Villanova football will leave the Coastal Athletic Association following this season and join the Patriot League in 2026.

Last season, Holy Cross shared the PL title with Lehigh, which earned the FCS automatic bid based on tiebreaker. The Mountain Hawks beat CAA champion Richmond in the first round of the playoffs.

In a Patriot League release issued Thursday morning, the league announced that Villanova would be Pennsylvania’s fourth school in the Patriot League and its 10th football-playing member overall as of the 2026 season, joining longtime members Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Colgate, Fordham, Georgetown, and Holy Cross.