Great Lakes Valley Conference

The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level. Member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

The GLVC is considered one of the top small college basketball conferences in the nation and placed a team in the men's NCAA Division II final over 11 straight years from 1994 to 2004.

History

In October 2008, Maryville University and The University of Illinois at Springfield accepted invitations to join the GLVC and began competing in the conference in the fall of 2009. For men's and women's basketball, the league split into three divisions based on geography (East, North, and West) for the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons, and reverted to two divisions when William Jewell College joined in 2011. Baseball and Tennis operate in a two-division format, while all other sports run a single table.

On January 19, 2010 the GLVC announced the addition of football as a league championship sport, beginning with the 2012 season. Kentucky Wesleyan, Missouri S&T and Saint Joseph's moved from the Great Lakes Football Conference, McKendree University and Quincy University from the Mid-States Football Association of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and Indianapolis ended its affiliate membership in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) to join William Jewell and form the seven-team league.