Hamilton College, a charter member of the NESCAC that currently splits its membership between the NESCAC and the Liberty League, will officially join the NESCAC in all sports beginning with the 2011-12 season. Bowdoin College President Barry Mills, chair of the NESCAC presidents, and NESCAC Executive Director Andrea Savage made the announcement last Thursday, Apr. 23.
“We are pleased to welcome Hamilton College into the NESCAC as a full participant,” said Mills in a statement released by the NESCAC. “The NESCAC places a high value on collegiality, and in making this decision, the conference recognizes its leadership position as a group guided by the highest educational standards and academic principles.”
Hamilton’s field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, lacrosse and basketball teams currently participate in the Liberty League. When the NESCAC became a playing conference in the 2000-01 season, Hamilton began playing a full conference schedule in the Liberty League (then known as the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association) in these sports. From 1997-2000, Hamilton had a full conference schedule in men’s and women’s basketball in both the NESCAC and UCAA.
The move was approved during the NESCAC presidents’ most recent meeting on April 15 at Bowdoin. According to the NESCAC press release, “The NESCAC presidents weighed the practicalities and the cost of fully integrating Hamilton as a playing member of the conference while also considering the philosophical and educational missions of both member institutions and the conference as a whole.”
An NCAA article announcing the move states that “College officials said they are taking the action, which was approved Wednesday by NESCAC member institutions’ presidents, because its affiliation with both leagues ‘has been complicated and confusing to prospective students.’”
The integration of Hamilton will have significant implications for conference scheduling and travel. Soccer, field hockey and lacrosse currently have one conference game each weekend, in addition to one midweek conference game. Basketball currently uses a “travel partner” system; each of the ten teams is matched up with a geographically close institution, with which it travels together. Each team has games Friday and Saturday; travel partners play on Saturday afternoons. These scheduling policies will presumably be altered once Hamilton’s integration is complete.
The change is also likely to place a greater financial burden on athletic departments. As the lone conference member located outside of New England, Hamilton has significant travel times to the other member schools. The NESCAC permits teams to travel overnight to contests only if they must depart before 7:30 a.m. to arrive at the site of competition one hour and a half before game time (two and a half hours for football); every NESCAC school except Williams is permitted to travel overnight to Hamilton.
Finally, as a result of NCAA limits on the number of contests that can be scheduled in each season, teams will lose one out-of-conference game. This is particularly significant in men’s and women’s lacrosse, in which the NESCAC is acknowledged to be the strongest conference in the country and receives multiple NCAA tournament bids each year. Teams typically use out-of-conference games to bolster their chances of receiving an at-large (Pool C) bid to the tournament. In addition, only six Liberty League schools will sponsor men’s lacrosse following Hamilton’s departure, dropping the league below the minimum number of teams required for an automatic (Pool A) bid to the NCAA Championship. The Liberty League will be eligible to receive a bid from Pool B, which is reserved for independent institutions and those playing in conferences that do not meet the requirements for a Pool A bid; however, the winner of a conference that does not meet these requirements is not guaranteed a Pool B bid, unlike those that meet the Pool A requirements.
2011 will mark the second time the NESCAC has added a full-time member. Connecticut College joined the conference in 1982, bringing the total number of member schools back to 11. Union College had been a charter member but left the conference in 1977.