Middle Atlantic Conferences

The Middle Atlantic Conferences (MAC) is an umbrella organization of three intercollegiate athletic conferences that competes in the NCAA's Division III. The 16 member colleges are in the Mid-Atlantic United States.

The organization is divided into two main conferences: the MAC Commonwealth and the MAC Freedom. A third conference, named the Middle Atlantic Conference (singular), draws members from both the Commonwealth and Freedom conferences and sponsors sports that only a certain set of members participate in, such as track & field and cross country.

History

In 1912, the "Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletics Association" (MASCAA) was founded primarily as a track association and had its first event, a track meet, at Lafayette College in May 1913. In 1922, it was reorganized as the "Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Conference" (MASCAC or MAC). The original 13 members present at the formation meeting in 1922 were: Bucknell University, Drexel University, Franklin & Marshall College, Gettysburg College, Haverford College, Muhlenberg College, New York University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Susquehanna University, Swarthmore College, and the University of Delaware.<ref name="history">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In addition, another five members who were not present at the initial meeting but formally approved of the plan were: Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Lehigh University, Ursinus College, and Widener University.<ref name="history"/>

During its history, the organization has had at least 50 different members associated with it. The conference had as many as 37 members at one time in the late 1950s. A major reduction in the league occurred in 1974 after the NCAA created Divisions I, II, and III. At that time, 11 members left to form the Division I East Coast Conference and by 1976, the MAC became fully associated with Division III. An additional 11 members left in 1992 to form the Centennial Conference; the football programs for eight of those schools had already left in 1981. In 1999, the current corporation formed with its three conferences: MAC Commonwealth, MAC Freedom, and Middle Atlantic.<ref name="history"/>

Arcadia University and Manhattanville College joined MAC Freedom for 2007–08. They replaced Juniata College, Drew University, Moravian College, Susquehanna University, and the University of Scranton, who left to join the new Landmark Conference. To offset the change in numbers, it was also decided to switch Lycoming College from the MAC Freedom to the MAC Commonwealth.

Alvernia University, Misericordia University, and Eastern University, all from the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, accepted membership in the MAC Freedom and started participation in the 2008–09 school year.<ref name="history"/> Starting in the 2009–10 school year, Alvernia switched from the MAC Freedom to the MAC Commonwealth, thereby giving the Commonwealth and Freedom leagues the same number of members.

Stevenson University and Hood College accepted invitations to join the MAC and MAC Commonwealth starting with the 2012–13, expanding the conference to 18 members.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Elizabethtown College moved to the Landmark Conference for 2014–15. In May 2018, Manhattanville College announced that they would leave the MAC Freedom Conference and return to the Skyline Conference for the 2019–20 academic year. Manhattanville was a charter member of the Skyline before leaving to join the MAC in 2007.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Three months later, the MAC announced that Stevens Institute of Technology, which had left the conference in 1978, would return in 2019–20 and replace Manhattanville in the MAC Freedom.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> In April 2019, the MAC announced that York College of Pennsylvania would join the MAC Commonwealth in 2020–21.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In May 2019, the MAC announced it would realign the Commonwealth and Freedom conferences into two equally-sized leagues effective with York's arrival in 2020. At that time, Arcadia and Lycoming moved from the MAC Commonwealth to the MAC Freedom, while Eastern made the opposite move.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In February 2022, the Landmark Conference announced that Wilkes University and Lycoming College accepted invitations to the conference starting in the 2023-24 season.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

The MAC announced in April 2025 that Atlantic East Conference member Neumann University, already a MAC member in men's ice hockey, would become a full MAC member starting in 2026–27. Neumann's future alignment within the MAC (i.e., Commonwealth or Freedom) has yet to be determined.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

MAC football

In 1958, the MAC began sponsoring football. The football conference essentially operated as three separate conferences with the larger schools (Bucknell, Delaware, Gettysburg, Lafayette, Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Rutgers, and Temple) playing a round-robin schedule in the "University Division," and the smaller schools being split into the "College Division - North" (Albright, Dickinson, Juniata, Lebanon Valley, Lycoming, Moravian, Susquehanna, Wagner, and Wilkes) and the "College Division - South" (Drexel, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania Military, Swarthmore, Ursinus, and Western Maryland) each playing a separate round-robin schedule. Although the upper division of the conference (which later included Drexel, La Salle, and Saint Joseph's) competed at the Division I (then known as the University Division) level in other sports, only Rutgers was considered a University Division football school. Following the 1969 season, the upper level of MAC football was disbanded as Temple dropped out to upgrade their football schedule. Rutgers had previously dropped out of the MAC for all sports and a five-team football league was not desirable. The lower division continued as MAC football, but Bucknell, Delaware, Gettysburg, Lafayette, and Lehigh operated as football independents for the rest of their tenure with the league. Numerous other MAC schools competed in other football leagues throughout most of the league's history.

In 1983, the Centennial Football League was formed by eight MAC members. Eventually, those eight schools and two others broke apart from the MAC for all sports, founding the Centennial Conference in 1991. Since then, all league members that sponsor football have competed in the MAC Football Conference.

Member schools

MAC Commonwealth

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Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Nickname	Joined MAC!Template:EfnTemplate:Efn	Colors
Albright College	Reading, Pennsylvania	1856	Methodist	2,304	Lions	1945–46Template:Efn	Template:College color boxes
Alvernia University	Reading, Pennsylvania	1958	Catholic	2,872	Golden Wolves	2008–09	Template:College color boxes
Eastern University	St. Davids, Pennsylvania	1925	Baptist	3,420	Eagles	2008–09	Template:College color boxes
Hood College	Frederick, Maryland	1893	Reformed	1,174	Blazers	2012–13	Template:College color boxes
Messiah University	Grantham, Pennsylvania	1909	Christian	3,305	Falcons	1983–84	Template:College color boxes
Stevenson University	Stevenson, Maryland	1947	Nonsectarian	3,621	Mustangs	2012–13	Template:College color boxes
Widener University	Chester, Pennsylvania	1821	Nonsectarian	6,402	Pride	1946–47Template:Efn	Template:College color boxes
York College of Pennsylvania	York, Pennsylvania	1787	Nonsectarian	5,564	Spartans	2020–21	Template:College color boxes

Notes

MAC Freedom

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Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment<ref name="enrollment"/>	Nickname	Joined MAC!Template:EfnTemplate:Efn	Colors
Arcadia University	Glenside, Pennsylvania	1853	Presbyterian	2,473	Knights	2007–08	Template:College color boxes
Delaware Valley University	Doylestown, Pennsylvania	1896	Nonsectarian	2,375	Aggies	1965–66	Template:College color boxes
DeSales University	Center Valley, Pennsylvania	1965	Catholic	3,309	Bulldogs	1997–98	Template:College color boxes
Fairleigh Dickinson University–Florham	Madison, New Jersey	1942	Nonsectarian	2,546	Devils	1977–78	Template:College color boxes
King's College	Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania	1946	Catholic	2,421	Monarchs	1977–78	Template:College color boxes
Lebanon Valley College	Annville, Pennsylvania	1866	Methodist	1,712	Flying Dutchmen	1945–46Template:Efn	Template:College color boxes
Misericordia University	Dallas, Pennsylvania	1924	Catholic	2,879	Cougars	2008–09	Template:College color boxes
Stevens Institute of Technology	Hoboken, New Jersey	1870	Nonsectarian	5,260	Ducks	1946–47, 2019–20Template:Efn	Template:College color boxes

Notes

Future members

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Nickname	Joining MAC!Template:Efn	Colors	Current conference
Neumann UniversityTemplate:Efn	Aston, Pennsylvania	1965	Catholic Template:Small	3,000	Knights	2026–27Template:Efn	Template:College color boxes	Atlantic East (AEC)

Notes

Affiliates

Institution	Location	Nickname	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	MAC sport(s)	Year joined	Primary conference	Colors
Neumann University	Aston, Pennsylvania	Knights	1965	Catholic Template:Small	3,000	ice hockey	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Atlantic East (AEC)	Template:College color boxes
Wilkes University	Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania	Colonels	1933	Private	5,000	ice hockey	2024–25<ref name=hockey></ref>	Landmark	Template:College color boxes

Former members

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Sports

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Member teams currently compete in 27 sports, 14 men's and 13 women's.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The most recently added sports are men's and women's ice hockey and men's volleyball, all added for 2017–18. The MAC now sponsors all NCAA Division III sports except women's rowing.<ref name="Hockey, Volleyball">Template:Cite press release</ref>

Conference sports

Sport	Men's	Women's
Template:LeftBaseball	Template:Y
Template:LeftBasketball	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftCross Country	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftField Hockey		Template:Y
Template:LeftFootball	Template:Y
Template:LeftIce Hockey	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftGolf	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftLacrosse	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftSoccer	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftSoftball		Template:Y
Template:LeftSwimming	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftTennis	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftTrack & field (indoor)	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftTrack & field (outdoor)	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftVolleyball	Template:Y	Template:Y
Template:LeftWrestling	Template:Y

Middle Atlantic Conference

The Middle Atlantic Conference combines schools from both the MAC Commonwealth and MAC Freedom and is currently used for cross country, football, women's golf, ice hockey, track & field (indoor / outdoor), swimming, men's volleyball, and wrestling.<ref name="Hockey, Volleyball"/> The MAC officially sponsored men's and women's ice hockey for many year but it wasn't until the addition of Neumann and Wilkes as affiliate members that the conference received an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. As a result the first MAC ice hockey tournaments will take place in 2025.<ref name=hockey></ref> Previously, the MAC used the regular-season results of UCHC games involving all MAC members to extrapolate a MAC champion (the same model used by the Ivy League, which has a similar relationship with ECAC Hockey).

Men's Sports

Team	Cross Country	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Ice Hockey	Indoor Track & Field	Outdoor Track & Field	Swimming	Volleyball	Wrestling	Totals
Template:LeftAlbright	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y			5
Template:LeftAlvernia	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y		6
Template:LeftArcadia	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		6
Template:LeftDeSales	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y				3
Template:LeftDelaware Valley	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y			Template:Y	5
Template:LeftEastern	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y		5
Template:LeftFDU-Florham	Template:Y	Template:Y				Template:Y			3
Template:LeftHood	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		5
Template:LeftKing's	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	8
Template:LeftLebanon Valley	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y			6
Template:LeftMessiah	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	6
Template:LeftMisericordia	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		7
Template:LeftStevens	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	6
Template:LeftStevenson	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		7
Template:LeftWidener	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		6
Template:LeftYork	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	5
Template:LeftNeumann			Template:Y						1
Template:LeftWilkes			Template:Y						1
Totals	16	10	8	15	15	12	10	5	89

Women's Sports

Team	Cross Country	Golf	Ice Hockey	Indoor Track & Field	Outdoor Track & Field	Swimming	Totals
Template:LeftAlbright	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	5
Template:LeftAlvernia	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		5
Template:LeftArcadia	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	6
Template:LeftDeSales	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y		3
Template:LeftDelaware Valley	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y		4
Template:LeftEastern	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y		4
Template:LeftFDU-Florham	Template:Y	Template:Y				Template:Y	3
Template:LeftHood	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	5
Template:LeftKing's	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	6
Template:LeftLebanon Valley	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	6
Template:LeftMessiah	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	4
Template:LeftMisericordia	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	5
Template:LeftStevens	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	4
Template:LeftStevenson	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	6
Template:LeftWidener	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	5
Template:LeftYork	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	5
Template:LeftNeumann			Template:Y				1
Template:LeftWilkes			Template:Y				1
Template:LeftTotals	16	13	7	15	15	12	78

External links

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