Great Lakes Valley Conference

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Great Lakes Valley Conference

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Location of GLVC members: full

The GLVC grew out of discussions that started in 1972 between the athletic directors of three schools in the greater Ohio Valley—Bellarmine College (now designated a university), Kentucky Wesleyan College, and Indiana State University at Evansville (known since 1985 as the University of Southern Indiana)—with the goal of forming a basketball conference. The discussions later grew to include the University of Indianapolis and Saint Joseph's College, and in 1978 these schools joined with Ashland University to form the GLVC. Two of the founding schools (Indianapolis and Southern Indiana) remain in the conference today.

The conference experienced steady growth through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The GLVC first expanded in 1980 with the addition of Lewis University, followed by Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW; the athletic program is now Purdue Fort Wayne) in 1984, Northern Kentucky University the following year, and Kentucky State University in 1989. The conference lost its first members in 1994 with the departure of Ashland and Kentucky State, but nonetheless increased in size that same year, adding Quincy University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) and the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. The University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) would join the next year.

The first part of the 21st century would see even more growth. While IPFW left in 2001 to move to Division I, the GLVC added three more members in 2005—Drury University, the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), and Rockhurst University.

In October 2008, Maryville University and The University of Illinois at Springfield accepted invitations to join the GLVC and began competing in the conference in the fall of 2009. They effectively replaced SIUE, which left for Division I in the summer of 2008. For men's and women's basketball, the league split into three divisions based on geography (East, North, and West) for the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons, and reverted to two divisions when William Jewell College joined in 2011. Baseball and tennis operate in a two-division format, while all other sports run a single table.

On January 19, 2010 the GLVC announced the addition of football as a league championship sport, beginning with the 2012 season. Kentucky Wesleyan, Missouri S&T and Saint Joseph's moved from the Great Lakes Football Conference, McKendree University and Quincy from the Mid-States Football Association of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and Indianapolis ended its affiliate membership in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) to join William Jewell and form the seven-team league.[1]

On October 6, 2010 it was announced that McKendree accepted an invitation to become the 17th full member of the GLVC and begin participating fully in the conference in 2012.[2] The following day, the conference announced that it had approved Central State University and Urbana University for associate membership in football, increasing the number of teams which would compete in the initial season of football to nine.[3]

On October 18, 2011 it was announced that a new league, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC; not to be confused with the former Division I Great Midwest Conference), was forming for 2013. Charter members included Kentucky Wesleyan from the GLVC along with Central State and Urbana (GLVC members in football). Joining them were Ursuline, Notre Dame College, and Cedarville, with the G-MAC hoping to expand to 10 members. The new conferences' sponsored sports were not immediately announced. Kentucky Wesleyan, with its eight national men's basketball titles, was the biggest loss for the GLVC, but, with only 680 students, the school had trouble competing in the other sports against much larger schools.

On December 8, 2011, Northern Kentucky officially accepted an invitation from the Division I Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) effective July 1, 2012.[4] It was announced on June 8, 2012 that the GLVC Council of Presidents had voted unanimously to accept Truman State University, located in Kirksville, Missouri into the conference. The Bulldogs began competition in the GLVC effective with the 2013–14 school year. Truman was a founding member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), and became the seventh Missouri school to join the GLVC since 1995.[5]

On August 27, 2012 it was announced that Central State University would leave the GLVC football conference to join the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) as a football-only member, effective July 1, 2013.[6] (Two years later, Central State would become an all-sports SIAC member.)

In 2014, two Missouri schools, Lincoln University and Southwest Baptist University, joined the GLVC in football while otherwise remaining MIAA members.[7]

On November 4, 2015, Drury announced it would begin sponsorship of wrestling in the 2016–17 season becoming the sixth conference member with a wrestling program. They joined then-current wrestling-only independents Indianapolis, Maryville, McKendree, Truman State, and Wisconsin–Parkside in GLVC competition, giving the conference an eleventh men's championship sport. Bellarmine announced on June 14, 2016 that it would absorb the wrestling program of St. Catharine College, which closed after the 2015–16 school year, and also begin competition in the 2016–17 season.[8]

St. Joseph's College closed after graduation in May 2017 due to financial troubles.[9]

The University of Wisconsin–Parkside left the GLVC after the 2017–18 academic year to join the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The conference announced on May 31, 2018 that Southwest Baptist would join as a full member from the MIAA from 2019–20.[10] The conference also announced on October 4, 2018 that Lindenwood University would join in 2019–20.[11]

Lincoln's football program had been scheduled to leave the GLVC to return to the MIAA in 2020. However, the school's membership agreement had an out clause stating that if the MIAA lost a football-playing member, Lincoln football would be allowed to immediately return to the MIAA with no penalty. Once Lindenwood was announced as a future GLVC member, the clause was activated, and Lincoln accordingly rejoined MIAA football in 2019.[7]

The most recent change to the conference's core membership was reported by Louisville media on June 17, 2019 and officially confirmed the next day. Bellarmine left the GLVC in 2020 to move to the ASUN Conference.[12][13] Less than a month later, the GLVC announced it would add two new varsity women's sports for 2019–20—bowling and lacrosse. The GLVC effectively absorbed the former MIAA bowling league; five of the inaugural GLVC bowling members had previously competed in the MIAA. Full members Drury, Lewis, Maryville, and McKendree were joined by associates Central Missouri, Lincoln, and Upper Iowa.[14] In lacrosse, the initial membership consists of seven full members—Indianapolis, Lewis, Lindenwood, Maryville, McKendree, Quincy, and Rockhurst.[15]

In November 2019, the conference announced Davenport University would join the GLVC as an affiliate member for men's lacrosse and wrestling starting in 2020–21.[16] In late June 2020, Lincoln announced that it would drop its bowling team.[17]

"Core sports" – sports that all full conference members are required to sponsor – are indicated with a green background.[18]

Conference sports

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	Y
Basketball	Y	Y
Bowling		Y
Cross Country	Y	Y
Football	Y
Golf	Y	Y
Lacrosse	Y	Y
Soccer	Y	Y
Softball		Y
Swimming & Diving	Y	Y
Tennis	Y	Y
Track & Field Indoor	Y	Y
Track & Field Outdoor	Y	Y
Volleyball		Y
Wrestling	Y

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Wrestling	Total GLVC Sports
Drury	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Illinois–Springfield	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y		Y	Y	Y		8
Indianapolis	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	12
Lewis	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		9
Lindenwood	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	12
Maryville	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	10
McKendree	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Missouri S&T	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y		9
Missouri–St. Louis	Y	Y			Y		Y	Y	Y				6
Quincy	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y		10
Rockhurst	Y	Y			Y	Y	Y		Y				6
Southern Indiana	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y		Y	Y	Y		8
Southwest Baptist	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y	Y	Y		9
Truman	Y	Y	Y	Y			Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
William Jewell	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		10
Totals	15	15	13	8	14	5	15	10	13	13	13	6	140
Affiliate Members
Alabama–Huntsville						Y							1
Davenport						Y						Y	2
Montevallo						Y							1
Ouachita Baptist												Y	1
Shorter						Y							1
Young Harris						Y							1

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Bowling[lower-alpha 1]	Cross Country	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Volleyball	Total GLVC Sports
Drury	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Illinois–Springfield	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Indianapolis	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Lewis	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	12
Lindenwood	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Maryville	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	12
McKendree	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	12
Missouri S&T	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y			Y	Y	Y	8
Missouri–St. Louis	Y			Y		Y	Y	Y	Y			Y	7
Quincy	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Rockhurst	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y			Y	8
Southern Indiana	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Southwest Baptist	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Truman	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
William Jewell	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Totals	15	5	14	15	7	15	15	9	14	13	13	15	149
Affiliate Members
Central Missouri		Y											1
Upper Iowa		Y											1

1. De facto Division I sport. The NCAA holds a single championship meet open to members of all divisions.

GLVC schools have won 28 NCAA Division II national championships:

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