Great Lakes Valley Conference


The Great Lakes Valley Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated at the National Collegiate Athletic Association 's Division II level. Its fifteen member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri. There are also eight affiliate members who participate in sports not sponsored by their home conferences.

History

The GLVC grew out of discussions that started in 1972 between the athletic directors of three schools in the greater Ohio Valley—Bellarmine College, Kentucky Wesleyan College, and Indiana State University at Evansville —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 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 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 and the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. The University of Missouri–St. Louis 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, 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 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 and Indianapolis ended its affiliate membership in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to join William Jewell and form the seven-team league.
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. 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.
On October 18, 2011 it was announced that a new league, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, was forming for 2013. Charter members included Kentucky Wesleyan from the GLVC along with Central State and Urbana. 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 effective July 1, 2012. 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, and became the seventh Missouri school to join the GLVC since 1995.
On August 27, 2012 it was announced that Central State University would leave the GLVC football conference to join the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as a football-only member, effective July 1, 2013.
In 2014, two Missouri schools, Lincoln University and Southwest Baptist University, joined the GLVC in football while otherwise remaining MIAA members.
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.
St. Joseph's College closed after graduation in May 2017 due to financial troubles.
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. The conference also announced on October 4, 2018 that Lindenwood University would join in 2019–20.
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.
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. 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. In lacrosse, the initial membership consists of seven full members—Indianapolis, Lewis, Lindenwood, Maryville, McKendree, Quincy, and Rockhurst.
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. In late June 2020, Lincoln announced that it would drop its bowling team.

Membership

Current members

Affiliate members

Years listed in this table are calendar years. For schools that play only spring sports in the GLVC, the calendar year of arrival precedes the first season of competition.
InstitutionLocationFoundedTypeEnrollmentNicknameColorsJoinedSportPrimary
Conference
Huntsville, Alabama1969Public9,736Chargers2017lacrosse Gulf South
University of Central MissouriWarrensburg, Missouri1871Public14,148Jennies2019bowling MIAA
Davenport UniversityGrand Rapids, Michigan1866Private7,232Panthers2020 lacrosse
wrestling		GLIAC
Montevallo, Alabama1896Public2,616Falcons2017lacrosse Gulf South
Ouachita Baptist UniversityArkadelphia, Arkansas1886Private1,569Tigers2018wrestlingGreat American
Shorter UniversityRome, Georgia1873Private1,452Hawks2017lacrosse Gulf South
Upper Iowa UniversityFayette, Iowa1857Private 6,764Peacocks2019bowling Northern Sun
Young Harris CollegeYoung Harris, Georgia1886Private1,425Mountain Lions2017lacrosse Peach Belt

Former members

Former affiliate members

Years listed in this table reflect calendar years. For fall sports, the calendar year of departure is the year after the last season of competition. For spring sports, the calendar year of arrival precedes the first season of competition.
InstitutionLocationFoundedNicknameJoinedLeftSportPrimary
Conference
Central State UniversityWilberforce, Ohio1887Marauders20122013footballSouthern Intercollegiate
Lincoln UniversityJefferson City, Missouri1866Blue Tigers2014
2019 		2019
2020 		football
MIAA
Urbana UniversityUrbana, Ohio1850Blue Knights20122013footballClosed in 2020

Membership timeline


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1978 till:2024
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:20 top:5
Colors =
id:line value:black
id:Full value:rgb # all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # non-football
id:AssocF value:rgb # football-only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # associate
PlotData =
width:15 textcolor:darkblue shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1978 till:1994 text:Ashland
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1978 till:2020 text:Bellarmine
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1978 till:2012 text:Indianapolis
bar:3 color:Full from:2012 till:end
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1978 till:2012 text:Kentucky Wesleyan
bar:4 color:AssocF from:2012 till:2014 text:
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1978 till:2012 text:Saint Joseph's
bar:5 color:Full from:2012 till:2017
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1978 till:end text:Southern Indiana
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1980 till:end text:Lewis
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1984 till:2001 text:IPFW
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1985 till:2012 text:Northern Kentucky
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1989 till:1994 text:Kentucky State
bar:11 color:FullxF from:1994 till:2008 text:SIU Edwardsville
bar:12 color:FullxF from:1994 till:2012 text:Quincy
bar:12 color:Full from:2012 till:end
bar:13 color:FullxF from:1994 till:2018 text:Wisconsin–Parkside
bar:14 color:FullxF from:1995 till:end text:Missouri–St. Louis
bar:15 color:FullxF from:2005 till:end text:Drury
bar:16 color:FullxF from:2005 till:2012 text:Missouri S&T
bar:16 color:Full from:2012 till:end
bar:17 color:FullxF from:2005 till:end text:Rockhurst
bar:18 color:FullxF from:2009 till:end text:Illinois–Springfield
bar:19 color:FullxF from:2009 till:end text:Maryville
bar:20 color:FullxF from:2011 till:2012 text:William Jewell
bar:20 color:Full from:2012 till:end
bar:21 color:AssocF from:2012 till:2013 text:Central State
bar:22 color:Full from:2012 till:end text:McKendree
bar:23 color:AssocF from:2012 till:2013 text:Urbana
bar:24 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Truman
bar:25 shift: color:AssocF from:2014 till:2019 text:Lincoln
bar:25 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:2020
bar:26 shift: color:AssocF from:2014 till:2019 text:Southwest Baptist
bar:26 shift: color:Full from:2019 till:end
bar:27 shift: color:AssocOS from:2017 till:end text:Alabama–Huntsville
bar:28 shift: color:AssocOS from:2017 till:end text:Montevallo
bar:29 shift: color:AssocOS from:2017 till:end text:Shorter
bar:30 shift: color:AssocOS from:2017 till:end text:Young Harris
bar:31 shift: color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end text:Ouachita Baptist
bar:32 shift: color:Full from:2019 till:end text:Lindenwood
bar:33 shift: color:AssocOS from:2019 till:end text:Central Missouri
bar:34 shift: color:AssocOS from:2019 till:end text:Upper Iowa
bar:35 shift: color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text:Davenport
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1979

Sports

"Core sports" – sports that all full conference members are required to sponsor – are indicated with a green background.
SportMen'sWomen's
Baseball
Basketball
Bowling
Cross Country
Football
Golf
Lacrosse
Soccer
Softball
Swimming & Diving
Tennis
Track & Field Indoor
Track & Field Outdoor
Volleyball
Wrestling

Men's sponsored sports by school

Women's sponsored sports by school

Other sponsored sports by school

In addition to the listings in this table, Southwest Baptist treats its all-female dance team as a varsity team, and added a varsity team in the all-female cheerleading discipline of STUNT for 2018–19. The school also sponsors a coeducational varsity eSports team, specifically in League of Legends.

Championships

National champions

GLVC schools have won 28 NCAA Division II national championships:
YearSportSchool
1987men's basketballKentucky Wesleyan
1990men's basketballKentucky Wesleyan
1995men's basketballSouthern Indiana
1999men's basketballKentucky Wesleyan
2000women's basketballNorthern Kentucky
2001men's basketballKentucky Wesleyan
2005men's swimming & divingDrury
2006men's swimming & divingDrury
2007men's swimming & divingDrury
2007women's swimming & divingDrury
2007softballSIU Edwardsville
2008women's basketballNorthern Kentucky
2008men's swimming & divingDrury
2009men's swimming & divingDrury
2009women's swimming & divingDrury
2010men's swimming & divingDrury
2010women's swimming & divingDrury
2010baseballSouthern Indiana
2010men's soccerNorthern Kentucky
2011men's basketballBellarmine
2011men's swimming & divingDrury
2011women's swimming & divingDrury
2012men's swimming & divingDrury
2013men's basketballDrury
2013men's swimming & divingDrury
2014men's swimming & divingDrury
2014baseballSouthern Indiana
2015women's golfIndianapolis
2018women's golfIndianapolis
2018softballSouthern Indiana