BURNESVILLE, Minn. - The beginning of July marked a new era for the Northern Sun Intercollegaite Conference as it added two institutions, the University of Sioux Falls (Sioux Falls, S.D.) and Minot State University (Minot, S.D.). The two schools will begin to participate in the NSIC in the 2012-13 academic season.
Sioux Falls will join the Augustana as the second active institution out of Sioux Falls, S.D. in the NSIC. Before joining the NSIC, the Cougars were a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference in the NAIA since 2000.
Minot State was also previously a member of the NAIA as a memebr of the Dakota Athletic Conference. With the addition of the Beavers into the NSIC, North Dakota will now feature two schools in the conference with the University of Mary being the second.
The Dragons women's soccer team will be the first MSUM athletic team to play either school as NSIC members, as they travel to Minot, N.D. to open their season on Aug. 30 against the Beavers. Dragons football will be the first to play the Cougars as they travel to Sioux Falls, S.D. on Sept. 8.
The NSIC will now consist of 16 teams over a five state area with nine institutions hailing from Minnesota, three in South Dakota, two in North Dakota and one in Iowa and Nebraska. The NSIC will form two divisions for the sports of football and basketball when the league expands to 16 teams.
The NSIC North Division will consist of Minnesota State University Moorhead, Bemidji State University, University of Mary, University of Minnesota Crookston, University of Minnesota Duluth, Minot State University, Northern State University and St. Cloud State University.
The NSIC South Division will consist of Augustana College, Concordia University-St. Paul, Minnesota State University Mankato, University of Sioux Falls, Southwest Minnesota State University, Upper Iowa University, Wayne State College and Winona State University.
The Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC) began in 1932 as the Northern Teacher's Athletic Conference. Charter members included Bemidji State, Mankato State, Moorhead State, St. Cloud State and Winona State. In 1942 the conference name was changed to the State Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota. The conference switched its name to the Northern Intercollegiate Conference in 1962. In the spring of 1992 the NSIC was formed out of the merger of the NIC, the men's conference, and the women's Northern Sun Conference (NSC). The NSC had existed since 1979. In the 1999-00 academic year, the NSIC became an expanded 10-team league from a previous seven-member conference by adding Wayne State College (Wayne, Neb.) Concordia University-St. Paul (St. Paul, Minn.) and the University of Minnesota, Crookston (Crookston, Minn.).
The conference featured eight members from 2004-05 until 2005-06 with the departure of Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota-Morris, but expanded back to 10 teams in 2006-07 as the University of Mary (Bismarck, N.D.) and Upper Iowa University (Fayette, Iowa) joined the league. The NSIC exploded into a 14-team league in the 2008-09 year with the additions of Augustana College, the University of Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State University Mankato and St. Cloud State University.
The NSIC has won 11 team NCAA Division II National Championships since the 2005-2006 season. Winona State Men's Basketball won the 2005-06 & 2007-08 Championships; Concordia-St. Paul won the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011 Volleyball Championships; Minnesota Duluth won the 2008 & 2010 Football Championships; Minnesota State Women's Basketball won the 2008-09 Championship and Augustana won the 2011 Women's Cross Country National Championship. The NSIC has also crowned 37 individual National Champions since joining the NCAA in 1993.
