Ken McMillanMiddletown Times Herald- Record
Show Caption
SUNY New Paltz is about to crash the Garden party.
The Hawks’ athletics program will join the New Jersey Athletic Conference starting with the 2026-27 season. Long a member of the SUNY Athletic Conference, the Hawks will remain in the SUNYAC for the next two seasons.
“We are excited to enter a new era of Hawks athletics, and I am grateful to the NJAC leadership for their support throughout this process,’’ said Darrell Wheeler, the SUNY New Paltz president.
New Paltz announced on April 3 its intention to exit from the SUNYAC, with its main intent to reduce travel and road housing costs. There is also an added factor of expanding the recruiting footprint and school awareness to a large market of New Jersey – schools in the Mid-Hudson Valley and Long Island have long been feeder programs to Hawks athletics.
ACADEMIC HONORS: SUNY Athletic Conference honors scores of Mid-Hudson athletes for solid academics
Full members of the NJAC are Kean University, Montclair State, New Jersey City University, Ramapo College, Rowan University, Rutgers University-Camden, Rutgers University-Newark, Stockton University, The College of New Jersey and William Paterson University. Affiliate members for swimming includes Roger Williams University, Salisbury University, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the University of Mary Washington. The addition of New Paltz will be the first full-member expansion of the NJAC in 43 years and the first from outside New Jersey.
“We are excited to welcome New Paltz to the NJAC family and we’re looking forward to all of the various developments that will occur with the addition of another outstanding full-member institution,’’ said Terry Small, commissioner of the NJAC. “In studying New Paltz, it was evident that it is an outstanding institution with a strong history of athletic success. I am confident that SUNY New Paltz will be a good fit for the NJAC and the NJAC will be a good home for SUNY New Paltz.’’
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.
The move is beneficial to the NJAC because it allows the league to maintain an NCAA automatic qualification in women’s tennis, bolsters a newly sponsored sport of men’s lacrosse (adding conference status in the NCAA requirements) and extends the NJAC’s men’s volleyball program to five schools (leaving it one shy of the NCAA AQ status).
“The NJAC is excited to welcome SUNY New Paltz to the conference,” said Amanda DeMartino, the executive director of athletics at The College of New Jersey and the chair of the NJAC Board of Athletic Administrators. “After many intentional conversations and careful consideration, the membership feels that New Paltz is a great fit that aligns well with our NJAC institutions. We look forward to the work ahead over the next two years as we prepare to welcome the Hawks to NJAC competition.”
The schools in the NJAC are quite familiar with New Paltz, having competed against the Hawks in numerous non-league contests over the decades.
The SUNYAC – created in September 1958 and re-named as such in 1963 – has current full-time members at Brockport, Buffalo State, Cortland, Fredonia, Geneseo, New Paltz, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam. Brockport and Geneseo announced a departure to the Empire 8 Conference starting in fall 2024; at the same time, Morrisville and Canton will join the SUNYAC.
“I also want to thank the SUNY Athletic Conference, their members and their leadership of the DIII athletics experience in New York State and their support of our institute throughout our years as a member,’’ Wheeler added.
Renee Bostic, thew New Paltz athletic director, said announcing this future move now will clarify status for potential recruits.
“Moving to the New Jersey Athletic Conference presents opportunities to enhance the profile and competitiveness of Hawks athletics programs at a time when our varsity teams are performing at historic levels,” she said. “Coordinating this transition along a two-year timeline will also help us provide a smooth experience for our current student athletes, particularly juniors and seniors who are focused on building on last year’s record-breaking season.”
Travel time will be significantly reduced with the new affiliation: the two longest trips will be three hours and there are five at roughly 1 hour, 45 minutes-or-less. In the SUNYAC, New Paltz had one trip of two hours (Oneonta) and the rest were over three hours, including two over five hours (Fredonia, Buffalo State). The shorter trips also means less need of hotel stays.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
Travel time from New Paltz
(based on Google estimates)
NJAC schools
Kean (Union) – 1 hour, 43 minutes (85 miles)
Montclair State – 1 hour, 19 minutes (71 miles)
New Jersey City University – 1 hour, 47 minutes (85 miles)
Ramapo (Mahwah) – 47 minutes (51 miles)
Rowan (Glassboro) – 3 hours, 11 minutes (177 miles)
Rutgers-Camden – 3 hours, 1 minute (164 miles)
Rutgers-Newark – 1 hour, 35 minutes (81 miles)
Stockton (Galloway) – 3 hours, 13 minutes (182 miles)
College of New Jersey (Ewing Township) – 2 hours, 25 minutes (132 miles)
William Paterson (Wayne) – 1 hour, 3 minutes (62 miles)
SUNYAC schools
Brockport - 4 hours, 39S 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)
