A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
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| Formerly | Midwestern City Conference (1979–1985) Midwestern Collegiate Conference (1985–2001) |
|---|---|
| Association | NCAA |
| Founded | 1979 |
| Commissioner | Julie Roe Lach (since 2021) |
| Sports fielded |
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| Division | Division I |
| Subdivision | non-football |
| No. of teams | 11 + 7 affiliate members |
| Headquarters | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Region | |
| Official website | horizonleague |
| Locations | |
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The Horizon League is a collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in and near the Great Lakes region.
The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midwestern City Conference. The conference changed its name to Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1985 and then the Horizon League in 2001. The conference started with a membership of six teams and has fluctuated in size with 24 different schools as members at different times. The league currently has 11 members.
The Horizon League currently sponsors 19 sports and is a non-football conference.
History
Foundation (1978–1979)
In May 1978, DePaul University hosted a meeting with representatives from Bradley, Dayton, Detroit, Illinois State, Loyola–Chicago, Air Force, and Xavier who all agreed in principle that a new athletic conference was needed. Further progress was made through a series of early 1979 meetings in San Francisco, Chicago, and St. Louis that included participation by Butler, Creighton, Marquette, and Oral Roberts. On June 16, 1979, the Midwestern City Conference (nicknamed the MCC or Midwestern City 6) was formed by charter members Butler, Evansville, Loyola, Oklahoma City, Oral Roberts, and Xavier, with Detroit joining the following year.[1] As of the 2023–24 academic year[update], Detroit, now known as Detroit Mercy, is the only remaining member from the league's original members.
Maturity (1980–1992)
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In 1980, the league established its headquarters in Champaign, Illinois. The MCC gained an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 1981, followed by the announcement that Saint Louis University would be joining the following season. The University of Notre Dame joined the conference for all sports except basketball and football in 1982. The conference attained automatic qualification for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 1984 and the conference moved its headquarters to Indianapolis. Three changes occurred in the summer of 1985: Oklahoma City dropped out of the NCAA altogether; the conference name was altered slightly to Midwestern Collegiate Conference; and the conference began sponsoring women's athletics. The latter triggered Notre Dame's temporary withdrawal from the league as its women's teams were contracted to the North Star Conference. ESPN began televising the MCC Championship game[clarification needed] in 1986. In 1987, Oral Roberts left the conference while Dayton joined and Notre Dame rejoined. The conference earned its first at-large bid to the men's basketball tournament and automatic qualification to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship in 1989. In 1991, the conference received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament and lost members Marquette and Saint Louis. Duquesne and La Salle joined the MCC in 1992, the same year the conference gained an automatic berth to the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship. Duquesne and Dayton left the conference in 1993.
Modern era (1990–present)
The largest non-merger conference expansion in NCAA history occurred on December 9, 1993, when Cleveland State, UIC, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin–Green Bay, Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and Wright State left the Mid-Continent Conference to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference beginning with the 1994–95 academic year.[1] With Evansville's departure to the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), there were 12 league members. Xavier, Notre Dame, and La Salle withdrew the following summer of 1995, followed by Northern Illinois in 1997. The conference changed its name to the Horizon League on June 4, 2001, in part due to the initials causing confusion between the MCC and the Mid-Continent Conference, who also used the initials. That year, Youngstown State University joined from the Mid-Con, and on May 17, 2006, Valparaiso University announced it would do the same in 2007.[2]
In April 2013, the split of the original Big East Conference caused a ripple effect that fell to the Horizon League; Loyola announced that it would leave the Horizon League effective July 1 to join the Missouri Valley Conference, who itself lost Creighton to the reconfigured Big East.[3]
Butler also left the Horizon League. They spent a season in the Atlantic 10 before joining the Big East.
The Horizon announced that Oakland University, formerly of the Summit League, would immediately replace Loyola within a month.[4]
The next change in the Horizon League's membership came in 2015 with the arrival of Northern Kentucky University from the Atlantic Sun Conference.[5]
Two more membership changes were announced near the end of the 2016–17 school year. First, Valparaiso announced on May 25, 2017, that it would leave for the MVC effective July 1. The Crusaders replaced Wichita State, who announced that it would leave the MVC for the American Athletic Conference.[6] Three days before Valparaiso's departure, the Horizon League Board of Directors unanimously approved the membership of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) to replace Valparaiso, also effective July 1.[7]
The start of the 2020s set further membership changes into motion, with the arrivals of Purdue Fort Wayne and Robert Morris from the Summit League and the Northeast Conference (NEC), respectively, announced on August 5, 2019[8] and June 15, 2020.[9] This brought the Horizon League up to 12 full-time members for the first time since the 1994-95 season. It was short-lived, however, as the UIC Flames were reported to be following many of their former conference colleagues to the MVC effective July 1, 2022.[10]
On July 6, 2022, the Horizon League and Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) jointly announced that they would merge their men's tennis leagues under the Horizon banner, effective immediately. The five OVC members that sponsored the sport became Horizon associates. At the same time, the Horizon announced that Belmont, which had just left the OVC for the Missouri Valley Conference (which sponsors tennis only for women), would become a men's tennis associate,[11] and Chicago State, which became a D-I independent after leaving the Western Athletic Conference days earlier, would become an associate in both men's and women's tennis.[12] Two tennis associates will leave after the 2023–24 season. Men's and women's associate Chicago State will join the NEC, which sponsors the sport for both sexes,[13] and men's associate Lindenwood will drop nine NCAA sports, including men's tennis.[14]
Prior to the 2023–24 academic year, the conference announced a brand refresh with the introduction of a new secondary logo. The logo is a gold stylized H that incorporates the arch of the conference's primary logo and a number one to symbolize unity.[15]
As of the 2023–24 academic year[update], eight of the 11 full Horizon League members are former members of the Mid-Con (now known as the Summit League), with the exceptions being Detroit Mercy, Northern Kentucky, and Robert Morris.
Member schools
Current full members
- Notes
- ^ In 2024, the Indiana University and Purdue University system systems will dissolve IUPUI, replacing it with separate IU- and Purdue-affiliated institutions. The athletic program will transfer to the new IU Indianapolis, with the branding yet to be announced.[16]
- ^ The Oakland campus has a Rochester mailing address, but is located in the separate cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills. The university administration is in Auburn Hills; athletic facilities are in both cities.
- ^ Purdue Fort Wayne (PFW) did not begin operation until 2018, but inherited its athletic program from Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), founded in 1964. IPFW was dissolved in 2018 by the IU and Purdue systems, with each system establishing a new Fort Wayne institution.[17]
- ^ The Wright State campus is physically located in Fairborn but has a Dayton mailing address.
Associate members
| Institution | Location | Founded | Joined | Type | Enrollment | Nickname | Sport(s) | Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belmont University | Nashville, Tennessee | 1890 | 2022 | Private (Christian) | 8,700 | Bruins | Men's tennis | MVC |
| Chicago State University | Chicago, Illinois | 1867 | 2022 | Public (TMCF) |
2,620 | Cougars | Men's and women's tennis | Independent (NEC in 2024) |
| Eastern Illinois University | Charleston, Illinois | 1895 | 2022 | Public | 8,857 | Panthers | Men's tennis | OVC |
| Lindenwood University | St. Charles, Missouri | 1827 | 2022 | Private (non-sectarian) | 7,374 | Lions | Men's tennis | OVC |
| University of Southern Indiana | Evansville, Indiana[a] | 1965 | 2022 | Public | 9,758 | Screaming Eagles | Men's tennis | OVC |
| Tennessee State University | Nashville, Tennessee | 1912 | 2022 | Public (HBCU) |
8,775 | Tigers | Men's tennis | OVC |
| Tennessee Technological University | Cookeville, Tennessee | 1915 | 2022 | Public | 10,492 | Golden Eagles | Men's tennis | OVC |
- ^ The campus has an Evansville mailing address but is located in unincorporated Vanderburgh Cuunty.
Former full members
Nicknames and school names reflect those used in the last school year of conference membership.