The Bison's first and only year in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference finished with Gallaudet going 1-7 in conference. Gallaudet athletics photo

By Patrick Coleman
D3sports.com

Gallaudet's football history over the past 30 years has seen the program move multiple times from club status to Division III independent to conference membership and back again, and in 2026, the Bison are voluntarily leaving the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and will try to forge its way as an independent.

D3sports.com has learned that, after one year in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, Gallaudet has reversed course and will be playing in 2026 as an independent. This information was confirmed by multiple sources who are unnamed because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter at this time.

The Bison went 1-8 overall, 1-7 in ODAC play this past season, as a single-sport member of the conference. 

There used to be a large number of independents in Division III football, but as more and more conferences received automatic bids, those schools were able to hook into area conferences. This served the dual purpose of ensuring that these schools had a viable path to reach the NCAA playoffs, and gave the conerences the security of having larger numbers of teams, making scheduling easier.

As an independent in Division III, especially in football, with games no more than once a week, it is exceedingly difficult for schools to schedule other Division III programs, especially after the first few weeks of the season. By the time Week 4 and Week 5 roll around, most conferences are in the middle of conference play and do not have an open date available to schedule a non-conference opponent.

Gallaudet's schedule, reportedly, includes games against ODAC members Averett and Roanoke, as well as three additional Division III football programs. It also includes club football programs. Gallaudet football would need to receive a waiver from Division III leadership if it ends up below the required threshold of in-region games. That threshold is currently 70%, but may be lowered to 50% based on legislation which was proposed for D-III schools and will be considered at the NCAA convention, which is being held this week outside Washington, D.C.

The Old Dominion Athletic Conference master schedule for 2026 was revised, and made public in the past two weeks. It includes Week 1 and Week 2 as non-conference dates, and Week 3 and Week 4 as dates where programs may schedule a non-conference game or can take a bye week. Affected schools are attempting to fill the open date, but the change is leaving some with uneven schedule balance and just four home games.

The Bison had previously been members of the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference, which disbanded after the 2024 season. Gallaudet had gone 19-15 over the previous four seasons in games against four-year varsity programs. 

In fact, Gallaudet's time in the ECFC brought the program its best sustained success as an intercollegiate program, including two trips to the NCAA playoffs. But the ECFC was also one of the bottom conferences in D3football.com's annual conference rankings.

The Bison may be able to avoid, temporarily, the fate of Keystone's football program, which found itself without a conference in 2025 and elected to take a season as a club program. Keystone is expected to return to playing an intercollegiate schedule in football in 2026, although it does not have a conference affiliation secured for football.