The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its members are in Minnesota, with three members in South Dakota, two members in North Dakota, and one member each in the states of Iowa and Nebraska. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level. It was founded in 1932. With the recent NSIC expansion, the original six member schools have been reunited. With the inclusion of the several new member institutions, it is one of the largest Division II conferences in the country with 16 members.
Carroll College is a small, private, Roman Catholic, liberal arts college in Helena, Montana, United States. Carroll College is a top-ranked regional college and has earned national recognition for its academic programs. Carroll's colors are purple and gold. The school's sports teams are known as the Saints or the "Fighting Saints." Their speech and debate (forensics) team is known as the "Talking Saints."
College ice hockey is played in Canada and the United States, though leagues exist outside North America.
The Montana Grizzlies football program represents the University of Montana in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football. The Grizzlies have competed in the Big Sky Conference since 1963, where it is a founding member. They play their home games on campus in Missoula at Washington–Grizzly Stadium, where they had an average attendance of 25,377 in 2016.
Bradley Richard Huse is an American college basketball coach and the former head men's basketball coach at Montana State University. On April 4, 2006, he was hired following the departure of Mick Durham.
Michael Norman Gardner is currently the coach at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas. Having left Tabor for Malone in 2006, Gardner was chosen to replace Mike Gottsch after Tabor's winless 2009 season. Gardner's teams achieved post-season play for his first five years as a head coach at the college level—the first two years qualifying for the NAIA playoffs and the next three years to the Victory Bowl.
The Southern Oregon Raiders football team represents Southern Oregon University in the sport of American football. The Raiders team competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as an associate member of the Frontier Conference. Southern Oregon University has fielded an official football team since 1927 and has an all-time record of 349–351–15. The Raiders play in Raider Stadium in Ashland, Oregon, which has a capacity of 5,000. Southern Oregon has played in two NAIA national championship games and won thirteen conference championships in multiple conferences.
The Lindenwood Lions and Lady Lions are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Lindenwood University, located in St. Charles, Missouri. The school is primarily a member of the NCAA Division II, although women's ice hockey and gymnastics and men's volleyball compete in NCAA Division I. The Lions joined the NCAA and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) in the summer of 2013, after completing the transition process from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC). On October 4, 2018, Lindenwood announced it would be leaving the MIAA for the Great Lakes Valley Conference effective July 1, 2019.
The Carroll Fighting Saint football program represents Carroll College of Helena, Montana in college football. The team competes in the Frontier Conference, which is affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The Carroll Fighting Saints football team began playing in 1920 and is one of the most successful programs in the NAIA division of college football. The program has won six NAIA Football National Championships and 40 conference championships, 14 while a member of the Montana Collegiate Conference and 26 as a member of the Frontier Conference. The team is currently coached by Mike Van Diest who in his 17th season at Carroll, has compiled a career record of 194– 36. His winning percentage of .8145 is the third highest of any head coach with at least ten seasons of experience in college football history, behind only those of Mount Union's Larry Kehres and Notre Dame's Knute Rockne. The Carroll College Fighting Saints plays their home games on campus at Nelson Stadium.
Joe Bettasso is an American football player and coach, who is currently the defensive coordinator for the Missouri Southern Lions. Bettasso served as the interim head coach for 2018. Bettasso was formerly the defensive coordinator at McKendree University and, prior to that, Quincy University. Bettasso was the head football coach at McPherson College from 2010 to 2011, compiling a record of 14–8.
Tommy Lee is an American former football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Willamette University from 1974 to 1981, and the University of Montana Western from 2001 to 2007, compiling an overall college football record of 66–79–2. After more than 40 years in the coaching profession, Lee retired from coaching in December 2012.
The 2012 Mid-South Conference football season is made up of 13 United States college athletic programs that compete in the Mid-South Conference (MSC) under the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) for the 2012 college football season. The conference is divided into two divisions, the East Division and the West Division.
The 2012 NAIA Independents football season is made up of seventeen United States college athletic programs that compete without any conference affiliation as NAIA independent football schools under the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) for the 2012 college football season. No conference champion is declared. The team with the best record was the Robert Morris Eagles with eight wins and three losses, followed by Valley City State Vikings at seven wins and three losses.
The 2015 NAIA Football National Championship was a four-round, sixteen team tournament played between November 21 and December 19 of 2015. The tournament concluded on December 19 with a single game played as the 60th Annual NAIA Football National Championship Presented by Waste Pro. Waste Pro became the newest title game sponsor in an announcement made October 31, 1015. The game matched #7 Southern Oregon (11–2) against #6 Marian (11–2) in a rematch between the two teams that met in the 2014 championship game. Marian was making its third appearance in the last four years of the championship event. In a reversal of last year's outcome, Marian prevailed 31-14 to win their second national title in the past four years.
The 2017 NAIA Football National Championship was a four-round, sixteen team tournament played between November 18 and December 16 of 2017. The tournament will conclude on December 16 with a single game, played as the 62nd Annual NAIA Football National Championship. The game featured two undefeated teams that met in the semifinal round of the 2016 tournament, including the defending national champions, the #1-ranked Saint Francis Cougars. Their opponent was the #2-ranked Reinhardt Eagles, in only the 5th year of the program's existence. In the end, it was Saint Francis that prevailed by a final score of 24-13. This was only the 5th time a team has managed back-to-back championships in the history of NAIA football.
The 2018 NAIA football rankings reports the poll results conducted during the 2018 NAIA football season. Each season, one poll evaluates the various National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football teams and ranks them. Coaches from each of the football conferences are members of a selection panel, with conferences receiving one vote for every 4 member teams. Sometimes referred to as the football ratings or the NAIA Coaches' Poll, the poll is generally conducted once during the preseason and after each week of play during the regular season.
The 2018 NAIA Football National Championship was a four-round, sixteen team tournament played between November 17 and December 15 of 2018. The tournament concluded on December 15 with a single game, played as the 63rd Annual NAIA Football National Championship.
