In June 1998, the College of Mount St. Joseph became a member of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) formerly known as the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The HCAC is a NCAA III collegiate athletic conference made up of independent colleges and universities in the nation's heartland. Those colleges are: Anderson University, Franklin College, Hanover College, and Manchester College in Indiana; the Mount, Defiance College and Bluffton University in Ohio; and Transylvania University in Kentucky.

The HCAC offers conference championships in 20 sports, 10 in both men's and women's competition. All Mount athletic teams, with the exception of lacrosse, compete in the HCAC.