1973

August: At a Special Convention, the NCAA membership votes to reorganize from its previous university/college division structure into Divisions I, II and III.

November: The first Division II championship is conducted in cross country at Wheaton College (Illinois).

1980

January: Division II women’s championships are established in basketball, field hockey, swimming and diving, tennis, and volleyball.

1996

January: Convention delegates approve a federated structure in which Divisions II and III retain their one-institution, one-vote approach, and implement governance structures that clearly put university presidents in charge of policymaking.

1997

August: The first Division II Student-Athlete Summit is held in Denver to involve student-athletes more in governance.

1998

Summer: The Division II Strategic Plan is developed.

August: The Division II Presidents Council commits $250,000 in funding for the 1999-00 fiscal year to a matching grant program designed to aid Division II conferences and institutions working to enhance gender and ethnic-minority diversity.

2000

June: The Division II Championships Committee addresses major issues involving championships enhancements and gender equity. Participation at the time favored men by 55 to 45 percent. The committee recommends increased bracket and travel-party sizes in certain sports to achieve more balanced participation by 2001-02.

2001

Fall: The Division II Degree-Completion Award Program is created to provide deserving student-athletes financial assistance for them to complete their first baccalaureate degree.

2002

Fall: Division II institutions participate in a Graduation Success Report pilot program, paving the way for use of the Academic Success Rate in Division II.

2003

January: The Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee establishes its partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

2004

May: The first Division II Championships Festival is held in Orlando, Florida, and features national championships in men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, softball, and women’s lacrosse. The concept of a sports festival - an Olympic-style event in which multiple champions are crowned and student-athletes from different sports interact with one another - is unique to Division II.

2005

January: The Division II membership adopts legislation that requires all institutions to submit Academic Success Rate data annually.

June: The first Division II Chancellors and Presidents Summit is conducted, at which the Division II Presidents Council shares the results of a study on reclassification to Division I.

September: Division II provides the lead gift of $1 million as the NCAA establishes its “Home Team” initiative to provide relief to the New Orleans community in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

2006

January: Division II adopts a structure that penalizes institutions that use ineligible student-athletes during intercollegiate competition. This “nullification system” is a penalty assessed during the championships selection process.

Summer: Division II signs a three-year agreement with College Sports Television Network to televise and broadband stream selected football and men’s and women’s basketball games. Television coverage begins in the fall with three televised football games and 40 games online.

August: The Division II Presidents Council approves a Division II strategic-positioning platform that clearly articulates the strategic position and key attributes of Division II.

November: Division II conducts its second National Championships Festival (and first fall sports festival) in Pensacola, Florida. Championships are conducted in men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, and volleyball.

2007

April: The Division II Management Council sponsors a proposal to increase the number of core courses required for initial eligibility from 14 to 16.

June: The second Division II Chancellors and Presidents Summit includes a focus on the benefits of Division II membership classification.

2008

January: Division II adopts legislation that requires institutions to submit Academic Performance Census data annually and establishes a penalty structure for failure to do so.

May: Houston hosts the third Division II National Championship Festival, this one for spring championships.

July: Division II approves a membership pilot program to begin accepting international members. The Canadian institution Simon Fraser University enters the membership process shortly thereafter.

2009

March: Houston hosts its second Division II National Championships Festival – the first featuring winter sports competition. Champions are crowned in men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, and wrestling.

December: The Division II Financial Dashboard Tool is piloted in 2009 and launched at the June 2010 Division II Chancellors and Presidents Summit.

2010

January: The Division II membership passes Phase One of its landmark “Life in the Balance” legislative package aimed at aligning playing and practice seasons with the Division II strategic-positioning platform.

June: The third Division II Chancellors and Presidents Summit is conducted in Indianapolis. Discussions focus on measuring the success of the “Life in the Balance” initiative; planning for the long-range financial stability of the division; managing membership growth; and promoting best practices at Division II historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions.

July: The Division II Membership Committee approves a new set of minimum requirements for institutions seeking Division II membership.

September: The latest Academic Success Rate data are released, showing a 71 percent graduation rate for Division II student-athletes.

November-December: The fifth Division II National Championships Festival is held in Louisville, Kentucky. The four-day event crowns champions in men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and field hockey.

2011

January: At the 2011 NCAA Convention in San Antonio, the Division II membership passes Phase Two of the “Life the Balance” initiative, approving three Bylaw 17 changes.

April: The Division II Long-Range Projections Task Force concludes a strategic budget framework that mirrors the 14-year, $10 .8 billion agreement signed with CBS and Turner Sports in April 2010.

2012

January: At the 2012 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis, Division II approves changes to recruiting-contact legislation and also to minimum requirements for conference membership.

May: The sixth National Championships Festival is conducted in Louisville.

September: Simon Fraser University of Burnaby, British Columbia, becomes the NCAA’s – and Division II’s – first international member school.

2013

November-December: The seventh National Championships Festival is conducted in Birmingham, Alabama.

2014

January: At the 2014 NCAA Convention in San Diego, Division II adopts a “Path to Graduation” legislative package that changes the division’s initial-eligibility and progress-toward-degree requirements for the first time in 31 years. The changes raise the initial-eligibility GPA requirement for student-athletes enrolling on or after August 1, 2018, to a minimum of 2.2 for qualifiers (up from the current 2.0) and establishes for the first time two sliding scales for full and partial qualifiers that allows lower standardized test scores to be offset by higher high school core course GPAs.

2015

January: Division II launches a brand enhancement initiative that features “Make It Yours” as the division’s tagline. The student-athlete-driven brand enhancement personalizes the balanced athletics and educational experiences that student-athletes have at Division II colleges and universities.

2017

March: The division conducts its 10th National Championships Festival, this one for winter sports in Birmingham, Alabama.

2018

January: Division II adopts legislation allowing institutions from Mexico to apply for membership.

March: Results from the 2018 Division II Membership Census reveal continued support for the division’s “Life in the Balance” philosophy and an appreciation for the way the division strategically positions itself within the NCAA framework.

November-December: The division conducts is 11th National Championships Festival in Pittsburgh for fall sports. The division also agrees to appoint a membership working group to review potential enhancements to future festivals.

2020

March: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA cancels all winter and spring sport championships. The Division II Administrative Committee begins meeting regularly to provide direction and help the Division II membership navigate the crisis.

August: Because of the ongoing health crisis, the Division II Presidents Council cancels fall sport championships as well in order to protect student-athlete health and safety.

2021

March: Division II resumes its championships, conducting competition in winter and spring sports with reduced brackets and limited attendance. The fall sport championships are subsequently conducted at full capacity as the effects of the pandemic wane. 

July: In the wake of differing state laws going into effect regarding student-athlete name, image and likeness; and a U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Alston case that called into question the NCAA’s ability to self-govern, the NCAA Board of Governors calls for a special convention to rework the NCAA constitution, with action to be taken at the NCAA’s annual Convention in January.

August: California State University, Chico President Gayle Hutchinson; Pittsburg State University Athletics Director Jim Johnson; California University of Pennsylvania Volleyball Student-Athlete Madeleine McKenna; Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner Julie Ruppert; and Lincoln University of Pennsylvania Athletics Director Harry Stinson III are named to represent Division II on a 28-member Constitution Committee.

November: The Special Convention is conducted, with each division holding individual business sessions to react to the draft constitution with straw poll voting.

December: The Division II Administrative Committee appoints a 28-member Implementation Committee co-chaired by University of Wisconsin-Parkside Chancellor Debbie Ford and Delta State University President William LaForge to review the division's rules and policies and make recommendations to ensure that changes are consistent with the principles agreed upon in the new constitution.

2022

January: The NCAA officially adopts its new constitution, with each division responsible for reviewing its rules and policies in the coming months to be consistent with the new constitution.

August: The 28-member Division II Implementation Committee completes its review of the division’s bylaws and policies that produced more than 40 recommendations, many of which were adopted by the Division II Presidents Council and others that were referred into the structure for future action.

2023

January: Delegates at the 2023 NCAA Convention approve legislation to make the following changes to the governance structure that will become effective Feb. 1, 2024:

• The Division II Presidents Council will change from 18 members to 13 and be renamed the Division II Executive Board.
• The Management Council will change to 29 voting members (currently 28) and include at least five athletics directors, five senior woman administrators, five faculty athletics representatives and two conference office staff members.
• The Division II Planning and Finance Committee will be renamed the Division II Strategic Planning and Finance Committee. The committee will expand from seven voting members to 11, including at least one member from a minority-serving school and a member of the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
• The Division II Administrative Committee will maintain its current size (five members) but include the chair of Division II SAAC, along with the chair and vice chair of the Presidents Council (Executive Board) and Management Council.

2024

September: The division convenes a “Think Tank” during which representatives from all 23 Division II conferences, five members from the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and one independent member of the Division II Executive Board meet for two days to determine the division’s top priorities that will inform the next strategic plan to be launched in January of 2026.

2025

January: The Division II Executive Board approves expanding the Division II Football Championship bracket from 28 to 32 teams and changes football from an access ratio sport to an AQ model.