It is the only NCAA Division I hockey conference whose members all field men's and women's varsity teams.

And there was also a dispute over legislation that could prevent the nation's two historically black Division I conferences from participating in the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament.

Prior to that year, the league operated as a Division II conference.

Bryant along with other New England schools helped create a Division II conference that could succeed on and off the playing field and create rivalries at the same time.

With the inclusion of the several new member institutions, it is one of the largest Division II conferences in the country with 16 members.

Heart of America was a Division 2 conference until 2011, with Arkansas and Missouri ranked among the top teams in Division 2.

In June 2012, UC was one of nine WVIAC members that announced their plans to leave to form a new Division II conference.

The conference traces its roots back to November 1988 when 11 schools first met in Greenville, S.C. to form a Division II conference.

They have been godsends for a program that competes in one of the toughest Division II conferences, the Northeast 10.

In June 2012, the football-playing schools of that conference, including Shepherd, announced plans to break away to form a new Division II conference.