PITMAN—The New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) announced on October 30 that Vermont State University Castleton will join the conference as an associate member in the sport of football beginning in the 2025-26 academic year.

With the addition of the Spartans program, the NJAC will feature eight football-sponsoring institutions during the 2025 season, including five full-member programs in Kean University, Montclair State University, Rowan University, The College of New Jersey, and William Paterson University; and three associate member football programs in Christopher Newport University, Salisbury University, and Vermont State University Castleton.

“We are excited to welcome Vermont State University Castleton as the newest associate football member program in the NJAC,” said Commissioner Terry Small. “It’s a program that was in need of a conference home, and we feel that participation in the NJAC will be of great benefit to the Spartan football student-athletes. From a conference perspective, this development helps us from a scheduling standpoint and makes an already competitive football league even stronger.”

VTSU Castleton, a full-member institution in the Little East Conference, established its football program in 2009. For the first 15 years of the program’s existence, the Spartans were members of the single-sport Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC). Castleton is currently a member of the Massachusetts State Athletic Conference (MASCAC), with the team currently sitting in fifth place in its one and only season of play in the MASCAC.

“VTSU Castleton is thrilled to become an associate member in the NJAC for the sport of football,” said VTSU Castleton Director of Athletics Tim Barrett. “We would like to thank the NJAC Presidents Council, athletic directors and Commissioner Terry Small for accepting us into their prestigious conference. We look forward to the high level of competition and the opportunity to grow our football program against some of the best teams in the region.”

VTSU Castleton will become the 11th different associate football member institution in the NJAC dating back to 2000 when the NCAA Division III Championships Committee adopted automatic qualification principles for football and all team sports.