Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Media Guides 2013-14 MVC Women's Basketball Media Guide | Page 6

The Valley

This is the Missouri Valley Conference
The Missouri Valley Conference has demonstrated throughout history
that it finds the strength, resources, competitive determination and
leadership to rise to even higher levels when confronted with change or
significant challenges.
In 2012-13, the winds of change that have dramatically affected Division I conference realignment in recent years finally touched The Valley.
For the first time since 1996, the MVC will experience the addition and
departure of a member institution. The Valley formally welcomed Loyola
University Chicago into the membership on July 1, 2013. Loyola is the
33rd institution to enter the Missouri Valley Conference and the firstever member university from the Chicago metropolitan area. In March
2013, Creighton University, an MVC member for nearly 60 years, had
announced its departure from the MVC for the newly configured Big East
Conference.
If the Missouri Valley Conference has been anything over the past 106
seasons of athletic competition, it has been resilient. The Valley – which
will experience its 107th season of athletics competition in 2013-14 -has weathered many kinds of storms, including changes in its membership. In 1928, six institutions (Iowa
State, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska,
Missouri and Oklahoma) left the league
to form the Big Six Conference. Another
major exodus from the MVC took place
in the 1970s when four institutions departed over a three-year period. Each
time there has been a setback or a major
change in membership, the Conference
has retooled and reinvented itself.
The nation’s second-oldest NCAA Division I conference continues to be a leader in college athletics and is one of the
nation’s most progressive conferences.
League members have worked together
t