Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III since the 2008–09 season. Corey Borchardt is the current commissioner of the UMAC, and was appointed to the position in 2008. The UMAC was started in 1972 as the Twin Rivers Conference, and assumed its current name in 1983. Member institutions are located in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The UMAC sponsors intercollegiate competition in men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's football, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, women's softball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field, and women's volleyball.

Greenville College and Westminster College became associate members of the UMAC in football in 2009, followed by Finlandia University in 2021.

In March 2023, Finlandia announced it was closing.

History

Chronological timeline

• 1972 – The UMAC was founded as the Twin Rivers Conference (TRC), originally an athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Charter members included Concordia College, Saint Paul (now Concordia University, Saint Paul), Dr. Martin Luther College, Loras College, Mount Senario College, Northwestern College of Minnesota (now the University of Northwestern – St. Paul), Northwestern College of Wisconsin and Pillsbury Baptist Bible College, beginning the 1972–73 academic year.
• 1974 – Maranatha Baptist Bible College (now Maranatha Baptist University) joined the TWC as an associate member for football in the 1974 fall season (1974–75 academic year).
• 1976 – Viterbo College (now Viterbo University) joined the TRC in the 1976–77 academic year.
• 1983 – The TRC was rebranded as the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, beginning the 1983–84 academic year.
• 1986 – Loras left the UMAC to join the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) after the 1985–86 academic year.
• 1988 – Pillsbury Baptist Bible and Viterbo left the UMAC after the 1987–88 academic year.
• 1994 – Crown College joined the UMAC in the 1994–95 academic year.
• 1995:
• Dr. Martin Luther and Northwestern (Wisc.) merged to become Martin Luther College. Both institutions therefore left the UMAC as a result of the merger, effective after the 1994–95 academic year. And immediately Martin Luther joined the UMAC, beginning the 1995–96 academic year.
• The College of St. Scholastica joined the UMAC in the 1995–96 academic year.
• 1997 – Trinity Bible College joined the UMAC as an associate member for football in the 1997 fall season (1997–98 academic year).
• 1998 – Northland College of Wisconsin joined the UMAC in the 1998–99 academic year.
• 1999 – Concordia–Saint Paul left the UMAC to join Division II ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) after the 1998–99 academic year.
• 2002:
• Mount Senario left the UMAC during the 2001–02 academic year; as the school disbanded its athletics program in December 2001 without completing the rest of the school year; which would the school later ceased operations on 31 August 2002.
• Presentation College of South Dakota joined the UMAC in the 2002–03 academic year.
• Blackburn College, Principia College, Rockford College (now Rockford University) and Westminster College of Missouri joined the UMAC as associate members for football in the 2002 fall season (2002–03 academic year).
• 2003 – The University of Minnesota at Morris (a.k.a. Minnesota–Morris) joined the UMAC in the 2003–04 academic year.
• 2004 – Bethany Lutheran College joined the UMAC in the 2004–05 academic year.
• 2008:
• Blackburn, Principia, Maranatha Baptist, Rockford, Trinity Bible and Westminster (Mo.) left the UMAC as associate members for football after the 2007 fall season (2007–08 academic year).
• The UMAC became affiliated with the NCAA Division III ranks, beginning the 2008–09 academic year.
• North Central University joined the UMAC as an associate member for certain sports in the 2008–09 academic year.
• 2009 – Eureka College, Greenville College (now Greenville University) and MacMurray College joined the UMAC as associate members for football (with Westminster (Mo.) rejoining back) in the 2009 fall season (2009–10 academic year).
• 2012 – Presentation left the UMAC to join the NAIA as an Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) after the 2011–12 academic year; which would later join the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA), beginning the 2013–14 school year.
• 2013:
• North Central (Minn.) became a full member of the UMAC for all sports in the 2013–14 academic year.
• Iowa Wesleyan College (now Iowa Wesleyan University) joined the UMAC as an associate member for football in the 2013 fall season (2013–14 academic year).
• 2015 – The University of Wisconsin–Superior joined the UMAC in the 2015–16 academic year.
• 2018 – Eureka left the UMAC as an associate member for football after the 2017 fall season (2017–18 academic year).
• 2020 – MacMurray left the UMAC as an associate member for football after the 2019 fall season (2019–20 academic year); as the school would later drop its athletics program and cease operations.
• 2021:
• Iowa Wesleyan left the UMAC as an associate member for football after the 2020 fall season (2020–21 academic year).
• St. Scholastica left the UMAC to join the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) after the 2020–21 academic year.
• 2021 – Finlandia University joined the UMAC as an associate member for football in the 2021 fall season (2021–22 academic year).
• 2023 – Finlandia left the UMAC as an associate member for football after the 2022 fall season (2022–23 academic year); as the school would later drop its athletics program and cease operations.
• 2025 – Northland left the UMAC after the 2024–25 academic year; as the school would cease operations.

Member schools

Current members

Full members

The UMAC currently has seven full members, all but two are private schools:

Notes:

Associate members

The UMAC currently has five associate members, all but one are private schools:

Notes:

Former members

Full members

The UMAC had ten former full members, which all were private schools:

Notes:

Associate members

The UMAC had eight former associate members, all were private schools. School names and nicknames reflect those in use during the final school year in which each competed in the UMAC.

Notes

Membership timeline

Conference sports

Conference facilities

Football champions

<nowiki>*</nowiki>- 2011 was the first year the UMAC Champion received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Playoffs.

Yearly football standings

Ice hockey affiliations

The UMAC does not sponsor ice hockey. UW-Superior is the one UMAC member school sponsor men's and women's ice hockey as a varsity sport and is a member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Former schools such as the College of St. Scholastica also sponsored Ice Hockey but played in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

References

External links