The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC), formerly the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC), is an intercollegiate athletic conference. It participates in the NCAA's Division III and began its first season in the fall of 2006.
The NACC sponsors 21 sports. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, and volleyball. Women's squads are fielded in basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field and volleyball. The newest NACC sports are men's volleyball, added in the 2017âÂÂ18 school year, and men's and women's lacrosse, added in the 2020-21 school year.
The NACC became eligible for automatic NCAA postseason berths in 2008âÂÂ09.
The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference began its first season of competition in the fall of 2006 as the Northern Athletics Conference. The name change took place at the beginning of the 2013âÂÂ14 academic year. The NACC consists of 13 colleges and universities from the shared-border states of Illinois and Wisconsin. Many have shared traditional rivalries dating back to the NACC's predecessor conferences: the Lake Michigan Conference and the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference.
Charter members include: Alverno College, Aurora University, Benedictine University, Concordia University Chicago, Concordia University Wisconsin, Dominican University, Edgewood University, Lakeland University, Maranatha Baptist University, Marian University, Rockford University and Wisconsin Lutheran College.
Just three changes to the league's core membership have occurred, as the Milwaukee School of Engineering joined the NAC in the fall of 2007, and Maranatha withdrew from the league in the summer of 2013. In 2017, the Illinois Institute of Technology announced that they would be joining the NACC for the 2018 athletic season, coinciding with their acceptance as a full NCAA Division III member.
Also in 2017, Benedictine, which had been contemplating a move to NCAA Division II, was formally invited to join the D-II Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), pending NCAA approval of its entry into the D-II transition process. Benedictine formally applied to begin this transition in advance of a February 1, 2018 deadline, and was officially approved to enter the transition process in July of that year. In October 2018, Benedictine reversed course and rescinded its request to withdraw from the NACC.
The most recent membership change was announced on April 3, 2019, when St. Norbert College, already slated to become an affiliate member in men's volleyball (and, subsequently, men's and women's golf) in 2019âÂÂ20, was upgraded to full NACC membership effective in 2021âÂÂ22.
On April 17, 2024, four institutions joined the NCAA as affiliate members for lacrosse, effective in the 2025 spring season of the 2024-25 academic year). The following schools were Cornell College, Lake Forest College and Lawrence University for men's and women's lacrosse, and the University of Dubuque for only men's lacrosse. Lawrence was introducing both sports, while Cornell, Dubuque, and Lake Forest had been members of the Midwest Lacrosse Conference / Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference.
The NACC currently has 14 full members, all are private schools:
Member departing for the Coast to Coast Athletic Conference on July 1, 2027.<br> Member departing for the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin on July 1, 2028.
The NACC currently has six affiliate members, all are private schools:
The NACC had one former full member, which was also a private school:
The NACC had seven former affiliate members, all were private schools:
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference which are played by NACC schools:
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference which are played by NACC schools: