St. Paul, Minn. – Northern
Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Commissioner Butch Raymond
has announced the results from the NSIC Board of Directors
teleconference call dealing with expansion. The Board of Directors,
consisting of the ten NSIC Presidents/Chancellors, voted to expand the
NSIC to 14 teams with the addition of Augustana
College (Sioux Falls, S.D.), the University of Minnesota Duluth
(Duluth, Minn.), Minnesota State
University Mankato (Mankato, Minn.) and Saint Cloud State University (Saint
Cloud, Minn.). These four institutions, which were all voted on
individually, will begin participating within the NSIC in the 2008-09
season.
““The NSIC is pleased to welcome these four institutions into our
league. We feel all four of these programs are a good fit with strong
academic traditions in NCAA DII athletics. The competitiveness of these
athletic teams will enhance all 17 sports that we currently offer,”
commented Raymond.
Three of the four institutions are very familiar with the NSIC as they
are former members. Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State and Saint Cloud
State were all charter members of the Northern Intercollegiate
Conference (NIC). With the four additions, the NSIC will now consist of
14 teams over a five state area with nine institutions hailing from
Minnesota, two in South Dakota, and one in Iowa, Nebraska and North
Dakota.
The Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC) began in 1932 as the
Northern Teacher’s Athletic Conference. Charter members included
Bemidji State, Mankato State, Moorhead (MN) State, St. Cloud State and
Winona State. In 1942 the conference name was changed to the State
Teacher’s College Conference of Minnesota. The conference switched its
name to the Northern Intercollegiate Conference in 1962. In the spring
of 1992 the NSIC was formed out of the merger of the NIC, the men’s
conference, and the women’s Northern Sun Conference (NSC). The NSC had
existed since 1979. In the 1999-00 academic year, the NSIC became an
expanded 10-team league from a previous seven-member conference by
adding Wayne State College (Wayne, Neb.) Concordia University-St. Paul
(St. Paul, Minn) and the University of Minnesota, Crookston (Crookston,
Minn.). The conference featured eight members from 2004-05 until
2005-06 with the departure of Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota-Morris,
but expanded back to 10 teams in 2006-07 as the University of Mary
(Bismarck, N.D.) and Upper Iowa University (Fayette, Iowa) joined the
league.
Since 1932, various institutions have competed in the NSIC. Bemidji
State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead and Winona State
University are charter members and have remained in the conference for
the 73 years of its existence. Other current members joined in later
years: Southwest Minnesota State University in 1969, Northern State
University in 1978, Wayne State College (Nebraska) in 1998, Concordia
University-St. Paul and the University of Minnesota, Crookston in 1999
and the University of Mary and Upper Iowa University in 2006. The
University of Minnesota, Morris became a league member in 1966,
however, the Cougars opted for the NCAA Division III ranks in 2003.
Before the NSIC became eligible for National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) championship competition in 1995, its member
institutions had an extremely rich tradition in the National
Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The NIC’s and NSC’s
tenure in the NAIA included several national championship teams and
individuals as well as many national qualifiers.