Ohio Valley Conference

Primary source:[1]
The Ohio Valley Conference can trace its roots to 1941 when Murray State athletic director Roy Stewart, Eastern Kentucky athletic director Charles "Turkey" Hughes, and Western Kentucky public relations director Kelly Thompson first formulated the idea of establishing a regional athletics conference. The plan was put on hold due to World War II, but it was resurrected after the conclusion of the war. In 1948, the three schools joined with Louisville, Morehead State, and Evansville to form the Ohio Valley Conference. While many collegiate conferences are struggling today with the question of whether their policies and rules should be determined by the athletic departments or by the institutional heads, from the very beginning, the OVC has been run by the presidents of its member schools.

Historically, the OVC was a pioneer in racial desegregation, with Morehead State signing the conference's first Black athlete, Marshall Banks, in 1958. The rest of the OVC soon followed in Morehead State's wake. From 1986 to 2018, the OVC was unique among NCAA Division I conferences in that it included one historically Black university, Tennessee State University, in a conference that otherwise consists of institutions that are not traditionally Black. During this period, every other HBCU in NCAA Division I belonged to either the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference or Southwestern Athletic Conference. That distinction changed in July 2018 when Hampton University joined the Big South Conference; that league has since added a second HBCU in North Carolina A&T State University.

The OVC has also been a leader in advancement of sports opportunities for women. The conference began adding championship competitions for women in 1977 several years after the AIAW began sponsoring national championships for women, but seven years before the NCAA was ready to move into the field. Since 2009, the OVC has been led by Commissioner Beth DeBauche, one of only six female commissioners for the thirty-two Division I conferences.[2]

Athletic rivalries, really close colleges and especially when competitors are in relatively close proximity, can generate problems with fan behavior, and the conference leadership struggled with controlling the issue for many years. When the national debate on the problem reached its apex in the mid-1990s, the OVC unveiled the national first of its kind "Sportsmanship Statement" in 1995, stating the conference's policy on, "... principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one's opponent." Since then, the OVC has also introduced individual, team (for each sport), and institutional sportsmanship awards.

Founded by six schools, the expansions of 2007 and 2011 brought the Ohio Valley Conference membership to twelve schools, the most in its history. The OVC dropped to 10 members after the 2020–21 school year, when founding member Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State left for the ASUN Conference.[3] The OVC is searching for teams to replace both in the near future.[4]

The OVC will lose three more members after the 2021–22 school year. Football-sponsoring Austin Peay will leave for the ASUN Conference, which plans to launch a football league of its own in 2022.[5] Non-football Belmont will leave for the Missouri Valley Conference.[6] Another football school, founding member Murray State, will also leave for the MVC. When announcing its move to the MVC, Murray State announced that it was seeking membership in the football-only Missouri Valley Football Conference, and also announced that it would continue to house its rifle team in the OVC.[7] In a separate statement, Murray State's president indicated that the football team would remain in the OVC in the 2022 season, ensuring that the OVC would retain its automatic bid to the FCS playoffs in that season and giving the league more time to add new football members.[8] Murray State would eventually be accepted by the MVFC effective in 2023.[9]

Also in July 2022, the OVC will add two non-football members in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, athletically known as Little Rock,[10] and the University of Southern Indiana, which will start a transition from NCAA Division II,[11] plus a new football-sponsoring member in Lindenwood University, also transitioning from D-II.[12]

According to a report from Matt Brown of the Extra Points college sports blog, the OVC expected to lose Murray State, and was considering multiple expansion candidates, with Southern Indiana among them. Other schools named by Brown's sources as possible candidates were FCS programs Arkansas–Pine Bluff and Western Illinois, plus potential Division II upgraders Grand Valley State, Hillsdale, and Lincoln Memorial.[13]

On February 22, 2022, the conference announced its intent to combine its football membership with the Big South Conference beginning in 2023. Full details of the alliance, specifically whether it will be operated by either the Big South or OVC, or become a completely separate entity, have yet to be announced.[14]

In August 2012, the OVC announced that it had launched the OVC Digital Network as a replacement for and improvement over the conference's former efforts to provide streaming video coverage of many athletic events that had been in place since 2006.[15] This website carried live, student-produced coverage of most conference games and some non-conference games in baseball, men's and women's basketball, football, soccer, softball, and volleyball as well as some coaches' shows, special presentations, and archived game-casts available for later viewing.

In its first two years, the network provided well over 600,000 viewings of streamed live video of more than 1400 events.[16]

In the 2018–19 school year the coverage previously carried on the OVC Digital Network was switched over to ESPN+.

Starting with the 2012–13 school year, the twelve member schools were split into two divisions for those sports where all schools competed. In the 2014–15 season, women's sports with twelve teams returned to a single league table, while continuing to play a divisional schedule. Men's basketball moved to an 18-game schedule in 2017–18, and they continued to play home-and-home versus the former divisional rivals, and they play home-and-home versus two teams from the other division, with those opponents on a rotation that sets up different pairs from year-to-year. The OVC returned to a single-table format after Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State left in 2021.

The Ohio Valley Conference currently offers championship competition in 19 NCAA sanctioned sports, with eight for men, 10 for women, and rifle for men's, women's, and coed teams.[17]

Men's sponsored sports by school

Departing members are displayed in red.

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Rifle[lower-alpha 1]	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total OVC Sports
Austin Peay	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	6
Belmont	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Eastern Illinois	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Morehead State	Y	Y	Y	N[lower-alpha 2]	Y	Y[lower-alpha 3]	N	N	Y	6
Murray State	Y	Y	Y	Y[lower-alpha 4]	Y	Y[lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 5]	N	N	N	6
Southeast Missouri	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	Y	6
SIU Edwardsville	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	6
Tennessee State	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Tennessee Tech	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	6
UT Martin	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y[lower-alpha 6]	N	N	N	6
Totals	9	10	10	7	9	3	5	5	6	64
Future members
Lindenwood	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Little Rock	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	6
Southern Indiana	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7

Notes

1. Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other.
2. Morehead State football competes at the non-scholarship FCS level in the Pioneer Football League.
3. Fields a single coed rifle team.
4. Murray State plans to play OVC football in 2022 before moving to the MVFC in 2023.
5. Murray State will remain a rifle member after it otherwise leaves the OVC.
6. Fields two separate rifle teams—one coed, and one women-only.

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Ohio Valley Conference which are played by OVC schools

Departing members are displayed in red; future members in gray.

School	Ice Hockey	Lacrosse	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Rodeo[lower-alpha 1]	Volleyball	Wrestling
Belmont	–	–	Southern Conference	–	–	–	–
Eastern Illinois	–	–	Summit League	Summit League	–	–	–
Lindenwood	Adding program[18]	ASUN[lower-alpha 2]	GLVC[lower-alpha 2]	GLVC[lower-alpha 2]	–	MIVA	GLVC[lower-alpha 2]
Little Rock	–	–	–	–	–	–	Pac-12
Southern Indiana	–	–	GLVC[lower-alpha 3]	GLVC[lower-alpha 3]	–	–	–
SIU Edwardsville	–	–	MVC	–	–	–	MAC
UT Martin	–	–	–	–	NIRA[lower-alpha 4]	–	–

Notes

1. Rodeo is sanctioned by the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA), not the NCAA.
2. Lindenwood has yet to announce its future affiliation in most of its non-OVC sports.
3. Southern Indiana has yet to announce its future affiliation in its non-OVC sports.
4. UT Martin considers rodeo to be a varsity sport.

Women's sponsored sports by school

Departing members are displayed in red.

School	Basketball	Beach Volleyball	Cross Country	Golf	Rifle [lower-alpha 1]	Soccer	Softball	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball (Indoor)	Total OVC Sports
Austin Peay	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Belmont	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Eastern Illinois	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Morehead State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y†	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	10
Murray State	Y	N	Y	Y	Y†[lower-alpha 2]	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Southeast Missouri	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
SIU Edwardsville	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Tennessee State	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Tennessee Tech	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
UT Martin	Y	Y	Y	N	Yx2†	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	8
Totals	10	4+1[lower-alpha 3]	10	7	4	9	10	8	9	9	10	91+1
Future members
Lindenwood	Y	Y[lower-alpha 4]	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Little Rock	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Southern Indiana	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9

1. Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other. All competing OVC schools have coed teams, and UT Martin has both a women's and a coed team.
2. Murray State will remain a rifle member after it otherwise leaves the OVC.
3. Associate member Chattanooga.
4. Lindenwood will start beach volleyball competition in the 2023 season (2022–23 school year).

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Ohio Valley Conference which are played by OVC schools

Future members in gray.

School	Equestrian[lower-alpha 1]	Field Hockey	Gymnastics	Ice Hockey	Lacrosse	Rodeo[lower-alpha 2]	Swimming & Diving	Wrestling[lower-alpha 1]
Eastern Illinois	—	—	—	—	—	—	Summit League	–
Lindenwood	—	Independent[lower-alpha 3]	MIC	CHA	GLVC[lower-alpha 3]	—	GLVC[lower-alpha 3]	Independent
Little Rock	—	—	—	—	—	—	MVC	–
Southeast Missouri	—	–	MIC	—	—	—	–	–
UT Martin	ECAC	—	—	—	—	NIRA	—	–

1. Part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.
2. Rodeo is sanctioned by the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA), not the NCAA. UT Martin considers rodeo to be a varsity sport.
3. Lindenwood has yet to announce its future affiliation in several of its non-OVC sports.

Departing members in red; future members in gray.

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