NCAA Division II Awards Conference Carolinas Grant for Exemplary Strategy for Second Straight Year
INDIANAPOLIS - NCAA Division II has awarded Conference Carolinas a grant based on its strategic positioning as a conference for its inaugural Developmental Championships in the conference in the 2021-22 academic year.
The NCAA Division II conference grant program, now in its 21st year, has provided millions of dollars to Division II conferences to implement priorities and initiatives that support the Division II Strategic Plan and the Division II strategic positioning platform. The grant funding allows NCAA Division II conferences to operate more effectively and efficiently.
Over the summer Assistant Commissioner/SWA Jill Robbins and Commissioner Chris Colvin submitted the grant proposal. The Division II Planning and Finance Committee then officially awarded Conference Carolinas the $3,333 grant on Monday, Aug. 22 to acknowledge its “Conference Tournament Expenses” strategy for the Developmental Championships in the “Game Day, Conference and National Championships” strategic positioning outcome area.
Conference Carolinas is believed to be the first NCAA conference to offer sub-varsity championships to its members.
“We are truly humbled and honored to be recognized in this way by NCAA Division II for the second consecutive year,” Commissioner Chris Colvin said. “We are particularly appreciative of this recognition since this is something that is truly a collaboration with all of our member institutions to enhance the experience for their student-athletes. We prioritize helping to fulfill the missions of our member institutions and we believe our Developmental Championships are another avenue for our members to provide even more student-athletes with championship-level competition.”
Conference Carolinas initially announced the addition of four inaugural Developmental Championships in the 2021-22 academic year in early fall of 2021.
Some may call it JV or sub-varsity, but the term “Developmental” seems to capture the role of these programs the best. These developmental programs provide significant opportunities for additional student-athletes to compete and fine-tune their skills. With these championships, Conference Carolinas wanted to create a dynamic that provided student-athletes competing at the developmental level with a championship experience.
The plan was to conduct a Developmental Championship in any sport in which at least four institutions declared an intent to participate. Using that guideline, which was recently formally added to the Conference Carolinas bylaws, Conference Carolinas sponsored Developmental Championships in four sports during the 2021-22 academic year: men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s basketball and baseball.
The Soccer Developmental Championships were held on one day in the same city at two separate venues and featured four teams each.
Ten institutions participated in the Men’s Basketball Developmental Championship, which was split into two brackets. Each bracket was played on one day and the winners of the two brackets met the following week for the championship.
Five institutions participated in the Baseball Developmental Championship, which was structured similar to basketball with two site winners advancing to a single championship the following week.
2021-22 Conference Carolinas Developmental Champions
Barton, Women’s Soccer
Belmont Abbey, Men’s Soccer
King, Men’s Basketball
Barton, Baseball
This is Conference Carolinas
Conference Carolinas has a rich tradition in roots that dates back to its inception on Dec. 6, 1930. The NCAA Division II athletics conference presently has member schools located in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Member institutions in the 2022-23 academic year are Barton, Belmont Abbey, Chowan, Converse, Emmanuel, Erskine, Francis Marion, King, Lees-McRae, Mount Olive, UNC Pembroke, North Greenville and Southern Wesleyan.
Conference Carolinas believes in the development and formation of the whole person in body, mind and soul. Our students are nationally recognized for their extraordinary success in the classroom, in the community and at the highest levels of NCAA competition.
Conference Carolinas is built upon the idea of offering challenging NCAA competition in an environment that fosters both the academic and athletic achievements of its student-athletes. Conference members offer exemplary educations and scholarships for performance in the classroom and on the field. Conference Carolinas and its members are committed to challenging adversity and building tomorrow's leaders.
Learn more at
ConferenceCarolinas.com.