Patriot

10 current members, one former. Our membership records under this name start in 1990; its titles go back further. 2025 champion: Lehigh.

2007 standings

TeamConf.OverallPollEloLast 5
Colgate4–⁠17–⁠31356WWWWL
Fordham4–⁠17–⁠41303WWWLL
Holy Cross3–⁠26–⁠41377WWLLW
Lafayette3–⁠26–⁠41360LLWWW
Lehigh2–⁠45–⁠61304LWLWL
Georgetown1–⁠31–⁠81079LWLLL
Bucknell1–⁠53–⁠81189LLLLW

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied. Poll: the FCS coaches’ poll (else the final AP rank). Elo is our own rating, a measure of strength, not a prediction.

Against other conferences, 2007

Patriot teams are 17–⁠19 outside the conference.

The bar is the share of those games won. Games against teams from the FBS count together.

Champions

Most titles

Lehigh14last 2025
Holy Cross12last 2024
Colgate10last 2018
Lafayette8last 2023
Fordham3last 2014
Bucknell1last 1996

By year

2025Lehigh
2024Holy Cross, Lehigh (shared)
2023Holy Cross, Lafayette (shared)
2022Holy Cross
2021Holy Cross
2020Holy Cross
2019Holy Cross
2018Colgate
2017Colgate, Lehigh (shared)
2016Lehigh
2015Colgate
2014Fordham
28 earlier seasons, back to 1986
2013Lafayette
2012Colgate
2011Lehigh
2010Lehigh
2009Holy Cross
2008Colgate
2007Fordham
2006Lafayette, Lehigh (shared)
2005Colgate, Lafayette (shared)
2004Lafayette, Lehigh (shared)
2003Colgate
2002Colgate, Fordham (shared)
2001Lehigh
2000Lehigh
1999Colgate, Lehigh (shared)
1998Lehigh
1997Colgate
1996Bucknell
1995Lehigh
1994Lafayette
1993Lehigh
1992Lafayette
1991Holy Cross
1990Holy Cross
1989Holy Cross
1988Lafayette
1987Holy Cross
1986Holy Cross

Conference titles as each program’s Wikipedia infobox lists them (CC BY-SA), shared titles counted for every co-champion; the conference’s earlier names count as the same conference.

Members

  1. Bucknell1990 on
  2. Colgate1990 on
  3. Fordham1990 on
  4. Holy Cross1990 on
  5. Lafayette1990 on
  6. Lehigh1990 on
  7. Towson1997–⁠2003
  8. Georgetown2001–⁠20192021 on
  9. Richmond2025 on
  10. Villanova2026 on
  11. William & Mary2026 on
Every school and its years (11)

Members now

Former members

Football membership as CollegeFootballData.com records it under this conference’s name, from 1990; a school’s separate stays are listed apart.

Who came and went

SeasonSchoolMoveAnnounced
2026VillanovaJoined from Coastal Athletic Conference (football only)June 5, 2025
2026William & MaryJoined from Coastal Athletic Conference (football only)April 16, 2025
2025RichmondJoined from Coastal Athletic Conference (football only)May 14, 2024
2004TowsonLeft for Atlantic 10 (football only)Source
2001GeorgetownJoined (independent before) (football only)Source
1990 †BucknellJoined from East Coast ConferenceSource

Full members that play football elsewhere: Army (American Athletic), Navy (American Athletic).

Football moves from Wikipedia’s lists of NCAA Division I conference changes; the season is the first one played in the new conference, and the date the one the lists or their sources give for the announcement. † Our membership records (CollegeFootballData.com) date the move to another season, or don’t show it. Full members from the member tables in the conference’s Wikipedia article. SportsDataverse’s football memberships agree with ours in all 258 team-seasons from 1990. the member tables in the conference’s Wikipedia article agree with ours in 68 of 69 team-seasons from 1995. Conference realignment: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); memberships: SportsDataverse.

The money

The Patriot League is a nonprofit. Its IRS Form 990 for the year to June 2025 reports $5.1 million in revenue, $2.3 million of it from NCAA, and $5.3 million in expenses; it ended the year with $9.8 million in assets. Its best-paid, commissioner Jennifer Heppel, was paid $515,000.

By year

YearRevenueExpensesAssetsTop pay
2024-25$5.1M$5.3M$9.8M$515K
2023-24$5.1M$5.3M$10.5M$500K
2022-23$5.0M$5.2M$10.4M$422K
2021-22$5.2M$4.8M$9.4M
2020-21$4.6M$3.9M$8.9M$383K
2019-20$3.7M$3.9M$6.8M
2018-19$4.2M$4.3M$4.4M$365K
2017-18$4.2M$4.0M$4.4M
2016-17$3.8M$3.5M$7.5M
2015-16$3.5M$3.7M$3.7M
2014-15$2.9M$2.7M$4.9M
2013-14$2.7M$3.0M$5.0M
2012-13$2.6M$2.6M$4.9M
2011-12$2.6M$2.5M$4.8M
2010-11$2.7M$2.1M$4.5M

Best paid, 2024-25

Jennifer Heppel, commissioner$515,000
Richard Wanninger, sr. associat$142,000

From the organization’s IRS Form 990, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer and the IRS’s e-file data. Fiscal years end in June; top pay is the best-paid person’s total compensation on the return, listed for e-filed years (2018 on). Grants are the ones the conference lists on Schedule I; bowl payments are the ones bowls list on theirs. See every filing at ProPublica (EIN 23-2570860).