Ohio Valley Conference

The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is an American college sports conference that plays in the NCAA Division I. In football, the OVC is part of Division I FCS, the lower of two levels of Division I football. The member universities and colleges are in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee. The OVC has its offices in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tennessee.

History

The OVC grew out of talks between officials at three Kentucky schools—Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, and Western Kentucky—in 1941. America's entry into World War II later that year put these talks on hold for several years. Later, in 1948, the three original schools joined with two other Kentucky schools, plus one in Indiana, to form the conference.

It was one of the first conferences with a presence in the South to accept black athletes at historically white-only schools, with Morehead State being the first OVC member to do so in 1958. The OVC was long notable as being the only conference made up of traditionally white schools to have a historically black university (Tennessee State) as a member. That changed when Hampton and North Carolina A&T left the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for the Big South Conference, respectively in 2018 and 2021. (Both moved together to the Colonial Athletic Association in 2022.)

The OVC has had major membership changes in recent years. In 2021, it lost founding member Eastern Kentucky, plus Jacksonville State, to the ASUN Conference. A year later, three more members left, with Austin Peay moving to the ASUN, and founding member Murray State and Belmont joining the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). However, since the MVC does not play football, Murray State played the 2022 football season in the OVC before moving the football team to the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2023. (The MVFC is separate from, but closely related to, the MVC.) Murray State remained a member in rifle after it otherwise left the OVC.

The OVC responded by adding three new members in 2022 and one in 2023. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock, athletically known as Little Rock, joined from the Sun Belt Conference. It does not have a football team. The other new members started transitions from NCAA Division II. Lindenwood University plays football; the University of Southern Indiana does not. In 2023, Western Illinois University joined from the Summit League for almost all of its sports. It kept football in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and men's soccer in the Summit League for the 2023–24 school year, and will move both sports to the OVC in 2024.

In February 2022, the OVC and Big South announced they would merge their football leagues after the 2022 season. The merged entity was later unveiled as the Big South–OVC Football Association, technically an alliance between the two conferences instead of a full merger of the football leagues. The alliance has a single automatic berth in the FCS playoffs. Also, shortly after the 2022 membership changes took effect, the OVC and Horizon League merged their men's tennis leagues under the Horizon's banner.

Members

The OVC has 11 full members. Six of these schools play football in the Big South–OVC alliance; two play football in another conference; and three do not play football at all. All members are public schools except for 2022 arrival Lindenwood.

School	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	Joined	Football member?
Eastern Illinois University	Charleston, Illinois	1895	Public	Panthers	1996	Y
Little Rock University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Little Rock)	Little Rock, Arkansas	1927	Public	Trojans	2022
Lindenwood University	Saint Charles St. Charles, Missouri	1827	Private	Lions	2022	Y
Morehead State University	Morehead, Kentucky	1922	Public	Eagles	1948
SIU Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIU Edwardsville)	Edwardsville, Illinois	1966	Public	Cougars	2008
Southeast Missouri State University	Cape Girardeau, Missouri	1873	Public	Redhawks	1991	Y
Southern Indiana University of Southern Indiana	Evansville, Indiana	1965	Public	Screaming Eagles	2022
Tennessee State University	Nashville, Tennessee	1912	Public	Tigers & Lady Tigers	1986	Y
Tennessee Technological University	Cookeville, Tennessee	1912	Public	Golden Eagles	1949	Y
UT Martin University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin)	Martin, Tennessee	1927	Public	Skyhawks	1992	Y
Western Illinois University	Macomb, Illinois	1899	Public	Leathernecks	2023	Y

Associate members

The OVC now has six "associate" members—i.e., schools that play a small number of sports in the conference, usually one. The most recent changes to the associate membership were the departure of Murray State football to the Missouri Valley Football Conference after the 2022 football season and the addition of four associates in July 2023. All four of the new associates joined in the newly sponsored OVC sport of men's soccer, and one of those also joined for men's and women's golf.

Chicago State will leave after the 2023–24 school year when it joins the Northeast Conference, which sponsors all of the school's OVC sports.

School	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	OVC sport(s)	Joined	Main conference
Chattanooga University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Chattanooga)	Chattanooga, Tennessee	1886	Public	Mocs	Beach volleyball	2019	SoCon
Chicago State University	Chicago, Illinois	1867	Public	Cougars	Men's and women's golf Men's soccer	2023	Independent (NEC in 2024)
Houston Christian University	Houston, Texas	1960	Private	Huskies	Men's soccer	2023	Southland
Incarnate Word University of the Incarnate Word	San Antonio, Texas	1881	Private	Cardinals	Men's soccer	2023	Southland
Liberty University	Lynchburg, Virginia	1971	Private	Flames	Men's soccer	2023	CUSA
Murray State University	Murray, Kentucky	1922	Public	Racers	Rifle	2022	MVC

Former members

Fourteen schools have been full members, but are no longer in the league. Former full member Murray State remains an OVC associate member.

School	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current conference
Akron University of Akron	Akron, Ohio	1870	Public	Zips	1980	1987	MAC
Austin Peay State University	Clarksville, Tennessee	1927	Public	Governors	1962	2022	ASUN
Belmont University	Nashville, Tennessee	1890	Private	Bruins	2012	2022	MVC
East Tennessee State University	Johnson City, Tennessee	1911	Public	Buccaneers	1958	1978	SoCon
Eastern Kentucky University	Richmond, Kentucky	1906	Public	Colonels	1948	2021	ASUN
Evansville University of Evansville	Evansville, Indiana	1854	Private	Purple Aces	1948	1952	MVC
Jacksonville State University	Jacksonville, Alabama	1883	Public	Gamecocks	2003	2021	C-USA
Louisville University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	1798	Public	Cardinals	1948	1949	ACC
Marshall University	Huntington, West Virginia	1837	Public	Thundering Herd	1949	1952	Sun Belt
Middle Tennessee State University	Murfreesboro, Tennessee	1911	Public	Blue Raiders	1952	2000	C-USA
Murray State University	Murray, Kentucky	1922	Public	Racers	1948	2022	MVC
Samford University	Homewood, Alabama	1841	Private	Bulldogs	2003	2008	SoCon
Western Kentucky University	Bowling Green, Kentucky	1906	Public	Hilltoppers & Lady Toppers	1948	1982	C-USA
Youngstown State University	Youngstown, Ohio	1906	Public	Penguins	1981	1988	Horizon League MVFC (football)

Former associate members

The OVC has had one prior associate member that left when it folded its only OVC sports team. A second school was an OVC associate in two sports in 2022–23, but now only houses one sport in the OVC.

School	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	OVC sport(s)	Joined	Left	Main conference	Conference in former OVC sport
Columbus State University	Columbus, Georgia	1958	Public	Cougars	Rifle	2012	2015	Peach Belt (Div. II)	None (dropped rifle in 2015)
Murray State University	Murray, Kentucky	1922	Public	Racers	Football	2022	2023	MVC	MVFC

References

• "OVC History". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved August 4, 2014.