Patriot League

The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective group of higher education institutions in NCAA Division I and has a very high student-athlete graduation rate for both the NCAA graduation success rate and the federal graduation rate.

For the professional football league, see American Patriot League.

Patriot League
Established	1986
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FCS
Members	10 full, 4 associate
Sports fielded	24 men's: 11 women's: 13
Region	Northeast
Former names	Colonial League
Headquarters	Center Valley, Pennsylvania
Commissioner	Jennifer Heppel (since 2015)
Website	www.patriotleague.org
Locations

The Patriot League consists of 10 core members:[1] American University, the United States Military Academy (Army), Boston University, Bucknell University, Colgate University, College of the Holy Cross, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Loyola University Maryland and the United States Naval Academy (Navy).

All 10 core members participate in the NCAA's Division I for all Patriot League sports that they offer. Since not all schools sponsor every available NCAA sport, such as ice hockey and wrestling, most schools are affiliated with other collegiate conferences.

Additionally, the Patriot League has a unique arrangement for football. Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, and Lehigh are members of the Patriot League's Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conference. Of the five other conference members, American, Boston University and Loyola Maryland do not sponsor football while Army and Navy play in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision; Army is an independent while Navy currently competes as an associate member of the American Athletic Conference.

Four other private institutions are Patriot League members only for specific sports and are referred to as 'Patriot League associate members.' Fordham University and Georgetown University are associate members in football, while MIT is an associate member in women's rowing and University of Richmond is an associate member in women's golf.

About

Patriot League members are schools with very strong academic reputations that adhere strongly to the ideal of the "scholar-athlete", with the emphasis on "scholar". An academic index ensures that athletes are truly representative of and integrated with the rest of the student body. Out-of-league play for Patriot League schools is often with members of the Ivy League, which follow similar philosophies regarding academics and athletics.

Patriot League members have some of the oldest collegiate athletic programs in the country. In particular, The Rivalry between Lehigh University and Lafayette College is both the nation's most played and longest uninterrupted college football series.[2]

The winner of the Patriot League Basketball tournament receives an automatic invitation to the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament every March. In recent years, Bucknell (twice) and Lehigh have both won NCAA tournament games. The Patriot League champion in a number of other sports also receives an automatic invitation to its respective NCAA tournaments.

History

Locations of current Patriot League full member institutions.

The origins of the Patriot League began after the eight Ivy League schools expanded their football schedules to ten games starting in 1980. Needing opponents with a similar competitive level on a regular basis for each team's three nonconference games, the league contacted two university presidents, the Reverend John E. Brooks, S.J., of Holy Cross and Peter Likins of Lehigh, about forming a new conference that also prohibited athletic scholarships.[3] The result was the Colonial League, a football-only circuit that began competition in 1986.[1][4] Its six charter members were Holy Cross, Lehigh, Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette and Davidson, which dropped out after the 1988 season for reasons related to geography, lack of competitiveness, and a reluctance to relinquish its basketball scholarships in case the conference expanded into other sports.[3][5]

In 1990, the league changed its name to the Patriot League at the suggestion of Carl F. Ullrich,[3] who would go on to become the conference's first full-time administrator. At the start of the 1990–91 academic year, the league became an all-sport conference, with 22 sports (11 for men and 11 for women), and now had seven full members, including Fordham and the United States Military Academy (Army) as new members. In 1991, the league gained an eighth full member — the United States Naval Academy (Navy).[4]

In 1993, the league hired Constance (Connie) H. Hurlbut as executive director. She was the first woman and youngest person to be the leader of an NCAA Division I conference.[4]

In 1995, Fordham resigned its full membership (leaving the league with seven full members) but continued as an associate member in football. In 1996, Fairfield and Ursinus joined as associate members in field hockey.[4] (Fairfield left after the 2003 fall season and is now an associate member of the America East Conference. Ursinus left after the 2001 fall season and is now a full member of the Centennial Conference.[6]) In 1997, Towson joined as an associate member in football. (Towson left after the 2003 fall season to join the Atlantic 10 Conference, whose football conference would be absorbed by the Colonial Athletic Association in 2007.) In 1999, Hobart joined as an associate member in men's lacrosse and Villanova joined as an associate member in women's lacrosse. (Hobart left after the 2004 spring season, to join the ECAC Lacrosse League, while Villanova left after the 2006 spring season.) In 2001, American University joined as the eighth full member and Georgetown University joined as an associate member in football.[4] Two schools announced in summer 2012 that they would join the league for the 2013–14 academic year, with Boston University making its announcement on June 15[7] and Loyola University Maryland doing so on August 29.[8]

Athletic scholarships

While need-based financial aid has always been available, athletic scholarships have only been allowed in recent years at Patriot League schools. Basketball scholarships were first allowed beginning with freshmen entering the league in the fall of 1998.

In 2001, when American, which gave scholarships in all sports (AU does not play football) entered the league, the league began allowing all schools to do so in sports other than football. Lafayette, the last holdout with no athletic scholarships, began granting full rides in basketball and other sports with freshmen entering the school in the fall of 2006. Most Patriot League schools do not give athletic scholarships in a number of sports, and Bucknell only granted them in basketball prior to the addition of football scholarships in 2013.

In the spring of 2009, Fordham University announced that it would start offering football scholarships effective with the fall of 2010. This action made Fordham ineligible for the league championship, but it also prompted a league-wide discussion on football scholarships. On February 13, 2012, the Patriot League announced its members could begin offering football scholarships starting with the 2013–14 academic year. Since then, each school has been allowed no more than the equivalent of 15 scholarships to incoming football players. Since the transition to scholarship football was completed for the 2016–17 academic year, each football member has been allowed up to 60 scholarship equivalents per season,[9] a total only slightly lower than the NCAA limit of 63 scholarship equivalents for FCS programs.

Presidents from six of the seven football schools indicated they would award scholarships in the fall of 2012. Georgetown University did not commit to offering scholarships.[10]

Executive Directors

Name	Years	Current
Alan Childs	1986–1989	Lafayette College Professor of Psychology[11]
Carl F. Ullrich	1989–1993	League's first full-time Executive Director; retired
Connie Hurlbut	1993–1999	Western Athletic Conference Deputy Commissioner and SWA[12]
Carolyn Schlie Femovich	1999–2015	The PICTOR Group Senior Partner[13]
Jennifer Heppel	2015–	Previously Big Ten Conference Associate Commissioner for Governance[14]

Member schools

Full members

There are ten "full" member schools:[15]

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Undergraduate Enrollment	Endowment	Nickname	Colors
American University	Washington, D.C.	1893	2001	Private	6,028	$708M	Eagles
United States Military Academy (Army)	West Point, New York	1802	1990	Federal	4,686	N/A	Black Knights
Boston University	Boston, Massachusetts	1839	2013	Private	15,803	$2.2B	Terriers
Bucknell University	Lewisburg, Pennsylvania	1846	1986	Private	3,650	$801M	Bison
Colgate University	Hamilton, New York	1819	1986	Private	2,837	$908M	Raiders
College of the Holy Cross	Worcester, Massachusetts	1843	1986	Private	2,817	$1B	Crusaders
Lafayette College	Easton, Pennsylvania	1826	1986	Private	2,382	$693.7M	Leopards
Lehigh University	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	1865	1986	Private	5,047	$1.4B	Mountain Hawks
Loyola University Maryland	Baltimore, Maryland	1852	2013	Private	4,068	$206M	Greyhounds
United States Naval Academy (Navy)	Annapolis, Maryland	1845	1991	Federal	4,400	N/A	Midshipmen

Associate members

There are four associate-member schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Type	Undergraduate Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Primary Conference	Patriot Sport
Fordham University	Bronx, New York	1841	Private	8,220	Rams		Atlantic 10	football
Georgetown University	Georgetown, Washington, D.C.	1789	Private	7,433	Hoyas		Big East	football, women's rowing
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	Cambridge, Massachusetts	1861	Private	4,384	Engineers		NEWMAC (NCAA Division III)	women's rowing
University of Richmond	Richmond, Virginia	1830	Private	3,400	Spiders		Atlantic 10	women's golf

American, Boston, and Loyola do not play football. On the other hand, Army participates as an independent in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) and Navy participates in the American Athletic Conference for football only. Thus, Fordham and Georgetown replace them in the Patriot League for football only.

Fordham was also a full member of the Patriot League from 1990 until 1995 when they moved all sports except football to the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Former full members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Undergraduate Enrollment	Nickname	Current Conference
Fordham University	Bronx, New York	1841	1990	1995	Private	8,220	Rams	Atlantic 10

Former associate members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Undergraduate Enrollment	Nickname	Primary Conference	Patriot Sport
Davidson College	Davidson, North Carolina	1837	1986–87	1988–89	Private	1,743	Wildcats	A10 (all sports) PFL (football)	football
Fairfield University	Fairfield, Connecticut	1942	1996–97	2003–04	Private	4,991	Stags	MAAC	field hockey
Hobart College	Geneva, New York	1822	1999–2000	2003–04	Private	2,110	Statesmen	Liberty (NCAA Division III)	men's lacrosse
Towson University	Towson, Maryland	1866	1997–98	2003–04	Public	17,517	Tigers	CAA	football
Ursinus College	Collegeville, Pennsylvania	1869	1996–97	2001–02	Private	1,750	Bears	Centennial (NCAA Division III)	field hockey
Villanova University	Villanova, Pennsylvania	1842	1998–99	2005–06	Private	6,394	Wildcats	Big East	women's lacrosse

Membership timeline

Full members Full members (non-football) Assoc. members (football only) Associate member(some sports)

Sports

The Patriot League sponsors championship competition in twelve men's and thirteen women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[16] Georgetown and Fordham are Associate members for football, and Georgetown and MIT are Associate members for rowing.

	American	Army	Boston	Bucknell	Colgate	Holy Cross	Lafayette	Lehigh	Loyola	Navy	Total
Men's Sports
Baseball	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	6
Basketball	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Cross Country	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
FCS Football	N	N^†	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N^†	5
Golf	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Lacrosse	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Soccer	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Swimming & Diving	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Tennis	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Track and Field (Indoor)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	9
Track and Field (Outdoor)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	9
Men's Totals	6	10	8	11	10	11	11	11	7	10	95
Women's Sports
Basketball	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Cross Country	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Field Hockey	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	7
Golf	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	5
Lacrosse	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Rowing	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Soccer	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Softball	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	7
Swimming & Diving	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Tennis	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Track and Field (Indoor)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Track and Field (Outdoor)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Volleyball	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Women's Totals	9	9	12	13	12	13	11	13	10	11	113
Schools' Totals	15	19	20	24	22	24	22	24	17	21	208

• † Army and Navy play FBS football.

President's Cup

The Patriot League Presidents' Cup is awarded to the member institution with the highest cumulative sports point total for their Patriot League standings in sponsored men's and women's sports. Points are awarded based upon a combination of an institution's regular-season and tournament finishes in each sport.

President's Cup Winners (combined men and women):

• 1991 – Bucknell
• 1992 – Bucknell
• 1993 – Bucknell
• 1994 – Army
• 1995 – Army
• 1996 – Bucknell
• 1997 – Army
• 1998 – Bucknell
• 1999 – Bucknell
• 2000 – Bucknell
• 2001 – Bucknell
• 2002 – Bucknell
• 2003 – Bucknell
• 2004 – Bucknell
• 2005 – Army
• 2006 – Bucknell
• 2007 – Bucknell
• 2008 – Bucknell
• 2009 – Bucknell
• 2010 – Bucknell
• 2011 – Bucknell
• 2012 – Navy
• 2013 – Bucknell
• 2014 – Navy
• 2015 – Navy
• 2016 – Navy
• 2017 – Navy
• 2018 – Navy

Basketball

Men's tournament champion, runner-up, and MVP

See: Patriot League Men's Basketball Tournament

Women's tournament champion

See: Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament

NCAA

In NCAA basketball, Boston, Bucknell, Navy, Lehigh, and Holy Cross are the only teams in the conference ever to have recorded NCAA Tournament victories. Bucknell won tournament games in 2005 over Kansas and in 2006 over Arkansas. Lehigh won over Duke in the first round in the 2012 tournament.

The Bison, Mountain Hawks, and Crusaders are the only teams to win in the NCAA Tournament while actually representing the Patriot League. A Navy team—then representing the Colonial Athletic Association—led by future Hall of Famer David Robinson won three tournament games while advancing to the regional finals in 1986, while BU won two games in the 1959 tournament before falling in the regional finals. Holy Cross was among the best teams in the country in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and won the 1947 national championship with a team that included Hall of Famer Bob Cousy. Its combined record in the NCAA Tournament is 8–12. After a 63-year drought, Holy Cross defeated Southern University in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

Field hockey

Tournament champion[17]

• 1994 – Lehigh
• 1995 – Lafayette
• 1996 – Colgate
• 1997 – Holy Cross
• 1998 – Holy Cross
• 1999 – Lafayette
• 2000 – Holy Cross
• 2001 – Fairfield
• 2002 – Lafayette
• 2003 – American
• 2004 – American
• 2005 – American
• 2006 – American
• 2007 – American
• 2008 – American
• 2009 – American
• 2010 – American
• 2011 – Lafayette
• 2012 – Lafayette
• 2013 – American
• 2014 – Boston
• 2015 – Boston
• 2016 – American
• 2017 – Boston
• 2018 – Boston

Football

League champions

• 1986 – Holy Cross
• 1987 – Holy Cross
• 1988 – Lafayette
• 1989 – Holy Cross
• 1990 – Holy Cross
• 1991 – Holy Cross
• 1992 – Lafayette
• 1993 – Lehigh
• 1994 – Lafayette
• 1995 – Lehigh
• 1996 – Bucknell
• 1997 – Colgate
• 1998 – Lehigh
• 1999 – Colgate and Lehigh
• 2000 – Lehigh
• 2001 – Lehigh
• 2002 – Colgate and Fordham
• 2003 – Colgate
• 2004 – Lafayette and Lehigh
• 2005 – Colgate and Lafayette
• 2006 – Lafayette and Lehigh
• 2007 – Fordham
• 2008 – Colgate
• 2009 – Holy Cross
• 2010 – Lehigh
• 2011 – Lehigh
• 2012 – Colgate
• 2013 – Lafayette
• 2014 – Fordham
• 2015 – Colgate
• 2016 – Lehigh
• 2017 – Colgate and Lehigh
• 2018 – Colgate
• 2019 - Holy Cross

Patriot League football was non-scholarship until the league presidents voted to approve football scholarships starting with the 2013 recruiting class. Since then, each school has been allowed no more than the equivalent of 15 scholarships to incoming football players in any given season. With the transition to scholarship football having been completed in 2016, each school is now allowed a maximum of 60 scholarship equivalents per season, three short of the NCAA FCS maximum. However, Georgetown does not offer scholarships.

Until 1997, Patriot League teams did not participate in the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs. The policy was in step with the Ivy League's policy of not participating in the playoffs since the Patriot League was founded with the Ivy League's athletics philosophy. The league champion receives the automatic playoff berth. If there are co-champions, a tie-breaker determines the playoff participant.

Colgate was the first team to receive the league's automatic berth in 1997. The following year, Lehigh won the league's first playoff game. It is also the only year where a Patriot League team, Colgate, received a playoff invitation without being a league co-champion. The 2003 Colgate team advanced all the way to the National Championship game before falling to the University of Delaware. It was the first time a Patriot League team has advanced beyond the second round and played in a championship game. The 2015 Colgate team became the second Patriot League team to advance past the second round. After winning their first and second round games, they lost in the quarter-finals to Sam Houston. In 2018, Colgate again advanced to the quarter-finals, losing to eventual champion North Dakota State. Colgate is the only Patriot league team to advance past the second round (2003, 2015, 2018)

Facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity	Soccer venue	Capacity
American	Non-football school		Bender Arena	3,044	Non-baseball school		Reeves Field	700
Army	Sponsors football as an FBS Independent Army's home football games are at Michie Stadium	38,000	Christl Arena	5,043	Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field	880	Clinton Field	2,000
Boston	Non-football school		Agganis Arena Case Gym	7,200 1,800	Non-baseball school		Nickerson Field	10,412
Bucknell	Christy Mathewson–Memorial Stadium	13,100	Sojka Pavilion	4,000	Eugene B. Depew Field	500	Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium	1,250
Colgate	Andy Kerr Stadium	10,221	Cotterell Court	3,000	Non-baseball school		Van Doren Field	2,000
Fordham	Coffey Field	7,000	Football-only member
Georgetown	Cooper Field	2,500	Football-only member
Holy Cross	Fitton Field	23,500	Hart Center	3,600	Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field	3,000	Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium	1,320
Lafayette	Fisher Stadium	13,132	Kirby Sports Center	2,644	Kamine Stadium	500	Oaks Stadium	1,000
Lehigh	Goodman Stadium	16,000	Stabler Arena	5,600	J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park	370	Ulrich Sports Complex	2,400
Loyola	Non-football school		Reitz Arena	2,100	Non-baseball school		Ridley Athletic Complex	6,000
Navy	Plays football in the American Athletic Conference. Navy's home football games are at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium	34,000	Alumni Hall	5,710	Max Bishop Stadium	1,500	Glenn Warner Soccer Facility	2,500

Literature

The Patriot League was profiled in the John Feinstein book, The Last Amateurs. The title is derived from the belief that the Patriot League was the last Division I basketball league that plays a conference tournament (the Ivy League, which operates under the same model, albeit with no scholarships, did not hold a conference tournament until the 2016–17 season) and functions as a place for student-athletes, rather than functioning as a de facto minor professional league with players not representative of their student bodies. In it, Feinstein followed all the league's men's basketball teams during the 1999–2000 season.[3]

References

1. ""Who We Are" About the Patriot League". Patriot League. Archived from the original on October 30, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
2. "All the Lehigh University News First". The Brown and White.
3. Feinstein, John (2000). The Last Amateurs. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-27842-4.
4. "Patriot League History". Patriot League. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
5. "Patriot League 2011 Football Media Guide" (PDF).
6. "2009 Field Hockey". Centennial Conference. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
7. "Boston University accepts invitation to join Patriot League starting in 2013–14" (PDF) (Press release). Patriot League. June 15, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
8. "Loyola University Maryland accepts invitation to join Patriot League starting with 2013–14 season" (Press release). Patriot League. August 29, 2012. Archived from the original on August 30, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
9. Novy-Williams, Eben (February 13, 2012). "Patriot League to Offer Football Scholarships for First Time Starting 2013". Bloomberg.
10. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/patr/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/PLpresidentCommentsFootballFA.pdf
11. "2018-19 Men's Basketball Roster". Lafayette College Athletics.
12. "Western Athletic Conference". Western Athletic Conference.
13. "Carolyn Schlie Femovich (biography) – The PICTOR Group".
14. "Patriot League - Staff Directory". www.patriotleague.org.
15. ""Who We Are" About the Patriot League". Patriot League. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
16. "Patriot League". www.patriotleague.org.
17. "Patriot League Field Hockey Record Book" (PDF). Patriot League Field Hockey Record Book. Patriot League. Retrieved June 15, 2012.

External links

• Official website