Jun 10, 2010 8:34:24 AM

DePauw University accepted a unanimous invitation Wednesday to join the North Coast Athletic Conference.

DePauw, located in Greencastle, Indiana, will begin NCAC competition in 2011-12 in all sports except football, which, due to existing contracts, will begin play in 2012.

The expansion boosts the Division III NCAC to 10 members in a region that extends from Pennsylvania through Ohio to Indiana. DePauw joins Allegheny College (Meadville, Pennsylvania), Denison University (Granville, Ohio), Hiram College (Hiram, Ohio), Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio), Oberlin College (Oberlin, Ohio), Ohio Wesleyan University (Delaware, Ohio), Wabash College (Crawfordsville, Indiana), Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio) and the College of Wooster (Wooster, Ohio).

The NCAC was founded in 1983 based upon a strong commitment to equality for women, a firm belief in a broad-based athletics program as part of an institution's greater academic mission and a reliance on presidential leadership. With the addition of women's golf for the 2010-11 season, the NCAC will sponsor 23 championship sports, 11 for men and 12 for women.

"DePauw already partners with other NCAC colleges in a variety of academic activities. It just seems natural that DePauw's student-athletes should now join their peers and friends of the NCAC on the playing field," said Dale Knobel, president of Denison University and president of the NCAC.

DePauw sponsors 21 sports and has won five consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference all-sports trophies, including the 2009-10 award. Before joining the SCAC, DePauw was a founding member of the now-defunct Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference.

"The move to the NCAC aligns DePauw with strong institutions with a similar focus on academic excellence and the overall development of the student with fewer strains on both schedules and budgets," said DePauw President Brian Casey.

Allegheny, Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster are charter North Coast members. Wittenberg joined in 1988-89; Hiram and Wabash followed in 1999-00. Charter member Case Western Reserve University relinquished NCAC membership in 1998-99; Earlham College, which joined the league in 1988 with Wittenberg, will begin participating in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference on a full-time basis this coming fall, but will be an affiliate North Coast member in field hockey.