Royal Goheen became the commissioner of the Sunrise Conference and continued to serve as the only commissioner in the history of the SAC until it disbanded. In 1997, Goheen took on the role as the commissioner of the Maine Athletic Conference before its disbandment. In 2010 he was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame.[2]
In 2004, the Sunrise Conference added the State University of New York at Canton after the university joined the NAIA as part of a transition from two-year to four-year institution. The conference held steady with nine members until Paul Smith's College and Lyndon State College left in 2010, dropping SAC membership to seven.
In addition, Maine–Presque Isle is transitioning to an independent member of NCAA Division III, while SUNY Canton was accepted into the transition process to move from the NAIA to NCAA D-III.[5]Fisher College joined the American Mideast Conference.[4]
2011 – The Sunrise would cease operations as an athletic conference after the 2010–11 academic year; as many schools left to join their respective new home primary conferences, beginning the 2011–12 academic year: Fisher to join the American Mideast Conference, while the rest would leave the NAIA and join the USCAA: St. Joseph, Vermont Tech (now Vermont State–Lyndon), Maine–Machias to join the YSCC; and Maine–Fort Kent, Maine–Presque Isle and SUNY Canton to join as USCAA Independents (the latter two are either accepted or in the process into transition from the NAIA to NCAA Division III).
Member schools
Final members
The Sunrise had seven full members in the conference's final season, only two were private schools:
^Staff (Aug 24, 2010). "NAIA Announces 2010-11 Hall of Fame Class". Victory Sports Network. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
^Hawkins, Gary (June 30, 2011). "COLLEGE: UMA adds 3 sports". Kennebec Journal. Archived from the original on November 10, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
^ a b cMahoney, Larry (June 17, 2011). "UMFK, UMPI, UMM leave NAIA for new association". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
^Brown, Gary (June 30, 2011). "DIII Membership Committee recommends four new active members". NCAA. Archived from the original on July 5, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.