Missouri Valley Football Conference
| Missouri Valley Football Conference | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established |
1982 (chartered)[1] 1985 (began football) |
| Association | NCAA |
| Division | Division I FCS |
| Members | 10 |
| Sports fielded | 1 (football) (men's: 1; women's: 0) |
| Region | Midwest |
| Former names |
Gateway Football Conference (1992–2008) Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (1982–1992) |
| Headquarters | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Commissioner | Patty Viverito (since 1982) |
| Website |
www |
| Locations | |
 | |
The Missouri Valley Football Conference (formerly the Gateway Football Conference) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference.
History
The Missouri Valley Football Conference has a convoluted history that involves three other conferences:
- Missouri Valley Conference (MVC): A long-established conference, in existence since 1907, that sponsored football until 1985. In its last years as a football conference, it was a hybrid league that included teams in NCAA Divisions I-A (today's FBS) and I-AA (now FCS).
- Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (Gateway): A women's sports conference founded in 1982 by MVC member schools.[1][2]
- Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU): An all-sports conference, also founded in 1982, that sponsored football at the I-AA level through the 1984 season. The AMCU had absorbed the Mid-Continent Athletic Association, a football-only league founded in 1978. (After dropping football, the AMCU later became the Mid-Continent Conference, and is now The Summit League.)
In 1985, the MVC stopped sponsoring football. At that time, the two remaining I-AA members from the MVC (Illinois State and Southern Illinois) joined Eastern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Southwest Missouri State, and Western Illinois from the AMCU and together became a football conference under the Gateway's auspices.[3] Indiana State, which had left MVC football after the 1981 season to become a Division I-AA independent while remaining a full MVC member, would join the next year.[4]
In 1992, when the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference merged with the MVC,[1] the football conference kept the Gateway charter, with a minor name change to Gateway Football Conference. After Eastern Illinois joined the Ohio Valley Conference for football in 1995, Youngstown State joined in 1997 and was followed by Western Kentucky University in 2001. Southwest Missouri State changed its name to Missouri State in 2005.
Western Kentucky moved to the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A) after the 2006 season.[5] Left with seven members for the 2007 season, Great West Football Conference members North Dakota State and South Dakota State[6] were invited to join the conference beginning with the 2008 season.[7] Subsequently, the Gateway Football Conference changed its name to the Missouri Valley Football Conference in June 2008. This change aligned the conference with the Missouri Valley Conference, a conference in which five of the nine Missouri Valley Football schools were (and still are) all-sports members. The conferences continue to share the "Missouri Valley" name but remain separate administratively.[8]
The University of South Dakota joined as the 10th member in 2012.
Member schools
Current members
Former members
| Institution | Location | Founded | Type | Enrollment | Joined | Left | Nickname | Primary Conference during Tenure in MVFC |
Current Primary Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Illinois University | Charleston, Illinois | 1895 | Public | 11,651 | 1985 | 1995 | Panthers | Summit | OVC |
| Western Kentucky University | Bowling Green, Kentucky | 1906 | Public | 21,048 | 2001 | 2007 | Hilltoppers | Sun Belt | C-USA |
Membership timeline
Champions
- 1985: Northern Iowa (5-0)
- 1986: Eastern Illinois (5-1)
- 1987: Northern Iowa (6-0)
- 1988: Western Illinois (6-0)
- 1989: Missouri State (5-1)
- 1990: Missouri State & Northern Iowa (5-1)
- 1991: Northern Iowa (5-1)
- 1992: Northern Iowa (5-1)
- 1993: Northern Iowa (5-1)
- 1994: Northern Iowa (6-0)
- 1995: Eastern Illinois & Northern Iowa (5-1)
- 1996: Northern Iowa (6-0)
- 1997: Western Illinois (6-0)
- 1998: Western Illinois (5-1)
- 1999: Illinois State (6-0)
- 2000: Western Illinois (5-1)
- 2001: Northern Iowa (6-1)
- 2002: Western Illinois & WKU (6-1)
- 2003: Northern Iowa & Southern Illinois (6-1)
- 2004: Southern Illinois (7-0)
- 2005: Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, & Youngstown State (5-2)
- 2006: Youngstown State (6-1)
- 2007: Northern Iowa (6-0)
- 2008: Southern Illinois & Northern Iowa (7-1)
- 2009: Southern Illinois (8-0)
- 2010: Northern Iowa (6-2)
- 2011: North Dakota State (7-1) & Northern Iowa (7-1)
- 2012: North Dakota State (7-1)
- 2013: North Dakota State (8-0)
- 2014: Illinois State (7-1) & North Dakota State (7-1)
- 2015: Illinois State (7-1) & North Dakota State (7-1)
Conference titles by school
| School | Championships | Championship Years |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Iowa | |
1985, 1987, 1990†, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995†, 1996, 2001, 2003†, 2005‡, 2007, 2008†, 2010, 2011† |
| North Dakota State | |
2011†, 2012, 2013, 2014†, 2015† |
| Southern Illinois | |
2003†. 2004, 2005‡, 2008†, 2009 |
| Western Illinois | |
1988, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002† |
| Illinois State | |
1999, 2014†, 2015† |
| Missouri State | |
1989, 1990† |
| Eastern Illinois | |
1986, 1995† |
| Youngstown State | |
2005‡, 2006 |
| Western Kentucky | |
2002† |
| Indiana State | |
N/A |
| South Dakota State | |
N/A |
| South Dakota | |
N/A |
† 2-way tie for conference championship
‡ 3-way tie for conference championship
NCAA Football Championship Subdivision national championships
| Team | Titles | Title Years | Finals | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota State | 5 | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 | 5 | |
| Youngstown State | 4 | 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997 | 6 | 1992, 1999 |
| Southern Illinois | 1 | 1983 | 1 | |
| WKU♯ | 1 | 2002 | 1 | |
| Northern Iowa | 0 | 1 | 2005 | |
| Illinois State | 0 | 1 | 2014 | |
♯ Now a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
Facilities
| School | Football Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois State | Hancock Stadium | 13,391 |
| Indiana State | Memorial Stadium | 12,764 |
| Missouri State | Plaster Sports Complex | 17,500 |
| North Dakota State | Fargodome | 19,000 |
| Northern Iowa | UNI-Dome | 16,324 |
| South Dakota | DakotaDome | 10,000 |
| South Dakota State | Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium | 19,340 |
| Southern Illinois | Saluki Stadium | 15,000 |
| Western Illinois | Hanson Field | 17,168 |
| Youngstown State | Stambaugh Stadium | 20,630 |
References
- 1 2 3 "This is the Missouri Valley Conference". Missouri Valley Conference. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ↑ "Gateway Conference Adding Six Teams in Men's Football". St. Louis, Missouri: Los Angeles Times. August 25, 1985. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ↑ "Universities plan new football conference". Carbondale, Illinois: St. Joseph Gazette. July 9, 1985. p. 2G. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
- ↑ "Indiana State Historical Data". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
- ↑ "WKU Regents Approve Move To Division 1-A (sic) Football". Western Kentucky University. 2006-11-02. Retrieved 2006-11-03.
- ↑ "Gateway Eyes Dakotas For Expansion". ESPN. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
- ↑ "Gateway Expands to Nine Members". Gateway Football Conference. 2007-03-07. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
- ↑ "Gateway Football Conference Changes Its Name". Gateway Football Conference. 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
External links
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