The Universities of Torland Athletics Commission (UTAC) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among the 56 qualified universities in Torland. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and universities in Torland and helps the college student athletes who compete annually in college sports. The organization is headquartered in Trowburgh, Lismane.
Founded in 1946 on recommendation by Torland President Josef Yusey, UTAC was created to oversee the collegiate basketball tournament and expanded to include all collegiate sports and athletics. Previously a smaller commission called UAC oversaw limited collegiate athletics from 1910-1945.
UTAC is comprised of 16 public, 15 private, 22 state, and 3 military schools which are organized into six athletic conferences plus four independents. All 56 schools participate in collegiate basketball. American football is further divided into First Conference (C1) and Second Conference (C2), while ice hockey programs belong to a single league irrespective of conference called the Torland Collegiate Hockey League (TCHL). Other sports are typically organized by conference.
The history of universities and colleges in Torland is tied directly to colonization and independence efforts. With so many universities and colleges now running in Torland with a variety of sports and athletics clubs, a commission was formed and simply called University Athletics Commission to oversee athletic activities.
President Josef Yusey's plan for Torland after WWII included an expansion of the university system in the country. Yusey spearheaded the formation of new technical schools with Cabriga Tech, Guilden Tech, and Turnbull Tech in 1944 and the full charter expansion with the 1946 additions of Estas A&M, JYU, and Warrington Tech, adding six technical and mechanical schools to the Torland system.
With the growing formation of sports clubs and collegiate athletics, the UAC was becoming outdated and outgrown so Yusey proposed a plan to establish a new commission, called Universities of Torland Athletics Commission (UTAC), to better organize and promote a new collegiate basketball tournament to be held in March at the end of the regular season, part of his master plan (called the Yusey Plan) to help spur growth and rebuilding efforts in Torland after the war. Later that same year the UAC was folded into the new UTAC and became the master governing body for all of Torland collegiate athletics.
Just months before his tragic assassination, president Thomas Earl Foster had enacted a new education bill that infused several government and state subsidies to higher education in Torland, including a reorganization of the rapidly expanding UTAC.
UTAC is organized into six conferences plus four independents.