SUNY New Paltz initiates exit plan from the SUNY Athletic Conference, seeks new home
The athletics program at SUNY New Paltz is looking for a new home, and shorter bus trips.
The college announced on Wednesday that it plans to leave the State University of New York Athletic Conference in fall 2026, initiating a two-year exit plan. The goal is to find another NCAA Division III conference which will lead to reduced travel and road housing costs.
“A conference change presents opportunities to enhance the profile and competitiveness of Hawks athletic programs at a time when our varsity teams are performing at historic levels,’’ said Renee Bostic, the director of athletics. “The transition to a new conference will position SUNY New Paltz to expand its athletic recruitment footprint, as well as our overall institutional awareness, beyond our historical markets.’’
New Paltz has eight decades of affiliation with the core of the SUNYAC. Formed in September 1958 as the New York State Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, SUNY New Paltz (then known as the New York State College for Teachers at New Paltz) joined the ranks with schools now known as the University at Albany, Brockport, Buffalo State, Cortland, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh and Potsdam; Geneseo and Fredonia joined a year later (Albany, the University at Buffalo and Binghamton University were former members until moving to the Division I ranks). The league was re-named the SUNYAC in 1963.
“We are excited to be able to open a new chapter for Hawks athletics,’’ said Darrell P. Wheeler, president of SUNY New Paltz. “We take pride in our longstanding membership in SUNYAC, and I want to express gratitude to conference leadership and our outstanding competitors across the state system. The timing is right for our institution to pursue a new alignment that will create fresh opportunities for our entire student population and the University as a whole.’’
New Paltz’s exit is not the first for the current membership: In 2023, Brockport and Geneseo announced they would join the Empire 8 Conference in 2024-25. Coincidentally, SUNY Morrisville and SUNY Canton will join the SUNYAC as full members in 2024-25.
As the most southeastern location in the league, New Paltz has endured road trips of four to six hours to the western-based schools and more than three hours to the northern outposts of Plattsburgh and Potsdam. The SUNYAC has set up schedules to allow for “travel partners,’’ allowing schools to travel to a pair of schools each weekend and keeping hotel stays down to one night in most instances.
New Paltz fields teams in baseball, softball, women’s tennis and field hockey and dual gender teams in lacrosse, volleyball, swimming, basketball, soccer and cross country.
An ideal destination for New Paltz could be the Skyline Conference, a league with nearby Mount Saint Mary in Newburgh, plus 11 more schools in the Metropolitan New York region, including northern New Jersey and Long Island.
There is also the New Jersey Athletic Conference; Liberty League, Empire 8 and Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference in upstate New York; Atlantic East, Centennial, United East and Landmark Conference in the Mid-Atlantic region; and, New England-based North Atlantic Conference, Great Northeast and Commonwealth Coast Conference - none of these, though, would fit the bill for significant reduced travel.
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Travel time from New Paltz
(based on Google estimates)
SUNYAC schools
Brockport - 4 hours, 39 minutes (310 miles)
Buffalo State - 5 hours, 13 minutes (353 miles)
Canton - 4 hours, 38 minutes (270 miles)
Cortland - 2 hours, 51 minutes (164 miles)
Fredonia - 5 hours, 52 minutes (359 miles)
Geneseo - 4 hours, 20 minutes (266 miles)
Morrisville - 3 hours, 4 minutes (172 miles)
Oneonta - 2 hours, 8 minutes (105 miles)
Oswego- 3 hours, 38 minutes (240 miles)
Plattsburgh - 3 hours, 27 minutes (231 miles)
Potsdam - 4 hours, 34 minutes (267 miles)
Skyline schools
Farmingdale - 2 hours, 21 minutes (107 miles)
Manhattanville (Purchase) - 1 hour, 14 minutes (74 miles)
Mount Saint Mary (Newburgh) - 26 minutes (22 miles)
Mount Saint Vincent (Bronx) - 1 hour, 26 minutes (80 miles)
Purchase - 1 hour, 15 minutes (75 miles)
Sarah Lawrence (Bronxville) - 1 hour, 16 minutes (77 miles)
St. Joe’s Brooklyn - 1 hour, 58 minutes (88 miles)
St. Joe’s Long Island (Patchogue) - 2 hours, 47 minutes (130 miles)
SUNY Maritime (Bronx) - 1 hour, 40 minutes (81 miles)
SUNY Old Westbury - 2 hours, 8 minutes (95 miles)
U.S. Merchant Marine (Kings Point) - 2 hours, 12 minutes (94 miles0
Yeshiva (Manhattan) - 1 hour, 26 minutes (74 miles)
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: SUNY New Paltz to leave SUNY Athletic Conference
