Empire 8

The Empire 8 (E8) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. The E8 sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's field hockey, men's football, men's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, women's softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, and women's volleyball. The E8 shares offices with the United Volleyball Conference, a separate Division III league that competes solely in men's volleyball.

Empire 8

Formerly	Independent College Athletic Conference (1964–1991) Empire Athletic Association (1991–1999)
Association	NCAA
Founded	1964
Commissioner	Chuck Mitrano (since 2001)
Sports fielded	22 men's: 11 women's: 11
Division	Division III
No. of teams	10
Headquarters	Rochester, New York
Region	New York
Official website	www.empire8.com
Locations

History

Empire 8 Conference

[Interactive fullscreen map]

Locations of Empire 8 members, 2021-2022   full member   affiliate member   future member (joining in 2022)

The Empire 8 can trace its beginnings back to 1964 with the founding of the Independent College Athletic Conference (ICAC). At this time, the conference was made up of Alfred University, Clarkson University, Hobart College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), St. Lawrence University, and Union College. After Union left the league, Ithaca College and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) joined the ICAC.

In 1991, the ICAC regrouped to become the Empire Athletic Association (EAA), with Clarkson leaving and Hartwick College joining to replace the spot. Hobart/William Smith, RPI, and St. Lawrence left in 1993, to be replaced by Elmira College, Nazareth College, and Utica University. Alfred re-joined and St. John Fisher College joined the league in 1998.

The EAA became the Empire 8 Athletic Conference in 1999, hosting 13 sports.

Stevens Institute of Technology joined as a field hockey member beginning in 2006 and became a full member in 2007. RIT announced on June 5, 2009 that it planned to leave the Empire 8 for the Liberty League beginning in the fall of the 2011–12 season. Houghton College also announced that they would join the Empire 8 in the 2012–13 season as they transitioned from a school of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to NCAA Division III status; they became full D-III members in 2016.

The most recent changes to the conference's membership were published in the 2018–19 school year. First, Stevens announced in August 2018 that it would leave the E8 at the end of the 2018–19 school year to rejoin the Middle Atlantic Conferences after an absence of more than 40 years. Stevens joined the MAC's Freedom Conference.^[1] In January 2019, the E8 reported that Stevens would eventually be replaced by Keuka College in 2020–21,^[2] and in March, The Sage Colleges merged Russell Sage College and Sage College of Albany, effectively making the former women-only Russell Sage co-educational in fall 2020.^[3]

On July 15, 2020, the Empire 8 postponed all fall sports, but provided conference championships in those sports in spring 2021.^[4] On August 26, 2021, Medaille posted its admission to the E8 in 2022–23 from the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.^[5]

Chronological timeline

• 1964 - The Empire 8 was founded of the Independent College Athletic Conference (ICAC). charter members included Alfred University, Clarkson College of Technology (now Clarkson University), Hobart College (later William Smith College followed suit when women's sports was added into the conference), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), St. Lawrence University, and Union College, effective beginning the 1964-65 academic year.
• 1971 - Union (N.Y.) left the ICAC, effective after the 1970-71 academic year.
• 1971 - Ithaca College and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) joined the ICAC, effective in the 1971-72 academic year.
• 1991 - Alfred and Clarkson left the ICAC, effective after the 1990-91 academic year.
• 1991 - The ICAC has been regrouped to become the Empire Athletic Association ( EAA), effective in the 1991-92 academic year.
• 1991 - Hartwick College joined the EAA, effective in the 1991-92 academic year.
• 1993 - Hobart/William Smith, Rensselaer Poly (RPI) and St. Lawrence left the EAA, effective after the 1992-93 academic year.
• 1993 - Elmira College, Nazareth College and Utica College (now Utica University) joined the EAA, effective in the 1993-94 academic year.
• 1998 - St. John Fisher College joined the EAA, with Alfred re-joining alongside, effective in the 1998-99 academic year.
• 1999 - The EAA has been rebranded as the Empire 8 Athletic Conference (Empire 8 or E8), hosting 13 sponsored sports, effective in the 1999-2000 academic year.
• 2006 - Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens Tech or Stevens) joined the Empire 8 as an affiliate member for field hockey, effective in the 2006 fall season (2006-07 academic year).
• 2007 - Stevens upgraded to join the Empire 8 for all sports, effective in the 2007-08 academic year.
• 2011 - Rochester Tech (RIT) left the Empire 8 for the Liberty League, effective after the 2010-11 academic year. Salisbury U. (MD) joined for football.
• 2012 - Houghton College joined the Empire 8, effective in the 2012-13 academic year.
• 2015 - Salisbury U. (MD) left to join the NJAC.
• 2017 - Ithaca left the Empire 8 to join the Liberty League, effective after the 2016-17 academic year.
• 2017 - Russell Sage College (then a women's college) and Sage College of Albany joined the Empire 8, effective in the 2017-18 academic year.
• 2019 - Stevens left the Empire 8 to re-join back to the Middle Atlantic Conferences (particularly the MAC's Freedom Conference), effective after the 2018-19 academic year.
• 2020 - Keuka College joined the Empire 8, effective in the 2020-21 academic year
• 2020 - The Sage Colleges merged Russell Sage and Sage College of Albany, effective making the former women-only Russell Sage co-educational, effective in the 2020-21 academic year.
• 2022 - Medaille College will join the Empire 8, effective beginning the 2022-23 academic year.

Member schools

Current members

The Empire 8 currently has ten full members, all are private schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Football?
Alfred University	Alfred, New York	1836	Nonsectarian	2,189	Saxons	1964, 1998^[a]	Yes
Elmira College	Elmira, New York	1855	Nonsectarian	768	Soaring Eagles	1993	No
Hartwick College	Oneonta, New York	1797	Nonsectarian	1,208	Hawks	1991	Yes
Houghton College	Houghton, New York	1883	Wesleyan	927	Highlanders	2012	No
Keuka College	Keuka Park, New York	1890	Baptist	1,535	Wolves	2020	No
Medaille University	Buffalo, New York	1937	Private	3,925	Mavericks	2022	No
Nazareth College	Pittsford, New York	1924	Nonsectarian	2,791	Golden Flyers	1993	No
Russell Sage College	Albany and Troy, New York	1916	Nonsectarian	2,389	Gators	2017	No
St. John Fisher University	Rochester, New York	1948	Nonsectarian	3,610	Cardinals	1998	Yes
Utica University	Utica, New York	1946	Nonsectarian	4,614	Pioneers	1993	Yes

Notes

1. Alfred left the Empire 8 (then known as the ICAC) after the 1990–91 school year; before re-joining back, effectively the 1998–99 school year.

Affiliate members

The Empire 8 currently has four affiliate members; all but one are public schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Empire 8 sport	Primary conference
State University of New York at Brockport	Brockport, New York	1867	Public^[a]	7,592	Golden Eagles	2014–15	football	New York State (SUNYAC)
State University of New York at Cortland	Cortland, New York	1868		6,832	Red Dragons	2015–16		New York State (SUNYAC)
State University of New York at Morrisville	Morrisville, New York	1908		2,486	Mustangs	2015–16		United East (UEC)
State University of New York at Oswego	Oswego, New York	1861		7,636	Lakers	2017–18	men's golf	New York State (SUNYAC)
Washington & Jefferson College	Washington, Pennsylvania	1781	Nonsectarian	1,168	Presidents	2002–03	field hockey	Presidents' (PAC)

Notes

1. Part of the State University of New York System.

Future affiliate members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joining	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Sport	Primary conference
Hilbert College	Hamburg, New York	1957	2024	Private	800	Hawks	football	AMCC

Former members

The Empire 8 had nine former full members, all were private schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current conference
Clarkson University	Potsdam, New York	1896	Nonsectarian	3,539	Golden Knights	1964–65	1990–91	Liberty
Hobart and William Smith Colleges	Geneva, New York	1822 (Hobart) 1908 (William Smith)	Nonsectarian	2,118	Statesmen (Hobart) Herons (William Smith)	1964–65	1992–93	Liberty
Ithaca College	Ithaca, New York	1892	Nonsectarian	6,800	Bombers	1971–72	2016–17	Liberty
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)	Troy, New York	1824	Nonsectarian	7,521	Engineers	1964–65	1992–93	Liberty
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)	Henrietta, New York	1829	Nonsectarian	17,652	Tigers	1971–72	2010–11	Liberty
The Sage Colleges Sage College of Albany (co-ed)	Albany, New York	1949	Nonsectarian	1,600	Gators	2017–18	2019–20	N/A^[a]
St. Lawrence University	Canton, New York	1856	Nonsectarian	2,431	Saints	1964–65	1992–93	Liberty
Stevens Institute of Technology	Hoboken, New Jersey	1870	Nonsectarian	5,260	Ducks	2007–08^[b]	2018–19	MAC Freedom
Union College	Schenectady, New York	1795	Nonsectarian	2,194	Dutchmen (men's) Dutchwomen (women's)	1964–65	1970–71	Liberty

Notes

1. The Sage College of Albany was merged into Russell Sage College.
2. Stevens competed in the Empire 8 as an associate member for field hockey during the 2006 fall season (2006–07 school year).

Former affiliate members

The Empire 8 had four former affiliate members, all but one were public schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Left	Empire 8 sport	Primary conference	Conference competing in former Empire 8 sport
Buffalo State College	Buffalo, New York	1871	Public^[a]	8,339	Bengals	2012–13	2018–19	football	New York State (SUNYAC)	Liberty
Frostburg State University	Frostburg, Maryland	1898	Public^[b]	6,133	Bobcats	2011–12	2015–16		Mountain East (MEC) (NCAA D-II)
Salisbury University	Salisbury, Maryland	1925		8,606	Sea Gulls	2011–12	2015–16		Coast to Coast (C2C)	New Jersey (NJAC)
Springfield College^[6]	Springfield, Massachusetts	1885	Private	5,062	Pride	2002–03	2011–12		New England (NEWMAC)

Notes

1. Part of the State University of New York System.
2. Part of the University System of Maryland.

Membership timeline

Championships

Main article: List of Empire 8 Athletic Conference champions

See also: Empire 8 men's basketball tournament

References

1. "MAC Welcomes Stevens Institute of Technology Back in 2019-20" (Press release). Middle Atlantic Conferences. August 15, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
2. "Keuka College to Join the Empire 8 Conference Beginning in the Fall of 2020" (Press release). Empire 8 Conference. January 30, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
3. De Sacio, Mike (March 8, 2019). "Sage Colleges will become one co-ed college with campuses in Troy and Albany". Albany Business Review. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
4. "Empire 8 Conference Announces Postponement of Fall Sports". July 15, 2020.
5. "Medaille College to Join Empire 8 NCAA Division III Conference as Tenth Member in Fall 2022". Medaille College Office of Communications. August 26, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
6. . Springfield College Pride. February 5, 2010. Archived from the original on February 10, 2010.

External links

• Official website