NCAA Division I independent schools


In American college sports, NCAA Division I independent schools are four-year institutions that do not belong to a conference for a particular sport.

Beach volleyball

Beach volleyball, currently a women-only sport at the NCAA level, holds a single national championship open to members of all three NCAA divisions. As of the 2020 season, abbreviated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the following programs compete as independents. A total of 13 schools that were independents in the 2019 season exited that status after that season. Of these, 11 are full members of conferences that began sponsoring beach volleyball in 2019–20, with five being members of the Ohio Valley Conference and six being members of the Southland Conference. The other two schools that left the independent ranks, Louisiana–Monroe and Missouri State, joined the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association, a league that sponsors only beach volleyball plus men's and women's swimming & diving.
InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Boise State UniversityBroncosBoise, Idaho1932Public25,540Mountain West Conference

Golden EaglesLos Angeles, California1947Public27,685California Collegiate Athletic Association
Carson–Newman UniversityEaglesJohnson City, Tennessee1851Private2,115South Atlantic Conference
Colorado Mesa UniversityMavericksGrand Junction, Colorado1925Public11,000Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
Concordia University Irvine
Golden EaglesIrvine, California1976Private2,564Pacific West Conference
Eckerd CollegeTritonsSt. Petersburg, Florida1958Private1,650Sunshine State Conference
Florida Southern CollegeMoccasinsLakeland, Florida1883Private2,185Sunshine State Conference
Grand Canyon UniversityAntelopesPhoenix, Arizona1949Private19,500Western Athletic Conference
Huntingdon CollegeHawksMontgomery, Alabama1854Private900USA South Athletic Conference
Lincoln Memorial UniversityRailsplittersHarrogate, Tennessee1897Private2,579South Atlantic Conference
Mississippi State UniversityBulldogsMississippi State, Mississippi1878Public21,884Southeastern Conference

CornhuskersLincoln, Nebraska1869Public33,273Big Ten Conference
Principia CollegePanthersElsah, Illinois1912Private600St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Saint Leo UniversityLionsSt. Leo, Florida1889Private2,235Sunshine State Conference
San Jose State UniversitySpartansSan Jose, California1857Public33,409Mountain West Conference
Spring Hill CollegeBadgersMobile, Alabama1830Private1,439Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Stevenson UniversityMustangsStevenson, Maryland1947Private3,621MAC Commonwealth
SpartansTampa, Florida1931Private7,600Sunshine State Conference
Tarleton State UniversityTexansStephenville, Texas1899Public13,020Western Athletic Conference
Texas A&M University–KingsvilleJavelinasKingsville, Texas1925Public8,783Lone Star Conference
Tusculum UniversityPioneersTusculum, Tennessee1794Private2,053South Atlantic Conference

Bowling

Bowling, like beach volleyball, is currently a women-only sport at the NCAA level that holds a single national championship open to all NCAA members. As of the 2019–20 season, at least eight bowling programs compete as independents. This list is likely incomplete, as Division III independents have not yet been analyzed.
InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Belmont Abbey CollegeCrusadersBelmont, North Carolina1876Private1,320Conference Carolinas
Chestnut Hill CollegeGriffinsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania1924Private2,301Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Kentucky Wesleyan CollegePanthersOwensboro, Kentucky1858Private785Great Midwest Athletic Conference
CornhuskersLincoln, Nebraska1869Public25,260Big Ten Conference
Post UniversityEaglesWaterbury, Connecticut1890Private7,317Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Ursuline CollegeArrowsPepper Pike, Ohio1871Private1,136Great Midwest Athletic Conference
Walsh UniversityCavaliersNorth Canton, Ohio1960Private2,766Great Midwest Athletic Conference
Wilmington UniversityEaglesNew Castle, Delaware1968Private20,522Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference

Field hockey

The only Division I independent in field hockey in the upcoming 2020 season is Bellarmine, which started a transition from Division II in July 2020 and is thus highlighted in yellow.
InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Bellarmine UniversityKnightsLouisville, Kentucky1950Private3,759ASUN Conference

Football

Football Bowl Subdivision

As of the upcoming 2020 college football season, there will be seven NCAA Division I FBS independent schools.
InstitutionFoundedNicknameFirst seasonLocationTypeEnrollmentPrimary conference
1802Black Knights1890West Point, New YorkFederal4,294Patriot League
Brigham Young University 1875Cougars1922Provo, UtahPrivate29,672West Coast Conference
Liberty University1971Flames1973Lynchburg, VirginiaPrivate15,000ASUN Conference
New Mexico State University1888Aggies1893Las Cruces, New MexicoPublic18,497Western Athletic Conference
1842Fighting Irish1887Notre Dame, IndianaPrivate12,179Atlantic Coast Conference
1881Huskies1896Storrs, ConnecticutPublic32,257Big East Conference
1863Minutemen1879Amherst, MassachusettsPublic29,269Atlantic 10

;Notes

Football Championship Subdivision

In the 2020 season, four schools will play as FCS independents—Dixie State, Presbyterian, Robert Morris, and Tarleton State. Dixie State announced in January 2019 that it would begin a transition from Division II to the non-football Western Athletic Conference in July 2020, with the football program becoming an FCS independent at that time. Presbyterian announced in 2017 that it had started a transition to non-scholarship FCS football. The Blue Hose played their final season of Big South Conference football in 2019, and will play the 2020 season as an independent before joining the Pioneer Football League, a football-only conference made up entirely of non-scholarship FCS programs, in 2021. Presbyterian will remain a full non-football Big South member. Robert Morris left the football-sponsoring Northeast Conference for the non-football Horizon League in July 2020; it will play the 2020 season as an independent and then join Big South football. Tarleton State announced in 2019 that it would join the WAC alongside Dixie State and also play football as an FCS independent.
The only school that had played as an FCS independent in 2019, North Dakota, joins the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020. North Dakota left the Big Sky Conference in 2018 to join the non-football Summit League, but agreed to honor existing contracts to play Big Sky members in football, and thus played a full Big Sky football schedule as an FCS independent in 2018 and 2019. While North Dakota was not listed in conference standings, their games against Big Sky football members counted fully in conference standings.
InstitutionFoundedNicknameFirst seasonLocationTypeEnrollmentPrimary conference
Dixie State University1883Trailblazers2006Public11,193Western Athletic Conference
Presbyterian College1880Blue Hose1913Clinton, South CarolinaPrivate1,280Big South Conference
Robert Morris University1921Colonials1994Moon Township, PennsylvaniaPrivate4,895Horizon League
Tarleton State University1883Texans1904Stephenville, TexasPublic13,226Western Athletic Conference

Golf

Men

Women

Ice hockey

Men

There is currently one NCAA Division I independent in men's ice hockey. The Sun Devils moved up from club hockey in the ACHA to full varsity status. Arizona State began playing a full Division I schedule in 2016–17, and expected to be in a hockey conference for 2017–18, but no conference move has yet materialized.
InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentYearsPrimary Conference
Arizona State UniversitySun DevilsTempe, Arizona1885Public50,2462015–presentPac-12 Conference

Women

No women's ice hockey teams played as independents at the National Collegiate level, the de facto equivalent to Division I in that sport, in the 2019–20 season.
Five schools—Franklin Pierce, Post, Sacred Heart, Saint Anselm, and Saint Michael's—competed as independents in the 2018–19 season, all participating in the nascent New England Women's Hockey Alliance, which had originally been established in 2017 as a scheduling alliance among all of the then-current National Collegiate independents. The NEWHA initially included six schools, but Holy Cross left after the inaugural 2017–18 NEWHA season to join Hockey East. The NEWHA officially organized as a conference in advance of the 2018–19 season, but was not officially recognized by the NCAA as a Division I league until the 2019–20 season, by which time the newly launched LIU program had joined to return the conference membership to six.

Soccer

Men

There are no men's soccer independents as of the 2018 season.

Women

Two schools were independents in the most recently completed 2019 women's soccer season. The most recent departure from the independent ranks was Hampton University, which joined the Big South Conference, which sponsors women's soccer, in 2018.
InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Delaware State UniversityHornetsDover, Delaware1891Public3,400Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
South Carolina State UniversityLady BulldogsOrangeburg, South Carolina1896Public3,000Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Men's volleyball

Men's volleyball has a truncated divisional structure in which members of both Division I and Division II compete under identical scholarship limits for a single national championship. In the 2021 season, 11 men's volleyball programs, all but one of which are Division II members, will compete as independents.
D'Youville, currently reclassifying from Division III to Division II, is highlighted in yellow.
InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Alderson Broaddus UniversityBattlersPhilippi, West Virginia1871Private1,052Mountain East Conference
Coker UniversityCobrasHartsville, South Carolina1908Private1,000South Atlantic Conference
Daemen CollegeWildcatsAmherst, New York1947Private3,005East Coast Conference
SaintsBuffalo, New York1946Private2,900East Coast Conference
Lincoln Memorial UniversityRailsplittersHarrogate, Tennessee1897Private2,579South Atlantic Conference
CowboysBayamón, Puerto Rico1971Public5,014Independent
TarzansMayagüez, Puerto Rico1911Public13,146Independent
GallitosSan Juan, Puerto Rico1903Public18,653Independent
Queens University of CharlotteRoyalsCharlotte, North Carolina1857Private2,100South Atlantic Conference

TerriersBrooklyn, New York1858Private2,834Northeast Conference
Tusculum UniversityPioneersTusculum, Tennessee1794Private2,053South Atlantic Conference

Wrestling

The only Division I wrestling independent in the upcoming 2020–21 season is Bellarmine, which started a transition from Division II in July 2020 and is thus highlighted in yellow.
InstitutionTeamLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentPrimary Conference
Bellarmine UniversityKnightsLouisville, Kentucky1950Private3,759ASUN Conference