THE YANKEE CONFERENCE

SHU beats Merrimack to claim The Yankee Conference Championship for 2024!!

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – In a thrilling match on a picturesque fall day in the Northeast, the Sacred Heart University football team emerged victorious over the Warriors of Merrimack College by a final score of 31-20. The Pioneers' second-half comeback, powered by a rushing touchdown from John Michalski, an interception turned touchdown from Quinn Hart, and a 26-yard field goal from Matt Kling, secured their title as the 2024 Yankee Conference Champions.

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History of The Yankee Conference

For its first 24 years, the conference consisted of the six charter members competing in football, each of which was the flagship public university of its state:

University of Connecticut
University of Maine
University of Massachusetts Amherst (new name adopted in 1947)
University of New Hampshire
University of Rhode Island (known as Rhode Island State College until 1951)
University of Vermont

During this time, Yankee Conference football teams competed in the College Division of the NCAA, the lower of two tiers of varsity competition. The conference also sponsored several other sports, such as basketball and baseball. Conference bylaws required all members to field teams in all conference-sponsored sports.

1970s: In and out in New England

n 1971, the conference announced its first expansion, the addition of Boston University and the College of the Holy Cross Both are private institutions (nonsectarian and Roman Catholic, respectively), and fit within the conference's existing geographic footprint, giving it a presence in Massachusetts' largest (Boston) and second-largest (Worcester) cities.

Both had previously competed as independents, and had a long tradition of meeting Yankee Conference members in non-league games. Because their seasons were scheduled years in advance, neither BU nor HC were able to begin league play in football immediately.[3] Though it officially joined the conference in 1971, Boston University did not start competing for the football championship until 1973; Holy Cross never did.

Holy Cross had made another decision in the early 1970s that profoundly affected its athletics teams: the formerly all-male college began admitting women. Holy Cross already had by far the smallest enrollment in the conference, and administrators reached the conclusion that its shrinking male population would not be able to field competitive teams in all Yankee Conference sports. Accordingly, Holy Cross announced in November 1972 that it would quit the conference immediately.

The conference rule that all members must compete in all sports was tested again in 1974, when Vermont announced it would drop its football program at the end of that season. In 1975, the conference allowed its members to choose conference participation on a sport-by-sport basis. Later in the year, however, it opted to drop sponsorship of all sports except football at the conclusion of the 1975–76 season, effectively ending Vermont's association with the conference.

The 1970s also brought a change in how the NCAA classified football programs. In 1973, the old College Division was replaced by NCAA Division II, for "minor" programs that offer athletic scholarships, and NCAA Division III, for those without scholarships. The Yankee Conference programs were all placed in Division II. In 1978, the NCAA introduced Division I-AA, a subdivision that allowed universities competing in Division I in other sports to field football teams in that division without having to match up with the major football powers. From that point, all Yankee Conference members have been members of Division I-AA, later renamed the Football Championship Subdivision.

1980s–90s: Expansion in the South

Through the late 1970s and early 1980s, the football-only Yankee Conference included six members: Boston University, UConn, Maine, UMass, UNH and URI. Starting in the mid-1980s, the conference began to admit members from outside New England, forming a second cluster of universities in the Mid-Atlantic region:

University of Delaware in 1986 (in Delaware)
University of Richmond in 1986 (in Virginia)
Villanova University in 1988 (in Pennsylvania)
James Madison University in 1993 (in Virginia)
College of William & Mary in 1993 (in Virginia)

Also in 1993, Northeastern University in Boston joined the Yankee Conference.

Following the 1993 additions, the Yankee Conference had 12 members, and split into two six-team divisions, a "New England Division" consisting of the five remaining charter members plus Boston University, and a "Mid-Atlantic Division" consisting of the colleges that joined the conference in the 1980s and 1990s. Northeastern competed in the Mid-Atlantic despite being geographically located in New England.

1996: Merger with the A-10

The 12-member, two-division arrangement continued until 1996, when the NCAA adopted rules limiting the influence of single-sport conferences over policy. Facing extinction, the conference merged with the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), which did not previously sponsor football, on November 13, 1996. UMass and URI were already members of the A-10 in other sports; the other 10 Yankee members became associate members in football only. For the 1997 season, the A-10 football league had the exact same members and division structure as the 1996 Yankee Conference.

After membership changes in the Colonial Athletic Association (now the Coastal Athletic Association) over the following 10 years, management of the A-10 football conference, which continued to include most of the former Yankee Conference teams, passed to the CAA in 2007. At that time, the separate entity of CAA Football was established.

2024 and beyond!

Announced in August of 2024, Merrimack College and Sacred Heart had revitalized The Yankee Conference and agreed to play in The Yankee Conference Championship presented by LEONA with SHU beating Merrimack 31-20 in the first championship contested since 1996!

In 2025, SHU will try to retain the Championship Trophy when they host Merrimack College!

Look out for more exciting news to come!