Friday, April 25, William and Mary announced its football program’s intention to begin competing in the Patriot League at the beginning of the 2026-2027 season.
The Tribe will become the Patriot League’s ninth football member, joining the University of Richmond, Bucknell University, Fordham University, Colgate University, Georgetown University, the College of the Holy Cross, Lafayette College and Lehigh University.
In a statement released by the school, William and Mary Director of Athletics Brian D. Mann cited William and Mary’s desire to position itself in a league that shares its athletic and academic priorities and its desire to join a conference with Richmond as key factors in the decision.
Tribe football will shed its CAA membership, which it has held since the league began sponsoring the sport in 2007. The conference change will not affect the 2025-2026 season, during which Tribe football will compete in the CAA.
Currently, the move only pertains to the school’s football program. William and Mary fields 22 other athletic teams, all of which will remain in their current conference. 20 of those teams are affiliated with the CAA, while men’s gymnastics is affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, and women’s gymnastics is affiliated with the Gymnastics East Conference.
The university has not indicated whether its non-football programs could change conferences in the future.
William and Mary’s move comes in the wake of the school’s Feb. 28 decision to opt out of the House v. NCAA settlement for the 2025-2026 academic year, going against the wishes of the CAA’s Board of Directors, which voted that all members of the conference would opt into the settlement by the NCAA’s deadline of March 1. The settlement, which is still pending approval, will allow universities to pay their athletes directly.
When reached for comment in early April, neither Mann nor CAA commissioner Joe D’Antonio indicated the conference intended to impose any penalties on William and Mary related to its opt-out decision.
It is unclear to what extent the House settlement influenced William and Mary’s decision to move its football program out of the CAA, but when asked April 7 whether the school was considering switching conferences, Mann noted that the administration would adapt accordingly to changes in the college athletics landscape.
“We are very happy with our membership in the CAA and we have the utmost respect for our fellow schools,” Mann wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “As we move forward, of course we will pay attention to the shifting landscape in intercollegiate athletics. A big part of my job is to make sure that William & Mary is in the best possible position to benefit our student-athletes and our university.”
