Overview
The conference was organized as the Montana Small College Conference in 1934 with charter members Montana State School of Mines, Montana State Normal College, Northern Montana College, Intermountain Union College and Billings Polytechnic Institute.
Two years later, the conference rebranded itself as the Montana Collegiate Conference with new members Eastern Montana Normal College and Carroll College. Intermountain Union and Billings Poly merged in 1939 to form Rocky Mountain College. The conference rebranded itself again in November of 1966 as the Frontier Conference.
For a 10-year period, from 1974 - 1984, the University of Great Falls (now the University of Providence) competed in the conference and rejoined in 1999. In 1988, Eastern Montana College (now MSU-Billings) left the conference after moving to NCAA Division II status.
The conference added Lewis-Clark State College of Lewiston, Idaho and Westminster College of Salt Lake City, Utah in 1998. Eastern Oregon University of La Grande, Ore., joined in 2008 as an associate member for football only. In 2012 the league welcomed Dickinson State University of Dickinson, N.D., as a full member. Dickinson left after the 2013-14 season to join the North Star Conference.
Southern Oregon University joined as an associate member for football only in 2012. College of Idaho joined the conference in the Fall of 2014 as an associate member in football only.
Westminster College moved to NCAA Division II status and left the conference after the 2014-15 season. In 2020, Lewis-Clark State College left the Frontier for membership in the Cascade Conference.
The purpose of the Frontier Conference is to encourage, promote, sponsor and control athletic competition among participating colleges as an integral part of the total educational process.
With the conference motto, "Promoting Academic and Athletic Excellence," members compete for conference championships in: football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross-country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's indoor/outdoor track and field and women's volleyball.
The conference can boast about 10 national championships. In football, Carroll College won six national titles and Southern Oregon one. Montana Western and MSU-Northern won national titles in women’s basketball, and Rocky Mountain College won a men’s basketball national title. Of late, numerous student-athletes have won individual national championships in track and field.
Kent Paulson began his tenure as conference commissioner in 2009. He is the sixth commissioner in the history of the Frontier Conference.
Any contest between two Frontier Conference schools will always provide spectators with the excitement and thrills that can be only be experienced through an intercollegiate athletic conference. Most Frontier Conference games are broadcast through local radio, via school webcasts and select telecasts via regional television.
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