History of NCAA Conference Realignment and the Big East

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

The Big East is not considering expansion for the foreseeable future, and this is not another Big East expansion thread, but rather, a historical information thread. My compliments to billyjack for sparking the idea with his Seton Hall History thread.

I’ll begin with a look at the NCAA Division I conferences as they presently exist:

List of NCAA Conferences – Wikipedia

Football Bowl Subdivision
Football Championship Subdivision
Non-football, multi-sport conferences (including the Big East)

The following article contains a huge, comprehensive, interactive graphic. Please note that you can move the cursor to any of the lines in the graphic, and it will identify the specific university represented by that line. If you click on any line, it will be highlighted in yellow and the university’s name will appear in the school identification box at the top-right of the graphic.

Tracing the History of N.C.A.A. Conferences – The New York Times - November 30, 2013

A frenzy of realignment has transformed college athletics: about one in four major football programs has switched conferences since 2010. The effects are only starting to play out as programs build new infrastructure to televise and market their programs, especially in up-and-coming conferences. As conferences have become essential to stay competitive, the number of unaffiliated major schools has declined sharply. Here, how major college football programs have shifted since 1965.

The following lengthy article contains a one-webpage summary of the FBS Conferences and realignment for 17 consecutive years, from 1997 through 2013:

A Timeline of College Football Conference Realignment over the BCS Era – Bleacher Report - July 2, 2014

How many programs do you think changed conferences in the BCS era? Think about it: The BCS lasted from 1998 to 2013—that’s 16 seasons in an FBS that began the era with 112 members.

Would you guess 25, 30 or even 50? Well, how about 78? That’s right, 78 programs moved conferences in the BCS era — some more than once — a tribute to the skyrocketing popularity of college football and the ever-increasing pot of money at the center of the sport. Take a look at the astonishing volume of change that occurred in the 16 years the BCS ruled the world.

1997
FBS Programs: 112
Number of Conferences: 10
Number of Independents: 9

Here’s a quick look at how the FBS conferences looked the year before the BCS kicked off in 1998:

Big East (eight members): Boston College, Miami (Fla.), Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

2005 NCAA Conference Realignment - Wikipedia

The 2005 NCAA conference realignment was initiated by the movement of three Big East Conference teams (Boston College, University of Miami, and Virginia Tech) to the Atlantic Coast Conference set into motion events that created a realignment in college football, as 23 teams changed conferences and Army became an independent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next, on to the ECAC Tournaments and the Big East Conference.

ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments 1975-1982 - Wikipedia

From 1975 to 1982, the ECAC organized annual regional end-of-season men's basketball tournaments for independent Division I ECAC member colleges and universities in the Northeastern United States. The winner of each regional tournament was declared the ECAC regional champion for the season and received an automatic bid in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.

Before 1975, the ECAC had not organized such tournaments for Division I schools; the NCAA Tournament invited only one team per Division I conference and accommodated independents with a limited number of at-large bids. In 1975, however, the NCAA Tournament's field expanded to 32 teams, including the champions of end-of-season conference tournaments, who received automatic bids.

Although a number of at-large bids still existed, the process for selecting the field for the 1975 NCAA Tournament included many second-place conference teams and threatened to exclude independent schools in the northeastern United States, which had no end-of-season conference tournament to play in and therefore no automatic bids. With no conventional athletic conferences yet in existence in the Northeast, the ECAC began to organize its Division I basketball tournaments in 1975, allowing Northeastern independents to retain their independent status while still having an opportunity to play in an end-of-season tournament offering an automatic bid. The ECAC Division I tournaments thus assured that at least some Northeastern colleges and universities would receive NCAA Tournament bids.

Big East Conference (1979–2013) - Wikipedia

The Big East, often referred to as the Classic Big East, was founded in 1979 after new NCAA basketball scheduling requirements caused the athletic directors of independent schools Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse to discuss the creation of a conference centered in the Northeast.

Other schools invited were Seton Hall, Connecticut, Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College, with Rutgers and Holy Cross declining to join.

Villanova joined a year later in 1980, with Marquette and DePaul joining the Big East in 2005.

Before the formation of the conference, many of these schools participated in the ECAC Men's Basketball Tournament in order to receive an automatic bid for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

2010–13 Big East Conference Realignment - Wikipedia

Big East Conference (2013-Present) - Wikipedia

BIG EAST Conference History - BIG EAST Conference - June 30, 2015

[gosports1]

Actually Villanova was invited and accepted in year one. They wanted to wait a year to give their conference at the time some notice they were leaving (eastern 8 I believe) Nova technically was the 5th/6th school to AGREE to join to the BE (along with seton hall. these two were replacements when temple and Rutgers said no) BC was next at 7 and last was UConn

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

New England Conference - Wikipedia

Established: 1923
Dissolved: 1947
Association: NCAA
Division: Division I
Region: Northeastern United States

The conference had five members - four of them public land-grant institutions, and the other the private Northeastern University. Specifically, the four public schools in the conference were what are now known as the Universities of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. When Northeastern left the conference in 1945, the four remaining members plus New England's two other major public land-grant institutions, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Vermont, formed the Yankee Conference under a new charter, officially beginning play in 1947.

Members:
• Connecticut State College (now University of Connecticut)
• University of Maine
• University of New Hampshire
• Northeastern University
• Rhode Island State College (now University of Rhode Island)

Yankee Conference - Wikipedia

Established: 1946
Dissolved: 1997
Association: NCAA
Division: Division I
Region: Northeastern United States

The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. It once sponsored competition in many sports, but eventually became a football-only league. It is essentially an ancestor of today's Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) football conference.

In 1945, Northeastern University, the only private school in the New England Conference, announced its departure. This led the remaining four members, all land-grant universities in New England, to form a committee to explore the formation of a new conference. The committee recommended that the four current members join with two New England land-grant institutions, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Vermont. This led to the formation of the Yankee Conference in 1946, with athletic competition beginning in the 1947–48 school year. In 1971, the College of the Holy Cross joined the conference in football for only a year, and in 1974, Vermont dropped its football program.

Charter Members:
• University of Connecticut
• University of Maine
• University of Massachusetts Amherst (then Massachusetts State College)
• University of New Hampshire
• University of Rhode Island (then Rhode Island State College)
• University of Vermont

Atlantic 10 Conference - Wikipedia

Established: 1976
Association: NCAA
Division: Division I non-football
Region: Eastern United States, Midwestern United States
Former Names:
• Eastern Collegiate Basketball League (1976–77)
• Eastern Athletic Association (1977–82)
• Eastern 8 (unofficial, 1976–82)

The Atlantic 10 Conference was founded in 1975 as the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League (ECBL) and began conference play in 1976. At that time, basketball was its only sport. After its first season, it added sports other than basketball and changed its name to the Eastern Athletic Association. However, despite its official names, it was popularly known as the Eastern 8, as it then had eight members (Villanova, Duquesne, Penn State, West Virginia, George Washington, Massachusetts, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers). Charter members Villanova and Pittsburgh left in 1980 and 1982, respectively.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Actually Villanova was invited and accepted in year one. They wanted to wait a year to give their conference at the time some notice they were leaving (Eastern 8 I believe). Nova technically was the 5th/6th school to AGREE to join to the BE (along with Seton Hall).

Thank you for the clarification. I hadn't heard that before, but it sounds entirely reasonable.

Other schools invited were Seton Hall, Connecticut, Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College, with Rutgers and Holy Cross declining to join.

... these two were replacements when Temple and Rutgers said "no" ...

Temple was never invited to join the Big East as a full member, despite their strong interest in doing so.

Temple in Talks to Join Big East - Pete Thamel, The New York Times - February 22, 2012

The Big East is in discussions to add Temple for all sports as early as the next school year, according to a person briefed on the talks. Temple belongs to the Mid-American Conference and the Atlantic 10 in various sports, and there are legal issues that have to be settled before the Owls would be able to leave. A resolution is expected this month.

Within the next month, Temple will also have to inform the new conference formed by the merger of the Mountain West and Conference USA of its intentions. Temple has been asked to join that league. Temple is a former member of the Big East in football. It was thrown out in 2004 for consistently underperforming.

Did Villanova veto Temple's inclusion in the Big East?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Holy Cross turned down their invitation because the school’s president, the Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., vetoed the move for academic reasons.

Holy Cross Was Once King of Hoops - SportsLifer's Weblog - March 14, 2009

Glory Days

Once upon a time, Holy Cross (my alma mater) - a small Jesuit college located in Worcester, Mass., with undergraduate enrollment around 2,700 - was the best team in the country. In 1947, the Crusaders, behind coach Doggie Julian, NCAA tournament MVP George Kaftan and a freshman point guard named Bob Cousy beat Oklahoma at Madison Square Garden to win the NCAA Championship. The Crusaders finished third in the tournament the following year, and were ranked No. 1 in the 1949-1950 campaign as they won 26 straight games to start the season.

In 1954, Holy Cross won the NIT back in the days when that meant something. Heinsohn and Cousy, below, are Hall of Famers, two key players in the Boston Celtics dynasty of the late 50's and 60's. As late as 1977, Holy Cross was still considered a national power. That year, HC knocked off a good Providence team twice on last-second shots by forward Chris Potter, and led top-ranked Michigan at the half in the first round of the NCAA tournament before running out of gas down the stretch.

Holy Cross and the Big East

When the Big East was founded in 1979, Holy Cross could have been a charter member. Providence, St. John’s, Georgetown, Syracuse and Seton Hall, all teams that Holy Cross once played on a regular basis, agreed to start the Big East, but the league needed more New England representation

However, athletic directors at Holy Cross, Boston College, Rhode Island, and Connecticut agreed all four schools would remain a block. Take `em all or get none. If they couldn’t be separated, and the conference wanted the Boston market, which, of course, it needed, there would be a big league.

“Connecticut had been very good in the Yankee Conference. Boston College and Holy Cross was a toss up; actually, Holy Cross had the better basketball tradition. But their president couldn’t be convinced,” said the first Big East commissioner, Dave Gavitt, about the league’s founding. “He felt academics would be compromised.” Former St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca spoke to me about these inside Big East formative dealings during a talk at the 2007 East Regionals at the Meadowlands. He told me that Holy Cross was supposed to join the Big East, but the school’s president, the Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., vetoed the move for academic reasons.

Eventually, both Boston College and UConn agreed to join, making the Big East a seven-team league in the inaugural 1979-80 campaign.

Holy Cross remained independent for several seasons, but eventually joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to start the 1983-84 season. Seven years later, Holy Cross joined the Patriot League.

[billyjack]

Where were you guys on October 12, 2016 at 4pm...? Me, i was losing precious seconds off my life arguing with UConn fans over at that other site.

They were bragging about their many pre-BE NCAA bids, implying they were a national power or something back in the 50's or 60's. UConn had a good program for a long time, but they were getting autobids out of the equivalent of today's America East, only worse.

Anyway, here's more offseason information, from a post of mine that other site. Basically if a thread of lies over there continues for 7 pages or more, i kinda snap. I may have previously posted this here, but I'm so scatterbrained that i've forgotten.


http://csnbbs.com/post-13673072.html

YANKEE CONFERENCE HISTORY:
So for those who don't know, the Yankee Conference was made up of 6 schools (the 6 New England state universities, some on occasion were considered non-major), from 1938 thru 1972.

In 1973 thru 1976, the Yankee had a 7th team, Boston University.

In 1977, UMass joined what is now the Atlantic-10, and the other remaining 6 Yankee schools basically blended in with the ECAC New England Conference schools (this group included Providence, Boston College, Holy Cross, Fairfield, those guys). These guys all acted as a group of indies, from 1977 thru 1979.

THESE WERE THE YANKEE CONFERENCE SCHOOLS (1938 thru 1976):
UConn.
Rhode Island.
UMass.
New Hampshire.
Vermont.
Maine.
Boston University (1973 thru 1976).

Generally, the Yankee conference would get an auto-bid to the NCAA's in the 50's and 60's. From 1938 thru the late 60's, again generally, only 2 teams had a pulse... UConn and URI, and a little bit of UMass.

New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine were possibly not even considered majors. Maine and New Hampshire... I think neither has ever made the NCAA's in their entire history including up to 2016. Vermont has made 5 NCAA's in their history, but none were made in the 20th century.

So in the 50's and 60's, making the NCAA's out of the Yankee was a breeze. And typically the Yankee rep would get bounced in their first game. I don't have NIT results handy, but URI I know had some success in the 40's under Frank Keaney (invented the fast break!).

From what I can tell, in only 1 year was a Yankee Conference team ever ranked in the Top-20... in 1954 UConn was ranked #18 in January and #19 in early March.

At a certain point, it looks like in 1968, the Yankee lost its auto-bid. From 1968 thru 1975, no Yankee team made the NCAA's. UConn to their credit did make the NCAA's in 1976, upsetting Providence in the New England finals.

YANKEE CONFERENCE HISTORY IN THE NCAA's:
1938 thru 1950: no bids.
1951: UConn L vs St John's.
1952: no bid.
1953: no bid.
1954: UConn L vs Navy.

1955: no bid.
1956: UConn W vs Manhattan, L vs Temple.
1957: UConn L vs Syracuse.
1958: UConn L vs Dartmouth.
1959: UConn L vs Boston University.

1960: UConn L vs NYU.
1961: Rhode Island L vs St Bonaventure.
1962: UMass L vs NYU.
1963: UConn L vs West Virginia.
1964: UConn W vs Temple, W vs Princeton, L vs Duke. <-- Elite-8.

1965: UConn L vs St Joe's.
1966: Rhode Island L vs Davidson.
1967: UConn L vs Boston College.
1968: no bid.
1969: no bid.

1970: no bid.
1971: no bid.
1972. no bid.
1973: no bid.
1974: no bid.

1975: no bid.
1976: UConn W vs Hofstra, L vs Rutgers. <-- Sweet-16.

So if I've added correctly, this was a 4-15 Yankee Conference record in the NCAA's. One of those was the 1976 PIG vs Hofstra to get to a game vs undefeated Rutgers.

- Dr J at UMass (left in 1971) never made an NCAA tourney. UMass was never ranked.

- Sly Williams played at URI after the Yankee Conference melted away (he played at URI from 77 thru 79, led them to the NCAA's in 78 where they lost to runner-up Duke by a point).

- UConn was good in 79 and made the NCAA's behind freshman Corny Thompson... L vs Syracuse with Louie and Bouie, in Providence.

That's it... so the lines bragging about UConn making X amount of tourneys in the pre-Big East is crazy. I mean, they didn't completely suck or something, but it would be like an Albany Great Danes fan bragging to a high major school about how many NCAA's they've made... I mean, c'mon!

[billyjack]

Earlier in that thread from the other site, in addition to bragging about their NCAA bids out of the freakin Yankee Conference, they also tried to convince people that they were a BE power in the 80's...

So i wrote up the post below, and even got some props from Stever...!


http://csnbbs.com/thread-794071-page-7.html

I've been avoiding this thread for 7 pages.

I can't take it anymore... stop rewriting history UConn fans... this is why people go nuts arguing with you, because you talk as if college hoops began in 1999 or 1990, and you make stuff up that can easily be checked. This has been discussed hundreds of times on this site.

For those a little younger that didn't live through this:

- UConn was a bottom feeder in the 1980's Big East... along with Providence and Seton Hall in the early 80's, and Boston College in the late 80's.

- UConn did not finish in the top half of the Big East in the first 4 years. They finished 4th of 7 in 1980 (going 3-3), and finished in the bottom third of the conference the last 9 years.

UCONN IN THE 80's BIG EAST:
1980: 4th out of 7... so, exact middle in 80 with a 6 game schedule.
1981: 5th out of 8.
1982: 6th out of 8.
1983: 7th out of 9.
1984: 7th out of 9.
1985: 7th out of 9.
1986: 8th out of 9.
1987: 8th out of 9. <-- Calhoun arrives.
1988: 9th out of 9. <-- won NIT, showing the depth of the Big East.
1989: 7th out of 9.

- so UConn finished in the bottom 3 of the conference in the last 8 years of the 80's (typically with PC, Seton Hall and/or BC).

- in Calhoun's first 3 years at UConn, they still sucked (relatively speaking in the Big East).

- UConn's 11 of so NCAA appearances in the 50's and 60's came via an auto-bid out of the Yankee conference, which is basically the current-day America East, only worse. So each year it was between UConn and Rhody for the auto-bid, and they rarely advanced in the tourney, maybe in only 2 of those NCAA's did they win a game.

- UConn was the last of the original BE-9 to make the NCAA's coming out of the Big East, earning a bid in their 11th Big East season.

- the biggest accomplishment of UConn in the 80's was winning the NIT after finishing last in the Big East... this proved that the conference had unbelievable depth. That is all you did in the 80's.

- In the time it took UConn to make an NCAA out of the Big East (1990), each of the 5 Catholic leeches made the Final Four or better in that period... plus Syracuse and BC added to the trophy case:

Georgetown (NC 84... NF 82,85... E-8 in 80, 87, 89).
Villanova (NC 85... E-8 in 82, 83, 88).
St John's (F4 85... S16 in 83).
Syracuse (NF 87... E-8 in 89... S16 in 80 and 84).
Providence (F4 87).
Seton Hall (NF 89).
Boston College (E-8 in 82... S16 in 81, 83, and 85).
Pitt (Final 32 in 88?).
UConn (no NCAA's).

Jim Calhoun himself has said that if it wasn't for the Big East and Gavitt and the success of the entire conference, then UConn would never have had the National Championships over the last 15-20 years.

Sportswriters and talking heads always have an opinion, and usually they're wrong. By the late 80's their wrong opinions included the discussion in the Big East of whether or not a Big East school in a small town (Storrs) could compete with and recruit against big city schools in the conference. There were legitimate concerns that UConn could never compete in the Big East as it was composed in the late 80's. That was an idiotic argument, as Calhoun proved over the last 25 years.

[note that Calhoun wanted the Providence job in 1986 (he had a great run at Northeastern, went to UConn in 87), but we hired Pitino instead... that is a big what-if in Friar history... hire Pitino who would give us a quick jump to the Final Four but who wanted to coach the Knicks... or hire a loyal New Englander who would build a program for the long term like Calhoun... looking back, Calhoun was definitely the better choice].

The current day idiotic argument is that only schools with football can compete in basketball. Villanova among others have proved this to be false.

Anyway...

I would love to have UConn join the Big East, though the American is a good conference with some great programs.

Part of me thinks that the quickest way for UConn to get to the ACC is if they actually go indy in football (sign a deal with FS1) and BE in hoops (join us at FS1)... the Big East would be a top conference each year, and the 11 BE schools would continue to have a great time at MSG in the BET... this would get the ACC blowhards to foam at the mouth, getting them to try to break us up again, and trying to do this by stealing UConn.

more... hey, it's the off-season...!

In no year in the 80's were they even on the NCAA bubble.
They were ranked for 3 total weeks, no higher than #18.
- in 1981 for 2 weeks in January, at #20.
- in 1989 for 1 week, in December, at #18.

UCONN IN THE BIG EAST TOURNAMENT IN THE 80's
1980: W vs Boston College, L to Syracuse by 31 pts.
1981: L vs Villanova.
1982: L vs St John's <-- in Hartford.
1983: L vs Villanova.
1984: L vs Syracuse.
1985: L vs Georgetown.
1986: L vs Seton Hall <-- 8-9 play-in game.
1987: L vs Boston College <-- 8-9 play-in game.
1988: W vs Providence <-- 8-9 play-in game, L vs Pitt by 17 pts.
1989: L vs Seton Hall.

So, 2-10 in 10 BET's, with 1 win coming in the 8-9 game.
UConn made 1 semifinal, in 1980, losing by 31 points (hey, I was actually at that game). Played in 3 play-in games

[GoldenWarrior11]

Speaking of the other site, current golden gems being argued about are:

Whether Georgetown is a Blue Blood (with George Washington and ACC fans beating their chests and definitively arguing no)
Whether UConn's Women's Basketball team's success should be considered for expansion
Stever bashing admins here because of the way posters here think

In summary, it's just another average day of there...

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

billyjack - thank you for your posts above. They contain a wealth of interesting information.

American Athletic Conference - Wikipedia

Established: May 31, 1979
Association: NCAA
Division: Division I FBS
Members: 12
Regions: Too many to list
Former Name: Big East (1979–2013)
Headquarters: Providence, Rhode Island



The American Athletic Conference (also known as The American and sometimes abbreviated AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 12 member universities and three associate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, with its football teams competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Member universities represent a range of private and public universities of various enrollment sizes located primarily in urban metropolitan areas in the Northeastern, Midwestern, Western, and Southern regions of the United States.

The American's legal predecessor, the original Big East Conference, was considered one of the six collegiate power conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era in college football, and The American inherited that status in the BCS's final season. With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, The American became a "Group of Five" conference, which shares one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games.

The league is the product of substantial turmoil in the old Big East during the 2010–14 conference realignment period. It is one of two conferences to emerge from the all-sports Big East in 2013. While the other successor, which does not sponsor football, purchased the Big East Conference name, The American inherited the old Big East's structure and is that conference's legal successor. However, both conferences claim 1979 as their founding date, and the same history up to 2013.

Related HLOH threads:

Conference Realignment Thread v. 2014 – 325 posts dated November 17, 2014 to March 30, 2015

Conference Realignment Thread v. 2015 – 1703 posts dated April 2, 2015 to March 21, 2016

Conference Realignment Thread v. 2016 – 1109 posts dated March 25, 2016 to January 3, 2017

Conference Realignment Thread v. 2017 - 461 posts dated January 1 to June 22, 2017

UConn to the Big East? Rumors and Discussion Thread - 214 posts dated February 15 to March 12, 2017

Article on what's wrong with UConn recruiting - 58 posts dated June 6 to June 13, 2017

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Missouri Valley Conference - Wikipedia

Established: 1907
Association: NCAA
Division: Division I non-football
Members: 10
Region: Midwestern United States
Headquarters: St. Louis, Missouri



The Missouri Valley Conference is the second-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The MVC was founded in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA), 12 years after the Big Ten, the only Division I conference that is older. However, some consider the MVC to have been formed from a split of the MVIAA in 1928. Most of the larger schools formed a conference that retained the MVIAA name and ultimately became the Big Eight Conference. The smaller schools, plus Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University, which joined the Big Eight in 1957), formed the MVC.

During the Big Eight's existence, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, as well as the same history through 1927. It was never definitively established which conference was the original, but given that the Big Eight merged with four Texas schools of the Southwest Conference to form the Big 12 Conference in 1996, only the MVC continues to have a claim to the original heritage.

Charter Members:
• Drake University (1907-Present*)
• University of Iowa (1907-1908)
• Iowa State University (1907-1928)
• University of Kansas (1907-1928)
• University of Missouri (1907-1928)
• University of Nebraska (1907-1928)
• Washington University - St. Louis (1907-1942)

* Drake withdrew from the MVC during the 1951–52 academic year in protest over the Johnny Bright incident, a racially motivated on-field attack by an Oklahoma A&M football player against Drake player Johnny Bright in a 1951 game. Drake returned to the MVC for non-football sports in the 1956–57 school year and Drake did not return for football until 1971.

Former Members:
• Butler University (1932-1934)
• University of Cincinnati (1957-1969)
• Creighton University (1928-1948 and 1976-2013)
• University of Detroit-Mercy (1949-1956)
• Grinnell College (1918-1939)
• University of Houston (1951-1959)
• Kansas State University (1913-1928)
• University of Louisville (1963-1974)
• University of Memphis (1968-1973)
• New Mexico State University (1970-1983)
• University of North Texas (1957-1974)
• University of Oklahoma (1919-1928)
• Oklahoma A&M University (1925-1956)
• Saint Louis University (1937-1974)
• University of Tulsa (1935-1996)
• Washburn University (1935-1942)
• West Texas A&M University (1972-1985)
• Wichita State University (1949-2017)

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Horizon League - Wikipedia

Established: 1979
Association: NCAA
Division: Division I non-football
Members: 10
Region: Great Lakes and Ohio Valley
Headquarters: Indianapolis, Indiana
Former Names:
• Midwestern City Conference (1979–1985)
• Midwestern Collegiate Conference (1985–2001)



The Horizon League was founded in 1979 as the Midwestern City Conference. In 1985, the conference changed its name to Midwestern Collegiate Conference and then the Horizon League in 2001. The conference started with a membership of six teams and has fluctuated in size with 24 different schools as members at different times. Currently, the League has 10 members, following Valparaiso leaving to join the Missouri Valley Conference and IUPUI joining the league on July 1, 2017. The Horizon League does not sponsor football.

In May 1978, DePaul University hosted a meeting with representatives from Bradley, Dayton, Detroit, Illinois State, Loyola-Chicago, Air Force, and Xavier in which all agreed in principle that a new athletic conference was needed. Further progress was made through a series of early 1979 meetings in San Francisco, Chicago, and St. Louis that included participation by Butler, Creighton, Marquette, and Oral Roberts. On June 16, 1979, the Midwestern City Conference (nicknamed the MCC or Midwestern City 6) was formed by charter members Butler, Evansville, Loyola, Oklahoma City, Oral Roberts, and Xavier, with Detroit joining the following year.

In 1980 the league established its headquarters in Champaign, Illinois. The MCC gained an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in 1981, followed by the announcement that Saint Louis University would be joining the following season. The University of Notre Dame joined the conference for all sports except basketball and football in 1982. The conference moved its headquarters to Indianapolis. In the summer of 1985, three changes occurred: Oklahoma City dropped out of the NCAA altogether; the name was altered slightly to Midwestern Collegiate Conference; and the conference brought women's athletics into the fold. The latter triggered Notre Dame's temporary withdrawal from the league as its women's teams were contracted to the North Star Conference. ESPN began televising the MCC Championship game in 1986 and in 1987 Oral Roberts left the conference while Dayton joined and Notre Dame rejoined.

Former Members:
• Butler University (1979-2012)
• University of Dayton (1987-1993)
• Duquesne University (1992-1993)
• University of Evansville (1979-1994)
• La Salle University (1992-1995)
• Loyola University Chicago (1979-2013)
• Marquette University (1988/1989 -1991)
• Northern Illinois University (1994-1997)
• University of Notre Dame (1982-1986 and 1987/1988-1995*)
• Oklahoma City University (1979-1985)
• Oral Roberts University (1979-1987)
• Saint Louis University (1981/1982-1991)
• Valparaiso University (2007-2017)
• Xavier University (1979-1995)

* Notre Dame rejoined the Horizon League for all men's sports except basketball after a season as an Independent. Its women's sports, which had been in the North Star Conference since the 1983–84 school year, moved to the Horizon League beginning the following season (1988–89).

It’s interesting that DePaul apparently initiated the formation of the Midwestern City Conference, but never joined it.