Frontier Conference

The Frontier Conference is a college athletic conference, founded in 1935 and affiliated with the NAIA. Member institutions are located in the northwestern United States, in the states of Idaho, Montana, and Oregon.

This article is about the current NAIA conference in the American West. For the previous conference with the same name that existed between 1940 and 1962, see Frontier Conference (1940–1962).
Frontier Conference
Established1935
AssociationNAIA
Members9 (6 full, 3 associate)
Sports fielded
  • 16
    • men's: 8
    • women's: 8
RegionWestern United States
Former namesMontana Collegiate Conference (1920-35)
HeadquartersWhitefish, Montana
CommissionerKent Paulson
Websitefrontierconference.com
Locations

History

The Montana Collegiate Conference (MCC) was established in 1920 by the four smaller schools (Billings Poly, Carroll, Montana School of Mines, Western Montana) in the state, with Eastern Montana and Northern Montana joining once they had established athletics. The conference reestablished itself under its current moniker in November 1966, containing the same six schools until 1974.[1] Great Falls joined that year, however would only stay for a decade. Eastern Montana (now MSU-Billings) left for the first incarnation of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 1988, leaving the Frontier at five members for another decade. The conference opened up outside of Montana for the first time in 1998, with schools from Idaho (Lewis-Clark State) and Utah (Westminster) joining. Great Falls rejoined in 1999. Lewis–Clark State left for the Cascade Collegiate Conference as a full member in 2020.[2]

Member schools

The Frontier Conference has 5 full members with football, 1 full member without football, and 3 football-only affiliate members. Great Falls does not play football. College of Idaho, Eastern Oregon and Southern Oregon are the football-only affiliates.[3]

Current members
Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Nickname Joined
Carroll College Helena, Montana 1909 Private (Catholic) 1,502 Fighting Saints 1920 (MCC)
Montana State University–Northern Havre, Montana 1929 Public 1,207 Lights
&
Skylights		 1929 (MCC)
Montana Technological University Butte, Montana 1889 Public 2,694 Orediggers 1920 (MCC)
University of Montana Western Dillon, Montana 1893 Public 1,336 Bulldogs 1920 (MCC)
University of Providence1 Great Falls, Montana 1932 Private (Catholic) 800 Argonauts 1974;
1999
Rocky Mountain College Billings, Montana 1878 Private (Protestant) 894 Battlin' Bears 1920 (MCC)
  1. Played as an independent 1984 from 1999; known as University of Great Falls until 2017.

Affiliate members
Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Nickname Joined Sport Primary
conference
Eastern Oregon University La Grande, Oregon 1929 Public 3,743 Mountaineers 2008 football Cascade
College of Idaho Caldwell, Idaho 1891 Private (Presbyterian) 1,010 Coyotes 2014 football Cascade
Southern Oregon University Ashland, Oregon 1872 Public 5,696 Raiders 2012 football Cascade

Former members
Institution Location Founded Type Nickname Joined Left Current
conference
Dickinson State University Dickinson, North Dakota 1918 Public Blue Hawks 2012 2014 North Star
Lewis–Clark State College Lewiston, Idaho 1893 Public Warriors
&
Lady Warriors		 1998 2020 Cascade
Eastern Montana College Billings, Montana 1927 Public Yellowjackets 1927 1980 Great Northwest
(NCAA D-II)
Westminster College Salt Lake City, Utah 1875 Private (Nonsectarian) Griffins 1998 2015 Rocky Mountain
(NCAA D-II)
  • Eastern Montana College — school name reflects that used during conference membership, now known as Montana State University Billings.

Membership timeline

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

Sports

The Frontier Conference sponsors athletic competition in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's football, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and women's volleyball.

National Championships
Basketball

Montana Western won the NAIA national title in Division I Women's basketball, in 2019.

Rocky Mountain won the national title in men's basketball, NAIA Division I, in 2009.

Montana State-Northern won the national title in women's basketball, NAIA Division II, in 1993.

Carroll reached the semi-finals in men's basketball in 2005, as did Lewis-Clark State in women's basketball in 2001.

Football

Carroll has won the NAIA national championship six times: four straight, from 2002–05, also in 2007 and 2010, and has been runner-up twice.

Southern Oregon won the NAIA national championship in the 2014 season.

Montana Tech was the national runner-up in 1996.

Wrestling

Montana State-Northern has won six wrestling titles: 1991, 1992, 1998-2000, 2004, and was runner-up in 1990, 1993, and 2002.

Montana Western was co-champion in 1994.

In 2014, the University of Great Falls was second and Montana State-Northern took third at the NAIA national wrestling championship.

Bowling

College of Great Falls (now University of Providence) was the 1973 Men's NAIA National Bowling Champion.

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See also

References
  1. "Montana Collegiate League Changes Name". Daily Herald. Provo, Utah. United Press International. November 13, 1966. p. 20. Retrieved October 25, 2019 – via Newspapers.com .
  2. "Lewis-Clark State leaving Frontier Conference to join Cascade Collegiate Conference". MontanaSports.com. May 20, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  3. "College of Idaho football to join Frontier Conference". Idaho Press. June 27, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
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