New England Small College Athletic Conference

New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)
New England Small College Athletic Conference logo
Established	1971
Association	NCAA
Division	Division III
Members	11
Sports fielded	26 (men's: 13; women's: 13)
Region	New England
Headquarters	Hadley, Massachusetts
Commissioner	Andrea Savage (since 1999)
Website	nescac.com
Locations

The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference, consisting of eleven highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities located in New England and New York. Often referred to as the "Little Ivies", most of the schools have competed against one another since the 19th century.

The idea for such an athletic conference originated with an agreement among Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Wesleyan University and Williams College drafted in 1955. In 1971, Bates College, Colby College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Trinity College, Tufts University and Union College joined on and NESCAC was officially formed. Today's sustaining members include all the original members but Union, which withdrew in 1977 and was replaced by Connecticut College in 1982.

Mission

NESCAC schools share a similar philosophy for intercollegiate athletics. The Conference was created out of a concern for the direction of intercollegiate athletic programs and remains committed to keeping a proper perspective on the role of sport in higher education. Member institutions believe athletic teams should be representative of school's entire student bodies and hew to NCAA Division III admissions and financial policies prohibiting athletic scholarships while awarding financial aid solely on the basis of need. Due to the prestigious reputations of its member schools, the NESCAC is able to attract many of the most athletically and intellectually gifted student-athletes in the country.

NESCAC members stress that intercollegiate athletic programs should operate in harmony with the educational mission of each institution. Schools are committed to maintaining common boundaries to keep athletics strong yet in proportion to their overall academic mission. Presidents of each NESCAC institution control intercollegiate athletic policy.

Conference tenets are usually more restrictive than those of the NCAA Division III regarding season length, number of contests and post-season competition.

The schools are all well-regarded academically. The numbers in the table below represent the rank of the institution in the U.S. News & World Report list of "National Liberal Arts Colleges". It should be noted, however, that Tufts' rank represents its standing among the USNWR "National Universities" list.

Institution	USNWR Category	USNWR Rank	Class of 2019 Acceptance Rate
Amherst College	Liberal Arts	2	13.7%
Bates College	Liberal Arts	25	21.4%
Bowdoin College	Liberal Arts	4	14.9%
Colby College	Liberal Arts	19	22.5%
Connecticut College	Liberal Arts	48	40.0%
Hamilton College	Liberal Arts	14	23.9%
Middlebury College	Liberal Arts	4	19.9%
Trinity College	Liberal Arts	43	27.0%
Tufts University	University	27*	15.8%
Wesleyan University	Liberal Arts	14	21.9%
Williams College	Liberal Arts	1	16.8%

• This number represents the standing of Tufts among 'national universities' as defined by USNWR.

Member schools

Current members

The league currently has 11 full members:

Institution	Location	Nickname	Founded	Founding Religious Affiliation	Enrollment	Joined
Amherst College	Amherst, Massachusetts	Lord Jeffs	1821	Congregationalist	1,817	1971
Bates College	Lewiston, Maine	Bobcats	1855	Free Will Baptist	1,773	1971
Bowdoin College	Brunswick, Maine	Polar Bears	1794	Congregationalist	1,777	1971
Colby College	Waterville, Maine	White Mules	1813	Northern Baptist	1,838	1971
Connecticut College	New London, Connecticut	Camels	1911	Methodist	1,911	1982
Hamilton College	Clinton, New York	Continentals	1793	Presbyterian	1,864	1971
Middlebury College	Middlebury, Vermont	Panthers	1800	Congregationalist	2,507	1971
Trinity College	Hartford, Connecticut	Bantams	1823	Episcopalian	2,344	1971
Tufts University	Medford, Massachusetts	Jumbos	1852	Universalist	5,138	1971
Wesleyan University	Middletown, Connecticut	Cardinals	1831	Methodist	2,870	1971
Williams College	Williamstown, Massachusetts	Ephs	1793	Congregationalist	2,124	1971

Former members

Institution	Location	Nickname	Founded	Founding Religious Affiliation	Enrollment	Joined	Left	Current Conference
Union College	Schenectady, New York	Dutchmen (men's) Dutchwomen (women's)	1795	Dutch Reformed	2,220	1971	1977	Liberty

Membership timeline

Conference championships

The NESCAC holds conference championships in the following sports:

Conference sports

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	Y
Basketball	Y	Y
Cross Country	Y	Y
Field hockey		Y
Football	Y
Golf	Y
Ice hockey	Y	Y
Lacrosse	Y	Y
Rowing	Y	Y
Soccer	Y	Y
Softball		Y
Squash	Y	Y
Swimming & Diving	Y	Y
Tennis	Y	Y
Track and field	Y	Y
Volleyball		Y

Football Scheduling

Due to the fact that there are 10 football-playing schools in the NESCAC, but only 8 regular season games, NESCAC football teams rotate their opening opponents on a two-year cycle.

School	Opponent (Even Years)	Opponent (Odd Years)
Amherst	Bates	Hamilton
Bates	Amherst	Trinity
Bowdoin	Williams	Middlebury
Colby	Trinity	Williams
Hamilton	Tufts	Amherst
Middlebury	Wesleyan	Bowdoin
Trinity	Colby	Bates
Tufts	Hamilton	Wesleyan
Wesleyan	Middlebury	Tufts
Williams	Bowdoin	Colby

NESCAC schools always end the year against the same opponent, typically their biggest rival. These five matchups (listed with the home team in odd years first) are: Hamilton-Bates, Tufts-Middlebury [1], Trinity-Wesleyan [2] Bowdoin-Colby [3], and Williams-Amherst.

NCAA Division III competition

Four NESCAC institutions are among the 39 that founded the NCAA in 1905: Amherst, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams.

Prior to 1993 NESCAC generally did not allow member schools to send teams to NCAA championships. Since then all sports except football have had this freedom, many excelling in the NCAA Division III championships. The NACDA Directors' Cup, awarded since 1996 to the college or university in each NCAA Division that wins the most college championships, has been claimed at the Division III level by a NESCAC institution every year except 1998. In the 2012–13 season, four of the top ten NACDA Director's Cup institutions were from NESCAC: Williams (1), Middlebury (3), Amherst (6), and Tufts (8).

In addition to the ban on post-season play, the NESCAC football league is notable for member teams playing conference games only. While some Division II and Division III teams play only conference schedules, NESCAC is unique in all of its members playing only conference games.

Middlebury leads NESCAC in total National Championship teams, winning 32 titles since the conference lifted its ban on NCAA play. Williams is second with 25 NCAA championships, Tufts next at 21.

Conference venues

School	Football		Basketball
	Stadium	Capacity	Arena	Capacity
Amherst	Pratt Field	8,000	LeFrak Gymnasium	2,450
Bates	Garcelon Field	3,000	Alumni Gymnasium	750
Bowdoin	Whittier Field	9,000	Morrell Gymnasium	2,000
Colby	Harold Alfond Stadium	5,000	Wadsworth Gymnasium	2,500
Connecticut	Non-football school	N/A	Luce Fieldhouse	800
Hamilton	Steuben Field	2,500	Margaret Bundy Scott Field House	2,500
Middlebury	Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium	3,500	Pepin Gymnasium	1,200
Trinity	Jessee/Miller Field	6,500	Oosting Gym	2,000
Tufts	Ellis Oval	6,000	Cousens Gym	1,000
Wesleyan	Andrus Field	5,000	Silloway Gymnasium	1,200
Williams	Weston Field	10,000	Chandler Gymnasium	2,900

Athletic spending

The U. S. Department of Education publishes statistics on athletic spending by colleges. In 2013–14, athletic spending by NESCAC schools was as follows (note: there are 421 schools in Division III):

School	Athletic Spending	Div III rank	Amount per (Unduplicated) Athlete	Div III rank	# (Unduplicated) Varsity Athletes	Div III rank	Amount per Undergraduate student	Div III rank
Amherst	$5,822,492	12	$10,324	27	564	41	$3,262	10
Bates	$5,181,170	21	$7,631	105	679	15	$2,893	16
Bowdoin	$5,905,648	10	$9,072	54	651	18	$3,303	9
Colby	$5,149,582	22	$8,110	84	635	19	$2,829	18
Connecticut	$3,756,307	61	$7,322	128	513	66	$2,006	67
Hamilton	$4,869,188	24	$8,618	72	565	38	$2,557	25
Middlebury	$5,235,614	20	$7,588	113	690	13	$2,132	53
Trinity	$5,885,489	11	$8,945	60	658	16	$2,752	19
Tufts	$4,342,883	30	$5,752	266	755	4	$849	282
Wesleyan	$5,379,896	17	$9,134	51	589	24	$1,863	89
Williams	$7,276,419	6	$9,780	36	744	5	$3,548	6

Nine (out of eleven) NESCAC schools rank in the top 25 of Division III for total athletic spending. With the exception of Connecticut College, all NESCAC schools rank in the top 10% of Division III for # of varsity athletes. Connecticut College athletic spending and # of varsity athletes are lowest because it does not have a football team. Tufts per-student athletic spending is low because it has nearly double the undergraduate population (5,100) of its nearest NESCAC rival (Wesleyan, with 2,800).

Related athletic divisions, conferences and rivalries

In certain sports, NESCAC teams play primarily within either an East or West Division. East Division teams consist of Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Trinity and Tufts; West Division teams consist of Amherst, Hamilton, Middlebury, Wesleyan and Williams. Amherst, Wesleyan and Williams are also the members of the unofficial Little Three conference. Bates, Bowdoin and Colby are also the participants in the CBB rivalry. Hamilton and Middlebury contest the Old Rocking Chair annually in football.

Notable alumni

Baseball

NESCAC schools currently count four Major League Baseball general managers among their collective alumni.

• Ben Cherington (Amherst '96): General Manager of the Boston Red Sox
• Dan Duquette (Amherst '80): Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations for the Baltimore Orioles
• Jed Hoyer (Wesleyan '96): Executive Vice President/General Manager of the Chicago Cubs, former General Manager of the San Diego Padres, and former Assistant General Manager of the Boston Red Sox
• Neal Huntington (Amherst '91): General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates
• Bill Smith (Hamilton '80): former General Manager of the Minnesota Twins

Football

• Bill Belichick (Wesleyan '75): Head coach of four Super Bowl–winning New England Patriots teams
• John Bello (Tufts '68): Former President of NFL Properties, the marketing and commercial arm of the National Football League from 1979 to 1993. Named one of the most powerful people in sports by The Sporting News in 1992 (#46)
• Ethan Brooks (Williams '96): Professional football player (offensive tackle) for a number of teams until his retirement in 2005, and achieved his greatest success as a starter for the Baltimore Ravens
• Eric DeCosta (Colby '93): Assistant General Manager for the Baltimore Ravens, captain of the Colby football team during his senior year (and later received a M.A. from Trinity, where he coached football from 1993 to 1995).
• Jean Fugett (Amherst '72): Former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins
• Steven Hauschka (Middlebury '07): Placekicker with the Seattle Seahawks
• Eric Mangini (Wesleyan '94): Current NFL analyst for ESPN, former head coach of the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, and former defensive coordinator for the Patriots
• Jeff Wilner (Wesleyan '94): Former tight end for the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos

Hockey

• Guy Hebert (Hamilton '89): Professional ice hockey goaltender for the St. Louis Blues, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers. In addition to his NHL career, Hebert was a member of the 1998 Olympic hockey team which represented the United States in Nagano, Japan.
• Tom Stillman (Middlebury '74): Chairman and CEO of the St. Louis Blues.

External links

• Official website