The shuffling of the Division III college football deck in New England continued on Monday.
The Commonwealth Coast Conference announced that it will begin sponsoring football as a varsity sport starting with the 2017-2018 season. The CCC will assume operation of the New England Football Conference, which will be renamed as part of the transition.
The NEFC was founded in 1965 by Maine Maritime Academy of Castine and Massachusetts schools Curry and Bridgewater State. Once the changeover occurs, only Curry will remain.
“I am confident that the proud tradition that CCC institutions have helped build in the New England Football Conference will continue to grow as football moves under the CCC umbrella,” CCC Commissioner Gregg M. Kaye said in a news release.
“Our growth is a direct result of leadership at the conference level exhibited by the presidents at each of our member institutions, each of whom considers intercollegiate athletics to play a vitally important role in the undergraduate experience,” he added.
UNE, which competes in the Commonwealth Coast Conference in its other sports, last November announced it was adding a football program. It became the first Maine college since Husson University of Bangor in 2003 to sponsor football.
“I am so excited to be adding football here at UNE, and even more excited that the university is adding yet another sport to the Commonwealth Coast Conference,” UNE President Danielle Ripich said in a press release. “The rich, American tradition of Saturday afternoon games against familiar rivals will bring a greater sense of community to the university.”
The addition of football will increase the number of championship sports overseen by the CCC to 17. It is the third championship sport added in the last five years, joining men’s ice hockey (2016-17) and men’s golf (2013-14).
For football, the new Commonwealth Coast Conference initially will include Curry, Endicott, Nichols, Salve Regina and Western New England. UNE will play a subvarsity schedule in 2017 and begin varsity competition in 2018.
The CCC will start its Division III football endeavor with a two-year grace period (2017-2019). During that time, it hopes to find another school to bring the league to the minimum seven teams required to preserve its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The University of Maine is the state’s only Division I football program. Husson, Maine Maritime Academy of Castine, Colby College of Waterville, Bates College of Lewiston and Bowdoin College of Brunswick all compete in the Division III ranks.
Husson plays in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference and MMA competes in the NEFC, but in 2017 is moving to the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference.
Colby, Bates and Bowdoin play in the New England Small College Athletic Conference.
“This conference affiliation for our new football program will give our team an excellent schedule and our fans exciting games with our rivals in the CCC,” Jack McDonald, UNE’s associate vice president and director of athletics, said in a statement.