This is a list of college athletics programs in the U.S. state of Kentucky.
Team | School | City | Conference | Sport sponsorship | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Foot- ball | Basketball | Base- ball | Soft- ball | Soccer | ||||||
M | W | M | W | |||||||
Kentucky State Thorobreds and Thorobrettes | Kentucky State University | Frankfort | SIAC | |||||||
Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers | Kentucky Wesleyan College | Owensboro | G-MAC | |||||||
Thomas More Saints | Thomas More University | Crestview Hills | G-MAC |
Team | School | City | Conference | Sport sponsorship | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Foot- ball | Basketball | Base- ball | Soft- ball | Soccer | ||||||
M | W | M | W | |||||||
Asbury Eagles [lower-alpha 1] | Asbury University | Wilmore | TBD | |||||||
Berea Mountaineers | Berea College | Berea | CCS | |||||||
Centre Colonels | Centre College | Danville | SAA | |||||||
Spalding Golden Eagles | Spalding University | Louisville | SLIAC | |||||||
Transylvania Pioneers | Transylvania University | Lexington | HCAC |
Team | School | City | Conference |
---|---|---|---|
Boyce Bulldogs | Boyce College | Louisville | Mid-East |
Campbellsville Pioneers | Campbellsville University | Campbellsville | Mid-East |
Simmons College Falcons | Simmons College of Kentucky | Louisville | Mid-East |
The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with the Big South Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision, the lower of two levels of Division I football competition. The OVC has 11 members, six of which compete in football in the conference.
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. Originally established as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) in 1978, it was renamed as the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001, and briefly rebranded as the ASUN Conference from 2016 to 2023. The conference still uses "ASUN" as an official abbreviation. The conference headquarters are located in Atlanta.
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.
Sprint football is a varsity sport played by United States colleges and universities, under standard American football rules. Since the 2022 season, the sport has been governed by the Collegiate Sprint Football League and the Midwest Sprint Football League.
The River States Conference (RSC), formerly known as the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC), is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Although it was historically a Kentucky-only conference, it has now expanded to include members in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and at various times in the past has also had members in Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The Walsh Cavaliers are the athletic teams that represent Walsh University, located in North Canton, Ohio, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions. The Cavaliers compete as members of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference for 21 of their current 22 varsity sports. Two sports were added in the 2023–24 school year—the all-female cheerleading discipline of stunt, which the G-MAC first sponsored in 2022–23, and sprint football, a weight-restricted form of American football governed outside of the NCAA.
The Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It was named the 24th NCAA Division II conference and operates in the Great Lakes and East South Central States regions of the United States. The G-MAC began conference play in the 2012–13 academic year hosting 12 championships and continued to work through the educational assessment program. The conference received approval and became an active Division II conference in 2013–14, hosting 17 championships.
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.
The Quincy Hawks are the athletic teams that represent Quincy University, located in Quincy, Illinois, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Hawks, members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) since 1994, compete in that league in all but three sports. Men's volleyball plays in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. Since there is no men's volleyball at the Division II level, the men's volleyball team is the only program that plays at the Division I level. Sprint football, a weight-restricted form of American football governed outside the NCAA structure, competes in the Midwest Sprint Football League. Men's bowling is also governed outside of the NCAA ; QU competes as in independent.