Conference Carolinas dates to its inception on December 6, 1930. The conference was formed then as an athletic association "for the greater advantage of the small colleges in North Carolina". The official name given back then was the
North State Intercollegiate Conference but known informally as the
Old North State Conference. The birthplace was the Washington Duke Hotel in
Durham, North Carolina, and the seven charter members were Appalachian, Atlantic Christian (now Barton College), Catawba, Guilford, Elon, High Point, and Lenoir–Rhyne. The conference followed a policy of expansion for a period of time. Western Carolina became a member in 1933, East Carolina in 1947, Pfeiffer in 1960, Newberry in 1961, and Presbyterian in 1964, followed closely by Mars Hill. With the acceptance of the first member from South Carolina in Newberry College, a name change became necessary. Thus on May 20, 1961 the official name of the conference was changed to the
Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (
CIAC) but commonly known less formally as the
Carolinas Conference. East Carolina resigned in 1962 to join the
Southern Conference and Appalachian and Western Carolina followed. Football sponsorship in the Carolinas Conference was dropped in 1975 when Lenoir–Rhyne, Newberry, Presbyterian, and Mars Hill joined the
South Atlantic Conference. Pembroke State University, now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, became a first-time member in 1976 followed by Wingate College in 1979, and Lenoir–Rhyne rejoined in 1984. While Guilford College withdrew in 1988, St. Andrews and Mount Olive were added that same year. The 1989–90 academic year started a new era as Catawba, Elon, Lenoir–Rhyne and Wingate all withdrew to compete in the first year that the South Atlantic Conference provided championships in all sports, not just football. The Carolinas Conference then added Belmont Abbey in 1989, Coker College (now Coker University) in 1991, and Lees-McRae in 1993. Pembroke State left in 1992. The 1993–94 academic year brought a change to the conference national affiliation. The conference began the process of transferring membership to the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) after years as a
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) member. During the transition, it was a dual member of the NCAA's
Division II and the NAIA's Division I. The 1995–96 year brought dramatic change to the conference. First, full membership into NCAA Division II was acquired and NAIA affiliation dropped. Thus, this was the first official year of full competition and championship play for the conference in NCAA D-II status. Secondly, this was also the same year that Erskine, Longwood, and Queens were accepted as full members of the conference. With Longwood becoming the first Virginia member, another name change occurred and the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference (known more universally as the 'CVAC') was born. Following the 1997 academic year High Point resigned to join the NCAA D-I ranks, while in 1998 Limestone soon joined and were quickly followed by Anderson in 1999. In 2003, Longwood University left the conference to explore possibilities in
NCAA Division I. Then in 2005 the CVAC added Converse College (becoming Converse University in July 2021) as an affiliate member before becoming a full member starting in the 2007–08 season. With the lone Virginia school in Longwood leaving, the league decided to go back to its roots and change its name to Conference Carolinas June 1, 2007. On June 1, 2011, King College and North Greenville University became official members of the conference and opened the conference to its first Tennessee member in King. In 2014–15, Emmanuel College (Georgia) and Southern Wesleyan University became official members of the conference (under provisional status) and opened the conference to its first Georgia member in Emmanuel. Southern Wesleyan began official full NCAA D-II membership in 2016–17 while Emmanuel started in 2018–19. After 57 years as a league member Pfeiffer University moved down to the NCAA D-III ranks on June 1, 2017. Conference Carolinas and the
South Atlantic Conference entered into a partnership in the 2018–19 school year by which the two leagues would operate as a single conference in field hockey and wrestling, with championships immediately conducted in both sports. The leagues agreed that CC would coordinate the wrestling championship, while the SAC would fill the same role for field hockey. Accordingly, all CC field hockey programs became de facto affiliates of the SAC, while SAC wrestling programs became de facto CC affiliates. The CC–SAC alliance is officially branded as "South Atlantic Conference Carolinas". After the completion of the 2018–19 athletic year, former Commissioner Alan Patterson retired and was replaced by Chris Colvin. One of the first moves made by Colvin was to move the league headquarters to Greenville, South Carolina to be more centrally located to all member institutions. The league now has 13 members, with the most recent changes taking place in 2021.
Francis Marion University joined for the first time, and the
University of North Carolina at Pembroke returned after an absence of nearly 30 years. They were the first public schools to join CC since Longwood's 2003 departure. The most recent departure from CC was that of Limestone College (later Limestone University, and now defunct), which moved to the SAC in 2020. Many institutions have been members of the league during its rich history including Anderson, Appalachian, Barton (formerly Atlantic Christian), Belmont Abbey, Catawba, Coker, Converse, East Carolina, Erskine, Emmanuel, Francis Marion, Guilford, Elon, High Point, King, Lees-McRae, Lenoir–Rhyne, Limestone, Longwood, Mars Hill, Mount Olive, Newberry, North Greenville, Pfeiffer, Presbyterian, Queens, St. Andrews, UNC Pembroke (both as Pembroke State and under its current name), Western Carolina and Wingate. Barton is the only remaining charter member followed in longevity by Mount Olive's joining in 1988. For the 2020–21 school year, CC added
acrobatics and
tumbling, newly added to the
NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program in that same school year, as its newest sport. Initially, five full members and one associate were to start competition, but two more associates were added before competition began. The arrival of Francis Marion and return of UNC Pembroke were not the only changes to the conference membership in 2021. Converse admitted men to its residential undergraduate program for the first time, and also added men's sports. Converse initially planned to field seven teams, but did not field the initially announced men's volleyball team. Also in 2021–22, current SAC member
Lincoln Memorial University added men's wrestling; and
Mars Hill University became an associate member in acrobatics & tumbling. Emory & Henry and Lincoln Memorial became de facto CC affiliates as part of South Atlantic Conference Carolinas. Also for the 2021–22 season, CC announced a partnership with the
Great Midwest Athletic Conference to conduct joint men's and women's bowling championship events (even though men's bowling is not considered a varsity sport by the NCAA). Each conference organizes its regular season independently, but the postseason is called Conference Carolinas/Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Bowling Championships. CC also announced
Lincoln Memorial and
Tusculum as new affiliate members for bowling. In December 2021, CC and the SAC jointly announced that they would extend their existing partnership to include two women's sports, triathlon and wrestling, with triathlon competition starting in 2022–23 and wrestling in 2023–24. At the same time, both conferences agreed that after the 2021–22 school year, the SAC would become the only one of the two conferences to sponsor field hockey. The joint men's wrestling league continued to operate through the 2022–23 season. Initial plans were for both conferences to establish their own men's wrestling leagues, but this changed in 2023, when the two conferences agreed that only CC would sponsor men's wrestling from 2023–24. On June 24, 2022, CC added
Wingate as an acrobatics and tumbling affiliate starting with that program's first season in 2023–24. On January 26, 2023, CC announced the addition of
Shorter University as its 15th member for 2024–25 school year. The addition of Shorter gave CC its sixth football-sponsoring institution, and accordingly that same day, it was also announced that CC would begin sponsoring football in 2025. Sponsoring members would include Shorter and North Greenville, whose programs played in the
Gulf South Conference, Barton and Erskine, affiliates of the
South Atlantic Conference, UNC Pembroke, affiliate of the
Mountain East Conference, and Chowan, up until 2022 was an affiliate of the
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association. It was also announced that Chowan would begin affiliation with the Gulf South Conference for the 2023 and 2024 seasons and that Shorter would compete as a
D-II football independent for the 2024 season, with Erskine switching affiliations from the SAC to the GSC that season only to take their place, in order to accommodate programs until league play could begin. On April 5, 2024,
Ferrum College was announced as the conference's 16th member, as well as its seventh football program for CC's inaugural football season. CC announced the addition of women's
flag football on July 2, 2024, with the first season to take place in 2025–26. Six schools were announced as the league's inaugural members—Chowan, Emmanuel, incoming member Ferrum, King, Lees–McRae, and Mount Olive. Before the end of 2024, two more full CC members, Barton and Erskine, announced they would also add the sport in 2025–26. Then, on April 2, 2025, three affiliates were announced as joining CC flag football for its inaugural season—Mars Hill and Wingate, already CC affiliates in acrobatics & tumbling, plus
Division I member
Mount St. Mary's. • 2017 – Pfeiffer left CC to join the
NCAA Division III ranks and the
USA South Athletic Conference (USA South) after the 2016–17 academic year. • 2017 – Chowan added men's & women's soccer into its CC affiliate membership in the 2017 fall season (2017–18 academic year). According to CC, developmental teams consist of individuals who competed either sparingly or not at all at the varsity level in the season of the championship. The first such championships were held in baseball, men's basketball, and men's & women's soccer. •
Francis Marion University joined and UNC Pembroke (formerly Pembroke State) rejoined CC in the 2021–22 academic year. • Converse added men's sports into its athletic program, also effective with the 2021–22 academic year. • Four institutions joined CC as affiliate members, all effective in the 2021–22 academic year: •
Emory & Henry College (now Emory and Henry University) for men's wrestling, although it would later begin competition in the following school year; •
Lincoln Memorial University for men's wrestling and men's & women's bowling; • Mars Hill rejoined for acrobatics and tumbling; • and
Tusculum University for men's & women's bowling. • 2022: • Three institutions left CC as affiliate members (and/or removed other single sports from their affiliate memberships), all effective after the 2021–22 academic year: • Limestone for field hockey • Lincoln Memorial for men's bowling • and Queens started a transition to Division I as a new member of the
Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN), thus departing from its affiliate memberships in field hockey and men's wrestling. • Women's basketball was intended to be added to the CC developmental championships roster for 2022–23, • 2024: • Lincoln Memorial left CC as an affiliate member for women's bowling after the 2023–24 academic year. •
Shorter University joined CC in the 2024–25 academic year. • CC added women's wrestling as a sponsored sport in collaboration with the SAC. Five new associates joined for that sport—Allen, Bluefield State, Emory and Henry, Lincoln Memorial and Newberry. • CC announced the addition of women's flag football as a sponsored sport, effective in 2025–26. Initially, then-current members Chowan, Emmanuel, King, Lees–McRae, and Mount Olive, plus incoming member Ferrum, would form the new league. Before the end of the year, two more full members, Barton and Erskine, announced they would add flag football and play in the new CC league in its first season. • 2025: •
Ferrum College joined CC beginning the 2025–26 academic year. • CC began sponsoring football again after 50 years, with sponsoring members Barton, Chowan, Erskine, Ferrum, North Greenville, Shorter and UNC Pembroke. • CC also added women's flag football as a sponsored sport, with sponsoring full members Barton, Chowan, Emmanuel, Erskine, Ferrum, King, Lees–McRae, and Mount Olive. Mars Hill and Wingate added flag football to their CC membership, and Mount St. Mary's also became an affiliate for that sport. • Limestone left CC as an affiliate member for acrobatics & tumbling and men's wrestling at the end of the 2024–25 academic year, as the institution announced that it would cease operations. ==Member schools==