![]() At the time of Memphis State's departure, Bradley's then-athletic director publicly said, "We sort of pushed Memphis out. All three schools left the MVC within a four-year period in the 1970s-Cincinnati in 1971, Memphis State in 1973, and Louisville in 1975. Cincinnati, Louisville, and Memphis State (now Memphis) complained about travel costs, and Memphis State was bitterly opposed to a full round-robin conference schedule, wishing to play more games within its region. The new additions almost immediately led to conflict between several established members and the conference office. According to a 2017 story in The Wichita Eagle, "The MVC looked west to find football and alienated its basketball powers." The first schools brought in during this period were New Mexico State and West Texas State (now West Texas A&M), respectively joining in 19 the conference also established a tie-in with the now-defunct Pasadena Bowl. īy the late 1960s, rising costs for football meant that basketball could no longer help subsidize football programs. Saint Louis University dropped football after the 1949 season. Washburn University competed in football from 1935 through 1940. Both schools returned to the MVC for non-football sports several years later (Bradley in 1955 and Drake in 1956), but Bradley never rejoined for football (dropping the sport in 1970), and Drake didn't rejoin in football until 1971. In 1951 Drake University and Bradley University left the Missouri Valley Conference as a result of the Johnny Bright incident, a racially motivated on-field attack against Drake's black star Johnny Bright by a white Oklahoma A&M player. The Missouri Valley Conference started sponsoring football in the fall of 1907. The Leathernecks compete in the Summit League for other sports and have to travel to the Dakotas for conference games.Houston's 1952 Missouri Valley Conference championship trophy Western Illinois, for example, is mentioned often as program that might switch conferences in order to save money. A divisional split would aid in that area.īut most in college athletics don't believe conference realignment is finished, even after a flurry of movement in the past several months. With many athletic programs trying to cut back on costs after pandemic-related losses, there is a trend for conferences to cut back on travel and emphasize bus trips instead of plane flights. One possible split along geographic lines would have UND, NDSU, SDSU, USD, UNI and Western Illinois in one division and Youngstown State, Indiana State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Missouri State and Murray State in the other. The MVFC currently consists of North Dakota State, South Dakota State, North Dakota, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, Western Illinois, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Indiana State, Youngstown State and Missouri State.Ī 12-team conference, if it remains at that number, would open the discussion into a division split. In a statement released by the school announcing its move to the Missouri Valley, football coach Dean Hood was quoted as saying the school was actively involved in the membership process with the MVFC. The Missouri Valley and the Missouri Valley Football conferences are separate entities. On Friday, the school announced it was leaving the Ohio Valley Conference for the Missouri Valley Conference in all sports besides football.
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