Ohio Valley Conference
The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is an American college sports conference that plays in the NCAA Division I. In football, the OVC is part of Division I FCS, the lower of two levels of Division I football. The member universities and colleges are in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee. The OVC has its offices in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tennessee.
History
[change | change source]The OVC grew out of talks between officials at three Kentucky schools—Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, and Western Kentucky—in 1941. America's entry into World War II later that year put these talks on hold for several years. Later, in 1948, the three original schools joined with two other Kentucky schools, plus one in Indiana, to form the conference.
It was one of the first conferences with a presence in the South to accept black athletes at historically white-only schools, with Morehead State being the first OVC member to do so in 1958. The OVC was long notable as being the only conference made up of traditionally white schools to have a historically black university (Tennessee State) as a member. That changed when Hampton and North Carolina A&T left the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for the Big South Conference, respectively in 2018 and 2021. (Both moved together to the Colonial Athletic Association in 2022.)
The OVC has had major membership changes in recent years. In 2021, it lost founding member Eastern Kentucky, plus Jacksonville State, to the ASUN Conference.[1] A year later, three more members left, with Austin Peay moving to the ASUN,[2] and founding member Murray State[3] and Belmont[4] joining the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). However, since the MVC does not play football, Murray State played the 2022 football season in the OVC before moving the football team to the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2023. (The MVFC is separate from, but closely related to, the MVC.)[5] Murray State remained a member in rifle after it otherwise left the OVC.
The OVC responded by adding three new members in 2022 and one in 2023. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock, athletically known as Little Rock, joined from the Sun Belt Conference. It does not have a football team.[6] The other new members started transitions from NCAA Division II. Lindenwood University plays football;[7] the University of Southern Indiana does not.[8] In 2023, Western Illinois University joined from the Summit League for almost all of its sports. It kept football in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and men's soccer in the Summit League for the 2023–24 school year, and will move both sports to the OVC in 2024.[9][10]
In February 2022, the OVC and Big South announced they would merge their football leagues after the 2022 season.[11] The merged entity was later unveiled as the Big South–OVC Football Association, technically an alliance between the two conferences instead of a full merger of the football leagues. The alliance has a single automatic berth in the FCS playoffs.[12] Also, shortly after the 2022 membership changes took effect, the OVC and Horizon League merged their men's tennis leagues under the Horizon's banner.[13]
Members
[change | change source]The OVC has 11 full members. Seven of these schools play football in the Big South–OVC alliance, one plays football in another conference, and three do not play football at all. All members are public schools except for 2022 arrival Lindenwood.
- ↑ Morehead State has a football team, but it plays in the Pioneer Football League instead of the Big South–OVC alliance.
- ↑ Mailing address; the campus actually lies in unincorporated Vanderburgh County.
Associate members
[change | change source]The OVC now has six "associate" members—i.e., schools that play a small number of sports in the conference, usually one. The most recent change to the associate membership was the 2024 departure of Chicago State, which was a member in man's and women's golf plus men's soccer. It joined the Northeast Conference, which sponsors all of the named sports.
School | Location | Founded | Type | Nickname | OVC sport(s) | Joined | Main conference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Chattanooga) |
Chattanooga, Tennessee | 1886 | Public | Mocs | Beach volleyball | 2019 | SoCon |
Houston Christian University | Houston, Texas | 1960 | Private | Huskies | Men's soccer | 2023 | Southland |
University of the Incarnate Word | San Antonio, Texas | 1881 | Private | Cardinals | Men's soccer | 2023 | Southland |
Liberty University | Lynchburg, Virginia | 1971 | Private | Flames[a] | Men's soccer | 2023 | CUSA |
Murray State University | Murray, Kentucky | 1922 | Public | Racers | Rifle | 2022[b] | MVC |
Former members
[change | change source]Fourteen schools have been full members, but are no longer in the league. Former full member Murray State remains an OVC associate member.
Former associate members
[change | change source]The OVC has had one prior associate member that left when it folded its only OVC sports team. A second school was an OVC associate in two sports in 2022–23, but now only houses one sport in the OVC. Another school housed three sports in the OVC in 2023–24, leaving when it joined a conference that sponsored all of those sports.
School | Location | Founded | Type | Nickname | OVC sport(s) | Joined | Left | Main conference | Conference in former OVC sport |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago State University | Chicago, Illinois | 1867 | Public | Cougars | Men's golf Women's golf Men's soccer |
2023 | 2024 | Northeast Conference | |
Columbus State University | Columbus, Georgia | 1958 | Public | Cougars | Rifle | 2012 | 2015 | Peach Belt (Div. II) | None (dropped rifle in 2015) |
Murray State University | Murray, Kentucky | 1922 | Public | Racers | Football | 2022 | 2023 | MVC | MVFC |
References
[change | change source]- "OVC History". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
- ↑ "ASUN Conference Announces Three New Institutions; Adds Football as 20th Sport" (Press release). ASUN Conference. January 29, 2021. Archived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- ↑ "ASUN Conference Welcomes Austin Peay State University as its Newest Member" (Press release). ASUN Conference. September 17, 2021. Archived from the original on November 15, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ↑ "Murray State University Joins The Missouri Valley Conference" (Press release). Murray State Racers. January 7, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
- ↑ "Belmont University to Join Missouri Valley Conference" (Press release). Belmont Bruins. September 28, 2021. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
- ↑ "Murray State Football To Join Missouri Valley Football Conference July of 2023" (Press release). Missouri Valley Football Conference. April 4, 2022. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ↑ "Little Rock Receives Board Approval to Join Ohio Valley Conference" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
- ↑ "Lindenwood University to Join the Ohio Valley Conference in 2022-23" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
- ↑ "University of Southern Indiana to Join the Ohio Valley Conference in 2022-23" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
- ↑ "Western Illinois University to Join the OVC in 2023-24" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ "Western Illinois University Officially Becomes an OVC Member" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
- ↑ "Big South and Ohio Valley Conference Announce Football Agreement" (Press release). Big South Conference. February 22, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ↑ "Big South-OVC Football Association Reveal Co-Branded Logo" (Press release). Big South-OVC Football Association. June 7, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
- ↑ "Horizon League Announces Innovative Partnership with Ohio Valley Conference and Men's Tennis Programs, Adds Chicago State as an Affiliate Member for Men's and Women's Tennis" (Press release). Horizon League. July 6, 2022. Retrieved July 9, 2022.