The CIAA is the latest HBCU league to do away with divisions for football.
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is dropping the divisional format for choosing a football champion, according to a report from the Richmond Free Press. It will start sending the teams with the two best records to its championship game.
This move comes following the announcement that Saint Augustine’s University, a member of the CIAA South, is suspending its 2024 season due to financial issues with the school. It also comes one season after the addition of Bluefield State brought the league to 11 football programs. Claflin University, located in Orangeburg, SC, does not have a football program. The SIAC, the other HBCU Division II conference, removed divisions last season.
The CIAA has had divisional play off and on for the past 50 years, since it became the first HBCU conference to a championship game in 1970. It kept that format for three seasons before shelving it. It returned in 1981 and ran through 1990. It reemerged in 2000 with East-West Divisions, before switching to North and South Divisions starting in 2010.
Shaw claimed the CIAA South title in 2010 before Winston-Salem State went on a run of six in a row from 2016. Fayetteville State has dominated the southern division since then, winning six straight from 2017 through 2024. Virginia State claimed the CIAA North title three times, while Elizabeth City State went back-to-back in 2011 and 2012. Bowie State won five out of six CIAA North titles from 2015 through 2021 while Chowan and Virginia Union claimed the last two division crowns.
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