Missouri Valley Conference

The MVC established in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association or MVIAA, 12 years after the Big Ten, the only Division I conference that is older. It is the third oldest college athletic conference in the United States, after the Big Ten conference and the NCAA Division III MIAA (Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association).[1] The MVIAA split and most of the larger schools formed a conference that retained the MVIAA name and ultimately became the Big Eight Conference in 1928. The smaller schools, plus Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, who joined the Big Eight in 1957), formed the MVC, who retained the old MVIAA's administrative staff. Both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date during the Big Eight's existence. The Big Eight merged with four Texas schools of the Southwest Conference to form the Big 12 Conference in 1996.[2]

MVC teams held a 74–27 non-conference record during the 2006–07 college basketball season, including a record of 44–1 at home. The Valley finished in the top six of the RPI and ahead of a BCS conference for the second consecutive year, while also garnering multiple NCAA bids for the ninth straight year and 12th of 14.[3]

The MVC has not sponsored football since 1985, when it was a hybrid I-A/I-AA (now FBS and FCS), respectively. However, five members have football programs in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) (known as the Gateway from 1985 to 2008) of Division I FCS, and a sixth and a seventh compete in another FCS conference, the Pioneer Football League. The Missouri Valley Conference shares its name with the MVFC, and the two also operate from the same headquarters complex in St. Louis; however, the two are separate administratively.

After weeks of speculation,[4][5] Wichita State announced on April 7, 2017, that it would leave the conference to join the American Athletic Conference starting with the 2017–18 season.[6] The conference announced it extended an invitation to Valparaiso University on May 9, 2017;[7] and on May 25, the MVC announced that Valparaiso would officially join the following July 1.[8]

1. C. E. McClung (1907–19??)[14]
2. Arthur (Artie) E. Eilers (1925–1957)[14]
3. Norvell Neve (1957–1969)[14][15]
4. DeWitt T. Weaver (1969–1972)[14]
5. Mickey Holmes (1972–1979)[16][14]
6. David Price (1979–1981)[17][14]
7. Richard D. Martin (1981–1985)[14]
8. James A. Haney (1985–1988)[18][14]
9. Doug Elgin (1988 – present)[14][19]

Former Missouri Valley Conference logo

The Missouri Valley Conference sponsors championship competition in seven men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[20] Dallas Baptist is an affiliate for baseball, Little Rock is an affiliate for swimming and diving, and Stony Brook is an affiliate in women's tennis.

The most recent change to the roster of sports was the dropping of men's tennis after the 2016–17 school year due to a lack of participating teams. Two of the four full conference members that sponsored the sport in that season no longer play men's tennis in the MVC. Southern Illinois dropped both men's and women's tennis,[21] and Wichita State joined the American Athletic Conference. Affiliate member Stony Brook dropped men's tennis after the 2016–17 season. The two remaining MVC men's tennis schools from 2016–17, Drake and Illinois State, joined the Summit League for that sport,[22] and incoming MVC member Valparaiso also joined the Summit League in men's tennis.

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Soccer	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total MVC Sports
Bradley	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	7
Drake	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	6
Evansville	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	7
Illinois State	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	6
Indiana State	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	5
Loyola	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	6
Missouri State	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N	4
UNI	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	5
Southern Illinois	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	6
Valparaiso	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	6
Totals	7+1[lower-alpha 1]	10	9	9	5+1[lower-alpha 2]	9	9	58+2

1. Baseball associate Dallas Baptist.
2. Men's Soccer associate SIU-Edwardsville.

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Missouri Valley Conference which are played by Valley schools:

School	Football	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Volleyball	Wrestling
Drake	Pioneer League	No	Summit	No	No
Evansville	No	MAC	No	No	No
Illinois State	MVFC	No	Summit	No	No
Indiana State	MVFC	No	No	No	No
Loyola	No	No	No	MIVA	No
Missouri State	MVFC	MAC	No	No	No
UNI	MVFC	No	No	No	Big 12
Southern Illinois	MVFC	MAC	No	No	No
Valparaiso	Pioneer League	Summit[lower-alpha 1]	No	No	No

1. Valparaiso does not include diving in its intercollegiate aquatics program.

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Soccer	Softball	Swimming	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball	Total MVC Sports
Bradley	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Drake	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Evansville	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	9
Illinois State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Indiana State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	9
Loyola	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Missouri State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
UNI	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Southern Illinois	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Valparaiso	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y[lower-alpha 1]	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Totals	10	10	10	9	10	7+1[lower-alpha 2]	6+1[lower-alpha 3]	10	10	10	92+2

1. Valparaiso does not include diving in its intercollegiate aquatics program for either men or women.
2. Swimming & diving associate Little Rock.
3. Tennis associate Stony Brook.

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Missouri Valley Conference which are played by Valley schools:

School	Beach volleyball	Bowling	Gymnastics	Rowing
Drake	No	No	No	MAAC
Illinois State	No	No	MIC	No
Missouri State	CCSA	No	No	No
Valparaiso	No	Southland Bowling	No	No

Note

1. For the football venues of schools who participate in the sport, see Facilities of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and Facilities of the Pioneer Football League.

The Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Championship is often referred to as Arch Madness, in reference to the Gateway Arch at the tournament's present location of St. Louis, Missouri, and a play on "March Madness".

NB: Missouri State was known as Southwest Missouri State until August 2005.

School – Number – NCAA Championships

• Bradley – 2 [24]
• Drake – 3 [24]
• Evansville – 0+5* [24]
• Illinois State – 0+1* [24]
• Indiana State – 1 [24]
• Loyola University Chicago – 3 [24]
• Missouri State – 0 +2* [24]
• UNI – 1+2* [24]
• Southern Illinois – 5+3* [24]
• Valparaiso – 0[24]

NCAA Championships as of March, 2013

(*-Titles won by schools in Division II/College Division prior to their moving to Division I in the late 1960s or early 1970s.)

Football poll, Helms and AIAW titles are not included in the NCAA Championship count.

Sources:[25][26][27]

The Valley is well known for having some of the most dedicated fanbases in all of college basketball, with several members regularly selling out their large arenas on a nightly basis throughout the year. Former member (Creighton) had the sixth highest attendance for Division I in 2012–13 while Bradley, Illinois State, Missouri State, and Indiana State were all among the NCAA's top 100 teams in home attendance.

In 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2012–13, the Valley maintained its position as the eighth ranked conference in average attendance.

The Valley made history in March 2007 with record attendance for four days at St. Louis' Scottrade Center as 85,074 fans turned out to watch the five sessions of the tournament. The two sellout crowds of 22,612 for the semifinals and final of the 2007 State Farm Tournament set an all-time attendance record for basketball at the arena and also gave The Valley the distinction of having the largest championship crowd for any of the 30 NCAA conference tournaments in 2007.[28]

• All MVC schools that currently play football are part of the Missouri Valley Football Conference except for Drake and Valparaiso, which play in the Pioneer Football League.

• Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame

• Official website