Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference
The Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference is a high school athletic conference in Southwestern Michigan. It is composed of Class A schools from the MHSAA in Berrien, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and Van Buren counties.
Membership
Current members
Membership Timeline (since 1931)
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1500 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1930 till:2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:1931 till:1962 text: Buchanan
bar:2 color:Full from:1931 till:1975 text: Dowagiac
bar:2 color:Full from:2001 till:2006 text: Dowagiac
bar:3 color:Full from:1931 till:1952 text: Kalamazoo State High
bar:4 color:Full from:1931 till:2020 text: Niles
bar:5 color:Full from:1931 till:1952 text: South Haven
bar:6 color:Full from:1931 till:1938 text: St. Joseph
bar:6 color:Full from:1940 till:end text: St. Joseph
bar:7 color:Full from:1931 till:1952 text: Three Rivers
bar:8 color:Full from:1958 till:end text: Portage Central
bar:9 color:Full from:1960 till:2020 text: Kalamazoo Loy Norrix
bar:9 color:FullxF from:2020 till:end
bar:10 color:Full from:1965 till:end text: Portage Northern
bar:11 color:Full from:1975 till:1984 text: Battle Creek Lakeview
bar:11 color:Full from:2001 till:end text: Battle Creek Lakeview
bar:12 color:Full from:1975 till:1985 text: Holland
bar:13 color:Full from:1977 till:end text: Kalamazoo Central
bar:14 color:Full from:1984 till:end text: Battle Creek Central
bar:15 color:Full from:1985 till:2016 text: Benton Harbor
bar:16 color:Full from:2001 till:2014 text: Battle Creek Harper Creek
bar:17 color:Full from:2001 till:2014 text: Coldwater
bar:18 color:Full from:2001 till:2014 text: Marshall
bar:19 color:Full from:2001 till:end text: Mattawan
bar:20 color:Full from:2001 till:end text: Stevensville Lakeshore
bar:21 color:Full from:2001 till:2014 text: Sturgis
bar:22 color:AssocF from:2006 till:2011 text:Jackson Lumen Christi
bar:23 color:FullxF from:2011 till:2012 text:Richland Gull Lake
bar:23 color:Full from:2012 till:end
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:1930
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos: # tabs:
text:"SMAC Membership History"
History
Early DaysThe Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference was formed in 1931, consisting of St. Joseph, Niles, Dowagiac, Three Rivers, and South Haven. St. Joseph left in 1938 and then reappeared back in 1940. The official name of the conference has always been the Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference, but it had mostly been referred to as the "Big" followed by the number of schools in the league. However, the conference is now just known as the SMAC.
The 1970s
The league made its first big change in 1977 as and Independent Kalamazoo Central made up the membership of the conference. Portage Central won the first football title and advanced to the Class A State Final, losing to Birmingham Brother Rice 17-7. Not everyone played all seven games in the league for football. Everyone played a full league schedule for football in 1978. Portage Central also won the first Boys Basketball league title. This original alignment stayed until 1984-85.
There were some changes in store for the 1985-86 season. Battle Creek Lakeview and Holland left the conference to join other leagues. Lakeview rejoined the Twin Valley and Holland left to join the Ottawa-Kent Conference. With those schools gone, Independent Battle Creek Central and former Lake Michigan Conference member Benton Harbor. This lasted for several years.
Big Changes
There was some talk in 2000 that the conference was going to expand into a super-conference. The longtime Twin Valley Athletic Association was going into peril as Albion, Hillsdale, and Parma Western wanted out of the conference due to several factors, mainly declining enrollment and performance athletically. Independents Dowagiac and Stevensville-Lakeshore were struggling to find opponents, and Mattawan's enrollment had outgrown the Kalamazoo Valley Athletic Association.
The expansion was approved and would start for the 2001 football season. But, there were several problems about this new "super-conference". Travel, strength of programs, and tradition were some of the problems that arose. Despite the problems, the new league added on five schools from the dissolved Twin Valley, Mattawan from the Kalamazoo Valley, and Independents Dowagiac and Stevensville-Lakeshore. The league was split into three divisions listed below.
| West Division | Central Division | East Division |
| Benton Harbor | Battle Creek Central | Battle Creek Harper Creek |
| Dowagiac | Kalamazoo Central | Battle Creek Lakeview |
| Niles | Kalamazoo Loy Norrix | Coldwater |
| St. Joseph | Mattawan | Marshall |
| Stevensville-Lakeshore | Portage Central | Sturgis |
| Portage Northern |
Problems and Change
Already problems arose. East-West crossovers were at least 90 minutes to two hours away, the Central Division schools were bullying on some of the smaller East/West Division schools.
In 2006-07, Dowagiac left the league to join the Wolverine Conference. Also that year, Jackson Lumen Christi join the league for football only to make the league an even 16 teams. Lumen Christi played in the West Division for that season to replace Dowagiac's schedule. With Dowagiac moving out of the SMAC, Mattawan moved to the West Division for the 2006-07 season to make three divisions of five teams each. For the 2009 Football season, the league will go to two divisions as Battle Creek Central and Kalamazoo Central will move to the East Division and the remaining teams in the Central will go to the West Division. The league slightly realigned again in 2009 when Kalamazoo Loy Norrix moved from the Western to Eastern Division and Kalamazoo Central moved into the West Division. Even with Kalamazoo Central's two main rivals in the opposite division in football, the league allowed KC to keep playing Loy Norrix and Battle Creek Central during the first two weeks of the season. Kalamazoo Central's schedule does not allow them to play any games against the other schools in the Eastern Division. In other sports, the teams play each other, but as non conference games, with the boys basketball contest usually contested at Western Michigan University.
The leagues membership reduced to 12 after the 2013-14 school year as Coldwater, Harper Creek, Marshall, and Sturgis are set to leave the SMAC for different conferences in time for the 2014-15 school year. Sturgis is set to move to the Wolverine Conference while Coldwater, Harper Creek, and Marshall are set to form a league in the Jackson area.
Benton Harbor left the league in 2015-2016.
One divisional alignment change starting for the 2018-19 season has Mattawan switching from the East Division to the West Division.
After the 2019-20 school year, founding member Niles will leave the SMAC after 89 years, joining the BCS Conference beginning in 2020-21. Also, Loy Norrix will leave the SMAC in football only, remaining a member in all other sports.