Eastern College Athletic Conference

The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 12 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to South Carolina and west to Missouri.<ref>Membership Template:Webarchive. Eastern College Athletic Conference official website. Retrieved 2018-04-19.</ref> Most or all members belong to at least one other athletic conference.

The ECAC was founded as the Central Office for Eastern Intercollegiate Athletics in 1938, largely through the efforts of James Lynah of Cornell University. In 1983, the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (EAIAW) was consolidated into the ECAC. Most member schools are in other conferences as well, but through the ECAC they are able to participate in sports that their main conferences do not offer. Its headquarters are located in Danbury, Connecticut. The ECAC also now offers esports competitions to its member schools.

Membership

Division I

As of fall 2023, there are 78 Division I members.<ref>Division I - ECAC. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2023-09-25.</ref>

Division II

As of fall 2023, there are 7 Division II members.<ref>Division II - ECAC. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2023-09-25.</ref>

Division III

As of spring 2018, there are 79 Division III members.<ref>Division III - ECAC. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2023-09-25.</ref>

Affiliates

The ECAC has several affiliated single-sport leagues:<ref>Affiliates Template:Webarchive. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2013-10-25.</ref>

• Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges
• Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges
• ECAC Equestrian
• Eastern Intercollegiate Gymnastics League
• Intercollegiate Rowing Association
• Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes in America

Two other formerly affiliated conferences are defunct:

• ECAC Lacrosse League
• ECAC Division II Lacrosse League

Two existing conferences were affiliated in the past, but have since become independent.

• ECAC Hockey (men and women) – independent since 2004
• Gymnastics East Conference (women only) – independent since 2021

Sports

ECAC SPORTS
Sport	DI-M	DI-W	DII-M	DII-W	DIII-M	DIII-W
Baseball					Template:Y
Basketball			Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y
Cross Country	Template:Y	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y
Equestrian		Template:Y		Template:Y		Template:Y
Field hockey						Template:Y
Football			Template:Y		Template:Y
Golf	Template:Y	Template:Y			Template:Y
Gymnastics	Template:Y
Ice Hockey
Lacrosse				Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y
Soccer			Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y
Softball				Template:Y		Template:Y
Swimming & Diving	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y
Tennis	Template:Y	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y
Track & Field (Indoor)	Template:Y	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y
Track & Field (Outdoor)	Template:Y	Template:Y			Template:Y	Template:Y
Volleyball				Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y

ECAC men's basketball tournaments

At various times, the ECAC has organized regional college basketball championship tournaments at the end of the regular season for teams playing at the NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III levels. It held the Division I tournaments from 1975 to 1982 to provide independent colleges and universities in the northeastern United States with a means of participating in end-of-season tournaments that resulted in the winning team receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, similar to the end-of-season tournaments held by conventional athletic conferences. The Division I ECAC tournaments were discontinued after all participating schools joined conferences of their own during the late 1970s and early 1980s.<ref name="ecac">Varsity Pride: ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The ECAC also held combined Division II/III regional end-of- season tournaments from 1973 to 1980 and a single Division II-only tournament after the regular season from 1988 to 2006 and in 2007, 2008, and 2014. Since 1981, it has organized regional Division III-only men's basketball tournaments annually at the end of each regular season.<ref name="ecac"/>

ECAC Division III football bowls

In football, the ECAC organizes four NCAA Division III bowl games each year. The bowl games are as follow:

• ECAC Asa S. Bushnell Bowl
• ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl
• ECAC James Lynah Bowl
• ECAC Scotty Whitelaw Bowl

Awards

See footnotes<ref>Membership: Awards Template:Webarchive. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2010-03-03.</ref><ref>ECAC Awards and Honors Template:Webarchive. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2010-03-03.</ref>

• Div. I FBS Football Major Awards <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Div. I FCS Football Major Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Div II Football Major Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Div. III Football Major Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Robbins Scholar-Athletes<ref>ECAC Awards and Honors: Robbins Scholar-Athletes Template:Webarchive. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2010-03-03.</ref>
• Award of Merit (for student-athletes)<ref>ECAC Awards and Honors: Appreciation and Merit Awards Template:Webarchive. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2010-03-03.</ref>
• Award of Valor (for student-athletes)<ref>ECAC Awards and Honors: Award of Valor Template:Webarchive. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2010-03-03.</ref>
• ECAC Rowing Trophy<ref>ECAC Awards and Honors: ECAC Rowing Trophy Template:Webarchive. ECAC official website. Retrieved 2010-03-03.</ref>

See also

• ECAC Hockey, a Division I ice hockey conference previously affiliated with the ECAC
• Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, a similar Division I conference in the western U.S.

External links

• Template:Official website