This is The Valley

    The Missouri Valley Conference -- the nation’s second-oldest NCAA Division I conference -- continues to be a leader in college athletics and is one of the nation’s most progressive conferences, celebrating its 118th season in 2024-25.

   The Valley brand remains very strong, both regionally and nationally, and the great athletic tradition of the Conference remains a compelling force in recruiting student-athletes and in marketing all the MVC programs.  League members have worked together to focus on common goals and objectives, placing a high value on league harmony, while continuing to invest in athletic programs to compete at the highest level.

   Despite the tumultuous terrain, Conference philosophy has not changed, as the league and its member institutions will continue to provide robust opportunities for student-athletes.

   The Missouri Valley Conference is well represented on national governing committees as leaders at league institutions continue to actively seek positions of influence within NCAA governance and national sport committees. Current committee appointments at the national level include the Vice Chair of the Division I Board of Directors (Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, Evansville); the Division I Board of Directors Finance Committee (Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, Evansville); the Honors Committee (Dr. Austin Lane, Southern Illinois); the Division I Council (Jeff Jackson, MVC); the Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee (Jeff Jackson, MVC); the Division I Committee on Infractions (Jill Redmond, MVC); the Division I Committee on Academics (Dr. Jeri Beggs, Illinois State); the Division I Legislative Committee (Dr. Julie Partridge, Southern Illinois); the Men's and Women's Soccer Rules Committee (Michael Seabolt, Missouri State); the Division I Women’s Basketball Competition Committee (Beth Cunningham, Missouri State; Grace Boffeli, UNI); the Men's Basketball Rules Committee (Brian Wardle, Bradley); the Division I Women's Golf Committee (Halley Morell, Bradley); the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Rules Committee (Susan Bromberg, UIC); the Division I Competition Oversight Committee (Rodrigo Alvarez Gonzalez, Bradley); the Division I Strategic Vision and Planning Committee (Quinn Millerd, Drake); the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Committee (Cindy Harris, Illinois State); the Division I Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete Engagement Group (Grace Boffeli, UNI); the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (Quinn Millerd, Drake); and the Division I Initial-Eligibility Waivers Committee (Andy Newton, Illinois State).

   Last year, Drake earned its first Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Championship, becoming just the second private institution in MVC history to earn the honor.  The MVC first offered an all-sports trophy following the 1949-50 athletics season and then-member Oklahoma State (Oklahoma A&M at the time) earned the league's first title.  The University of Tulsa was the last private school to earn the MVC trophy, in 1960-61.  Drake earned regular-season team titles this year in men's cross country, women's basketball, women's soccer, and tournament titles in women's basketball and men's basketball.  Notably, Drake became the first institution in MVC history to win back-to-back tournament titles in both men's and women's basketball.  In addition to the five team titles, Drake had top-five finishes in men's basketball (regular-season), men's golf, men's outdoor track & field, men's indoor track & field, women's cross country, women's golf, women's tennis, and volleyball.  Drake had an aggregate score of 8.787 this year to take the title.  The Bulldogs finished third in 2022-23, which was Drake’s highest finish since 1994-95.

   And Belmont earned the 2023-24 Missouri Valley Conference All-Academic Award.  Belmont student-athletes posted a 3.581 grade-point average, placing ahead of UNI and Illinois State. Every year since 2002-03, the MVC All-Academic Award has been presented to the member institution that finishes the school year with the best grade-point average among its student-athletes who participate in a Valley-sponsored sport.  Belmont has claimed a conference academic achievement award 21 of the last 23 academic years. It marks the 12^th-straight crown for Belmont, which claimed the honor every year of its membership in the Ohio Valley Conference (2012-22).

    Men’s basketball continues to be the engine that drives Valley athletic programs as four MVC teams competed in postseason play last year. The league has now combined for 20 wins in the NCAA Tournament in the past 11 NCAA championships and has earned multiple bids 16 times since 1994. Notably, MVC teams are 12-4 in their first game in the NCAA Tournament dating back to 2012. Since 2013, The Valley has had two Final Four appearances, and an MVC team has reached a Sweet 16 a total of 12 times since 1985.  Indiana State (32-7) reached the title game of the NIT, falling to Seton Hall in the championship.  It marked the first NIT title game for ISU, which won the league’s regular-season title for the first time since 2000.

   The State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship -- affectionately known as Arch Madness -- continues to be a spectacular showcase for the league, and the MVC has an agreement with Enterprise Center (formerly known as Scottrade Center) that will keep Arch Madness in St. Louis through at least 2028.  The tournament will celebrate its 49th anniversary overall in 2025, observe its 31^st anniversary at Enterprise Center, and it will be the 35th-straight season the event has been held in St. Louis.  Only the Big East Conference (in New York City) has had a longer continuous run at a single site.

   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 women’s basketball, The Valley sent a total of seven teams to the postseason in 2024 as Drake made the NCAA Tournament field while Belmont and Missouri State participated in the inaugural WBIT. UIC, Illinois State, Murray State and UNI also participated in the postseason, playing in the WNIT. The seven postseason teams tied for the most sent by the league, previously doing so in 2012. The MVC had six teams in the postseason in 1999, 2010, 2021 and 2023. As a conference, The Valley finished the year rated at the 13th ranked league (NET), marking the sixth-straight season the league has finished as a top 15 ranked conference.

    The Conference remains committed to keeping the championship at a neutral site for the 18th-consecutive year in 2025. The women’s basketball championship will begin a three-year rotation in Evansville, Indiana, March 13-16, at the Ford Center. The Valley matches the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 Conference Tournaments, as the only Division I stand-alone women’s basketball championships to be held at a neutral site for 16-or-more consecutive years.

    In baseball, The Valley sent two teams to the NCAA Tournament as regular-season champion Indiana State and tournament champion Evansville represented the league in the Lexington and Greenville Regionals, respectively. Evansville made its first trip to the Super Regionals in 2024 while it was the eighth appearance by a Valley program since the format was adopted in 1999. The Valley ranked 11th nationally in conference RPI in 2024. Since the 2011 season, the Missouri Valley Conference has ranked among the Top 10 leagues nationally in RPI in nine of the last 13 seasons. In fact, The Valley has ranked among the top seven conferences in seven of those 13 seasons.

    In volleyball, UNI represented the MVC in the NCAA Tournament field after claiming the program’s 19th MVC tourney title. The Panthers made the NCAA Tournament for the 25th time in program history. Drake, Southern Illinois and Valparaiso represented The Valley in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC), totaling four MVC volleyball programs competing in the 2023 postseason. The Valley has placed three or more teams into the postseason the last three years.

    In men’s soccer, The Valley was a multiple-bid league for the 18th time as the regular-season and tournament champion Western Michigan was joined by Missouri State, who earned an at-large bid in the field of 48.The Broncos made their second-straight Sweet 16 appearance in 2023 and third overall in program history, while carrying a 21-match unbeaten streak into the 2024 campaign. Missouri State advanced to the NCAA Second Round in 2023 after defeating Omaha, 1-0, in the opening round at home for its third tournament win in program history

   Track & Field continues to be a banner sport for the Missouri Valley Conference as nine student-athletes participated in the NCAA Outdoor Championships and two competed at the indoor event.  Several league student-athletes earned second-team and honorable-mention All-America honors in the sport, which has yielded more than 70 national champions in league history.  Three Valley alumni represented Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Track & Field and Olympic weightlifting. Additionally, The Valley had three Paralympian alumni compete and medal for Team USA in the 2024 Summer Paralympics. Three Valley school alumni participating in swimming and para swimming events representing Team USA, Aruba, and Mexico. Valley institutions represented in the 2024 Olympics included Illinois State, Indiana State, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois.

   Men’s golf had a successful season in 2023-24 as for the first time in league history three MVC student-athletes were selected by the NCAA to participate as individuals in a men’s golf regional.  Alex McCulla and Valentin Peugnet of Illinois State plus Valparaiso’s Caleb VanArragon competed as individuals in the NCAA West Regional.  Southern Illinois earned the league’s AQ as a team after winning the MVC Championship, while Valparaiso also participated as a team in the postseason, and Anthony Delisanti was medalist at the National Golf Invitational.  VanArragon earned PING All-Region honors and was a first-team Academic All-American.

     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 Conference continues to be proactive in upgrading the production and marketing of both institutionally produced and Conference-produced events.  The value of MVC membership has been enhanced by the league’s robust media rights agreements with its national and regional partners.

   The fall of 2024 yielded three major announcements on the TV front, as ESPN and the Missouri Valley Conference announced an extension to their current media rights agreement that will provide increased coverage of Conference events across ESPN platforms through 2028-29.  As part of the deal – which continues a business relationship that began in 1986 – ESPN, the Missouri Valley Conference and its institutions work jointly to develop in-house production capabilities at each campus that will provide significant national coverage for multiple sports on ESPN+ and hands-on educational opportunities for students.

   Additionally, CBS Sports and the MVC are in a multi-year agreement to televise Valley basketball games on the CBS Television Network and CBS Sports Network. The deal, which began in 2015-16 and has been extended through 2026-27, is through a sublicense agreement with ESPN.  CBS Sports has televised the men’s basketball tournament final since 2006.

   The Valley and Gray Media have partnered to produce and distribute MVC men’s and women’s basketball regular-season games and opening-round / quarterfinal State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Tournament contests beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.  The linear over-the-air station package will be distributed in 22 Gray Media markets in the states of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, and Tennessee and via third-party broadcast partners in markets outside of the Gray footprint.  As part of the Conference’s multi-year contract with ESPN, the entire package will also be simulcast live nationally on ESPN+ and available through the ESPN app without digital blackouts.

   Notably, the men’s basketball tournament title sponsor – State Farm Insurance -- has been a sponsor of the Conference since 1984, first as an advertiser on league TV games.

    In the summer of 2023, the Conference brought its marketing and media-rights operation inhouse after being represented by Learfield Sports since July 1, 2010.  League staff will focus on partnerships during Missouri Valley Conference-controlled linear and digital video productions and event sponsorship sales for all 18 MVC sports championships.

     The Valley has been aggressive in hosting NCAA events in St. Louis.  From 1998-2010, the MVC served as host for a staggering nine NCAA tournament events in that 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 the Men’s Final Four in 2005.  Most recently, The Valley hosted an NCAA regional in Kansas City (2019), and before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of post-season basketball tournaments, the Conference was to host a first- and second-round event in St. Louis in 2020.  The league will host a first- and second-round event in St. Louis at Enterprise Center in March 2026.

   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.  Two months after the initial meeting, two more 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, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball.

    While The Valley no longer sponsors football (it did from 1907-85), eight league members compete in the sport at the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) level as Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Murray State, UNI, and Southern Illinois play in the 11-member Missouri Valley Football Conference (with North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, and Youngstown State).  That league competed as the Gateway Conference from 1985-2007.  Drake and Valparaiso play non-scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League.

    Athletic accomplishments include four NCAA national basketball championships, 18 trips to the NCAA Final Four, a 1989 national baseball championship and 19 College World Series qualifiers.  The league owns a total of 32 post-season national team championships, including two men’s basketball crowns in 2015 (Evansville-CIT; Loyola-CBI).  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) and Missouri State (2005) have claimed national championships (WNIT) in women’s basketball. MSU also has a 1992 NCAA Women’s Final Four appearance, while eight women’s basketball teams have reached the WNIT semifinals, most recently UNI in 2021.

    Indeed, the inclusion of women’s programs under The Valley banner has provided a boost.  The Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference -- which began in 1982 -- merged with The Missouri Valley Conference and was unveiled as part of the new conference on July 1, 1992.

   During the 2017-18 academic year, the Missouri Valley Conference and its member institutions conducted a year-long celebration of the first 25 years of women’s sports competition in the MVC, focusing attention on current women student-athletes in the Conference and honoring MVC history and the pioneers of women’s athletics.  Top vote-getters in each sport included Rachel Tejada of Illinois State (soccer); Sue Daggett Miller of Illinois State (cross country); Molly O’Brien of UNI (volleyball); Jackie Stiles of Missouri State (basketball); Sherry Zhang of Southern Illinois (swimming & diving); Danielle Lemek of Bradley (golf); Liina Suurvarik of Illinois State (tennis); Tara Oltman of Creighton (softball); Holli Hyche of Indiana State (track); and Kylie Hutson of Indiana State (field).

   During the 2022-23 season the Conference celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the passage of Title IX -- a federal civil rights law passed in 1972 that protects opportunities for women.  Pioneers from the MVC’s member institutions were instrumental on their campuses, and they continue to shape the landscape today.
While the inclusion of women’s sports under a comprehensive athletic umbrella is a recent development in the league’s storied history, over the years, Valley student-athletes and coaches have become household names during the league’s illustrious history, both during their collegiate careers and, for some, professional careers.
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 of Wichita State, Ed Macauley of Saint Louis, and Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati were members of the inaugural induction class.  Currently, more than 150 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, which includes a list of 275 drafted to the NBA, including a first-round selection in the 2023 NBA Draft in Ben Sheppard of Belmont.  Notably, 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 June of 2016, Stiles was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

   In the sport of baseball, The Valley has produced nearly 800 MLB Draft Picks since 1965, including 31 players being taken in the draft’s first round.  Missouri State’s Jake Burger was the most-recent first-round selection, going 11^th overall in the 2017 draft.

  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), Illinois State's Tim Glover (back-to-back javelin championships in 2011 and 2012), Indiana State's Felisha Johnson (indoor weight throw in 2011 and 2013), and Southern Illinois’ DeAnna Price (hammer throw in 2015 and 2016) are the most recent multi-year NCAA champions in the league's highly decorated history in track & field.  Meanwhile, Raven Saunders of Southern Illinois earned NCAA shot put titles in both the 2015 indoor and outdoor meets.  In 2016, Price was named a semifinalist for the Bowerman Award.  She became the second in Southern Illinois history to be a semifinalist, joining Jeneva McCall (2012) and is just the third in MVC history to be named a semifinalist for the Bowerman, joining McCall and Indiana State's Kylie Hutson (2010).

    In the fall of 1997, Creighton’s Johnny Torres was named the collegiate male soccer player of the year for a second-straight year, while SMU’s Luchi Gonzalez (2001) and Tulsa’s Ryan Pore (2004) have also earned a National Player of the Year honor in men’s soccer.  Meanwhile, Wichita State produced three national collegiate players of the year in baseball, including Joe Carter (1981), Phil Stephenson (1982) and Darren Dreifort (1993).  All told, a total of 73 MVC individuals in its history have earned an NCAA title, while 48 have been tabbed National Player or Coach of the Year.

    League members include Belmont, Bradley, Drake, Evansville, UIC, Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Murray State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso.  Little Rock is an affiliate member in women’s swimming and diving; Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan are affiliate members in men’s soccer; and Ball State and Miami (Ohio) are affiliate members in men’s swimming & diving.