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2 0 1 2 - 1 3 S w i mm i n g a n d D i v i n g Me d i a Gu i d e
From early beginnings to its current standing on the
map of college athletics, theMissouri Valley Conference
continues to be proactive. AsThe Valley enters its 106th
season of athletic competition in 2012-13, the nation’s
second-oldest NCAADivision I conference continues to
be a leader in college athletics and is one of the nation’s
most progressive conferences.
In what has become a wild, unpredictable age in
collegiate athletics, the Missouri Valley Conference has
remained strong and stable. Notably, 19 of the nation’s
31 Division I conferences have new membership for
this season, and all but five of those conferences have
undergone a transformation inmembership since 2000.
Notably, the Missouri Valley Conference’s current
10-member composition has remained the same since
1996 – and only two leagues (Ivy, Patriot) canmatch that
continuity. League members have worked together to
focus on common goals and objectives, putting a high
value on league harmony while continuing to invest
in athletic programs to compete at the highest level.
The Valley brand remains very strong, both regionally
and nationally, and the great athletic tradition of The
Valley remains a compelling force in recruiting student-
athletes and in marketing all the MVC programs.
Men’s basketball continues to be the engine that drives
Valley athletic programs. With UNI’s NCAA Sweet 16
appearance in 2010, the league has had four different
Sweet 16 teams since 2006, and The Valley is the only
non-BCS league with more than two different Sweet 16
teams in that span. The State Farm MVC Tournament
continues to be a spectacular showcase for the league,
and the MVC has extended the tournament agreement
with the Scottrade Center that will keep Arch Madness
in St. Louis through at least 2015. During the 2011
State Farm MVC Championship, the league surpassed
1 million in total attendance for the event, now in its
23nd year.
Last year, the league matched a record with seven
post-season teams, while Creighton and Wichita State
represented the MVC in the NCAAs, marking the first
time since 2007 that the league had received multiple
NCAA bids. Creighton’s Doug McDermott became
the first league player to earn First Team All-American
honors since 1988. For the first time, the league had
two ranked teams in the State FarmMVC Tournament
(Creighton andWichita State), while Creighton finished
the season ranked No. 21 in the coaches’ poll (taken
after season’s end). Wichita State (18) and Creighton
(19) represented the MVC in the final regular-season
writer’s poll (March 12, 2012), marking the first time
since 1974-75 that two MVC teams had been ranked
in a season-ending AP poll.
While the success of men’s basketball has received the
greatest attention, the overall performance of league
teams in virtually every sport continues to raise the
national profile of the conference.
In men’s soccer, Creighton reached the 2011 College
Cup semifinals, falling in a shootout loss to Charlotte.
Bradley and Creighton -- who shared the regular-season
MVC title with Missouri State -- represented the MVC
in the NCAAChampionship. Bradley also won a match
before falling in the second round. In 2011, Creighton
ended the year with a 21-2-1 record as it recorded 19
shutouts, falling one shy of the NCAA record. CU’s 0.20
goals against average on the year set an NCAA record,
while All-American goalkeeper Brian Holt also set an
NCAA record by posting a 0.206 GAA. Creighton led
the NCAA with four soccer All-Americans, and Holt
was named a Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award winner and
Academic All-American of the Year.
In women’s basketball, the league set an all-time record
with seven post-season bids, while 2012 marked the
13th-straight season in which The Valley earned at
least three post-season bids. The Conference remains
committed to keeping the tournament at a neutral site
at the Family Arena in St. Charles. Establishing a neutral
site remains a huge part of the overall efforts to improve
women’s basketball in The Valley.
In volleyball, UNI, Missouri State and Wichita State
represented the league in the NCAA Tournament. It
marked the sixth-straight season that multiple MVC
teams were invited to the dance. UNI entered the
NCAA Tournament with a 23-match win streak and
advanced to the second round before falling to Florida.
Notably, UNI has nowwon 61-straight matches against
Missouri Valley Conference competition.
In baseball, Indiana State won its first regular season
title since 1985, the program’s first outright title. Five
other Missouri Valley Conference teams – Evansville,
Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State andWichita
State – passed the 30-win threshold, marking the sixth-
straight season in which at least four MVC teams have
reached 30 wins. For the fifth time in league history,
three Missouri Valley Conference baseball teams were
selected for the NCAA Baseball Championship. It
marked the first time since 2007 that multiple MVC
teams were invited to the dance and the first time since
2000 that three league
teams were selected.
In track & field, the league
picked up three more
national championships.
Southern Illinois standout
Jeneva McCall earned the
national championship
title in the weight throw
at the NCAA indoor
meet, and she also took
the outdoor title in the
hammer throw. Illinois
State’s Tim Glover was the
national champion in the
javelin at the outdoor meet for a second-straight year.
It marks the seventhNCAAmeet in a row that theMVC
has earned an individual national title in track & field.
The MVC has now produced 13 national champions in
the sport in the past six years.
Meanwhile, the success of The Valley television
package is one of the great stories in the league.
The MVC Television Network has blossomed into
a revenue-generating vehicle and The Valley’s most
visible marketing tool. Also, The Valley is making
video-streaming a major focus as it enters the third
year of a three-year plan to upgrade the production
and marketing of both institutionally-produced and
conference-produced webcasts.
In 2010, The Valley took a major step toward ensuring
current revenues in television media and tournament
sponsorship sales would be guaranteed in future years
when it announced a 10-year partnership with Learfield
Sports. The Jefferson City, Missouri-based company
now has the exclusive sales and marketing rights to
MVC assets that include championships and television
advertising.
During the tenure of Doug Elgin, The Valley’s ninth
and longest-tenured commissioner,The Valley has been
aggressive in hosting NCAA events in St. Louis. Since
1998, the MVC served as host for a staggering nine
NCAA tournament events in the 13-year period, which
has made St. Louis one of the most frequent stops on the
NCAA Tournament trail. The Valley hosted Women’s
Final Fours in 2001 and 2009 and theMen’s Final Four in
2005. The league will host anNCAA second- and third-
roundmen’s basketball event in Kansas City in 2013 and
has already assisted Creighton with preliminary round
men’s events in both 2008 and 2012.
The seeds for the creation of the conference were planted
by eight administrators representing five institutions,
who met at the Midland Hotel in Kansas City, Mo.,
on Jan. 12, 1907. The five schools which formed the
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
were Washington University of St. Louis, and the state
universities of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
Twomonths after the initial meeting, twomore schools
-- Drake University and Iowa State College -- were
admitted.
In the fall of 1907, basketball became the first
competitive sport. Today, the Missouri Valley
Conference sponsors the following sports: baseball,
men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross
country and track & field (indoor and outdoor), men’s
and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, softball,
women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s
tennis, and women’s volleyball.
While The Valley no longer sponsors football (it did
from 1907-85), six league members compete in football
at the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) level
as Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, UNI
and Southern Illinois play in the 10-member Missouri
Valley Football Conference (with North Dakota State,
South Dakota, South Dakota State, Western Illinois
and Youngstown State). That league competed as the
Gateway Conference from 1985-2007. Drake plays
non-scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League.
This season, the league will conduct its 102nd
outdoor track and field championship, its 95th tennis
championship, its 59th baseball tournament, and its
75th golf championship for the men. Those programs,
plus other current sponsored sports of cross country
(54 years), indoor track
(46), men’s soccer (22)
and swimming and diving
(19), have helped solidify
The Valley as one of the
nation’s most respected
conferences.
Athletic accomplishments
i n c l ud e f ou r NCAA
n a t i o n a l b a s k e t b a l l
championships, 16 trips
to the NCAA Final Four,
a 1989 national baseball
championship and 19
Col l ege Wor ld Ser i es
qualifiers. The league owns a total of 30 post-season
national team championships, includingWichita State’s
men’s basketball NIT title in 2011. In 2001, Missouri
State added to The Valley women’s accomplishments,
as the Lady Bears advanced to the Women’s Basketball
Final Four in St. Louis. Creighton (2004) andMissouri
State (2005) have claimed national championships
(WNIT) in women’s basketball. MSU also has a 1992
NCAAWomen’s Final Four appearance, and Creighton
(2003), Drake (1999) and Illinois State (2009) havemade
semifinal trips to the WNIT postseason tournament.
Indeed, the inclusion of women’s programs under The
Valley banner has provided a boost. The Gateway
Collegiate Athletic Conference -- which began in 1982
-- mergedwithTheMissouri Valley Conference andwas
unveiled as part of the new conference on July 1, 1992.
In fact, The Valley began honoring that tradition in the
summer of 1997, when the conference began its athletics
Hall of Fame. Hersey Hawkins of Bradley, Larry Bird of
Indiana State, Wes Unseld of Louisville, Coach Henry
Iba of Oklahoma State, Dave Stallworth ofWichita State,
Ed Macauley of Saint Louis, and Oscar Robertson of
Cincinnati were members of the initial induction class.
Currently, nearly 70 former players, coaches and alums
dot the league’s Hall of Fame.
Men’s basketball, perhaps, has the league’s most storied
tradition, boasting the likes of Hall of Famers Bird
and Robertson as former players, but The Valley has
also produced national-caliber student-athletes in
its other sponsored sports. In 2001, Missouri State’s
Jackie Stiles became the first Valley woman to earn
the Honda-Broderick Cup, given to the nation’s top
female collegiate student-athlete. In the sport of track
and field, Indiana State’s Holli Hyche captured seven
national sprint titles in the early 1990s, Southern
Illinois’ Darrin Plab won back-to-back NCAA outdoor
high jump titles in 1991 and 1992, SIU’s Brittany Riley
became the World record holder in the weight throw
in 2007, and Kylie Hutson of Indiana State swept
both the indoor and outdoor pole vault titles in 2009
and in 2010. Southern Illinois’ Jeneva McCall (three
NCAA individual championships) and Illinois State’s
Tim Glover (back-to-back javelin championships in
2011 and 2012) are the most recent multi-year NCAA
champions in the league’s highly decorated history in
track & field.
League members include Bradley, Creighton, Drake,
Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State,
Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, and Wichita State.
Central Arkansas and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville
are affiliate members in men’s soccer.