GLVC Establishes Timeline for Football Sponsorship
INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has developed a timeline for adding football as a sponsored championship sport in the Conference. The timeline, which has been approved by the GLVC Council of Presidents, targets 2012 as the GLVC’s inaugural football season.
“The addition of football as the 18th championship sponsored by the GLVC is a significant step for the league and our member institutions that sponsor the sport,” said GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich. “The athletic directors from our football-playing institutions have all expressed their desire to compete in the GLVC and I am happy that we will be able to accommodate this request beginning in 2012.”
With the addition of William Jewell College as the GLVC’s 16th member institution, there are now six football-playing schools in the Conference, the minimum number of institutions needed to sponsor a sport in the GLVC.
In addition to William Jewell, fellow league members currently sponsoring football include Kentucky Wesleyan College, Missouri S&T, Quincy University, Saint Joseph’s College and the University of Indianapolis.
Kentucky Wesleyan, Missouri S&T and Saint Joseph’s are currently affiliated with the Great Lakes Football Conference (GLFC), Quincy is a current member of the Mid-States Football Association (MSFA) and UIndy will continue to compete in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) through the 2011 season.
It is anticipated that the 2012 schedule will be adopted at the 2010 GLVC Spring Meeting to be held in St. Louis on May 24-26. The Conference will also be exploring additional football-playing institutions that would serve as associate members of the GLVC.
“I think the addition of football will be a positive development for our league and will be well received by our football student-athletes, their coaches, and fans,” said Naumovich. “We are excited to become a NCAA Division II football conference.”
The last sport to be adopted as a championship sport in the GLVC was indoor track and field, with the men’s and women’s events established in 2000.
The GLVC, established in 1978, is a NCAA Division II athletic conference with 16 members located in five Midwestern states. The league currently sponsors championships in 17 sports for over 3,500 student-athletes.