The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC ) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division III. All 13 of the member schools are located in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and are private institutions, with only two being

non-sectarian Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. Academic sphere Many North American universities identify themselves as being nonsectarian, such as B ...

History

On March 15, 1920, a formal constitution was adopted and the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with founding members

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...

, Gustavus Adolphus College,

Hamline University Hamline University ( ) is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of th ...

Macalester College Macalester College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate institution with an enrollment of 2,142 students in the fall of 2023. The college ha ...

, Saint John's University, St. Olaf College, and the

College of St. Thomas The University of St. Thomas (also known as UST or simply St. Thomas) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university with campuses in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Fo ...

(now University of St. Thomas). Concordia College joined the MIAC in 1921, Augsburg University in 1924, and Saint Mary's University in 1926. Carleton dropped membership in 1925, rejoining in 1983. St. Olaf left in 1950, returning in 1975. The University of Minnesota Duluth was a member of the MIAC from 1950 to 1975. Bethel University joined in 1978. The MIAC initiated women's competition in the 1981–82 season. Two all-women's schools subsequently joined the conference, St. Catherine University in 1983 and the College of St. Benedict in 1985. The conference did not play sports from the fall 1943 to the spring of 1945 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Saint Mary's discontinued its football program in 1955. Macalester football left the conference in 2002, but subsequently rejoined. St. Catherine and St. Benedict, being both women's colleges, also do not sponsor football. Together with Saint John's, one of only a handful of men's colleges, St. Benedict forms a joint academic institution, known commonly by the initialism CSB/SJU. From 1947 to 2003 the MIAC had a strong men's wrestling program, which was discontinued following the 2002–03 season. The strongest teams over the history of the conference were Augsburg with 31 team championships, and Saint John's with 14 team championships. The MIAC teams and individual wrestlers demonstrated a strong national and Olympic presence in the 1970s and beyond. On May 22, 2019, it was announced that the University of St. Thomas would depart the MIAC at the end of spring 2021. St. Thomas by this point had over twice the enrollment of any other member institution. and on May 28, 2020, the conference announced the addition of the College of St. Scholastica after leaving the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference in 2021. The conference split into two divisions for football in 2021. The Northwoods Division consists of Carleton College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint John's University, St. Olaf College, and The College of St. Scholastica. The Skyline Division consists of Augsburg University, Bethel University, Concordia College, Hamline University, and Macalester College.

Chronological timeline

* 1920 – On March 15, 1920, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) was founded. Charter members included

, Gustavus Adolphus College,

, Saint John's University, St. Olaf College and the

(now the University of St. Thomas) beginning the 1920–21 academic year. * 1921 – Concordia College at Moorhead joined the MIAC in the 1921–22 academic year. * 1924 – Augsburg Seminary (now Augsburg University) joined the MIAC in the 1924–25 academic year. * 1925 – Carleton left the MIAC to fully align with the

Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference The Midwest Conference (MWC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the Midwestern United States in the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The Midwest Confe ...

(MCAC) after the 1924–25 academic year. * 1926 – Saint Mary's College (now Saint Mary's University) joined the MIAC in the 1926–27 academic year. * 1950 – St. Olaf left the MIAC to become an Independent (who would later join the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC) beginning the 1952–53 academic year) after the 1949–50 academic year. * 1951 – The University of Minnesota at Duluth joined the MIAC in the 1951–52 academic year. * 1974 – St. Olaf re-joined the MIAC in the 1974–75 academic year. * 1975 – Minnesota–Duluth left the MIAC to join the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC) after the 1974–75 academic year. * 1977 – Bethel College and Seminary (now Bethel University) joined the MIAC in the 1977–78 academic year. * 1982 – The MIAC became exclusively an NCAA Division III athletic conference, forgoing its membership in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA). * 1983 – St. Catherine University joined the MIAC (with Carleton re-joining) in the 1983–84 academic year. * 1985 – The College of Saint Benedict joined the MIAC in the 1985–86 academic year. * 2021: ** St. Thomas left the MIAC to join the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division 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 athlet ...

ranks and the Summit League after the 2020–21 academic year. ** The College of St. Scholastica joined the MIAC in the 2021–22 academic year.

Member schools

Current members

The MIAC currently has 13 full members, all private schools. ;Notes:

Former members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1920 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:20 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:0"<# Legend = orientation:hor Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) legend:Full # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) legend:Non-football # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) legend:WWII_(1943-45) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) legend:Football-only # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1920 till:1925 text: Carleton (1920–1925) bar:1 color:Full from:1983 till:end text:(1983–present) bar:2 color:FullxF from:1920 till:1921 text:

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

(1920–present) bar:2 color:Full from:1921 till:1941 bar:2 color:FullxF from:1941 till:1942 bar:2 color:Full from:1942 till:1943 bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:2 color:Full from:1945 till:end bar:3 color:Full from:1920 till:end text: Hamline University, Hamline (1920–present) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:3 color:FullxF from:1945 till:1947 bar:3 color:Full from:1947 till:end bar:4 color:Full from:1920 till:1924 text: Macalester (1920–present) bar:4 color:FullxF from:1924 till:1926 bar:4 color:Full from:1926 till:1928 bar:4 color:FullxF from:1928 till:1929 bar:4 color:Full from:1929 till:1943 bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:4 color:Full from:1945 till:2002 bar:4 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2014 bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2014 till:2021 text:Midwest (fb. only) bar:4 color:Full from:2021 till:end bar:5 color:Full from:1920 till:1928 text: Saint John's (Minn.) (1920–present) bar:5 color:FullxF from:1928 till:1929 bar:5 color:Full from:1929 till:1943 bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:5 color:Full from:1945 till:end bar:6 color:Full from:1920 till:1929 text: St. Olaf (1920–1950) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1928 till:1929 bar:6 color:Full from:1929 till:1943 bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:6 color:Full from:1945 till:1950 bar:6 color:AssocF from:1950 till:1952 bar:6 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1975 bar:6 color:Full from:1975 till:end text:(1975–present) bar:7 color:Full from:1920 till:1943 text: St. Thomas (Minn.) (1920–2021) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:7 color:Full from:1945 till:2021 bar:8 color:Full from:1921 till:1943 text: Concordia–Moorhead (1921–present) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:8 color:Full from:1945 till:end bar:9 color:FullxF from:1924 till:1926 text:

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

(1924–present) bar:9 color:Full from:1926 till:1935 bar:9 color:FullxF from:1935 till:1939 bar:9 color:Full from:1939 till:1943 bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:9 color:Full from:1945 till:end bar:10 color:FullxF from:1927 till:1928 text: Saint Mary's (Minn.) (1926–present) bar:10 color:Full from:1928 till:1930 bar:10 color:FullxF from:1930 till:1935 bar:10 color:Full from:1935 till:1943 bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1945 bar:10 color:Full from:1945 till:1955 bar:10 color:FullxF from:1955 till:end bar:11 color:AssocF from:1950 till:1951 bar:11 color:Full from:1951 till:1975 text: Minnesota–Duluth (1951–1975) bar:12 color:FullxF from:1977 till:1978 text: Bethel (Minn.) (1977–present) bar:12 color:Full from:1978 till:end bar:13 color:FullxF from:1983 till:end text: St. Catherine (Minn.) (1983–present) bar:14 color:FullxF from:1985 till:end text: Saint Benedict (Minn.) (1985–present) bar:15 shift:(-100) color:Full from:2021 till:end text: St. Scholastica (Minn.) (2021–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1920

Sports

Member teams compete in 22 sports, 11 men's and 11 women's. ;Men's sports *

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

* cross country *

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

indoor track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

;Women's sports *

* cross country *

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

The conference no longer sponsors

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

or men's and women's

Nordic skiing Nordic skiing encompasses the various types of skiing in which the toe of the ski boot is fixed to the binding in a manner that allows the heel to rise off the ski, unlike alpine skiing, where the boot is attached to the ski from toe to heel. Re ...

Rivalry trophies

;Football * The Goat ( Carleton v. St. Olaf) founded 1931 * The Old Paint Bucket (Macalester v. Hamline) founded 1965 * The Troll (Concordia v. St. Olaf) founded 1974 * The Book of Knowledge (Carleton v. Macalester) founded 1998 * The Hammer (Augsburg v. Hamline) founded 2005 ;Other sports *The Goat (Carleton and St. Olaf, men's basketball) founded 1913 *The Karhu Shoe (Carleton v. St. Olaf, men's and women's cross country) founded 1972 *The Margate Memorial Trophy (Carleton v. St. Thomas, swimming and diving) founded 1995 *The Presidents Cup (Carleton v. St. Olaf, women's basketball) founded 2001 *The Rolex (Carleton v. St. Olaf, men's track and field) *The Rusty Putter (Carleton v. St. Olaf, men's golf) ;Defunct * The Power Bowl (Concordia v. Minnesota State University-Moorhead, football) founded 1984, through 1998 as the American Crystal Sugar Bowl, from 1999–2007 as the Power Bowl * The Holy Grail ( Saint John's v. St. Thomas) founded 2001, became defunct after the 2019 game, after which St. Thomas moved to Division I. Source:

All-Sports Trophy

The All-Sports Trophy is given to the school with the best overall record for all MIAC sports in each gender. The men's trophy was first awarded for 1962-63 to Macalester College. St. Olaf College received the first women's trophy in 1983-84. The University of St. Thomas won both the men's and women's trophies from 2008 to 2017. The men's is named the George Durenberger Trophy and the women's is named the Pat Wiesner Trophy Not awarded 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to Covid pandemic.

Football

Conference titles

c = Co-champions
No 1943 and 1944 seasons due to World War II.
No 2020 season due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

.
Source:

Soccer

Men's soccer regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No championship awarded for 2020 due to Covid pandemic
Source:

Women's soccer regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No championship awarded for 2020 due to Covid pandemic
Source:

Basketball

Men's basketball regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons due to World War II.
No championship awarded for 2020-21 due to Covid pandemic.
Source:

Women's basketball regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No championship awarded for 2021 due to Covid pandemic
Source:

Ice hockey

Men's ice hockey regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No seasons from 1942–43 to 1945–46.
No championship awarded for 2020-21 due to Covid pandemic.
Source:

Men's ice hockey conference tournament

Women's ice hockey regular season conference titles

c = Co-champions
No championship awarded for 2021 due to Covid pandemic
Source:

Women's ice hockey conference tournament

Facilities

Commissioner

The executive director, a position that was created in 1994, serves as the conference commissioner. * Carlyle Carter (1994–2005) * Daniel McKane (2005–present)

References

External links

*
MIAC First 50 Years
{{NCAA Division III hockey conferences College sports in Minnesota Private and independent school organizations in the United States NCAA Division III ice hockey conferences