Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a college sports conference whose full members are located in the Great Lakes region of the United States. It sponsors 11 men's sports and 12 women's sports at the NCAA Division I level. In football, the MAC is one of 10 conferences that play in the top-level Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
The MAC was founded in 1946 by five schools in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, but only one of the founding members, Ohio University, is still in the conference. All but two of its current full members are in those three states.
Sports sponsored[change | change source]
- Baseball (men only)
- Basketball (both men and women)
- Cross country (both men and women)
- Field hockey (women only)
- Football (men only)
- Golf (both men and women)
- Gymnastics (women only)
- Soccer (both men and women)
- Softball (women only)
- Swimming and diving (both men and women)
- Tennis (both men and women)
- Track and field, indoor (both men and women)
- Track and field, outdoor (both men and women)
- Volleyball (women only)
- Wrestling (men only)
Members[change | change source]
Full members[change | change source]
Currently, the MAC has 12 full members, all public schools, each of which competes in at least 15 MAC sports. Every member of the conference competes in football, baseball, men's and women's basketball, and the following women's sports: cross country, soccer, softball, indoor and outdoor track and field, and volleyball. In many sports, the conference is split into East and West Divisions.
| School | Location | Founded | Type | Nickname | Joined MAC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Division | |||||
| University of Akron | Akron, Ohio | 1870 | Public | Zips | 1992 |
| Bowling Green State University | Bowling Green, Ohio | 1910 | Public | Falcons | 1952 |
| University at Buffalo | Buffalo, New York | 1846 | Public | Bulls | 1998 |
| Kent State University | Kent, Ohio | 1910 | Public | Golden Flashes | 1981 |
| Miami University[a 1] | Oxford, Ohio | 1809 | Public | RedHawks | 1977 |
| Ohio University | Athens, Ohio | 1804 | Public | Bobcats | 1948 |
| West Division | |||||
| Ball State University | Muncie, Indiana | 1918 | Public | Cardinals | 1973 |
| Central Michigan University | Mount Pleasant, Michigan | 1892 | Public | Chippewas | 1971 |
| Eastern Michigan University | Ypsilanti, Michigan | 1892 | Public | Eagles | 1971 |
| Northern Illinois University | DeKalb, Illinois | 1895 | Public | Huskies | 1975, 1997[a 2] |
| University of Toledo | Toledo, Ohio | 1872 | Public | Rockets | 1950 |
| Western Michigan University | Kalamazoo, Michigan | 1903 | Public | Broncos | 1947 |
- ↑ This school is often called "Miami (Ohio)" to distinguish it from the University of Miami in Florida.
- ↑ Northern Illinois left the MAC in 1986 and returned in 1997.
Associate members[change | change source]
The MAC has 17 "associate members" that play only one or two sports in the conference. Of these schools, only one has two sports in the MAC.
A major recent change in associate membership happened in 2019 when the MAC absorbed the Eastern Wrestling League, a single-sport conference that had existed since 1975. All seven of the EWL's final members thus became MAC associates.[1]
References[change | change source]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mid-American Conference. |
- "Mid-American Conference". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
- ↑ Mid-American Conference (March 5, 2019). "MAC Announces Historic Wrestling Expansion". Press release. https://getsomemaction.com/news/2019/3/4/mac-announces-historic-wrestling-expansion.aspx. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
