Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference

History

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The WHAC announced on January 27, 2012, added bowling and lacrosse for both men and women as conference sports effective the fall of 2012, becoming the first NAIA conference to offer championships in these sports.

Men's ice hockey was added as a conference sport effective the fall of 2017, making the WHAC the first conference in the NAIA to offer ice hockey as a conference championship sport. Initially, the five conference members that sponsor ice hockey will participate in a conference championship.

Chronological timeline

• 1992 – The Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) was founded. Charter members included Aquinas College, Concordia College Ann Arbor (now Concordia University Ann Arbor), Cornerstone College (now Cornerstone University), Siena Heights College (now Siena Heights University), Spring Arbor College (now Spring Arbor University) and Tri-State University (now Trine University), beginning the 1992–93 academic year.
• 1997 – Madonna University joined the WHAC in the 1997–98 academic year.
• 1998 – Indiana Institute of Technology (Indiana Tech) joined the WHAC in the 1998–99 academic year.
• 2003 – Tri-State left the WHAC and the NAIA to join the Division III ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as an NCAA D-III Independent (which would later join the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), beginning the 2004–05 academic year) after the 2002–03 academic year.
• 2004 – Spring Arbor left the WHAC to join the Mid-Central College Conference (MCCC; now the Crossroads League) after the 2003–04 academic year.
• 2004 – The University of Michigan–Dearborn joined the WHAC in the 2004–05 academic year.
• 2005 – Davenport University joined the WHAC in the 2005–06 academic year.
• 2010 – The University of Northwestern Ohio joined the WHAC in the 2010–11 academic year.
• 2011 – Lourdes University joined the WHAC in the 2011–12 academic year.
• 2012 – Lawrence Technological University and Marygrove College joined the WHAC in the 2012–13 academic year.
• 2016 – Two institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members, both effective in the 2016–17 academic year:
  • Rochester College (now Rochester Christian University) for baseball
  • and former full member Spring Arbor for men's and women's bowling
• 2017 – Davenport left the WHAC and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) after the 2016–17 academic year.
• 2017 – Rochester had joined the WHAC for all sports in the 2017–18 academic year.
• 2017 – Marygrove left the WHAC as the school announced that it would close at the end of the fall 2017 semester, which occurred during the 2017–18 academic year.
• 2018 – Cleary University joined the WHAC in the 2018–19 academic year.
• 2018 – Four institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members, all effective in the 2019 spring season (2018–19 academic year):
  • Bethel University of Indiana for women's lacrosse
  • Goshen College for men's volleyball
  • Huntington University for men's and women's bowling
  • and Taylor University for men's lacrosse
• 2019 – Two institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or added other single sports into their affiliate memberships), all effective in the 2019 spring season (2018–19 academic year):
  • Mount Vernon Nazarene University for men's and women's bowling
  • Spring Arbor for competitive cheer and dance
  • and Taylor for women's lacrosse
• 2020 – Three institutions left the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or removed other single sports from their affiliate memberships), all effective after the 2019–20 academic year:
  • Mount Vernon Nazarene for men's and women's bowling
  • Spring Arbor for competitive cheer and dance
  • and Taylor for women's lacrosse
• 2020 – Five institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or added other single sports into their affiliate memberships), all effective in the 2020–21 academic year:
  • Bethel (Ind.) for men's and women's bowling
  • Brescia University and Point Park University for competitive cheer
  • Marian University for men's wrestling
  • and Mount Vernon Nazarene for men's volleyball
• 2021 – Bethel (Ind.), Huntington and Spring Arbor left the WHAC as affiliate members for men's and women's bowling after the 2020–21 academic year.
• 2022 – Three institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or added other single sports into their affiliate memberships), all effective in the 2022–23 academic year:
  • Bethel (Ind.) and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College for men's volleyball
  • and Marian (Ind.) for women's lacrosse
• 2023 – Brescia left the WHAC as an affiliate member for competitive cheer after the 2022–23 academic year.
• 2023 – Marian (Ind.) added competitive dance to its WHAC affiliate membership in the 2023–24 academic year:
• 2024 – Two institutions left the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or removed other single sports from their affiliate memberships), both effective after the 2023–24 academic year:
  • Point Park for competitive cheer to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the Mountain East Conference (MEC)
  • and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods for men's volleyball
• 2024 – Defiance College joined the WHAC in the 2024–25 academic year.
• 2024 – Two institutions joined the WHAC as affiliate members (and/or added other single sports into their affiliate memberships), both effective in the 2024–25 academic year:
  • The University of St. Francis for men's and women's bowling
  • and Saint Xavier University for eSports
• 2024 – Concordia–Ann Arbor announced that they would be discontinuing all athletic programs and leaving the WHAC at the end of the 2024–25 academic year.
• 2025 – Siena Heights will leave the WHAC as the school announced that it would close at the end of the 2025–26 academic year.

Member schools

Current members

The WHAC currently has 12 full members, all but one are private schools:

;Notes

;Notes:

Affiliate members

The WHAC currently has seven affiliate members, all are private schools:

;Notes:

Former members

The WHAC had five former full members, all were private schools:

;Notes:

Former affiliate members

The WHAC had nine former affiliate members, all were private schools:

;Notes:

Membership timeline

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bar:2 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2025 text:Concordia–Michigan (1992–2025)

bar:3 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text:Cornerstone (1992–present)

bar:4 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2026 text:Siena Heights (1992–2026)

bar:5 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2004 text:Spring Arbor (1992–2004) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2004 till:end text:Crossroads bar:5 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:2021 text:Crossroads (WHAC assoc. sports)

bar:6 color:FullxF from:1992 till:2003 text:Trine (1992–2003) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2003 till:2004 text:D-III Ind. bar:6 shift:(30) color:OtherC2 from:2004 till:end text:MIAA

bar:7 color:FullxF from:1997 till:end text:Madonna (1997–present)

bar:8 color:FullxF from:1998 till:end text:Indiana Tech (1998–present)

bar:9 color:FullxF from:2004 till:end text:Michigan–Dearborn (2004–present)

bar:10 color:FullxF from:2005 till:2017 text:Davenport (2005–2017) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2017 till:end text:GLIAC

bar:11 color:FullxF from:2010 till:end text:Northwestern Ohio (2010–present)

bar:12 color:FullxF from:2011 till:end text:Lourdes (2011–present)

bar:13 color:FullxF from:2012 till:end text:Lawrence Tech (2012–present)

bar:14 color:FullxF from:2012 till:2018 text:Marygrove (2012–2018)

bar:15 color:AssocOS from:2016 till:2017 text:Rochester (2016–present) bar:15 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2024 bar:15 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text:Rochester Christian

bar:16 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text:Cleary (2018–present)

bar:17 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Bethel (Ind.) (2018–present)

bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Goshen (2018–present)

bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:2021 text:Huntington (2018–2021)

bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Taylor (2018–present)

bar:21 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:end text:Mount Vernon Nazarene (2019–present)

bar:22 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:2023 text:Brescia (2020–2023)

bar:23 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text:Marian (Ind.) (2020–present)

bar:24 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:2024 text:Point Park (2020–2024)

bar:25 shift:(-30) color:AssocOS from:2022 till:2024 text:Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (2022–2024)

bar:26 shift:(-20) color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text:Defiance (2024–present)

bar:27 shift:(-50) color:AssocOS from:2024 till:end text:St. Francis (Ill.) (2024–present)

bar:28 shift:(-60) color:AssocOS from:2024 till:end text:Saint Xavier (Ill.) (2024–present)

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Sports

WHAC offers 14 men's and 13 women's sports.

References

References

1. (27 January 2012). "WHAC Adds Two Conference Sports for 2012-13". WHAC.
2. (July 5, 2017). "WHAC adds hockey and Tech gets tourney". The Journal Gazette.
3. (2017). "2017-18 MEN'S ICE HOCKEY". WHAC.
4. "Rochester College Unanimously Accepted Into Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference". Rochester College.
5. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/siena-heights-university-to-close-at-end-of-2025-26-academic-year/ar-AA1HI8Om?ocid=BingNewsSerp
6. (October 29, 2019). "What you need to know about the closing of Marygrove College". model D.