Mount Mary joining NAIA

Mount Mary University, a member of the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference and Region IX based in Milwaukee, is leaving the NCAA for the NAIA in 2025-26. Viterbo University in La Crosse is the only other NAIA school in Wisconsin.

I could not be later to this October news item that I only backchanneled when the latest C2C update (DIII exploratory institutions Johnson & Wales (N.C.) and Regent are joining the league as NCAA provisionals next year) did not list Mount Mary as a core member moving forward in the frequently changing league.

So, the wildest DIII conference geographically — and unique in terms of not playing consistent regular season volleyball contests — will shed a Wisconsin school and gain volleyball programs in Charlotte, N.C., and Virginia Beach, Va., making UC Santa Cruz the lone remaining extreme outlier that otherwise will now consist of seven institutions based in California, Maryland, North Carolina (two) and Virginia (three).

There has been considerable resistance among the DIII membership, including legislative proposals to make conference regular season play a prerequisite for NCAA postseason participation, regarding the C2C’s yearly gatherings to crown conference champions. However, barring that legislation, conferences have tremendous latitude in determining automatic qualifiers. I mention the resistance because, now that the minimum full-time membership threshold in order to garner and/or maintain an automatic qualifier went from seven to six schools, the C2C has bolstered its geographical core to six members (assuming Johnson & Wales and Regent make it through their provisional phases), effectively shielding itself from a successful proposal to make regular season play mandatory. The fallout could be UC Santa Cruz, which is 315 miles away from its nearest potential DIII opponent to the south (Cal Lutheran), 652 miles to the north (Willamette) and 1,348 miles to the east (Colorado College).

-Ricky Nelson