The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) is an NCAA Division III men's volleyball and esports college athletic conference based in the Northeastern United States. The NECC was formerly an all-sports conference from 2008 to 2023.

History

In June 2007, nine colleges from New England announced the creation of a new athletic conference under the same NECC name. The conference, which began operations July 1, 2008, in Division III, currently includes Lesley University (Cambridge), Mitchell College (New London, Connecticut), Eastern Nazarene College (Quincy) and New England College (Henniker, New Hampshire) as members. Their indicated locations are in Massachusetts unless otherwise noted. Southern Vermont and Newbury both announced they would cease operations after the 2018–19 academic year, and founding member Becker College announced the same after the 2020–21 school year. Elms College joined the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, where it had competed as a swimming and diving affiliate since 2008, in the 2021-22 academic year. In July 2021, original member Bay Path was admitted to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), implicitly leaving the conference and the NCAA. Within the past year, there have been changes. Bard College joined the NECC for men's volleyball as an associate member beginning the spring of 2023. Lesley received and accepted an invitation to join the North Atlantic Conference (NAC), while Mitchell and New England College both accepted an invitation to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), all beginning the 2023-24 season. In 2023 it was announced that Eastern Nazarene College would also be joining the NAC. The NECC may remain in operation for men's volleyball and the non-NCAA sport of esports. The conference has nine men's volleyball members in the current 2023 season, and the NCAA's official membership database lists all nine NECC men's volleyball teams as being members of the "New England Volleyball Conference". Over 25 schools are affiliate members in esports.

Chronological timeline

Member schools

Final full members

The NECC had four full members when it disbanded as an all-sports conference, all were private schools.

Final associate members

The NECC had ten final associate members, six of them were private schools. However, only seven of them will remain for men's volleyball:

Men's volleyball members

Esports members

The NECC currently has twenty-seven associate members for esports, all but eight are private schools:

Former members

The NECC had nine former full members, all were private schools:

Former associate members

The NECC had four former associate members, all private schools.

Membership timeline

Sports