Dennis Collins became the first Executive Director of the North Coast Athletic Conference when the league began its first playing season in 1984. He continues to lead this NCAA Division III conference, long recognized as one of the most successful conferences in all three divisions of the NCAA. Behind his leadership, the Conference provides quality intercollegiate experiences for more than 5,000 student-athletes annually in 22 championship sports. We met recently with Dennis and listened as he spoke about NCAC's history, goals, and opportunities;
Founded in 1983, the North Coast Athletic Conference is dedicated to fostering a complementary relationship between intercollegiate athletics and the pursuit of academic excellence. Consisting of ten academically selective colleges and universities in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania - Allegheny College, Denison University, Earlham College, Hiram College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wabash College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster - the NCAC believes that high-level athletic programs need not be sacrificed in order to meet rigid academic standards. Significantly, all ten NCAC institutions have been granted chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, the preeminent honor society for colleges and universities. Only 255 of the more than 3,000 four-year institutions in the United States have been so honored.
One of the main reasons for founding the NCAC was that in the early 1980s, there was no conference setting for women's collegiate athletics. We were the first conference in the United States to establish women's college athletics having equity and standing with men's, and we're very proud of our legacy in pioneering women's collegiate athletics.
Before NCAC was founded, conferences were focused only on men's football and basketball. While we certainly love those sports, we felt that soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, baseball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, softball, indoor and outdoor track and field, and volleyball were equally as important. As we provided no athletic scholarships, each student coming to a school like Denison University paid their own tuition and we wanted to establish a conference setting and championship standing for their chosen sports, too.
A member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III, the NCAC now features championship competition in twenty-two sports - eleven for men and eleven for women. The eleven women's sports are among the most offered by any Division III conference, and the equality in number and emphasis between men's and women's athletics is just one of the elements that sets the North Coast apart.
The goals of the Conference express the best aspirations of American amateur athletics. The NCAC brings together a group of institutions which share a common allegiance to academic quality and to the conduct of athletics so as to support the educational purpose. Intercollegiate athletics can and should complement academic life, rather than compete with it, and sports should enhance the experience of students during their college years. This type of academic and athletic commitment has been led by the ten school presidents, who have taken an active role in the governance of the conference.
We track the progress of all the games played, record the scores and standings of every sport and season, and see that news releases get published about who's leading and doing well in our conference sports. We assign all the game officials for most of those games and we attend games to ensure that everything is being conducted in accordance with national playing rules. We publish a Policies and Procedures Manual so everyone knows the procedures, and we make interpretations of the rules, if needed.
We represent ten of the finest colleges in the United States. They all have great athletic programs and treat everybody with respect and dignity. If you have children of college age, these would be great colleges to consider. By considering one of these schools, your sons and daughters would have the opportunity to not only get a great education, but to meet people from all over the country. Among their alumni, these schools count Senators, Congressmen, and many corporate officers, in addition to actors and actresses such as Paul Newman and Jennifer Garner. Imagine the possibilities that would be available to your child in such an environment!
The NCAC's commitment to equity, its broad base of athletic programs, and an unwavering insistence on excellence in academics has served as a model for conferences throughout the country. The North Coast has shown not only that these ideals can coexist, but that they can flourish. A model in the 1980s and 1990s, the North Coast Athletic Conference continues as a pace-setter into the 21st century.
Through the work of North Coast Athletic Conference, young athletes have a host of opportunities to compete in collegiate sports while continuing their education. Call the North Coast Athletic Conference today and don't forget to tell them that The Advocate sent you!
