The growing Presidents’ Athletic Conference is adding another program to the soon to be 12-team conference. The Hiram College Terriers will be returning to the PAC full-time in the 2025-26 season. 

Hiram will be returning full-time for the first time since 1989. It is worth noting that the announcement is coming a year after Hiram men’s volleyball team was announced to be a part of the PAC with the newly introduced men’s volleyball league in spring 2025. 

“We are adding a great college in Hiram,” said Presidents’ Athletic Conference Commissioner, Joseph Onderko. “One that has a very strong athletics history, and part of that history is in the PAC.” 

Hiram was first a part of the PAC from 1971-1989. The program won 13 championships during that span, with five of those championships being courtesy of men’s basketball. 

They would go on to join the Ohio Athletic Conference until 1999. Their next move would be to their current spot, the North Coast Athletic Conference. 

Last year when men’s volleyball was added to the PAC, Hiram was going to be a part of the league as a single-sport member. This is a premise that is similar to Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon University playing solely football for the PAC. 

“When they first reached out to us, we actually did not have any discussion about the full-time membership when we had the volleyball discussions. We showed them the everywhere and both sides were able to come with an agreement,” Onderko said.

Hiram is the second college in the last three years to return to the conference as a full-time member, with the other school being Allegheny College, which returned in the 2022-23 season. 

Hiram’s decision to return to PAC seemed to come down to matters of competition and time.

“A lot of it came down to miss class time, student experience and the cost of travel,” said Hiram College Athletic Director Scott Pohlman. “When we(the players) have to leave early from class, that was a huge factor.” 

With Hiram being about two and a half hours from the farthest PAC school, it makes their decision to rejoin the PAC to be one that will suit their goal of more commendable travel.