# Midwestern Conference

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The **Midwestern Conference**, alternatively **Conference of Midwestern Universities**,[1] was a college [athletic conference](/source/Athletic_conference) which operated in [Illinois](/source/Illinois) and [Indiana](/source/Indiana) from 1970 to 1972. It was composed of schools which had recently moved from [Division II](/source/NCAA_Division_II) (then known as the College Division) to [Division I](/source/NCAA_Division_I) (known as the University Division) of the [National Collegiate Athletic Association](/source/National_Collegiate_Athletic_Association) (NCAA). The conference sponsored only men's sports; awarding championships in baseball, basketball, cross-country, golf, swimming, tennis, indoor & outdoor track and field, and wrestling.

The first conference championship was in cross country in the fall of 1970. Southern Illinois won that championship and almost made a clean sweep by winning championships in basketball, wrestling, swimming, baseball, tennis, and both indoor and outdoor track. Only Ball State prevented a sweep by winning the golf championship that spring.

At that time (as is generally still the case now), in order to be recognized by the NCAA, a conference was required to have six or more member institutions. The Midwestern Conference had only five members and was unable to find a sixth, so it ceased operations after only two years. The five member schools eventually affiliated with other conferences.

The conference commissioner was [Jack McClelland](/source/Jack_McClelland_(basketball)), the former [Drake Bulldogs](/source/Drake_Bulldogs_men's_basketball) basketball coach and athletic director, who had resigned as commissioner of the [North Central Conference](/source/North_Central_Conference) in order to accept the position with the Midwestern Conference.[2]

## Member schools

The onetime members of the Midwestern Conference and the conferences they later joined are:

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Nickname Colors Enrollment[3][4] Joined Left Subsequent conference(s) Current conference Ball State University[5] Muncie, Indiana 1918 Public Cardinals 21,597 1970 1972 NCAA D-I Independent (1972–73) Mid-American (MAC) (1973–present)[6] Illinois State University[7] Normal, Illinois 1857 Public Redbirds 20,683 1970 1972 NCAA D-I Independent (1972–81) Missouri Valley (MVC) (1981–present)[8] Indiana State University[9] Terre Haute, Indiana 1865 Public Sycamores 13,584 1970 1972 NCAA D-I Independent (1972–76) Missouri Valley (MVC) (1976–present)[8] Northern Illinois University[10] DeKalb, Illinois 1895 Public Huskies 16,769 1970 1972 various[final 1] Mid-American (MAC) (1975–86; 1997–present)[6] Southern Illinois University[11] Carbondale, Illinois 1869 Public Salukis 11,695 1970 1972 NCAA D-I Independent (1972–75) Missouri Valley (MVC) (1975–present)[8]

**Notes**

1. Northern Illinois (NIU) had joined the following subsequent conferences: as an [NCAA D-I Independent](/source/NCAA_Division_I_independent_schools) from 1972–73 to 1974–75, and again later from 1986–87 to 1989–90; the [Mid-Continent Conference](/source/Summit_League) (now the Summit League) from 1990–91 to 1993–94; and the [Midwestern Collegiate Conference](/source/Horizon_League) (now the Horizon League) from 1994–95 to 1996–97.

## Conference champions

### Baseball

- 1971 Southern Illinois
- 1972 Northern Illinois

### Basketball

- 1970–71 Southern Illinois
- 1971–72 Northern Illinois

### Cross country

- 1970 Southern Illinois
- 1971 Ball State

### Golf

- 1971 Ball State
- 1972 Ball State

### Swimming

- 1970–71 Southern Illinois
- 1971–72 Southern Illinois

### Tennis

- 1971 Southern Illinois
- 1972 Southern Illinois

### Indoor track & field

- 1970–71 Southern Illinois
- 1971–72 Southern Illinois

### Outdoor track & field

- 1971 Southern Illinois
- 1972 Southern Illinois

### Wrestling

- 1970–71 Southern Illinois
- 1971–72 Southern Illinois

## References

1. Anthony O. Edmonds & C. Warren Vander Hill (2003). [*Ball State Men's Basketball 1918-2003*](https://books.google.com/books?id=xsQg3WanaRAC&pg=PA46). Arcadia Publishing. pp. 46–. ISBN 978-0-7385-3163-2.

1. ["The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search"](https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19700423&id=S8JWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dusDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2213,2724413&hl=en)

1. ["US News Education – Best Colleges – Best Graduate Schools – Online Schools – US News"](https://www.usnews.com/education). *U.S. News & World Report*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160222195031/http://www.usnews.com/education) 22 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 23 February 2016.

1. ["National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, part of the U.S. Department of Education"](https://nces.ed.gov/). *nces.ed.gov*. Retrieved 2022-06-07.

1. ["Ball State Men's Basketball"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130601052834/http://www.ballstatesports.com/fls/14200/MBB/PDFs/All-Time-Results.pdf?SPSID=62158&SPID=6786&DB_OEM_ID=14200). Archived from [the original](http://www.ballstatesports.com/fls/14200/MBB/PDFs/All-Time-Results.pdf?SPSID=62158&SPID=6786&DB_OEM_ID=14200) on 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2012-02-24.

1. ["Official Site of the Mid-American Conference"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170829214423/http://mac-sports.com/). Archived from [the original](http://www.mac-sports.com/) on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2012-02-24.

1. ["Illinois State - 2011-12 Mens Basketball Virtual Guide"](http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/issue/44431)

1. ["2023-2024 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball"](https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/mvc.sidearmsports.com/documents/2023/10/19/MVC_Information.pdf). p. 5. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20240707010023/https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/mvc.sidearmsports.com/documents/2023/10/19/MVC_Information.pdf) 2024-07-07 at the Wayback Machine.

1. ["2011-12 Indiana State Basketball"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231314/http://www.gosycamores.com/fls/15200//1112FullYearbook.pdf?SPSID=65149&SPID=7259&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=15200). Archived from [the original](http://www.gosycamores.com/fls/15200//1112FullYearbook.pdf?SPSID=65149&SPID=7259&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=15200) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-02-24.

1. ["Northern Illinois 2011-12 Men's Basketball Information Guide"](https://web.archive.org/web/20121105072749/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/niu/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/1112-info-guide.pdf). Northern Illinois University. Archived from [the original](http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/niu/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/1112-info-guide.pdf) on 2012-11-05.

1. ["Southern Illinois 2011-12 Media Guide"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091559/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/silu/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/prospectus/prospectus.pdf). Archived from [the original](http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/silu/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/prospectus/prospectus.pdf) on 2016-03-04.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Midwestern Conference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_Conference) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_Conference?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.