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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
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Providing leadership in education and diversity, the Mid-
American Conference moves into its 67th year of service
to the student-athlete.
Since its inception in 1946, the Mid-American Confer-
ence has progressively grown and developed into one of
the most aggressive Division I conferences in the coun-
try. One of only 11 football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
conferences, the MAC named Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher
as its eighth commissioner in the 65-year history of
the league in March of 2009. Steinbrecher came to the
MAC after serving six years as the commissioner of the
Ohio Valley Conference.
The league has grown its commitment to champion-
ships by expanding to six its number of neutral site post
season events – football (Detroit’s Ford Field), volleyball
(SPIRE Academy, Geneva, Ohio), men’s and women’s
basketball (Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena), softball
(Akron’s Firestone Stadium) and baseball (Avon, Ohio
All Pro Freight Stadium).
In 2010, four MAC programs received bowl invitations
and it marked the first time in conference history that
the MAC had four or more teams receive bowl invita-
tions in a three-year consecutive span. In addition, the
MAC has sent four or more teams to bowl games in five
of the last seven years. The four MAC programs that
played in bowl games were: Miami (GoDaddy.com
Bowl), Northern Illinois (uDrove Humanitarian Bowl),
Toledo (Little Caesars Pizza Bowl) and Ohio (R+L Car-
riers NewOrleans Bowl). The MAC record for bowl ap-
pearances is five, which happened in consecutive years
(2008, 2009) and only three times (2004, 2008, 2009) in
conference history. The 2010 season also witnessed Mi-
ami win the 2010 Marathon MAC Championship and
record the best turnaround in college football with an
eight win improvement over the previous season (1-11
in 2009). Northern Illinois entered the Marathon MAC
Football Championship ranked No. 23 in the USA To-
day Coaches Poll and No. 24 in the Associated Press
Poll. Two more MAC teams defeated Big Ten oppo-
nents during the regular season as Northern Illinois de-
feated Minnesota, 34-23 in Minneapolis, while Toledo
rolled to a 31-20 win at Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.
For the first time in its 65-year history, the MAC will
have eight bowl relationships--three primary and five
secondary. The three primary agreements are with the
Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl (Detroit, Mich.), GoDaddy.
com Bowl (Mobile, Ala.) and uDrove Humanitarian
Bowl (Boise, Ida.). In addition, the MAC has secured
secondary agreements with the BBVA Compass Bowl
(2011-2013), the New Mexico Bowl (2011-2013), the
Beef O’Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl (2011-13), the Kraft
Fight Hunger Bowl (2011) and the TicketCity Bowl
(2012).
In its partnership with ESPN, the MAC is in the third
year of its eight-year rights agreement (through 2016-
2017 academic years) for football, as well as men’s and
women’s basketball. The deal is the most extensive in the
65-year history of the conference. The agreement calls
for a minimum of 25 events annually to be produced
and aired on an ESPN platform including the men’s and
women’s basketball championships, a regular-season
MAC presence on ESPN, the Marathon MAC Football
Championship and a minimum of 11 regular-season
football games.
In 2010, the University of Akron Men’s Soccer team
won its first National Championship by defeating Lou-
isville, 1-0, in the NCAA College Cup. Akron junior
defender Kofi Sarkodie was named Player of the Year
by Soccer America, and Sarkodie was joined by senior
midfielder Anthony Ampaipitakwong and junior strik-
er Darlington Nagbe on Soccer America’s MVP First
Team, as Akron’s three honorees were the most by any
school. In addition, Nagbe was presented the Hermann
Trophy, the most prestigious honor in intercollegiate
soccer, as it marked the second consecutive year for a
member of the Akron program to be honored with the
Hermann Trophy (Teal Bunbury, 2009). History was
made in the 2011 Major League Soccer Super Draft as
seven members of the Akron’s National Championship
Men’s Soccer Team were drafted, including five of the
first eight selections in the first round. This set an MLS
draft record for the most first-round selections from a
single school.
In 2010-11 for men’s basketball, the MAC set a confer-
ence mark as six programs received invites to postsea-
son tournaments. Akron won the MAC tournament as
the No. 6 seed and played Notre Dame in the NCAA
tournament. Kent State won the MAC regular season
title and represented the conference in the NIT with
impressive road wins at St. Mary’s and Fairfield. Buf-
falo, Ohio and Western Michigan were invited to the
CollegeInsider.com tournament, while Miami received
an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational.
Three freshmen were named to the Mid-Major Fresh-
man All-America Team—Juwan
Howard, Jr. (Western Michigan),
Javon McCrea (Buffalo) and Trey
Ziegler (Central Michigan), while
Kent State junior Justin Green was
named MAC Player of the Year
and named All-America by three
different organizations—named
Honorable Mention All-American
by the Associated Press, tabbed
Mid-Major All-America by Col-
lege Insider.com; and second team
Mid-Major All-American by Col-
lege Hoops.net.
In wrestling, Central Michigan
won its tenth consecutive MAC
championship, while the MAC
sent 23 wrestlers to the NCAA
Division I Wrestling Champion-
ship as Kent State’s Dustin Kilgore
won the NCAA national champi-
onship at the 197 weight class. In
addition, four grapplers secured All-America honors-
-Central Michigan’s Scotti Sentes (133), Ben Bennett
(174) and Jarod Trice (285), along with Kent State’s
Dustin Kilgore (197). Buffalo won its first champion-
ship in men’s swimming and diving, while Kent State
won its 19th MAC title in men’s golf and received its
24th NCAA appearance. Ball State made its seventh
automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament.
In baseball, Kent State won the MAC championship and
lost to Texas in the NCAA Regional Final. A total of 17
MAC student-athletes were selected in Major League
Baseball’s 2011 Draft—including Kent State LHP An-
drew Chafin to the Arizona Diamondbacks as a com-
pensatory first round pick, 43rd overall.
Women’s athletics continued to shine for the MAC this
past year. For the first time inMAC history, six women’s
basketball programs were invited to postseason tourna-
ments. Bowling Green won the MAC tournament and
received the invitation to the NCAA tournament, while
four programs were invited to the WNIT—Toledo,
Eastern Michigan, Kent State and Central Michigan. In
addition, Buffalo was invited to the Women’s Basketball
Invitational.
Toledo’s women’s basketball program won the Women’s
NIT, the first post-season championship in school his-
tory with wins over Delaware, Auburn, Alabama, Syra-
cuse, Charlotte and USC. In the WNIT Championship
game, with a national television audience and sold out
Savage Arena, Rocket junior Naama Shafir scored a
career-high 40 points in the victory.
In women’s soccer, Central Michigan won their second
consecutive MAC championship, while Ohio won their
third consecutive MAC volleyball championship and
defeated Penn in the opening round of the NCAA vol-
leyball tournament. In field hockey, Kent State won the
MAC tournament and senior Rachel Miller and junior
Debbie Bell were named to the Longstreth/NFHCA
All-America Team. In women’s swimming and div-
ing, Ohio won its 11th MAC Championship and first
since 2008. Four MAC swimmers were named to col-
legeswimming.com’s Mid-Major All-America team –
Kelsey Vehr (Miami), Rachel Heim (Ohio), Jacy Dyer
(Ohio) and Laura Lindsay (Toledo). Lindsay also was
named All-America in the 100 Breaststroke at the
NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
Both Central Michigan and Kent State competed at the
NCAA Regional Championships in gymnastics, while
Kent State advanced to its first trip in program history
to the NCAA National Championship and finished
12th overall. The Kent State gymnastics coaching staff,
led by Brice Biggin, were recognized by the National
Association of College Gymnastics Coaches/Women
(NACGC/W). Biggin was named NACGC/W Head
Coach of the Year, while assistant coaches Sharon Sabin
and Tom Ward were named NACGC/W National As-
sistant Coaches of the Year.
Akron’s women’s tennis teamwon its first MAC Tourna-
ment in program history, while Western Michigan won
the MAC softball championship. In women’s golf, Kent
State won its 13th consecutive crown, while Western
Michigan’s Brittney Hamilton and Ball State’s Brittany
Kelly became their program’s
first golfers to play in the
NCAAWomen’s Golf Central
Regional.
From two-time Super Bowl
quarterback winning Ben
Roethlisberger (Miami Uni-
versity), NFL Defensive
MVP James Harrison (Kent
State University), three NFL
Pro Bowlers (Cleveland KR
Josh Cribbs, San Diego TE
Antonio Gates, Pittsburgh
LB James Harrison), Brit-
ish Open winner Ben Cur-
tis (Kent State University),
World Series winning man-
ager Bob Brenly (Ohio Uni-
versity) and Olympic bobsled
team member Brock Kreitz-
burgh (University of Toledo),
the Mid-American Confer-
ence continues to excel in producing leaders in the
world of athletics. In Super Bowl XLV between Green
Bay and Pittsburgh there were 15 former MAC student-
athletes on rosters competing in the Super Bowl, includ-
ing nine with the Packers and six with the Steelers, and
six former MAC players were named to the 2011 NFL
Pro Bowl.
History of the MAC
Based in Cleveland since July 1999 following a 15-year
stay in Toledo, Ohio, the MAC has established historic
measurements in both football and men’s and women’s
basketball since moving to Northeast Ohio. The MAC
was founded as a five-school league on February 24,
1946 in Columbus, Ohio with Ohio, Butler, Cincinnati,
Wayne State and Western Reserve admitted as charter
members. The Mid-American Conference has 12 full-
time schools and a 13th, Temple, and 14th, UMass for
football only (beginning in 2012). Comprising the East
Division is the University of Akron (joined in 1992),
Bowling Green State University (1952), University at
Buffalo (1998), Kent State University (1951), Miami
University (1947), Ohio University (1946) and Temple
University (2007). The West Division members are Ball
State University (1973), Central Michigan University
(1971), Eastern Michigan University (1971), Northern
Illinois University (1975-86, 1997), University of Toledo
(1950) and Western Michigan University (1947).
In 1946 men’s basketball was the first competitive sport
in the MAC, which now sponsors a total 23 sports.
Women’s sports were brought into the conference’s
structure in 1980. For men, championships (11) are
sponsored in football, basketball, baseball, cross coun-
try, soccer, swimming and diving, indoor track and
field, outdoor track and field, wrestling, golf and tennis.
For women, championships (12) are sponsored in bas-
ketball, softball, volleyball, cross country, field hockey,
golf, soccer, swimming and diving, gymnastics, indoor
track and field, outdoor track and field and tennis.