The College of St. Scholastica officially joined the MIAC on July 1, 2021.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is preparing for a full return to athletics throughout the 2021-22 academic year.
Several significant adjustments for the conference will come in 2021-22 as well. Conference membership has changed for the first time since 1985, and new rules, schedule matrices, and championship rotations have all been approved by conference leadership for the upcoming year and beyond.
The College of St. Scholastica officially became the MIAC’s 13th member institution on July 1. Located in Duluth, Minn., the Saints will compete in 20 MIAC-sponsored sports, including baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, and volleyball. Charter MIAC member St. Thomas concluded its time in the conference this past spring and will now begin a new chapter as a member of NCAA Division I.
Another significant alteration to MIAC structure will come in the sport of football. Along with the addition of St. Scholastica to the conference, the 2021 football season will also signal the return of Macalester College to the MIAC. The Scots have competed independently and as part of the Midwest Conference in the sport over the last two decades after departing the MIAC in 2002. With St. Scholastica and Macalester in the fold, the MIAC will transition to a two-division model for football. The division names stem from two of the MIAC’s primary colors, Northwoods Green and Skyline Silver. The Northwoods Division will consist of Carleton College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint John’s University, St. Olaf College, and The College of St. Scholastica. The Skyline Division will consist of Augsburg University, Bethel University, Concordia College, Hamline University, and Macalester College. The final week of the football regular season will function as “Championship Week,” wherein teams will be ranked 1-5 in each division based on the current season’s in-division games only. Each team will then match up with the corresponding seed in the other division for a “playoff” game. The winner of the No. 1 vs. No. 1 game will receive the MIAC’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Playoffs.
In addition to the new format for football, several other changes have been adopted by MIAC membership for the upcoming academic year:
Overall (general code and appendixes)
Eligibility: The MIAC will match NCAA Eligibility Bylaws through 2024-25 and accept all NCAA Blanket Waivers associated with COVID-19 relief. This provision applies only to students receiving degrees at their same undergraduate institution (no postgrad transfer eligibility). For post-graduate eligibility, a student needs to maintain institutional satisfactory progress, which would take the place of MIAC Normal Progress. The MIAC will continue with more restrictive rules in the areas of Normal Progress (5.3.2), Repeat Courses (5.3.2.1.1), PSEO (5.3.1.1), and Hardship (5.6) bylaws found in the MIAC General Code.
Basketball
Doubleheader Order: Adjusted doubleheader rotation due to no doubleheaders in 2020-21. Women will now play first in odd-even years (2021-22) and men will play first in even-odd years (2022-23).
Schedule: Increased number of women’s basketball in-conference games from 20 to 22 for a full double round-robin conference schedule.
Tiebreakers: Updated women’s basketball tiebreakers to accommodate 22-game conference schedule.
Football
Tiebreakers: Updated tiebreakers for divisional structure.
Women’s Ice Hockey
Overtime Procedure/Points System: Teams will now advance to a shootout if a game is tied after overtime; the point system has been revised to reflect shootout results.
Film Exchange: Established a formal game film exchange protocol for all contests.
Tennis
Playoff Line-Up Procedures: A team lineup used in the first playoff match will be the lineup used throughout playoffs.
Volleyball
Schedule: Conference matches will now be scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays on four consecutive weekends prior to playoffs with one Wednesday the week prior to weekend matches. Match start time is set at 7:00 p.m. The host institution may determine either 3:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. start for Saturday matches.
The MIAC has also approved its conference schedules, as well as championship dates, hosts, and venues for the 2021-22 athletics season.Â
The 2021-22 season will be highlighted by several return trips to familiar championship sites. MIAC men’s and women’s golfers will head back to Bunker Hills Golf Club for the first time since 2016 for the conference tournament in October 2021. The MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships will also once again be held at the University of Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in February 2022, while the MIAC Baseball Playoffs are slated to return to CHS Field in May 2022.
MIAC campuses will also host several conference championships. Cross country runners will compete at St. Olaf College at the end of October 2021 in the first MIAC Cross Country Championship meet in two years, while Carleton College will welcome indoor track and field competitors for the championship meet in March 2022 before Saint Mary’s University hosts the MIAC outdoor track and field meet in May 2022. High-seeds will host the team-sport playoffs of Volleyball, Basketball, Hockey, and Tennis. The inaugural “Championship Week” in football will be hosted by teams in the Skyline Division, while Softball will transition to a six-team, single-elimination tournament in May 2022 wherein high seeds will host quarterfinal contests with the semifinal and championship games being played on the home field of the highest seed able to host.
A complete listing of the 2021-22 MIAC Regular Season and Championship dates and venues can be found here.
