NCAA Division I FCS independent schools

FCS Independents
2011 season
NCAA	Division I FCS
Schools	1 (1 in 2012, 3 in 2013, 1 in 2014)
Sports fielded	1 (men's: 1; women's: 0)

NCAA Football Championship Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions in the United States whose football programs are not part of a football conference. This does not mean that FCS independents schedule each other for competition as conference schools do.

Independent institutions[]

Current institutions[]

Institution	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Future Conference	Year Leaving
Charlotte !University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte)	Charlotte, NC	1946	Public	25,063	49ers	C-USA	2015
Monmouth University	West Long Branch, NJ	1933	Private	7,440	Hawks	Big South	2014
Old Dominion University	Norfolk, VA	1930	Public	24,125	Monarchs	C-USA	2014

Charlotte will begin play in 2013 and spend at least their first two seasons as a Football Championship Subdivision independent. They will rejoin Conference USA (C-USA) in 2013 (they had been a charter member of that conference in 1995, but left in 2001), and will become a football member in 2015.^[1]

Monmouth is leaving the Northeast Conference (NEC) for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), which does not sponsor football, in July 2013. In February 2013, the Big South Conference announced that Monmouth would become a football-only member beginning with the 2014 season. Monmouth will play as an FCS independent in 2013 in order to better manage its transition from the NEC, which limits its members to 40 full scholarship equivalents, to the Big South, which allows the FCS maximum of 63.^[2]

Old Dominion is transitioning from FCS to FBS as a part of their 2013 move to C-USA. They will be a FCS independent in 2013, and will be counted as an FBS member for scheduling purposes in 2014. Originally, they were not to become a football member of C-USA until 2015, but the league later voted to make ODU a football member in 2014.

Stadiums[]

School	Football Stadium	Capacity
Charlotte	McColl-Richardson Field†	15,300
Monmouth	Kessler Field	4,600
Old Dominion	Foreman Field	19,818

† Will be completed in 2013.

Former FCS independents[]

The following is a complete list of teams which have been Division I-AA/FCS Independents since the formation of Division I-AA in 1978. The "Current Conference" column indicates affiliations for the next college football season of 2013.

Teams in italics are current FBS members.

Years	Team	Previous Conference	Conference Joined	Current Conference
1987–1991	Arkansas State	Southland Conference	Division I-A independent (1992)	Sun Belt Conference (2001–present)^{[N 1]}
1997–2000	Austin Peay	Ohio Valley Conference^{[N 2]}	Pioneer Football League (2001–2005)
2006	Austin Peay	Pioneer Football League	Ohio Valley Conference (2007–present)
1978–1985	Bucknell	Division II independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1993–1998	Buffalo	Division III independent	Mid-American Conference (1999–present)^{[N 3]}
1996–2003	Cal Poly	American West Conference	Great West Conference (2004–2011)^{[N 4]}	Big Sky Conference (2012–present)
1993–1995	Central Connecticut State	Division II independent	Northeast Conference (1996–present)
2013–2014	Charlotte	No football program
1982–1985	Colgate	Division I-A independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1989	Davidson	Colonial League^{[N 3]}	Division III independent (1990–1992)
1993–2000	Davidson	Division III independent	Pioneer Football League (2001–present)
1980–1985	Delaware	Division II independent	Yankee Conference (1986–1996)	Colonial Athletic Association (2007–present)^{[N 5]}^{[N 6]}
1993	Duquesne	Division III independent	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (1994–2007)	Northeast Conference (2008–present)
1984–1986	Eastern Washington	Division II independent	Big Sky Conference (1987–present)
1999–2001	Elon	Division II independent	Big South Conference (2002)	Southern Conference (2003–present)
2002–2004	FIU	No football program	Sun Belt Conference (2005–2012)	Conference USA (2013–future)
2001–2004	Florida Atlantic	No football program	Sun Belt Conference (2005–2012)	Conference USA (2013–future)
1989	Fordham	Liberty Football Conference	Patriot League (1990–present)
2000	Georgetown	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference	Patriot League (2001–present)
1984–1991	Georgia Southern	Club football	Southern Conference (1992–2013)^{[N 7]}
2011	Georgia State	Unclassified (exhibition only)	Colonial Athletic Association (2012)	Sun Belt Conference (2013–future)
1982–1985	Holy Cross	Division I-A independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1982–1985	Indiana State	Division I-A independent	Missouri Valley Football Conference (1997–present)^{[N 8]}
1998–2000	Jacksonville	No football program	Pioneer Football League (2001–present)
1980–1992	James Madison	Division III independent	Yankee Conference (1993–1996)	Colonial Athletic Association (2007–present)^{[N 9]}^{[N 6]}
1978–1985	Lafayette	Division II independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1978–1985	Lehigh	Division II independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1989–2001	Liberty	Division II independent	Big South Conference (2002–present)^{[N 10]}
1987–1988	Louisiana Tech	Southland Conference	Division I-A independent (1989–1992)	Conference USA (2013–future)
1993	Marist	Liberty Football Conference	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (1994–2007)
2008	Marist	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference	Pioneer Football League (2009–present)
2013	Monmouth	Northeast Conference
1996–2000	Morehead State	Ohio Valley Conference	Pioneer Football League (2001–present)
1978	Nevada	Division II independent	Big Sky Conference (1979–1991)	Mountain West Conference (2012–present)
1980–1983	Nicholls State	Division II independent	Gulf Star Conference (1984–1986)
1987–1991	Nicholls State	Gulf Star Conference	Southland Conference (1992–present)
1978–1983	Northwestern State	Division I independent	Gulf Star Conference (1984–1986)	Southland Conference (1987–present)
2009–2010	Old Dominion	No football program	Colonial Athletic Association (2011–2012)
2013	Old Dominion	Colonial Athletic Association
1978–1980	Portland State	Division II independent	Division II independent (1981)	Big Sky Conference (1996–present)
1982–1985	Richmond	Division I-A independent	Yankee Conference (1986–1996)	Colonial Athletic Association (2007–present)^{[N 6]}
1993–1995	Saint Francis (PA)	Division III independent	Northeast Conference (1996–present)
1989–2002	Samford	Division III independent	Ohio Valley Conference (2003–2007)	Southern Conference (2008–present)
2002–2009	Savannah State	Division II independent	Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (2010–present)
2011	South Alabama	Unclassified (exhibition only)	Sun Belt Conference (2012–present)^{[N 11]}
1997–2000	South Florida	No football program	Division I-A independent (2001–2002)	Big East Conference/American Athletic Conference (2005–present)^{[N 12]}
1980–1983	Southeastern Louisiana	Division II independent	Gulf Star Conference (1984–1985)
2003–2004	Southeastern Louisiana	No football program^{[N 13]}	Southland Conference (2005–present)
1996–2003	Southern Utah	American West Conference	Great West Conference (2004–2011)^{[N 4]}	Big Sky Conference (2012–present)
2007	Stony Brook	Northeast Conference	Big South Conference (2008–2012)	Colonial Athletic Association (2013–future)
1981–1987	Tennessee State	Division I-A independent	Ohio Valley Conference (1988–present)
1987–1996	Towson	Division II independent	Patriot League (1997–2003)	Colonial Athletic Association (2007–present)^{[N 14]}
1993–1995	Troy	Division II independent	Southland Conference (1996–2000)
2001	Troy	Southland Conference	Division I-A independent (2002–2003)	Sun Belt Conference (2004–present)^{[N 15]}
1993–1995	UAB	Division III independent	Division I-A independent (1996–1998)	Conference USA (1999–present)^{[N 16]}
1990–1995	UCF	Division II independent	Division I-A independent (1996–2001)	American Athletic Conference (2013–future)
2011	UTSA	No football program	Western Athletic Conference (2012)	Conference USA (2013–future)
1993–1995	Wagner	Liberty Football Conference	Northeast Conference (1996–present)
1982–1998	Western Kentucky	Ohio Valley Conference	Ohio Valley Conference (1999–2000)
2007–2008	Western Kentucky	Gateway Football Conference^{[N 8]}	Sun Belt Conference (2009–2013)^{[N 17]}
1982–1992	William & Mary	Division I-A independent	Yankee Conference (1993–1996)	Colonial Athletic Association (2007–present)^{[N 9]}^{[N 6]}
1995–1996	Wofford	Division II independent	Southern Conference (1997–present)
1988–1996	Youngstown State	Ohio Valley Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference (1997–present)^{[N 8]}

↑ Schlabach, Mark (June 24, 2011). "49ers preparing for Charlotte market". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=6699612. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
↑ "Big South Adds Monmouth University as Associate Football Member" (Press release). Big South Conference. February 14, 2013. http://www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=206394001&SPSID=25301&SPID=1985&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4800. Retrieved February 19, 2013.

References[]

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[1] Schlabach, Mark (June 24, 2011). "49ers preparing for Charlotte market". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=6699612. Retrieved 2011-09-15.

[2] "Big South Adds Monmouth University as Associate Football Member" (Press release). Big South Conference. February 14, 2013. http://www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=206394001&SPSID=25301&SPID=1985&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4800. Retrieved February 19, 2013.

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NCAA Division I FCS independent schools

Contents

Independent institutions[]

Current institutions[]

Stadiums[]

Former FCS independents[]

See also[]

References[]

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