NCAA Division II independent schools are four-year institutions that compete in college athletics at the NCAA Division II level, but do not belong to an established athletic conference for a particular sport. These schools may however still compete as members of an athletic conference in other sports. A school may also be fully independent, and not belong to any athletic conference for any sport at all. The reason for independent status varies among institutions, but it is frequently because the school's primary athletic conference does not sponsor a particular sport.
Division II was created in 1973, at a time when the NCAA included dozens of independent members, plus members of conferences who played as independents in one or more sports. The trend toward consolidating the NCAA membership into conferences began in the late 1970s, and within a decade the number of independent programs declined dramatically. The lists below include only the small number of programs still functioning on an independent basis in recent years.
Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined | Colors | Future conference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón [lower-alpha 1] | Bayamón, Puerto Rico | 1971 | Public | 3,022 | Cowboys | ? | ||
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez [lower-alpha 1] | Mayagüez, Puerto Rico | 1911 | Public | 12,126 | Bulldogs | ? | ||
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras [lower-alpha 1] | San Juan, Puerto Rico | 1903 | Public | 13,226 | Gallitos & Jerezanas | ? | ||
Salem University [lower-alpha 2] | Salem, West Virginia | 1888 | Private (For-profit) | 991 | Tigers | 2010; 2016 [lower-alpha 3] |
Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined | Left | Colors | Current conference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bluefield State University [lower-alpha 1] | Bluefield, West Virginia | 1895 | Public (HBCU) | 1,246 | Big Blue | 2013 | 2023 | Central (CIAA) | |
Emory & Henry College | Emory, Virginia | 1836 | Private | 1,250 | Wasps | 2021 | 2022 | South Atlantic (SAC) | |
Oakland City University | Oakland City, Indiana | 1885 | Private | 2,350 | Mighty Oaks | 2006 | 2020 | River States (RSC) [lower-alpha 2] |
Departing members in pink.
School | Baseball | Basketball | Cross country | Soccer | Tennis | Track & field outdoor | Volleyball | Wrestling | Total IND sports |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UPR Bayamón | 5 | ||||||||
UPR Mayagüez | 6 | ||||||||
UPR Río Piedras | 5 | ||||||||
Salem | 6 |
Departing members in pink.
School | Basketball | Cross country | Soccer | Softball | Tennis | Track & field outdoor | Volleyball | Total IND sports |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UPR Bayamón | 5 | |||||||
UPR Mayagüez | 5 | |||||||
UPR Río Piedras | 5 | |||||||
Salem | 7 |
School | Men | Women | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Swimming & diving | Water polo ‡ | Swimming & diving | Water polo ‡ | ||||
Salem | CC | WWPA | CC | WWPA |
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport (Salem), since they have been listed before.
Institution | Location | Nickname | Primary conference |
---|---|---|---|
Bluefield State University | Bluefield, West Virginia | Big Blue | CIAA |
Virginia State University | Ettrick, Virginia | Trojans | CIAA |
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport, since they have been listed before. Shorter will move its football program to its full-time home of Conference Carolinas once that league begins sponsoring football in 2025.
Institution | Location | Nickname | Primary conference |
---|---|---|---|
Northeastern State University [2] | Tahlequah, Oklahoma | RiverHawks | MIAA |
Shorter University | Rome, Georgia | Hawks | Carolinas |
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport (UPR Bayamón and Salem men's soccer and UPR Bayamón, UPR Río Piedras and Salem women's soccer), since they have been listed before.
Institution | Location | Nickname | Primary conference | (M) | (W) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allen University | Columbia, South Carolina | Yellow Jackets | SIAC | ||
Bluefield State University | Bluefield, West Virginia | Big Blue | CIAA | ||
Edward Waters University | Jacksonville, Florida | Lady Tigers | SIAC | ||
Shaw University | Raleigh, North Carolina | Bears | CIAA |
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport, since they have been listed before. Dominican (CA) will move their men's lacrosse program to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference beginning in the 2025 season. [3]
Institution | Location | Nickname | Primary conference | (M) | (W) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dominican University of California | San Rafael, California | Penguins | PacWest | ||
Virginia State University | Ettrick, Virginia | Trojans | CIAA |
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport (UPR Mayagüez), since they have been listed before.
Institution | Location | Nickname | Primary conference |
---|---|---|---|
American International College | Springfield, Massachusetts | Yellow Jackets | Northeast-10 |
Grand Valley State University | Allendale, Michigan | Lakers | GLIAC |
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport, since they have been listed before.
Institution | Location | Nickname | Primary conference | (M) | (W) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bluefield State University | Bluefield, West Virginia | Big Blue | CIAA | ||
Daemen University | Amherst, New York | Wildcats | ECC | ||
Thomas Jefferson University (Jefferson) | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Rams | CACC | ||
Post University | Waterbury, Connecticut | Eagles | CACC | ||
Roberts Wesleyan University | Chili, New York | Redhawks | ECC | ||
St. Thomas Aquinas College | Sparkill, New York | Spartans | ECC |
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport, since they have been listed before.
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport, since they have been listed before.
Institution | Location | Nickname | Primary conference | (M) | (W) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Roberts Wesleyan University | North Chili, New York | Redhawks | ECC |
Does not include all-sports independent teams that sponsor the sport (all of them in men's & women's tennis), since they have been listed before.
The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located mostly on the East Coast and Midwest of the United States: Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Participating schools are located principally in the Northeastern United States, from which the conference derives its name.
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I level, primarily in Olympic sports that are not directly sponsored by a school's home conference.
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), and in 1988 was renamed the Big West Conference. The conference stopped sponsoring college football after the 2000 season.
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The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Its fourteen member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. There are also four associate members who participate in sports not sponsored by their home conferences.
The NCAA men's volleyball tournament, officially titled the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship, is an annual competition that determines the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in American college men's volleyball. It had been the only NCAA championship in the sport from 1970 until 2012, when the NCAA launched a Division III championship.
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NCAA Division I independent schools are four-year institutions that compete in college athletics at the NCAA Division I level, but do not belong to an established athletic conference for a particular sport. These schools may however still compete as members of an athletic conference in other sports. A school may also be fully independent, and not belong to any athletic conference for any sport at all. The reason for independent status varies among institutions, but it is frequently because the school's primary athletic conference does not sponsor a particular sport.
College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse in Canada is sponsored by the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) and Maritime University Field Lacrosse League (MUFLL), while in the United States, varsity men's and women's lacrosse is governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). There are also university lacrosse programs in the United Kingdom sponsored by British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) and programs in Japan.
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The Roanoke Maroons are the athletic teams that represent Roanoke College, located in Salem, Virginia, a suburban independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia.
The Bellarmine Knights are the athletic teams that represent Bellarmine University, located in Louisville, Kentucky, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the ASUN Conference for most sports in the 2020–21 academic year. The Knights previously competed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) of the NCAA Division II ranks from 1978–79 to 2019–20.
Beginning in the 2021–22 academic year, extensive changes occurred in NCAA conference membership, primarily at the Division I level.