Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference

Formerly	Northern Teachers Athletic Conference (1932–1942) State Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota (1942–1962) Northern Intercollegiate Conference (1962–1992) Northern Sun Conference (women's, 1979–1992)
Association	NCAA
Founded	1932; 93 years ago (1932)
Commissioner	Erin Lind (since July 1, 2014)
Sports fielded	18 men's: 8 women's: 10
Division	Division II
No. of teams	16
Headquarters	Saint Paul, Minnesota
Region	West North Central States
Official website	northernsun.org
Locations

TheNorthern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is acollege athletic conference affiliated with theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at theDivision II level, which operates in theUpper Midwest of theUnited States. Nine of its members are inMinnesota, with three members inSouth Dakota, three members inNorth Dakota, and one member inNebraska.^[1] It was founded in 1932.^[2] With the recent NSIC expansion, the original six member schools have been reunited.^[3]

The conference sponsors 18 sports;^[4] ten for women and eight for men. Both men and women compete inbasketball,cross country,golf, and indoor and outdoortrack and field. Men compete inbaseball,football, andwrestling. Women compete insoccer,softball,swimming & diving,tennis, andvolleyball. The NSIC is the only Division II conference that sponsors soccer for women but not men (two other D-II conferences do not sponsor soccer for either sex).

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference

100km
62miles

Augustana

Jamestown

Winona State

Wayne State

Southwest
Minnesota State

Sioux Falls

St. Cloud State

Northern State

Minot State

Minnesota–Duluth

Minnesota–Crookston

Minnesota State–Moorhead

Minnesota State

Mary

Concordia

Bemidji State

   

Location of NSIC members: full . Not shown: men's wrestling associate UW-Parkside.

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference was founded in 1932 as theNorthern Teachers Athletic Conference. Charter members included Bemidji State Teachers College (Bemidji State University), Duluth State Teachers College (University of Minnesota Duluth), Mankato State Teachers College (Minnesota State University, Mankato), Moorhead State Teachers College (Minnesota State University Moorhead), St. Cloud State Teachers College (St. Cloud State University), and Winona State Teachers College (Winona State University). In 1942 the conference name was changed to theState Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota. The conference switched its name to theNorthern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC) in 1962. In the spring of 1992 the NSIC was formed out of the merger of the NIC, the men's conference, and the women'sNorthern Sun Conference (NSC).

In 1992, the NSIC joined NCAA Division II after being long timemembers of theNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).^[5]

In the 1998–99 academic year, the NSIC became an expanded eight-team league from a previous seven-member conference by addingWayne State College, and in 1999–2000 became a 10-member conference by addingConcordia University, St. Paul, and theUniversity of Minnesota Crookston. The conference existed as an eight-member league from 2004–05 until 2005–06 with the departure of Minnesota–Duluth to the now defunct North Central Conference, and theUniversity of Minnesota Morris toNCAA Division III. TheUniversity of Mary andUpper Iowa University were admitted in the fall of 2006 to again expand the NSIC to 10 members.

In 2007 the NSIC Board of Directors voted to expand the conference to 14 schools. League presidents voted to accept into membership Augustana College (nowAugustana University), St. Cloud State, Minnesota–Duluth, and Minnesota State. These four schools were members of theNorth Central Conference which disbanded after the 2007–2008 academic year. They became official members of the NSIC on July 1, 2008.

On January 20, 2010, the NSIC Board of Directors voted to expand the conference again, this time to 16 members. The league accepted into membership theUniversity of Sioux Falls andMinot State University. Both schools moved from the NAIA, with USF leaving theGreat Plains Athletic Conference, and Minot State leaving theDakota Athletic Conference. The two schools became active members in the 2012–13 academic year.

The NSIC and its member institutions have been members of theNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Mankato State won the NAIA wrestling national titles in 1958 and 1959, while Moorhead State won a wrestling national title in 1964.^[6] Forty-one wrestlers have claimed individual national titles in wrestling. Nine individuals have won national titles in Men's Swimming and Diving.^[7] Northern State claimed national titles in women's basketball in 1992 and 1994.^[8] Seven individuals have won individual titles in men's indoor track and field.^[9] Four individuals have won national titles in women's indoor track and field. Eleven athletes have won national titles in men's outdoor track and field.^[10] Six female athletes have won individual titles in outdoor track and field.^[11] Winona State won two team titles in women's gymnastics. In 1992, the NSIC entered theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In the Fall of 1995, the NSIC and its member institutions became eligible for championship competition in the NCAA Division II ranks. The Northern Sun earned its first Division II national championship in a team sport sponsored by the conference when Winona State won the men's basketball championship in 2005–06.^[12]

Since becoming affiliated with NCAA Division II, NSIC members have won 23 team national championships and has also crowned 77 individual national champions.

Since 1932, 18 institutions have competed in the NSIC. Although all six charter members are in the conference today, only three of them have remained in the conference for the 80 years of its existence: Bemidji State, Minnesota State–Moorhead, and Winona State.

• 1932: The Northern Teacher's Athletic Conference was founded with six charter members:Bemidji State Teachers College (now Bemidji State University),Duluth State Teachers College (now the University of Minnesota Duluth),Mankato State Teachers College (now Minnesota State University, Mankato),Moorhead State Teachers College (now Minnesota State University Moorhead),St. Cloud State Teachers College (now St. Cloud State University) andWinona State Teachers College (now Winona State University).
• 1942: The conference changed its name to the State Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota.
• 1947: Duluth State Teachers College was renamed the University of Minnesota Duluth.
• 1951: Minnesota–Duluth left for theMinnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). The conference was left with five teams.^[13]
• 1957: TheMichigan College of Mining and Technology (now Michigan Technological University) joined the STCCM to give the league six members. Bemidji State Teachers College was renamed Bemidji State College. Mankato State Teachers College was renamed Mankato State College. Moorhead State Teachers College becomes known as Moorhead State College. St. Cloud State Teachers College becomes St. Cloud State College and Winona State Teachers College becomes Winona State College.
• 1962: The conference changed its name to the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC).
• 1964: The Michigan College of Mining and Technology renamed itself to Michigan Technological University.
• 1966: TheUniversity of Minnesota Morris joined the NIC, membership stands at seven schools.
• 1968: Mankato State left the NIC to join theNorth Central Conference (NCC), leaving the conference with six members.
• 1969:Southwest Minnesota State College joined the NIC as the seventh member.
• 1975: Minnesota–Duluth re-joined the NIC, giving the NIC eight teams. Bemidji State College was renamed Bemidji State University. Mankato State College was renamed Mankato State University and Moorhead State College was renamed Moorhead State University. Also, St. Cloud State College was renamed to St. Cloud State University and Winona State College was renamed to Winona State University. Southwest Minnesota State College also underwent a name change, becoming Southwest State University.
• 1978: Mankato State re-joined the NIC andNorthern State College (now Northern State University) joined the league as the ninth and tenth teams, respectively.
• 1979: The Northern Sun Conference (NSC) was created for women's athletics.
• 1980: Michigan Tech left for theGreat Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), leaving the NIC with nine teams.
• 1981: St. Cloud State and Mankato State left for the NCC. The NIC was left with seven members.
• 1989: Northern State College was renamed to Northern State University.
• 1992: The Northern Intercollegiate Conference (men's conference) and the Northern Sun Conference (women's conference) merged to form the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The NSIC joins NCAA Division II.
• 1995: The NSIC became eligible for NCAA Division II championship competition, moving from theNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
• 1998: Mankato State University was renamed Minnesota State University, Mankato.
• 1998:Wayne State College joined as the NSIC's eighth member.
• 1999:Concordia University, St. Paul and theUniversity of Minnesota Crookston joined to give the NSIC 10 teams.
• 2000: Moorhead State University was renamed Minnesota State University Moorhead.
• 2003: Minnesota–Morris left the NSIC and drops down to the NCAA Division III ranks and theUpper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC), dropping NSIC membership to nine teams. Also, Southwest State University changed its name to Southwest Minnesota State University.^[14]
• 2004: Minnesota–Duluth left the NSIC to join the NCC, leaving the NSIC with eight schools.
• 2006: TheUniversity of Mary andUpper Iowa University joined the NSIC to bring membership back up to 10 schools.^[15]
• 2008: The North Central Conference disbanded as various members in that league make a move to NCAA Division I. Former NSIC members Minnesota–Duluth, Minnesota State, and St. Cloud State re-joined the Northern Sun. Another NCC refugee,Augustana College (now Augustana University) joined the NSIC for the first time, increasing membership to 14 schools.
• 2012:Minot State University and theUniversity of Sioux Falls begin full membership after joining NCAA Division II from the NAIA. This gave the league its largest membership at 16 schools.
• 2012:Lindenwood University, theUniversity of Nebraska at Kearney,Truman State University andWilliam Jewell College, all four members of theMid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) at that time, became associate members of the NSIC in the sport of women's swimming & diving.
• 2013: Truman and William Jewell left the NSIC as associate members for women's swimming & diving to join theGreat Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) after the 2012–13 athletic season.
• 2014: Lindenwood and Nebraska–Kearney left the NSIC as associate members for women's swimming & diving to join theRocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) after the 2013–14 athletic season.
• 2019: Minnesota–Crookston and St. Cloud State discontinued their football programs at the end of the 2019–20 academic year.
• 2020: TheUniversity of Wisconsin–Parkside (athletically branded as Parkside) joined the NSIC as an affiliate member for wrestling.
• 2023: Upper Iowa left for theGreat Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) for the 2023–24 athletic season, leaving the NSIC with 15 teams.
• 2025: TheUniversity of Jamestown joined the NSIC, bringing the membership total back to 16 schools.

The NSIC currently has 16 full members, all but five arepublic schools. Reclassifying members listed in yellow:

Notes

The NSIC currently has one affiliate member, which is also apublic school:

Notes

The NSIC had three former full members, two werepublic schools and one was aprivate school:

Notes

The NSIC had four former affiliate members, twopublic school and twoprivate schools:

Notes

 Full member (all sports)  Full member (non-football)  Associate member (football)  Associate member (sport) 

Conference sports

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	Y	N
Basketball	Y	Y
Cross Country	Y	Y
Football	Y	N
Golf	Y	Y
Soccer	N	Y
Softball	N	Y
Swimming &Diving	N	Y
Tennis	N	Y
Track & Field Indoor	Y	Y
Track & Field Outdoor	Y	Y
Volleyball	N	Y
Wrestling	Y	N

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Wrestling	Total NSIC Sports
Augustana	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Bemidji State	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N	N	4
Concordia–St. Paul	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	7
Jamestown	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Mary	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Minnesota State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
MSU–Moorhead	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	6
Minnesota–Crookston	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	N	4
Minnesota–Duluth	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	6
Minot State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Northern State	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
St. Cloud State	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	Y	3
Sioux Falls	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Southwest Minnesota State	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Wayne State	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	6
Winona State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	5
Totals	15	16	14	14	9	12	12	11	103
Affiliate members
Parkside								Y	1

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Volleyball	Total NSIC Sports
Augustana	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Bemidji State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Concordia–St. Paul	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	9
Jamestown	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Mary	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Minnesota State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
MSU–Moorhead	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Minnesota–Crookston	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	7
Minnesota–Duluth	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Minot State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Northern State	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
St. Cloud State	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Sioux Falls	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Southwest Minnesota State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Wayne State	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Winona State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Totals	16	16	12	16	16	8	12	15	15	16	141

Notes

In addition to the above teams, at least two conference schools are now sponsoring esports: SMSU and Concordia-St Paul.

The NSIC has had 27 national championship teams in NCAA Division II play:

NCAA Division II National Champions

NAIA National Champions

The NSIC has had five full-time commissioners in its history.

1. Tom Wistrcill (1993–1997)
2. Kurt Patberg (1997–2000)
3. Mike Lockrem (2000–2003)
4. Butch Raymond (2004–2014)
5. Erin Lind (2014–present)

Last updated November 25, 2023

Includes Regular Season and Tournament Championships

NSIC Championships Won or Shared Per School

NSIC Champions

*Minnesota State finished 2012 with an 11-0 overall conference record and 7-0 division record, however the conference and division titles were stripped after Mankato was found to have played with two ineligible players. Minnesota–Duluth (overall) and Winona State (South Division) were granted the 2012 titles retroactively. Mankato's win–loss record, however, remains the same.

**Following the 2022 season Upper Iowa left the conference. This led to a removal of the North and South divisions during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

NSIC Regular Season Champions

NSIC Tournament Champions

NSIC championships won per school

NSIC All-Time Standings (1932–33 to 2024-25)

NSIC Regular Season Champions

(*)-Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, no regular season conference champion was awarded during the 2020-21 season, only the winner of the North and South division were awarded.

(**)-Following the departure ofUpper Iowa, the North and South division were removed for the 2023–24 and the 2024–25 seasons.

NSIC Tournament Champions

NSIC Championships Per School

NSIC All-Time Standings (1979-80 to 2024-25)

NSIC Regular Season Champions

(*)-Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, no regular season conference championship was awarded during the 2020-21 season, on the North and South division champions were awarded.

(**)-Following the departure ofUpper Iowa, the North and South division were removed for the 2023–24 and the 2024–25 seasons.

NSIC Tournament Champions

NSIC Championships Per School

NSIC Regular Season Champions

The NSIC Tournament was used to determine the overall NSIC Champion from 2002 to 2006.

NSIC Tournament Champions

NSIC Regular Season Champions

NSIC Tournament Champions