John Carroll leaving the prestigious OAC for a new conference

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There was plenty of chatter at the AFCA convention among small college coaches that John Carroll (D-III – OH) was poised to leave the prestigious Ohio Athletic Conference, considered by most to be one of the top three small college conferences in all of college football.

Today, they made that official, sharing that they’re leaving to join the North Coast Athletic Conference in 2025.

The school frames the move in their release as the latest step in “their three-year, $100 million strategy to bolster the student experience, grow the academic portfolio, enhance the campus and expand the institution’s reach” which includes significant renovations to campus facilities.

For the past three decades, Mount Union has dominated the OAC, with John Carroll finishing as the conference runner up during many of those seasons, oftentimes with their only loss to the Purple Raiders.

With automatic bids going to conference champions and so few at large spots in the Division III playoff available, the runner-up conference finishes have left some really good John Carroll teams out of the playoffs.

Mount Union has won 29 of the last 30 OAC football titles, with John Carroll beating them out for the title during the 2016 season.

While Miami may be considered the “Cradle of Coaches,” a few years back we tagged John Carroll as the first Football Guy U as a tip of the cap, in part, for the way they’ve churned out high quality NFL coaches, and front office personnel.

While this may seem like a monumental move to those familiar with small college football, it isn’t the first time that John Carroll has left the OAC.

Back in 1949 John Carroll and Toledo both left the OAC, with JCU making a return in 1989.

They join the NCAC that is home to Ohio and Indiana based schools like Denison, DePauw, Hiram, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Wabash, Wittenberg, and Wooster.

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.