The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Upper Midwest of the United States. Nine of its members are in Minnesota, with three members in South Dakota, two members in North Dakota, and one member in Nebraska. It was founded in 1932. With the recent NSIC expansion, the original six member schools have been reunited.
The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) is a college-level athletic conference. The UMAC is a conference of 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 University of Minnesota Morris (UMN–Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts degrees.
The Winona State Warriors are the athletic teams of Winona State University, located in Winona, Minnesota. They compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Division II for all sports except for women's gymnastics, which competes in the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association.
Sports in Minnesota include professional teams in all major sports, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, especially in the Winter Olympics, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations and active amateur teams and individual sports. The State of Minnesota has a team in all five major professional leagues. Along with professional sports, there are numerous collegiate teams including the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and St. Thomas Tommies in NCAA Division I, as well as many others across the Minnesota public and private colleges and universities.
Al Molde is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Sioux Falls College (1971–1972), the University of Minnesota Morris (1973–1979), Central Missouri State University (1980–1982), Eastern Illinois University (1983–1986), and Western Michigan University (1987–1996), compiling a career college football coaching record of 168–104–8 (.614). Molde retired as the athletic director at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota on June 1, 2012, having held the position since 1997. Under his guidance, the Golden Gusties finished in the top 20 in the NCAA Division III NACDA Director's Cup standings several times. In 2013, Molde briefly returned to coaching with the Saarland Hurricanes of the German Football League.
The Minot State Beavers are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Minot State University (MSU), located in Minot, North Dakota. The Beavers compete at the NCAA Division II level. The university was previously a member of the NAIA's Dakota Athletic Conference (DAC) and competed as an independent as a provisional member for the 2011–12 academic year before joining the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) in 2012. Minot State Beavers men's and women's ice hockey teams currently play in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), the men's team plays as is an independent team at the ACHA Men's Division I level and women's team at the ACHA Women's Division II level.
Ken Crandall is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach for the Southwestern College Moundbuilders in Winfield, Kansas and was the 28th person to hold that position. Prior to accepting this position, he was the head coach for nine years at the University of Minnesota Morris. Crandall had been a graduate assistant coach at Pittsburg State University during the Gorillas' national championship run in 1991. In addition, he was assistant coach at Norwich University and at the Maine Maritime Academy. Crandall resigned the position at Southwestern on November 19, 2014.
The Wittenberg Tigers football team represents Wittenberg University in college football. The first recorded year in Wittenberg football history was 1892. The Tigers compete at the NCAA Division III level and the program is affiliated with the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). The Tigers play their home games at Edwards–Maurer Field in Springfield, Ohio.
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), located in Edwardsville, Illinois, United States. The Cougars' athletic program is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and competes at the NCAA Division I level. The SIUE mascot is Eddie the Cougar #57, and the school colors are red and white. Cougar teams have won seventeen NCAA national championships in five sports.
James Samuel Malosky Sr. was an American football coach. He ranks 18th all-time in wins among college football coaches in all divisions. He was the head football coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth for 40 years from 1958 to 1997. He compiled a career record of 255–125–13 and is ranked second all-time in wins among NCAA Division II football coaches.
The Minnesota State Mavericks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Minnesota State University, Mankato. The school's athletic program includes 21 varsity sports teams. More than 600 students participate each year in athletics for the university. Most of the university's athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division II level in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The men's and women's ice hockey teams compete at the Division I level, respectively in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Minnesota State began competition in the NSIC in 2008–09, due to the dissolution of the North Central Conference. It was also one of the seven WCHA men's hockey members that left that league after the 2020–21 season to reestablish the CCHA, a move that led to the demise of the men's side of the WCHA.
The Northern State Wolves are the athletic teams that represent Northern State University, located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S., in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Wolves compete as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for all 13 varsity sports. Northern State has been a member of the conference since 1978, and they also have the fifth-smallest enrollment of the 16 member schools. In the 1990s, all members of the NSIC solely became members of NCAA Division II, after spending many years with dual membership with the NAIA.
The Sioux Falls Cougars are the athletic teams that represent the University of Sioux Falls, located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division II ranks, primarily competing the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) since the 2012–13 academic year. Prior to joining the NCAA, the Cougars previously competed in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 2000–01 to 2010–11; and in the defunct South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference (SDIC) from 1977–78 to 1999–2000.
The Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southwest Minnesota State University, located in Marshall, Minnesota, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Mustangs compete as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for all 14 varsity sports. SMSU has been competing since 1969, but has been a part of the conference since before the merger of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference and the Northern Sun Conference that formed the NSIC. SMSU moved with the NSIC from the NAIA to NCAA Division II affiliation in 1992.
The Minnesota State–Moorhead Dragons are the athletic teams that represent Minnesota State University Moorhead, located in Moorhead, Minnesota, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Dragons generally compete as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for all 14 varsity sports.
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer team represents Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) of NCAA Division I soccer. The Cougars play their home matches on Bob Guelker Field at Ralph Korte Stadium located in the southwest corner of the SIUE campus in Edwardsville, Illinois.
Robert J. Cushman is an American football coach. He is the co-offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and running backs coach at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California, a position he has held since 2021. Cushman served as the head football coach at Eastern Oregon University from 1997 to 2001, Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois from 2011 to 2014, the University of Minnesota Morris from 2015 to 2016, and Occidental College from 2017 until the football program's discontinuation in 2020. Cushman was also the head football coach at Feather River College, a community college in Quincy, California, from 2004 to 2006.
The 1976 Fresno State Bulldogs football team represented California State University, Fresno as a member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA) during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. Led by first-year head coach Jim Sweeney, Fresno State compiled an overall record of 5–6 with a mark of 3–1 in conference play, placing second in the PCAA. The Bulldogs played their home games at Ratcliffe Stadium on the campus of Fresno City College in Fresno, California.
Marty Hoffmann is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for University of Minnesota Morris, a position he has held since 2017. Hoffmann was a standout linebacker at Minnesota Morris from 2001 to 2004, before going into coaching, starting as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, before moving to Division I program South Dakota State, once again as a graduate assistant, where he helped coach defensive backs and special teams. Hoffmann then coached defensive backs at Carleton for three seasons, before becoming the co-defensive coordinator at Minnesota State–Moorhead for two seasons. Following his stint with Moorhead, he returned to Morris, as the defensive coordinator under Todd Hickman and his successor Rob Cushman. After Cushman's departure after the 2016 season, Hoffmann was named as co-head coach alongside Matthew Johnson for the 2017 season, in which the Cougars struggled to 1–9 record. Despite the struggles, Minnesota Morris named Hoffmann the full-time head coach following the season. In 2023, Hoffman led the Cougars to their first conference title in 17 seasons as well as their first playoff appearance since 1981.
