NCAA Division I FCS independent schools

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions in the United States whose football programs are not part of a football conference. This means that FCS independents are not required to schedule each other for competition as conference schools do. As of the 2024 season, Merrimack and Sacred Heart will be competing as independents, as their primary conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, does not sponsor football after previously being members of the Northeast Conference. Merrimack and Sacred Heart are confirmed to play as FCS independents in 2024.^[1] ^[2]

Current FCS independents

Years	Team	Nickname	Previous conference	Future conference
2024	Merrimack	Warriors	Northeast Conference	TBD
2024	Sacred Heart	Pioneers	Northeast Conference	TBD

Former FCS independents

The following is a complete list of teams that have been Division I-AA/FCS Independents since the formation of Division I-AA in 1978. The "Current Conference" column indicates affiliations for the 2023 college football season. The years listed in this table are football seasons; since football is a fall sport, this means that the final season of independent status, or membership in a given conference, is the calendar year before a conference change took effect.

Teams in italics are current FBS members; this includes second-year transitional schools that are counted as FBS for scheduling purposes but not bowl game eligibility. Because James Madison met FBS scheduling requirements in its first season in the Sun Belt Conference in 2022 (specifically five home games against FBS opposition), it was allowed to skip the first year of the normal two-year process.

Years	Team	Previous conference	Conference joined	Current conference
2013	Abilene Christian	Lone Star (Div. II)	Southland (2014–2020)	UAC (2023–present)^[3]
1987–1991	Arkansas State	Southland	Division I-A Independent (1992)	Sun Belt (2001–present)^{[N 1]}
1997–2000	Austin Peay	Ohio Valley^{[N 2]}	Pioneer Football League (2001–2005)	UAC (2023–present)^[3]
2006	Austin Peay	Pioneer Football League	Ohio Valley (2007–2021)	UAC (2023–present)^[3]
1978–1985	Bucknell	Division II Independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1993–1998	Buffalo	Division III Independent	Mid-American Conference (1999–present)^{[N 4]}
1996–2003	Cal Poly	American West	Great West (2004–2011)^{[N 5]}	Big Sky (2012–present)
2001	Cal State Northridge	Big Sky	Dropped football
2006	Central Arkansas	Gulf South (Div. II)	Southland (2007–2020)	UAC (2023–present)^[3]
1993–1995	Central Connecticut	Division II Independent	Northeast (1996–present)
1993–2001	Charleston Southern	No football program	Big South (2002–2022)	Big South–OVC (2023–present)
2013–2014	Charlotte	No football program	CUSA (2015–2022)	American (2023–present)^[4]
2016	Coastal Carolina	Big South	Sun Belt (2017–present)^{[N 6]}
1982–1985	Colgate	Division I-A Independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1989	Davidson	Colonial League^{[N 3]}	Division III Independent (1990–1992)
1993–2000	Davidson	Division III Independent	Pioneer Football League (2001–present)
1980–1985	Delaware	Division II Independent	Yankee Conference (1986–1996)	CAA Football (2007–2024)^{[N 7]}^{[N 8]}^{[N 9]}
1993	Duquesne	Division III Independent	MAAC (1994–2007)	Northeast (2008–present)
2015	East Tennessee State	No football program^{[N 10]}	Southern (2016–present)^{[N 11]}
1984–1986	Eastern Washington	Division II Independent	Big Sky (1987–present)
1998–2001	Elon	Division II Independent	Big South (2002)	CAA Football (2014–present)
1984–1987	Florida A&M	MEAC^{[N 12]}	MEAC (1988–2003, 2005–2020)	SWAC (2021–present)
2004	Florida A&M	MEAC^{[N 13]}	MEAC (2005–2020)	SWAC (2021–present)
2002–2004	FIU	No football program	Sun Belt (2005–2012)	CUSA (2013–present)
2001–2004	Florida Atlantic	No football program	Sun Belt (2005–2012)	The American (2023–present)^[4]
1989	Fordham	Liberty Football Conference	Patriot League (1990–present)
2000	Georgetown	MAAC	Patriot League (2001–present)
1984–1991	Georgia Southern	Club football	Southern (1992–2013)	Sun Belt (2014–present)
2010–2011	Georgia State	No football program	CAA Football (2012)	Sun Belt (2013–present)
2018	Hampton	MEAC	Big South (2019–2021)	CAA Football (2022–present)
1991–2000	Hofstra	Division III Independent	Atlantic 10 (2001–2006)	Dropped football
1982–1985	Holy Cross	Division I-A Independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
2013	Houston Christian^{[N 14]}	No football program	Southland (2014–present)
2008	Iona	MAAC (1993–2007)	Dropped football
2013	Incarnate Word	Lone Star (Div. II)	Southland (2014–present)
1982–1985	Indiana State	Division I-A Independent	MVFC (1997–present)^{[N 15]}
1998–2000	Jacksonville	No football program	Pioneer Football League (2001–2019)	Dropped football
1980–1992	James Madison	Division III Independent	Yankee Conference (1993–1996)	Sun Belt (2022–present)
2023	Kennesaw State	ASUN	CUSA (2024–future)
1978–1985	Lafayette	Division II Independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1987–1989	Lamar	Southland	Dropped program (1989–2009)^[5]
2010	Lamar	No football program	Southland (2011–2020)^[5]	Southland (2022–present)^[6]
1997–1998	La Salle	No football program (1942–1996)	MAAC (1999–2007)	Dropped football
1978–1985	Lehigh	Division II Independent	Patriot League (1986–present)^{[N 3]}
1988–2001	Liberty	Division II Independent	Big South (2002–2017)^{[N 16]}	CUSA (2023–present)^{[N 17]}^[7]
1987–1988	Louisiana Tech	Southland	Division I-A Independent (1989–1992)	CUSA (2013–present)
1993	Marist	Liberty Football Conference	MAAC (1994–2007)
2008	Marist	MAAC	Pioneer Football League (2009–present)
1993–1995	Monmouth	No football program	Northeast (1996–2012)	CAA Football (2022–present)
2013	Monmouth	Northeast	Big South (2014–2021)	CAA Football (2022–present)
1996–2000	Morehead State	Ohio Valley	Pioneer Football League (2001–present)
2001–2002	Morris Brown	SIAC (Div. II)	Dropped football
1978	Nevada	Division II Independent	Big Sky (1979–1991)	Mountain West (2012–present)
1980–1983	Nicholls	Division II Independent	Gulf Star (1984–1986)	Southland (1992–present)
1987–1990	Nicholls	Gulf Star	Southland (1991–present)
2018	North Alabama	Gulf South (Div. II)	Big South (2019–2021)	UAC (2023–present)^[3]
2018–2019	North Dakota	Big Sky	MVFC (2020–present)
1978–1992	Northeastern	Division II Independent	Yankee (1993–1996)	Dropped football (2010)
2003	Northern Colorado	North Central	Great West (2004–2005)	Big Sky (2006–present)
1978–1983	Northwestern State	Division I Independent	Gulf Star (1984–1986)	Southland (1987–present)
2009–2010	Old Dominion	No football program	CAA Football (2011–2012)
2013	Old Dominion	CAA Football	CUSA (2014–2021)	Sun Belt (2022–present)
1978–1980	Portland State	Division II Independent	Division II Independent (1981)	Big Sky (1996–present)
2020	Presbyterian	Big South Conference	Pioneer Football League (2021–present)
1982–1985	Richmond	Division I-A Independent	Yankee Conference (1986–1996)	CAA Football (2007–present)^{[N 8]}
1994–1995	Robert Morris	No football program	Northeast (1996–2019)	Northeast (2024–future)
1993–1995	Saint Francis (PA)	Division III Independent	Northeast (1996–present)
1989–2002	Samford	Division III Independent	Ohio Valley (2003–2007)	Southern (2008–present)
2002–2009	Savannah State	Division II Independent	MEAC (2010–2018)	SIAC (Div. II; 2019–present)
2011	South Alabama	Unclassified (exhibition only)	Sun Belt (2012–present)^{[N 18]}
1997–2000	South Florida	No football program	Division I-A Independent (2001–2002)	American (2013–present)^{[N 19]}
1980–1983	Southeastern Louisiana	Division II Independent	Gulf Star (1984–1985)	Southland (2005–present)
2003–2004	Southeastern Louisiana	No football program^{[N 20]}	Southland (2005–present)
1996–2003	Southern Utah	American West	Great West (2004–2011)^{[N 5]}	UAC (2023–present)^[3]
1998–1999	St. John's	MAAC	Northeast (2000–2002)	Dropped football (2003)
1993–2003	Saint Mary's	Division II Independent	Dropped football (2004)
2007	Stony Brook	Northeast	Big South (2008–2012)	CAA Football (2013–present)
2020	Tarleton	Lone Star (Division II)	WAC (2021–2022)	UAC (2023–present)^[3]
1981–1987	Tennessee State	Division I-A Independent	Ohio Valley (1988–2022)	Big South–OVC (2023–present)
1987–1996	Towson	Division II Independent	Patriot League (1997–2003)	CAA Football (2007–present)^{[N 21]}
1993–1995	Troy	Division II Independent	Southland (1996–2000)
2001	Troy	Southland	Division I-A Independent (2002–2003)	Sun Belt (2004–present)^{[N 22]}
1993–1995	UAB	Division III Independent	Division I-A Independent (1996–1998)	American (2023–present)^[4]
1990–1995	UCF	Division II Independent	Division I-A Independent (1996–2001)	Big 12 (2023–present)^[8]
2020	Utah Tech^{[N 23]}	RMAC (Division II)	WAC (2021–2022)	UAC (2023–present)^[3]
2011	UTSA	No football program	WAC (2012)	American (2023–present)^[4]
1987	Villanova	No football program	Yankee Conference (1988–1996)	CAA Football (2007–present)
1993–1995	Wagner	Liberty Football Conference	Northeast (1996–present)
1982–1998	Western Kentucky	Ohio Valley	Ohio Valley (1999–2000)
2007–2008	Western Kentucky	Gateway Football Conference^{[N 15]}	Sun Belt (2009–2013)	CUSA (2014–present)
1982–1992	William & Mary	Division I-A Independent	Yankee Conference (1993–1996)	CAA Football (2007–present)^{[N 24]}^{[N 8]}
1995–1996	Wofford	Division II Independent	Southern (1997–present)
2006	Winston–Salem State	CIAA (Div. II)	MEAC (2007–2009)	CIAA (Div. II) (2010–present)
1988–1996	Youngstown State	Ohio Valley	MVFC (1997–present)^{[N 15]}

Notes

References

[1]

[2]

[3]

[N 1]

[N 2]

[N 3]

[N 4]

[N 5]

[4]

[N 6]

[N 7]

[N 8]

[N 9]

[N 10]

[N 11]

[N 12]

[N 13]

[N 14]

[N 15]

[5]

[6]

[N 16]

[N 17]

[7]

[N 18]

[N 19]

[N 20]

[N 21]

[N 22]

[8]

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[N 24]

Search

NCAA Division I FCS independent schools

Contents

Current FCS independents

Former FCS independents

See also

Notes

References