Frontier Conference

The Frontier Conference is a college athletic conference, founded in 1935 and affiliated with the NAIA. Member institutions are located in the northwestern United States, in the states of Idaho, Montana, and Oregon.

This article is about the current NAIA conference in the American West. For the previous conference with the same name that existed between 1940 and 1962, see Frontier Conference (1940–1962).
Frontier Conference
Established1935
AssociationNAIA
Members9 (6 full, 3 associate)
Sports fielded
  • 16
    • men's: 8
    • women's: 8
RegionWestern United States
Former namesMontana Collegiate Conference (1920-35)
HeadquartersWhitefish, Montana
CommissionerKent Paulson
Websitefrontierconference.com
Locations

History

The Montana Small College Conference (MSCC) was established in 1933 by the five smaller schools (Montana Technological University, the University of Montana Western, Montana State University–Northern, Intermountain Union College and Billings Polytechnic Institute) in the state. After a few seasons, the MSCC was renamed as the Montana Collegiate Conference (MCC) in 1936, with the additions of Montana State University Billings and Carroll College joining, as well as the merger of International Union and Billings Poly to become Rocky Mountain College. After nearly three decades, the conference reestablished itself under its current moniker in November 1966, containing the same six schools until 1974.[1] The University of Providence (then the College of Great Falls) joined that year, however would only stay for a decade. MSU Billings left for the first incarnation of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 1988, leaving the Frontier at five members for another decade. The conference opened up outside of Montana for the first time in 1998, with schools from Idaho (Lewis–Clark State College) and Utah (Westminster College) joining. Great Falls rejoined in 1999. Dickinson State University joined in 2012, only to leave in 2014 to join the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA). Westminster (Utah) left for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II) and rejoined the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2015. Lewis–Clark State left for the Cascade Collegiate Conference as a full member in 2020.[2]

Chronological timeline
  • 1966 - The MCC was rebranded as the Frontier Conference, effective the 1966-67 academic year.
  • 1974 - The College of Great Falls (later the University of Great Falls, now the University of Providence) joined the Frontier, effective the 1974-75 academic year.
  • 1984 - Great Falls left the Frontier as the school discontinued its athletic program, effective after the 1983-84 academic year.
  • 1999 - Great Falls re-joined back to the Frontier after 25 years without an athletics program, effective the 1999-2000 academic year.
  • 2008 - Eastern Oregon University joined the Frontier as an associate member for football, effective the 2008 fall season (2008-09 academic year).
  • 2012 - Southern Oregon University joined the Frontier as an associate member for football, effective the 2012 fall season (2012-13 academic year).
  • 2014 - The College of Idaho joined the Frontier as an associate member for football, effective the 2014 fall season (2014-15 academic year).
  • 2015 - Westminster (Utah) left the Frontier to join the NCAA Division II ranks and re-join back to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), effective after the 2014-15 academic year.

Member schools

The Frontier Conference has 5 full members with football, 1 full member without football, and 3 football-only affiliate members. University of Providence does not field a football team. College of Idaho, Eastern Oregon and Southern Oregon are the football-only affiliates.[3]

Current members

The Frontier currently has six full members, all but half are private schools:

Institution Location Founded Affilation Enrollment Nickname Joined
Carroll College Helena, Montana 1909 Catholic 1,502 Fighting Saints 1935–36
Montana State University–Northern Havre, Montana 1929 Public 1,207 Lights &
Skylights		 1935–36
Montana Technological University Butte, Montana 1889 2,694 Orediggers 1933–34
University of Montana Western Dillon, Montana 1893 1,336 Bulldogs 1933–34
University of Providence[lower-alpha 1] Great Falls, Montana 1932 Catholic 800 Argonauts 1974–75;
1999–2000[lower-alpha 2]
Rocky Mountain College[lower-alpha 3] Billings, Montana 1878 Protestant 894 Battlin' Bears 1936–37
Notes
  1. Formerly known as the University of Great Falls until 2017.
  2. Providence (then known as Great Falls) did not have an athletics program from 1984–85 to 1998–99.
  3. Rocky Mountain was formed by a merger of Intermountain Union College and Billings Polytechnic Institute since late 1935. But their athletic programs continued until the end of the 1935–36 school year.

Affiliate members

The Frontier currently has three affiliate members, only one of them is a private school:

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined Frontier
sport		 Primary
conference
College of Idaho Caldwell, Idaho 1891 Presbyterian 1,010 Coyotes 2014–15 football Cascade
Eastern Oregon University La Grande, Oregon 1929 Public 3,743 Mountaineers 2008–09
Southern Oregon University Ashland, Oregon 1872 5,696 Raiders 2012–13

Former members

The Frontier had four former full members, only one was a private school:

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined Left Subsequent
conference(s)		 Current
conference
Dickinson State University Dickinson, North Dakota 1918 Public 2,572 Blue Hawks 2012–13 2013–14 North Star
(2014–15 to present)
Lewis–Clark State College Lewiston, Idaho 1893 4,500 Warriors &
Lady Warriors		 1998–99 2019–20 Cascade
(2020–21 to present)
Eastern Montana College[lower-alpha 1] Billings, Montana 1927 4,600 Yellowjackets 1933–34 1979–80 various[lower-alpha 2] Great Northwest (NCAA D-II)
(2007–08 to present)
Westminster College Salt Lake City, Utah 1875 Nonsectarian 3,108 Griffins 1998–99 2014–15 Rocky Mountain (NCAA D-II)
(2015–16 to present)
Notes
  1. Currently known as Montana State University–Billings since 1994. Eastern Montana was the school name that reflected its use during conference membership.
  2. Eastern Montana (now Montana State–Billings) had joined the following subsequent conferences: as an NCAA D-II Independent from 1980–81 to 1991–92; the Pacific West Conference from 1992–93 to 2004–05; and the Heartland Conference from 2005–06 to 2006–07.

Membership timeline
College of IdahoSouthern Oregon UniversityNorth Star Athletic AssociationDickinson State UniversityEastern Oregon UniversityRocky Mountain Athletic ConferenceWestminster College (Utah)Cascade Collegiate ConferenceLewis–Clark State CollegeUniversity of ProvidenceRocky Mountain CollegeMontana State University–NorthernCarroll CollegeGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceHeartland ConferencePacific West ConferenceMontana State University BillingsUniversity of Montana WesternMontana Technological UniversityRocky Mountain CollegeRocky Mountain College

 Full member (all sports)   Full member (non-football)   Associate member (football-only) 

Sports

The Frontier Conference sponsors athletic competition in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's football, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and women's volleyball.

National championships

Basketball

Montana Western won the NAIA national title in Division I Women's basketball, in 2019.

Rocky Mountain won the national title in men's basketball, NAIA Division I, in 2009.

Montana State-Northern won the national title in women's basketball, NAIA Division II, in 1993.

Carroll reached the semi-finals in men's basketball in 2005, as did Lewis-Clark State in women's basketball in 2001.

Football

Carroll has won the NAIA national championship six times: four straight, from 2002 to 2005, also in 2007 and 2010, and has been runner-up twice.

Southern Oregon won the NAIA national championship in the 2014 season.

Montana Tech was the national runner-up in 1996.

Wrestling

Montana State-Northern has won six wrestling titles: 1991, 1992, 1998-2000, 2004, and was runner-up in 1990, 1993, and 2002.

Montana Western was co-champion in 1994.

In 2014, the University of Great Falls was second and Montana State-Northern took third at the NAIA national wrestling championship.

Bowling

College of Great Falls (now University of Providence) was the 1973 Men's NAIA National Bowling Champion.

See also

References
  1. "Montana Collegiate League Changes Name". Daily Herald. Provo, Utah. United Press International. November 13, 1966. p. 20. Retrieved October 25, 2019 – via Newspapers.com .
  2. "Lewis-Clark State leaving Frontier Conference to join Cascade Collegiate Conference". MontanaSports.com. May 20, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  3. "College of Idaho football to join Frontier Conference". Idaho Press. June 27, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
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