The Frontier Conference 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). The conference was founded in 1934. Member institutions are located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, with associate members in the states of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. The Frontier Conference sponsors athletic competition in men's and women's

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 (appro ...

, men's and women's cross country, men's

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 ...

, men's and women's indoor and outdoor

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, and women's

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 ...

History

The Montana Small College Conference (MSCC) was established in 1934 by the five smaller schools (

Montana Technological University Montana Technological University, popularly known as Montana Tech, is a public university in Butte, Montana. Founded in 1900 as the "Montana State School of Mines", the university became affiliated with the University of Montana in 1994. After un ...

, the

University of Montana Western The University of Montana Western (UMW, Montana Western) is a public college in Dillon, Montana. It is affiliated with the University of Montana and part of the Montana University System. It was founded in 1893 as "Montana State Normal School" a ...

, Montana State University–Northern, Intermountain Union College and Billings Polytechnic Institute) in the state. The MSCC was renamed as the Montana Collegiate Conference (MCC) in 1936, with the additions of

Montana State University Billings Montana State University Billings (or MSU Billings) is a public university in Billings, Montana, United States. It is the state's third largest university. Its campus is located on 110 acres in downtown Billings. Formerly Eastern Montana Normal ...

and

Carroll College Carroll College is a private Catholic college in Helena, Montana. The college has 21 buildings on a 63-acre campus, has over 35 academic majors, participates in 15 NAIA athletic sports, and is home to All Saints Chapel. The college motto, in L ...

joining. The merger of Intermountain Union and Billings Poly to become

Rocky Mountain College Rocky Mountain College (Rocky or RMC) is a private college in Billings, Montana, United States. It offers 50 liberal arts and professional majors in 24 undergraduate disciplines. As of 2013, the college had 1,069 enrolled students. RMC is affil ...

occurred in 1947. After nearly three decades, the conference reestablished itself under its current moniker in November 1966, containing the same six schools until 1974. The University of Providence (then the College of Great Falls) joined that year, however would only stay for a decade. MSU Billings left for the first incarnation of the

Great Northwest Athletic Conference The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It has historically operated in the northwestern United States, but a ...

in 1988, leaving the Frontier at five members for another decade. The conference opened up outside of Montana for the first time in 1998, with schools from Idaho (

Lewis–Clark State College Lewis-Clark State College is a public college in Lewiston, Idaho, United States. It was founded in 1893 and has an approximate annual enrollment of 3,600. The college offers more than 130 degrees. History In 1893, Governor William J. McConn ...

) and Utah ( Westminster College) joining. Great Falls rejoined in 1999.

Dickinson State University Dickinson State University (DSU) is a public university in Dickinson, North Dakota, United States. It is part of the North Dakota University System. It was founded in 1918 as Dickinson State Normal School and granted full university status in ...

joined in 2012, only to leave in 2014 to join the

North Star Athletic Association The North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) was a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) that began play in the 2013–14 school year. The conference disbanded with six full member ...

(NSAA). Westminster (Utah) left for 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 II ranks and rejoined the

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

(RMAC) in 2015. Lewis–Clark State left for the

Cascade Collegiate Conference The Cascade Collegiate Conference (or Cascade Conference) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member schools are located in the Northwestern United States and in Britis ...

as a full member in 2020.

Recent changes

On September 8, 2022,

Arizona Christian University Arizona Christian University is a private Christian university in Glendale, Arizona, United States. History Founded in 1960 as Southwestern Conservative Baptist Bible College, Arizona Christian University's original campus was located at ...

received an invitation to join the conference as an associate member for football, beginning the 2023 fall season of the 2023–24 academic year. On December 12, 2023, the Frontier Conference had offered an invitation to former member Dickinson State University; while on May 21, 2024,

Bellevue University Bellevue University is a private university in Bellevue, Nebraska. It opened in 1966 as Bellevue College and from the outset has focused on providing adult education and educational outreach. As of 2011, 80% of its undergraduates were aged 25 ...

Dakota State University Dakota State University (DSU) is a public university in Madison, South Dakota, United States. The school was founded in 1881 as a normal school, or teacher training school. Education is still the university's heritage mission, but a signatur ...

, Mayville State University and

Valley City State University Valley City State University (VCSU) is a public university in Valley City, North Dakota, United States. It is part of the North Dakota University System. Founded in 1890 as Valley City State Normal School, a two-year teachers' college, it was aut ...

also received invitations to join the conference; and then on October 24, 2024,

Bismarck State College Bismarck State College (BSC) is a public college in Bismarck, North Dakota. It is the third largest college in the North Dakota University System with 3,781 students as of September 2016. Established in 1939, it is a comprehensive community co ...

, an institution coming from the junior college ranks, announced that it received an invitation to the conference, during its transition to the NAIA; all effective beginning the 2025–26 academic year. On May 30, 2024, Simpson University accepted an invitation to join the conference as an associate member for football, beginning the 2025 fall season of the 2025–26 academic year.

Chronological timeline

* 1934 – The Frontier Conference was founded as the Montana Small College Conference (MSCC). Charter members included the Billings Polytechnic Institute, Intermountain Union College, Montana State Normal College (now the University of Montana Western), Montana State School of Mines (now Montana Technological University) and Northern Montana College (now Montana State University–Northern), beginning the 1934–35 academic year. * 1936 – Carroll College of Montana and Eastern Montana Normal College (now Montana State University–Billings) joined the MSCC, which was rebranded as the Montana Collegiate Conference (MCC) in the 1936–37 academic year. * 1947 – Billings Poly and Intermountain Union merge to form

. * 1966 – The MCC was rebranded as the Frontier Conference, beginning the 1966–67 academic year. * 1974 – The College of Great Falls (later the University of Great Falls, now the University of Providence) joined the Frontier in the 1974–75 academic year. * 1980 – Montana State–Billings (MSU Billings) left the Frontier to join the Division II ranks of the

(NCAA) as an NCAA D-II Independent (which would later join the Great Northwest Conference, beginning the 1982–83 school year) after the 1979–80 academic year. * 1984 – Great Falls left the Frontier as the school discontinued its athletic program after the 1983–84 academic year. * 1998 –

and Westminster College joined the Frontier in the 1998–99 academic year. * 1999 – Great Falls rejoined the Frontier after 15 years without an athletics program in the 1999–2000 academic year. * 2008 –

Eastern Oregon University Eastern Oregon University (EOU) (officially designated as Oregon’s Rural University) is a public university in La Grande, Oregon. It was formerly part of the since dissolved Oregon University System. EOU was founded in 1929 as a teacher’s ...

joined the Frontier as an affiliate member for football in the 2008 fall season (2008–09 academic year). * 2012 –

joined the Frontier in the 2012–13 academic year. * 2012 –

Southern Oregon University Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...

joined the Frontier as an affiliate member for football in the 2012 fall season (2012–13 academic year). * 2014 – Dickinson State left the Frontier to join the

(NSAA) after the 2013–14 academic year. * 2014 – The

College of Idaho The College of Idaho (C of I) is a private liberal arts college in Caldwell, Idaho. Founded in 1891 by Rev. William Judson Boone as a Presbyterian college, it is the state's oldest private liberal arts college and has an enrollment of over ...

joined the Frontier as an affiliate member for football in the 2014 fall season (2014–15 academic year). * 2015 – Westminster (Utah) left the Frontier to join the NCAA Division II ranks and rejoin back to the

(RMAC) after the 2014–15 academic year. * 2020 – Lewis–Clark State left the Frontier to join the

(CCC) after the 2019–20 academic year. * 2023 –

joined the Frontier as an affiliate member for football in the 2023 fall season (2023–24 academic year) * 2025 –

, Mayville State University and

will all join the Frontier (with Dickinson State rejoining at the same time), beginning the 2025–26 academic year. Everyone (except Bismarck State) would join from the NSAA, which would cease operations after spring 2025. * 2025 – Simpson University will join the Frontier as an affiliate member for football, beginning the 2025 fall season (2025–26 academic year)

Member schools

The Frontier Conference has 5 full members with football, 1 full member without football, and 4 football-only affiliate members. University of Providence does not field a football team. Arizona Christian,

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost countie ...

and

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia thr ...

are the football-only affiliates.

Current members

The Frontier currently has six full members, half are

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 recorded ...

schools: ;Notes:

Future members

The Frontier will have six new members, five

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 ...

schools and one

school: ;Notes:

Affiliate members

The Frontier currently has four affiliate members, two of them are

schools: ;Notes:

Future affiliate members

The Frontier will have one new affiliate member, a

school: ;Notes:

Former members

The Frontier had four former full members, only one was a

school: ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1933 till:2043 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:40 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:1933 till:1934 text: Billings Poly (1933–47) bar:1 color:Full from:1934 till:1947 bar:2 color:FullxF from:1933 till:1934 text: Intemountain Union (1933–47) bar:2 color:Full from:1934 till:1947 bar:3 color:FullxF from:1933 till:1934 text: Eastern Montana (1933–80) bar:3 color:Full from:1934 till:1979 bar:3 color:FullxF from:1979 till:1980 bar:4 color:FullxF from:1933 till:1934 text: Montana Mines (1933–65) bar:4 color:Full from:1934 till:1965 bar:4 color:Full from:1965 till:end text: Montana Tech (1965–present) bar:5 color:FullxF from:1933 till:1934 text: Montana Normal (1933–49) bar:5 color:Full from:1934 till:1949 bar:5 color:Full from:1949 till:2001 text:

Western Montana Western Montana is the western region of the U.S. state of Montana. The most restrictive definition limits western Montana only to the parts of the state west of the Continental Divide. Other common definitions add in the mountainous areas east o ...

(1949–2001) bar:5 color:Full from:2001 till:end text: Montana–Western (2001–present) bar:6 color:Full from:1935 till:end text: Carroll (MT) (1935–present) bar:7 color:Full from:1935 till:1972 text: Northern Montana (1935–94) bar:7 color:FullxF from:1972 till:1994 bar:7 color:FullxF from:1994 till:1999 text: Montana State–Northern (1994–present) bar:7 color:Full from:1999 till:end bar:8 color:Full from:1947 till:end text:

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

(1947–present) bar:9 color:FullxF from:1974 till:1984 text: Great Falls (1974–84, 1999–2017) bar:9 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2017 bar:9 color:FullxF from:2017 till:end text: Univ. of Providence (2017–present) bar:10 color:FullxF from:1998 till:2020 text: Lewis–Clark State (1998–2020) bar:11 color:FullxF from:1998 till:2015 text: Westminster (UT) (1998–2015) bar:12 color:AssocF from:2008 till:end text:

(2008–present) bar:13 color:Full from:2012 till:2014 text: Dickinson State (2012–14, 2025–future) bar:13 color:Full from:2025 till:end bar:14 color:AssocF from:2012 till:end text:

(2012–present) bar:15 color:AssocF from:2014 till:end text:

(2014–present) bar:16 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text: Arizona Christian (2023–present) bar:17 color:FullxF from:2025 till:end text:

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

(2025–future) bar:18 color:FullxF from:2025 till:end text: Bismarck State (2025–future) bar:19 color:Full from:2025 till:end text: Dakota State (2025–future) bar:20 color:Full from:2025 till:end text: Mayville State (2025–future) bar:21 color:Full from:2025 till:end text: Valley City State (2025–future) bar:22 color:AssocF from:2025 till:end text:

Simpson Simpson may refer to: * Simpson (name), a British surname Organizations Schools *Simpson College, in Indianola, Iowa *Simpson University, in Redding, California Businesses *Simpson (appliance manufacturer), former manufacturer and brand of w ...

(2025–future) bar:N color:powderblue from:1933 till:1936 text:MSCC bar:N shift:(20) color:red from:1936 till:1966 text:Montana Collegiate Conference bar:N color:powderblue from:1966 till:end text:Frontier Conference ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1935 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,25) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Frontier 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. <#

National championships

Basketball

Montana Western won the NAIA national title in Division I Women's basketball, in 2019. Rocky Mountain won the national title in men's basketball, NAIA Division I, in 2009. Montana State-Northern won the national title in women's basketball, NAIA Division II, in 1993. Carroll reached the semi-finals in men's basketball in 2005, as did Lewis-Clark State in women's basketball in 2001. University of Providence reached finals in women's basketball in 2024, Providence defeated Carroll College in the semi finals.This marked the first time two Frontier teams meet in the national tournament.

Football

Carroll has won the NAIA national championship six times: four straight, from 2002 to 2005, also in 2007 and 2010, and has been runner-up twice. Southern Oregon won the NAIA national championship in the 2014 season. Montana Tech was the national runner-up in 1996.

Wrestling

Montana State-Northern has won six wrestling titles: 1991, 1992, 1998-2000, 2004, and was runner-up in 1990, 1993, and 2002. Montana Western was co-champion in 1994. In 2014, the University of Great Falls was second and Montana State-Northern took third at the NAIA national wrestling championship.

Bowling

College of Great Falls (now University of Providence) was the 1973 Men's NAIA National Bowling Champion.

History

Recent changes

Chronological timeline

Member schools

Current members

Future members

Affiliate members

Future affiliate members

Former members

Membership timeline

National championships

Basketball

Football

Wrestling

Bowling

Conference champions

Football

See also

References

External links