BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Western Illinois University has accepted an invitation to join the Ohio Valley Conference.
Western Illinois, which sponsors 17 of the OVC’s championship sports, will become official members on July 1, 2023. WIU’s football team, which currently competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), will play one final season in the MVFC and join the OVC prior to the 2024 season.
Western Illinois will join the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Eastern Illinois University, Lindenwood University, Morehead State University, Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, University of Southern Indiana, Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University and the University of Tennessee at Martin as OVC full member institutions.
Western Illinois, which is located in Macomb, Illinois, marks only the 25th full-time member in the 75-year history of the Ohio Valley Conference.
“We are delighted Western Illinois has decided to join the OVC,” said OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche. “The WIU athletics programs have long competed against OVC institutions given the similarity of programs and geographic proximity. Accordingly, there is a high-level of comfort and excitement about the Leathernecks becoming part of the OVC community. We cannot wait to extend a warm welcome to WIU’s student-athletes, coaches, administrators and fans.”
“This is going to be an excellent new endeavor for Western Illinois University,” said WIU President Dr. Guiyou Huang. “We are excited to join our peers of similar size and communities, and we look forward to great competition.”
“This represents a new start, and a new era for Leatherneck Athletics against some old rivalries, as well as some new teams in our geographic footprint,” said Western Illinois Director of Athletics Paul A. Bubb. “When you look at the schools in the Ohio Valley Conference you see schools which are similar in enrollment, the size of communities where they exist, the academic programs they offer, and the athletic budgets each has to work with at the Division I level.”
Founded in 1948, the OVC is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee and has been located in the Nashville metropolitan area since 1979.
Over the past eight years OVC teams have placed multiple teams in NCAA Championship fields in baseball, men’s basketball, football and rifle. Additionally, over that time frame OVC teams have won NCAA Tournament games in the sports of baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball. Over that period the league has also had both a male and female golf student-athlete advance to the National Championship and in the sport of cross country had at least one athlete advance to the National Championship meet in 13 of the past 14 years.
Since 2018 the league has hosted its Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, including setting attendance records in 2019. Additionally, the OVC hosts neutral site championships in the sports of baseball, softball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s golf and men’s and women’s tennis.
During the 2021-22 academic year, 1,330 student-athletes were named to the Commissioner’s Honor Roll for achieving a 3.25 grade point average or higher, while a record 285 earned the OVC Academic Medal of Honor for compiling a perfect 4.0 GPA.
About the Ohio Valley Conference
The Ohio Valley Conference was founded in 1948 and is in its seventh decade of competition, making it the eighth-oldest Division I athletic conference. Now in its 75th year, OVC teams have garnered national championships in football along with national team or individual titles in the sports of rifle, cross country, track and golf. Over the past eight years the league has placed multiple teams in NCAA Championship fields in the sports baseball, men’s basketball, football and rifle. In the 1950s the OVC became a pioneer when Morehead State became one of the first non-traditionally Black mid-southern institutions to accept an African American student. Soon after the passing of Title IX legislation, the OVC began formulating plans for women’s athletics which began in 1977. The OVC has long been a national leader in sportsmanship and in 1995 implemented a first-of-its-kind Sportsmanship Statement, a policy that promotes principals of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one’s opponent. The OVC has a multi-year media rights agreement with ESPN as well as a sponsorship agreement with LEARFIELD. For more information, visit www.OVCSports.com.
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