NCAA Sports Blog

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, pronounced “mack”) is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA’s Division I-AA for football and Division I for all other sports. Most of the members are Catholic institutions.

Richard J. Ensor is the commissioner of the MAAC, a post he has held since 1988.

The conference was founded in 1980 by six charter members: the U.S. Military Academy, Fairfield University, Fordham University, Iona College, Manhattan College and Saint Peter’s College. Competition officially began the next year, in the sports of men’s cross-country and men’s soccer.

Competition in men’s and women’s basketball began in the 1981-1982 season. In 1984, the MAAC received an automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, where Iona was the first team to represent the MAAC on the men’s side. In 1982, Saint Peter’s was the first women’s basketball team to represent the MAAC in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The 2006-07 Marist women’s basketball team became the first MAAC school since LaSalle in 1989 to win an NCAA Tournament game. Marist, as a 13 seed, would defeat #4 Ohio State and #5 Middle Tennessee State before falling in the Sweet 16 to #1 Tennessee. Ironically, the 1989 LaSalle team also lost to Tennessee after beating #8 Connecticut in the first round.

The league added football in 1993.

From 1997 to 2003, the MAAC sponsored ice hockey. At that time, the hockey league split from the MAAC and changed its name to Atlantic Hockey.

The NCAA named the MAAC and Rider as co-hosts for the one of the first and second round sites for the 2006 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The MAAC, along with Canisius and Niagara, were also approved to host the 2007 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament First and Second Rounds.

Member Institutions

Associate Member Institutions

    * Football

          o Duquesne University

          o La Salle University

    * Baseball

          o Le Moyne College

    * Men’s Lacrosse

          o Mount Saint Mary’s University

          o Providence College

          o Saint Joseph’s University

          o Virginia Military Institute

          o Wagner College

    * Women’s Lacrosse

          o Le Moyne College

    * Water Polo

          o Saint Francis College (New York)

          o Villanova University

          o Wagner College

Football

The MAAC Football League was formed in 1993 and currently consists of only four schools:

    * Duquesne University

    * La Salle University

    * Iona College

    * Marist College

Canisius, Fairfield, Saint John’s and Siena, all former members of the MAACFL, have since disbanded their football programs. Saint Peter’s disbanded their football team in June 2007. Georgetown, another former MAACFL member, has moved to the Patriot League.

Duquesne has announced that it will leave the MAACFL after the 2007 season to join the Northeast Conference. This leaves the future of the MAACFL in serious doubt as only three teams will remain after the 2007 season.

Champions

    * 1993 IONA

    * 1994 Marist & St. John’s

    * 1995 Duquesne

    * 1996 Duquesne

    * 1997 Georgetown

    * 1998 Fairfield

    * 1999 Duquesne

    * 2000 Duquesne

    * 2001 Duquesne

    * 2002 Duquesne

    * 2003 Duquesne

    * 2004 Duquesne

    * 2005 Duquesne

    * 2006 Duquesne & Marist

    * 2007 IONA

Basketball

    * MAAC men’s basketball conference tournament locations

Niagara

Conference facilities