The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is essentially the ancestor of today's CAA Football, the legally separate football league operated by the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), and the continuation of the New England Conference, though all three leagues were founded under different charters and are considered separate conferences by the NCAA. Also, CAA Football does not recognize the New England Conference as one of its predecessors, though it does recognize the Yankee Conference as such. 2024 marked a return of The Yankee Conference when in August of 2024 it was announced that Merrimack College and Sacred Heart University would play for The Yankee Conference Championship presented by LEONA.
For the first half of its history, the Yankee Conference consisted of the flagship public universities of the six New England states. Conference expansion in the 1980s and 1990s added several colleges and universities from the Mid-Atlantic region.
Formation In 1945, Northeastern University, the only private school in the New England Conference, announced its departure. A committee formed by the remaining four members, land-grant colleges and universities representing Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, recommended that they join with the other two New England land-grant institutions, Massachusetts State College (which had also been a founding member of the NEC in 1923, but left in the 1930s) and the University of Vermont, in a new athletics league. This led to the formation of the Yankee Conference in December 1946, with athletic competition beginning in the 1947–48 school year.
Charter members For its first 24 years, the conference consisted of the six charter members, 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 In 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. 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 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."Results Plus," The Associated Press, Thursday, November 14, 1996. Retrieved December 30, 2017 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.
Member institutions
InstitutionLocationFoundedTypeJoinedNicknameColorsBoston UniversityBoston, MA1839Private1971†TerriersScarlet & white University of ConnecticutStorrs, CT1881Public1946HuskiesNavy Blue, white, & grey University of DelawareNewark, DE1743Private and Public1986Fightin' Blue HensBlue & yellow-gold College of the Holy CrossWorcester, MA1843Private1971‡CrusadersPurple & white James Madison UniversityHarrisonburg, VA1908Public1993DukesPurple & gold University of MaineOrono, ME1865Public1946Black BearsDark blue, light blue & white University of Massachusetts AmherstAmherst, MA1863Public1946Aggies/Redmen/MinutemenUMass Maroon & white University of New HampshireDurham, NH1866Public1946WildcatsUNH Blue & white Northeastern UniversityBoston, MA1898Private1993HuskiesBlack & red University of Rhode IslandKingston, RI1892Public1946RamsKeaney blue, white & navy blue University of RichmondRichmond, VA1830Private1986SpidersUR Blue & UR Red University of VermontBurlington, VT1791Public1946‡CatamountsGreen & gold Villanova UniversityVillanova, PA1842Private1988WildcatsBlue & white The College of William & MaryWilliamsburg, VA1693Public1993TribeGreen & gold † Boston University joined the conference in 1971, but did not compete for the football championship until 1973. ‡ Holy Cross and Vermont ended their Yankee Conference affiliation in 1972 and 1976, respectively. Holy Cross never competed in the football championship, and Vermont ended its football program after 1974. All other conference members remained until 1996, when the league was absorbed by the Atlantic 10.
Membership timeline
Overtime rule The Yankee Conference was the first college football conference to implement college football's current overtime rules. The overtime rules known as the "Kansas Playoff" or "Kansas Plan", where each team is given a possession at the 25 yard line, was used by the Yankee Conference to determine the end to tie games well before it was adopted by the rest of the NCAA in 1996.
Conference champions
Football Year Champion1947New Hampshire1948New Hampshire1949Connecticut, Maine1950New Hampshire1951Maine1952Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire1953New Hampshire, Rhode Island1954New Hampshire1955Rhode Island1956Connecticut1957Connecticut, Rhode Island1958Connecticut1959Connecticut1960Connecticut, Massachusetts1961Maine1962New Hampshire1963Massachusetts1964Massachusetts1965Maine1966Massachusetts1967Massachusetts1968Connecticut, New Hampshire1969Massachusetts1970Connecticut1971Connecticut, Massachusetts1972Massachusetts1973Connecticut1974Maine, Massachusetts1975New Hampshire1976New Hampshire1977Massachusetts1978Massachusetts1979Massachusetts1980Boston University1981Rhode Island, Massachusetts1982Boston U., Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts1983Boston U., Connecticut1984Boston U., Rhode Island1985Rhode Island1986Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts1987Maine, Richmond1988Delaware, Massachusetts1989Connecticut, Maine, Villanova1990Massachusetts1991Delaware, New Hampshire, Villanova1992Delaware1993Boston U.1994New Hampshire1995Delaware1996William & Mary
Men's basketball Year Regular season champion1947–48Connecticut1948–49Connecticut1949–50Rhode Island1950–51Connecticut1951–52Connecticut1952–53Connecticut1953–54Connecticut1954–55Connecticut1955–56Connecticut1956–57Connecticut1957–58Connecticut1958–59Connecticut1959–60Connecticut1960–61Rhode Island1961–62Massachusetts1962–63Connecticut1963/64ConnecticutRhode Island1964/65Connecticut1965–66ConnecticutRhode Island1966–67Connecticut1967–68MassachusettsRhode Island1968–69Massachusetts1969–70ConnecticutMassachusetts1970–71Massachusetts1971–72Rhode Island1972–73Massachusetts1973–74Massachusetts1974–75Massachusetts1975–76Massachusetts
Men's soccer 1965: Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut 1966: Vermont 1967: Vermont 1968: Vermont, Rhode Island 1969: Vermont 1970: Massachusetts 1971: Rhode Island, Vermont 1972: Rhode Island 1973: Connecticut 1974: Connecticut 1975: Vermont 1976: Connecticut 1977: Rhode Island 1978: Connecticut 1979: New Hampshire
Baseball Year Champion 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 New Hampshire 1957 1958 1959 Connecticut 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 Maine 1965 Connecticut 1966 1967 1968 1969 UMass 1970 1971 1972 Connecticut 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Modern club football conference The phrase "Yankee Conference" is alluded to in the 21st-century Yankee Collegiate Football Conference, which fields teams at the club football level.
Three of the schools in the original Yankee Conference, Boston University, Maine and Vermont, fielded teams in the modern Yankee Conference: since neither Boston nor Vermont currently has a varsity team, the club football team was the highest ranking football team representing the school in both cases.