NEWCRC, Colonial Coast Conferences Merging to Form New Conference
NEWCRC, Colonial Coast Conferences Merging to Form New Conference
The Colonial Coast and the NEWCRC conferences will be combining forces to create the North Atlantic Collegiate Conference.
The thinking behind this move is multi-fold.
1. These two conferences, despite being multi-divisional and both men and women, overlap geographically. Both conferences are almost entirely in NEw England, and there are cases of teams that travel to games and pass colleges in the other conference on the way.
2. Teams are looking for competitive games. Both teams that win big and teams that lose big want and need games that are more competitive.
3 Joining forces will help organization and grow the game.
"We wanted to balance out the competition," said Colonial Coast Commissioner Keith Cattanach. "We get calls from teams that are struggling to compete, but we also are working with teams that are looking for tougher competition. We had some conversations with NEWCRC about how we balance this out."
"We've collaborated with the Colonial Coast since our inception," said Chris St. Onge, NEWCRC administrator who heads up the League Expansion Sub-Committee. "We've had a strong working relationship for close to a dozen years. We had cross-conference bowl games and collaborated with them and Rugby Northeast in an all-star competition before 7s kind of took over in the spring. So we know one another, and we have bounced ideas off one another all the time."
The conferences have similar challenges, including helping teams pull themselves out of COVID numbers crunches or simply helping newer teams grow.
In addition, said Cattanach, there is a desire for more regional competition. So collaboration between NEWCRC and Colonial Coast divisions, as well as other conferences, is on the horizon as well.
While there is a higher-level D2 component to the new conference, the North Atlantic Collegiate Conference, it's more about the teams that are struggling.
"We are going to have a D2, Small College Championship, Small College Challenge, and Developmental division for women," said Cattanach. "We have 15 teams in the Developmental Division."
There are 18 total in the other three divisions. For the men, the biggest division is Small College Challenge (12), but the Developmental Division still has six teams.
St. Onge spelled out the needs for those teams.
"Working together gives us a a better pathway for the developmental teams," said St. Onge. "We have a big number of development teams, mostly women. What is happening is they are working to get competition and see their numbers grow. Many don't have enough players for 15s. So we'll have three or four teams go to a central location and they will get competition, maybe play 7s with an eye toward getting to 15s, and play and compete and have fun. That is how you build numbers."
St. Onge points to University of Hartford women, which used to field a very competitive team but thanks to COVID shutdowns the team disappeared. They are back, now, with enough teams to play in the Developmental league, and then they can build toward more competitive 15-a-side rugby.
"The worst scenario is you show up to a 15s game and you don't have 15 and you have to forfeit," said St. Onge. "So this plan allows them to play in some capacity. So we're excited about what's to come."
Cattanach said the new conference will get 501c3 non-profit status. They will announce a schedule for all eight of their divisions, and there is a solid chance we will see other developments, such as some kind of regional postseason for lower divisions.
North Atlantic Teams by Division:
| Men D2 | Men D3 (Small College Championship | Men D4 (Small College Challenge | Men Developmental |
| Boston Univ. | Endicott College | Bridgewater State Univ. | Bridgewater State Univ. |
| Coast Guard Academy | Roger Williams Univ. | So. Connecticut State | Franklin Pierce Univ. |
| Norwich Univ. | Salve Regina Univ. | Central Connecticut State | Johnson & Wales Univ. |
| Univ. of Maine Orno | Bryant Univ. | Mass. Maritime Academy | Univ. of Hartford |
| Univ. of Mass Lowell | Springfield College | Plymouth State Univ. | Western New England Univ. |
| Univ. of New Hampshire | Stonehill College | Quinapiac Univ. | Wheaton College |
| Univ. of Vermont | Sacred Heart Univ. | ||
| St. Michaels Univ. | |||
| Univ. Mass Dartmouth | |||
| Wentworth Inst. of Technology | |||
| Westfield State College | |||
| Worcester Polytechnical Inst. | |||
| Women D2 | Women D3 (Small College Championship | Women D4 (Small College Challenge | Women Developmental |
| Coast Guard Academy | Endicott College | Eastern Connecticut State | Babson College |
| Univ. of New Hampshire | Plymouth State Univ. | Mount Holyoke College | Brandeis Univ. |
| Univ. of Vermont | Salve Regina Univ. | So. Connecticut State Univ. | MIT |
| Smith College | Springfield College | Lasell College | |
| Tufts Univ. | UMaine Farmington | College of the Holy Cross | |
| Worcester Polytechnical Inst. | Wellesley College | Johnson & Wales Univ. | |
| Yale Univ. | Wentworth Inst. of Technology | Connecticut College | |
| Univ. Mass Dartmouth | Univ. of New Haven | ||
| Wesleyan Univ. | |||
| Central Connecticut State | |||
| Univ. of Hartford | |||
| Westfield State College | |||
| Williams College | |||
| Champlain College | |||
| Union College |
