year;University of Hartford Athletics Joins Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) - University of Hartford Athletics
/ref> while Salve Regina announced it would leave both the CCC and CCC Football to join the

New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of Connecticut, Ma ...

(NEWMAC), once concluding the 2022–23 school year. On December 8, 2022, Johnson & Wales (RI) announced it would join the CCC as soon as the 2024–25 academic year. In 2023, two schools announced they would be reinstating their varsity football programs and joining the CCC for football, starting the 2025 fall season (2025–26 academic year); first

Maine Maritime Academy Maine Maritime Academy (Maine Maritime or MMA) is a public college focused on maritime training and located in Castine, Maine. The academy was established by the 90th Maine Legislature on March 21, 1941. Unlike federal service academies, a cong ...

on January 9, then New England College followed suit on November 14. On August 1, 2024, 40 years after it was founded, the conference announced that it would be rebranding as the Conference of New England (CNE), effective with the 2024–25 season.

Chronological timeline

* 1984 – On 1984, the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) was founded. Charter members included Anna Maria College, Curry College,

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

, Hellenic College, Salve Regina College (now Salve Regina University), the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), located in New London, Connecticut, is the United States service academies, U.S. service academy specifically for the United States Coast Guard. Founded in 1876, the academy provides education t ...

(Coast Guard) and Wentworth Institute of Technology (Wentworth Tech); beginning the 1984–85 academic year. * 1985 – Hellenic left the CCC when the school dropped its athletic program after lasting only one season after the 1984–85 academic year. * 1985 – Roger Williams College (now Roger Williams University) joined the CCC in the 1985–86 academic year. * 1986 – The CCC was granted membership within 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) Division III ranks in the 1986–87 academic year. * 1987 – The U.S. Coast Guard left the CCC to join the Constitution Athletic Conference after the 1986–87 academic year. * 1987 – Gordon College joined the CCC in the 1987–88 academic year. * 1988 – Regis College joined the CCC in the 1988–89 academic year. * 1989 – Emerson left the CCC to become an NCAA D-III Independent after the 1988–89 academic year. * 1989 – New England College of New Hampshire joined the CCC in the 1989–90 academic year. * 1992 –

Eastern Nazarene College The Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) was a Private university#United States, private, Christian college in Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. Established as a Holiness Movement, holiness college in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1900, the college m ...

joined the CCC in the 1992–93 academic year. * 1995 – Colby–Sawyer College and

Nichols College Nichols College is a Private college, private business college in Dudley, Massachusetts. Founded in 1931 as Nichols Junior College, Nichols College offers both bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as certificate programs. History Nichol ...

joined the CCC in the 1995–96 academic year. * 1999 – Endicott College and the University of New England of Maine joined the CCC in the 1999–2000 academic year. * 2007 – Western New England University joined the CCC in the 2007–08 academic year. * 2011 – Four member schools left the CCC to join their respective new home primary conferences: Anna Maria to the

Great Northeast Athletic Conference The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the Division III ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). History Chronological timeline * 1995 – In 1995, th ...

(GNAC), Regis (Mass.) to the

New England Collegiate Conference The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) is an National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division III, Division III men's volleyball and esports List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conferenc ...

(NECC), and Colby–Sawyer and New England (N.H.) to the

North Atlantic Conference The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are primarily small liberal arts colleges in the New England state ...

(NAC), all effective after the 2010–11 academic year. * 2016 – Becker College, Johnson and Wales University, Providence and

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston, tenth-largest university ...

joined the CCC as associate members for men's ice hockey in the 2016–17 academic year. * 2017 – The CCC added football as a sponsored sport, although not directly as it absorbed the former and defunct

New England Football Conference Commonwealth Coast Football (CCC Football) was a single-sport athletic conference that competed in football in the NCAA's Division III. It began play as CCC Football in 2017 after the New England Football Conference (NEFC) was renamed following ...

and rebranded as Commonwealth Coast Football (CCC Football) in the 2017 fall season (2017–18 academic year). * 2017 – Becker added football to join CCC Football in the 2017 fall season (2017–18 academic year). * 2018 – Eastern Nazarene left the CCC to join the NECC after the 2017–18 academic year. * 2018 – Johnson & Wales and Suffolk left the CCC as associate members for men's ice hockey after the 2017–18 academic year. * 2019 – Husson University joined CCC Football in the 2019 fall season (2019–20 academic year). * 2020 – Suffolk returned to the CCC, but with full membership status in the 2020–21 academic year. * 2022 – Due to changes in NCAA legislation regarding the number of member schools required for an automatic qualifier (AQ), football was fully incorporated into the CCC multi-sport conference, eliminating the need for the single-sport Commonwealth Coast Football league, beginning the 2022–23 academic year. * 2023 – Salve Regina left the CCC (and CCC Football) to join the

(NEWMAC) after the 2022–23 academic year. * 2023 – The

joined the CCC in the 2023–24 academic year. * 2023 – Johnson & Wales (RI) will join the CCC as soon as the 2025–26 academic year. * 2023 –

and New England College will reinstate their varsity football programs and joining the CCC for football, beginning the 2025 fall season (2025–26 academic year). * 2024 ** Colby–Sawyer College and the University of Saint Joseph of Connecticut joined the CCC as associate members for men's tennis in the 2025 spring season (2024–25 academic year). ** The CCC rebranded as the Conference of New England, effective with the 2024–25 academic year. ** CNE announced that it would add a women's golf championship in 2025–26, coinciding with the addition of the sport by full member Roger Williams. This gives CNE the six women's golf members needed to qualify for an automatic bid to the NCAA championship.

Member schools

Current members

The CNE currently has 11 full members, all private schools. ;Notes:

Associate members

The CNE currently has three associate members, all private schools:

Future associate members

The CNE will have two future associate members, one private and the other

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 ...

Former members

The CNE had nine former full members, with all but one being private schools. ;Notes:

Former associate members

The CNE had three former associate members, all private schools. ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1984 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# 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) # 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 id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # 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:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference 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:FullxF from:1984 till:2011 text: Anna Maria (1984–2011) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2025 text: GNAC bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2025 till:end text: MASCAC bar:2 color:FullxF from:1984 till:1987 text:

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

(1984–1987) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1987 till:1990 bar:2 shift:(15) color:OtherC2 from:1990 till:1998 text:

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1998 till:end text: NEWMAC bar:3 color:FullxF from:1984 till:2017 text:

Curry Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internatio ...

(1984–present) bar:3 color:Full from:2017 till:end bar:4 color:FullxF from:1984 till:1989 text: Emerson (1984–1989) bar:4 shift:(15) color:OtherC1 from:1989 till:1995 text:Independent bar:4 color:OtherC2 from:1995 till:2013 text: GNAC bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text: NEWMAC bar:5 color:FullxF from:1984 till:1985 text: Hellenic (1984–1985), then dropped athletics bar:6 color:FullxF from:1984 till:2017 text: Salve Regina (1984–2023) bar:6 color:Full from:2017 till:2023 bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text: NEWMAC bar:7 color:FullxF from:1984 till:end text: Wentworth (1984–present) bar:8 color:FullxF from:1985 till:end text:

Roger Williams Roger Williams (March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Pl ...

(1985–present) bar:9 color:FullxF from:1987 till:end text: Gordon (MA) (1987–present) bar:10 color:FullxF from:1988 till:2011 text: Regis (MA) (1988–2011) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2017 text: NECC bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:2017 till:end text: GNAC bar:11 color:FullxF from:1989 till:2011 text: New England (N.H.) (1989–2011) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2018 text: NAC bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:2018 till:2023 text: NECC bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text: GNAC bar:12 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2018 text: Eastern Nazarene (1992–2018) bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:2023 text: NECC bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:2025 text: NAC bar:13 color:FullxF from:1995 till:2011 text: Colby–Sawyer (1995–2011) bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2018 text: NAC bar:13 color:OtherC2 from:2018 till:2024 text: GNAC bar:13 shift:(-50) color:AssocOS from:2024 till:end text: GNAC (2024-present, CNE m.ten.) bar:14 color:FullxF from:1995 till:2017 text: Nichols (1995–present) bar:14 color:Full from:2017 till:end bar:15 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2017 text: Endicott (1999–present) bar:15 color:Full from:2017 till:end bar:16 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2018 text: New England (Me.) (1999–present) bar:16 color:Full from:2018 till:end bar:17 color:FullxF from:2007 till:2017 text: Western New England (2007–present) bar:17 color:Full from:2017 till:end bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:2017 text: Becker (2016–2021, men's ice hockey; 2017–2021, football) bar:18 color:AssocF from:2017 till:2021 text: bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:2018 text: JWU (2016–2018, men's ice hockey) bar:19 shift:(25) color:FullXF from:2024 till:end text: (2024–future) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:2018 text:

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

(2016–2018, men's ice hockey; 2020–present, full) bar:20 color:FullXF from:2020 till:end text: bar:21 color:AssocF from:2019 till:end text: Husson (2019–present, football) bar:22 color:FullXF from:2023 till:end text:

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

(2023–present) bar:23 color:AssocOS from:2024 till:end text: Saint Joeseph (CT) (2024-present, men's tennis) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1985

Sports

The CNE sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in 20 sports. The conference started sponsoring

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in the 2017–18 season, absorbing the former football-only New England Football Conference. From 2017 to 2021 football was operated as a single-sport conference branded Commonwealth Coast Football. Due to changes in NCAA legislation regarding the number of members required for a conference to receive and automatic qualifier (AQ), football was fully incorporated into the multi-sport conference in 2022, eliminating the need for the football-only league. Women's ice hockey was added as a conference sport in 2020–21 when the CNE took over operations of the Colonial Hockey Conference. Women's golf will be added in 2025–26.

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division III hockey conferences NCAA Division III ice hockey conferences