July 1 - Moving Day 2026

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Update, copied from the realignment site.

"The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference will add three affiliate members for women’s tennis beginning with the 2026-27 academic year: Queens College, St. Thomas Aquinas College, and District of Columbia. All three previously competed in the East Coast Conference.

St. Thomas Aquinas College will also compete as an affiliate member in the CACC for men’s golf beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The team was previously an independent.

The East Coast Conference will no longer sponsor men’s and women’s tennis beginning with the 2026-27 academic year, according to the conference’s championship schedule."

I anticipanticipated the ECC would drop tennis when Daemen and D'Youville affiliated with the PSAC. The men's teams at Queens College, St. Thomas Aquinas College, and District of Columbia will be Independent. There are two CACC members (Chestnut Hill College and Jefferson) with men's tennis but they are PSAC affiliates. Unfortunately, incoming CACC member Monroe does not have tennis.

With Bentley dropping their tennis teams I thought for sure those three would go to the NE10. You snooze you lose I guess.

[Tech Boys]

With Bentley dropping their tennis teams I thought for sure those three would go to the NE10. You snooze you lose I guess.

The NE10 can still get the three ECC men's teams to regain their AQ.

[Inkblot]

The NE10 can still get the three ECC men's teams to regain their AQ.

But they'll be down to five women's teams once St. Anselm leaves.

[therealignmentreport1]

D3's United East absorbing Atlantic East Conference
https://d3sports.com/notables/2026/0...ng-aec-members

[Tech Boys]

Wayne State College announced in July that they will be adding club bowling for men and women. It seems they also anticipate the growth of Women’s Bowling in D2 once we have our own championship with the possibility of moving the team to varsity status. The following is from the WSC release about adding club bowling.

"The structural shift also aligns with broader national movements. Wayne State acknowledges the growth of the sport, particularly on the women's side. With NCAA Division II — the division WSC is associated with — moving forward with its own separated division of competition, establishing an elevated club program serves as a critical first step in potentially transitioning women's bowling into a full NCAA championship sport at WSC."

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The NCAA should add Men's Bowling. There are plenty of schools that have a club team. With only 5 scholarships, it would have minimal impact on Title IX. Maybe adding men's sports will bring men back to college and close the gender gap.

[laker]

LEC Welcomes Saint Anselm as Affiliate Member in Golf and Ice Hockey - Little East Conference

[SW_Mustang]

The NCAA should add Men's Bowling. There are plenty of schools that have a club team. With only 5 scholarships, it would have minimal impact on Title IX. Maybe adding men's sports will bring men back to college and close the gender gap.

Probably be a nice little enrollment booster for some smaller schools too - provided there are local facilities to access.

[OldBison]

Back in its NAIA days Harding had a bowling team that won the NAIA national tournament in 1972. Not sure when they dropped bowling as one of the men’s sports. Not sure about other GAC schools either.

[Tech Boys]

I've never heard anything about bowling at Arkansas Tech or Southern Arkansas. Granted I was a very young kid living on campus at then Southern State College, being in first grade the year dad graduated from there. Bowling has been in the Arkansas high schools for a very long time; we have a team at LR Central.

[Tech Boys]

Lone Star formally invites Texas Wesleyan

Texas Wesleyan University Receives Invitation to Pursue NCAA Division II Membership

This gives TXWES enough time to apply for D2 membership in either October or February and still join the conference in 2027-28 school year.

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Lone Star formally invites Texas Wesleyan

Texas Wesleyan University Receives Invitation to Pursue NCAA Division II Membership

This gives TXWES enough time to apply for D2 membership in either October or February and still join the conference in 2027-28 school year.

When they first announced the move, I think they said the plan was to apply for the expedited transition in October, but play out the 27-28 season in the NAIA and join the LSC in 28-29.

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https://eccsports.org/documents/2026...blic_FINAL.pdf

The ECC released their strategic plan for 2026-2031. Most conferences have these and they're usually just like a really long mission statement full of jargon, but its worth noting that one of their bullet points here is "Develop a membership strategy to grow to 10-12 institutions."

[Tech Boys]

Twelve is a good start for the ECC. They should be trying for 14 or 16 at least. In the last 10 years, the ECC has lost 4 but has replaced only 2. It's been tough for the other two conferences in the region also. Monroe will get the CACC back to 12, they were at 14. The NE10 has lost 4 schools to D1 with another closed in the last 10 years and another school moved to D1 13 years ago. With Saint Anselm College moving to D3 next year that makes nearly half the conference leaving and no one has been replaced.

I have some picks for ECC expansion. The picks are based on nothing more than the sports they offer and specifically two sports they do not have (football, ice hockey). They all have comparable enrollments and have a sports mix that would benefit the ECC in certain sports. Eastern Connecticut State, Ramapo College, Rhode Island College, and Stockton.

[Tech Boys]

Women's Lacrosse is following the men's example with a single site for all three championships. They will follow the same format too. The 2027 championship will be at Towson, then the 2028 championship at the Philadelphia MLS stadium. I understand doing this for sports like lacrosse to give them more exposure, but we don't need to be doing this for basketball. Also; lacrosse tournament games are played weekly, not daily like basketball is.

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Twelve is a good start for the ECC. They should be trying for 14 or 16 at least. In the last 10 years, the ECC has lost 4 but has replaced only 2. It's been tough for the other two conferences in the region also. Monroe will get the CACC back to 12, they were at 14. The NE10 has lost 4 schools to D1 with another closed in the last 10 years and another school moved to D1 13 years ago. With Saint Anselm College moving to D3 next year that makes nearly half the conference leaving and no one has been replaced.

I have some picks for ECC expansion. The picks are based on nothing more than the sports they offer and specifically two sports they do not have (football, ice hockey). They all have comparable enrollments and have a sports mix that would benefit the ECC in certain sports. Eastern Connecticut State, Ramapo College, Rhode Island College, and Stockton.

The ECC is pretty fortunate in that they have a diverse membership and a broad footprint. Pretty much any school around their NYC-DC-Buffalo triangle that has the means to move up would probably be a decent fit.