Ohio Valley Conference

Ohio Valley Conference
OVC
Established	1948
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FCS
Members	10 (9 in 2022)
Sports fielded	19 men's: 8 women's: 10 coeducational: 1
Region	Midwest and South
Headquarters	Brentwood, Tennessee
Commissioner	Beth DeBauche (since 2009)
Website	www.ovcsports.com
Locations

The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS; formerly known as Division I-AA), the lower of two levels of Division I football competition. The OVC has 10 members, 7 of which compete in football in the conference.

History[]

Primary source:^[1]
The Ohio Valley Conference can trace its roots to 1941 when Murray State athletic director Roy Stewart, Eastern Kentucky athletic director Charles "Turkey" Hughes, and Western Kentucky public relations director Kelly Thompson first formulated the idea of establishing a regional athletics conference. The plan was put on hold due to World War II, but it was resurrected after the conclusion of the war. In 1948, the three schools joined with Louisville, Morehead State, and Evansville to form the Ohio Valley Conference. While many collegiate conferences are struggling today with the question of whether their policies and rules should be determined by the athletic departments or by the institutional heads, from the very beginning, the OVC has been run by the presidents of its member schools.

Historically, the OVC was a pioneer in racial desegregation, with Morehead State signing the conference's first black athlete, Marshall Banks, in 1958. The rest of the OVC soon followed in Morehead State's wake. From 1986 to 2018, the OVC was unique among NCAA Division I conferences in that it included one historically black university, Tennessee State University, in a conference that otherwise consists of institutions that are not traditionally black. During this period, every other HBCU in NCAA Division I belonged to either the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference or Southwestern Athletic Conference. That distinction changed in July 2018 when Hampton University joined the Big South Conference; that league has since added a second HBCU in North Carolina A&T State University.

The OVC has also been a leader in advancement of sports opportunities for women. The conference began adding championship competitions for women in 1977 several years after the AIAW began sponsoring national championships for women, but seven years before the NCAA was ready to move into the field. Since 2009, the OVC has been led by Commissioner Beth DeBauche, one of only six female commissioners for the thirty-two Division I conferences.^[2]

Athletic rivalries, really close colleges and especially when competitors are in relatively close proximity, can generate problems with fan behavior, and the conference leadership struggled with controlling the issue for many years. When the national debate on the problem reached its apex in the mid-1990s, the OVC unveiled the national first of its kind "Sportsmanship Statement" in 1995, stating the conference's policy on, "... principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one's opponent." Since then, the OVC has also introduced individual, team (for each sport), and institutional sportsmanship awards.

Founded by six schools, the expansions of 2007 and 2011 brought the Ohio Valley Conference membership to twelve schools, the most in its history. The OVC dropped to 10 members after the 2020–21 school year, when founding member Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State left for the ASUN Conference.^[3] The OVC is searching for teams to replace both in the near future.^[4]

The OVC will lose two more members after the 2021–22 school year, when football-sponsoring Austin Peay leaves for the ASUN Conference^[5] and non-football Belmont University leaves for the Missouri Valley Conference.^[6] At that time, the OVC will add a non-football member in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, athletically known as Little Rock.^[7]

OVC Digital Network[]

In August 2012, the OVC announced that it had launched the OVC Digital Network as a replacement for and improvement over the conference's former efforts to provide streaming video coverage of many athletic events that had been in place since 2006.^[8] This website carried live, student-produced coverage of most conference games and some non-conference games in baseball, men's and women's basketball, football, soccer, softball, and volleyball as well as some coaches' shows, special presentations, and archived game-casts available for later viewing.

In its first two years, the network provided well over 600,000 viewings of streamed live video of more than 1400 events.^[9]

In the 2018–19 school year the coverage previously carried on the OVC Digital Network was switched over to ESPN+.

Member schools[]

Full members[]

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Football member?
Austin Peay State University[a]	Clarksville, Tennessee	1927	1962	Public	10,344	Governors		Y
Belmont University[a]	Nashville, Tennessee	1890	2012	Private	8,080	Bruins		N
Eastern Illinois University	Charleston, Illinois	1895	1996	Public	8,626	Panthers		Y
Morehead State University	Morehead, Kentucky	1887	1948		10,748	Eagles		N[b]
Murray State University	Murray, Kentucky	1922			10,495	Racers		Y
Southeast Missouri State University	Cape Girardeau, Missouri	1873	1991		11,978	Redhawks		Y
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville	Edwardsville, Illinois	1957	2008		12,860	Cougars		N
Tennessee State University	Nashville, Tennessee	1912	1986		8,775	Tigers/Lady Tigers		Y
Tennessee Technological University	Cookeville, Tennessee	1915	1949		10,492	Golden Eagles		Y
University of Tennessee at Martin	Martin, Tennessee	1927	1992		6,705	Skyhawks		Y

Notes

Future members[]

Institution	Location	Founded	Joining	Type	Enrollment	Endowment (millions)[10]	Nickname	Colors	Current conference
University of Arkansas at Little Rock	Little Rock, Arkansas	1927	2022[7]	Public	9,579[11]	$80	Trojans		Sun Belt

Affiliate members[]

Years listed in this table are calendar years. For schools that play only spring sports (such as beach volleyball) in the OVC, the calendar year of arrival precedes the first season of competition.

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Sport	Primary Conference
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga	Chattanooga, Tennessee	1886	2020	Public	11,388	Mocs		beach volleyball	SoCon (NCAA D-I)

Former members[]

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Nickname	Colors	New Conference	Current Conference
University of Akron	Akron, Ohio	1870	1980	1987	Public	Zips		NCAA Independent	MAC
East Tennessee State University	Johnson City, Tennessee	1911	1958	1978		Buccaneers Lady Buccaneers		SoCon
Eastern Kentucky University	Richmond, Kentucky	1906	1948	2021		Colonels		ASUN
University of Evansville	Evansville, Indiana	1854		1952	Private	Purple Aces		ICC (NCAA Division II)	Missouri Valley
Jacksonville State University	Jacksonville, Alabama	1883	2003	2021	Public	Gamecocks		ASUN
University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	1798	1948	1949		Cardinals		NCAA Independent	ACC
Marshall University	Huntington, West Virginia	1837	1949	1952		Thundering Herd		NCAA Independent[a]	C-USA
Middle Tennessee State University	Murfreesboro, Tennessee	1911	1952	2000		Blue Raiders		Sun Belt	C-USA
Samford University	Homewood, Alabama	1841	2003	2008	Private	Bulldogs		SoCon
Western Kentucky University[b]	Bowling Green, Kentucky	1906	1948	1982	Public	Hilltoppers/Lady Toppers		Sun Belt	C-USA
Youngstown State University	Youngstown, Ohio	1908	1981	1988		Penguins		Mid-Continent	Horizon
								NCAA I-AA Independent (football)	MVFC (football)

Notes

Former affiliate members[]

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Nickname	Colors	Sport	Current Primary Conference	Current Conference in Former OVC Sport
Columbus State University	Columbus, Georgia	1958	2012	2015	Public	Cougars		Rifle	Peach Belt (NCAA D-II)	none[a]

Notes

Membership timeline[]

 Full members (all sports)   Full members (non-football)   Associate members (football-only)   Associate members (other) 

Comments[]

• Morehead State's football team competes in the Pioneer Football League, a Division I FCS football-only conference whose members choose not to offer athletic scholarships for football.
• Austin Peay's football team left the OVC after the 1996 season to compete as an NCAA D-I FCS Independent. After four seasons as an Independent, the team joined the Pioneer Football League in 2001, and remained there through the 2005 season. Austin Peay then returned to scholarship football, spending the 2006 season as an Independent before re-entering OVC football competition in 2007.

Conference divisions[]

Starting with the 2012–13 school year, the twelve member schools were split into two divisions for those sports where all schools competed. In the 2014–15 season, women's sports with twelve teams returned to a single league table, while continuing to play a divisional schedule. Men's basketball moved to an 18-game schedule in 2017–18, and they continued to play home-and-home versus the former divisional rivals, and they play home-and-home versus two teams from the other division, with those opponents on a rotation that sets up different pairs from year-to-year. The OVC returned to a single-table format after Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State left in 2021.

East Division	West Division
Belmont	Austin Peay
Eastern Kentucky	Eastern Illinois
Jacksonville State	Murray State
Morehead State	SIU Edwardsville
Tennessee State	Southeast Missouri
Tennessee Tech	UT Martin

Sports offered[]

The Ohio Valley Conference currently offers championship competition in 19 NCAA sanctioned sports, with eight for men, 10 for women, and rifle for men's, women's, and coed teams.^[12]

Teams in OVC competition

Sport	Men's	Women's	Coed
Baseball	9	–	–
Basketball	10	10	–
Beach Volleyball	–	4	–
Cross Country	10	10	–
Football	7	–	–
Golf	9	8	–
Rifle	0	1	3
Soccer	–	9	–
Softball	–	10	–
Tennis	5	8	–
Track and Field (Indoor)	5	9	–
Track and Field (Outdoor)	6	9	–
Volleyball (Indoor)	–	10	–

Men's sponsored sports by school[]

Departing members are displayed in red.

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Rifle[a]	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total OVC Sports
Austin Peay	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	6
Belmont	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Eastern Illinois	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Morehead State	Y	Y	Y	N[b]	Y	Y[c]	N	N	Y	6
Murray State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y[c]	N	N	N	6
Southeast Missouri	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	Y	6
SIU Edwardsville	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	6
Tennessee State	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Tennessee Tech	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	6
UT Martin	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y[d]	N	N	N	6
Totals	9	10	10	7	9	3	5	5	6	64
Future members
Little Rock	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	6

Notes

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Ohio Valley Conference which are played by OVC schools

Departing members are displayed in red; future members in gray.

School	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Rodeo[a]	Wrestling
Belmont	Southern Conference	—	—	—
Eastern Illinois	Summit League	Summit League	—	—
Little Rock	–	–	—	Pac-12
SIU Edwardsville	MVC	—	—	MAC
UT Martin	—	—	NIRA[b]	—

Notes

Women's sponsored sports by school[]

Departing members are displayed in red.

School	Basketball	Beach Volleyball	Cross Country	Golf	Rifle [a]	Soccer	Softball	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball (Indoor)	Total OVC Sports
Austin Peay	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Belmont	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Eastern Illinois	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Morehead State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y†	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	10
Murray State	Y	N	Y	Y	Y†	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Southeast Missouri	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
SIU Edwardsville	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Tennessee State	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Tennessee Tech	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
UT Martin	Y	Y	Y	N	Yx2†	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	8
Totals	10	3+1[b]	10	7	4	9	10	8	9	9	10	90+1
Future members
Little Rock	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	7

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Ohio Valley Conference which are played by OVC schools

Future member in gray.

School	Equestrian[a]	Gymnastics	Rodeo[b]	Swimming & Diving
Eastern Illinois	—	—	—	Summit League
Little Rock	—	—	—	MVC
Southeast Missouri	–	MIC	—	–
UT Martin	ECAC	—	NIRA	—

Conference champions[]

Football conference champions[]

This is a list of the champions since 2000.^[13] For the complete history, see List of Ohio Valley Conference football champions.

Year	Regular Season Champion	Record	FCS Championship Result
2000	Western Kentucky	7–0	Quarterfinals
2001	Eastern Illinois	6–1	First Round
2002	Eastern Illinois Murray State	5–1	First Round
2003	Jacksonville State	7–1	First Round
2004	Jacksonville State	7–1	First Round
2005	Eastern Illinois	8–0	First Round
2006	UT Martin Eastern Illinois	6–1 7–1	First Round
2007	Eastern Kentucky	8–0	First Round
2008	Eastern Kentucky	7–1	First Round
2009	Eastern Illinois $	6–2	First Round
2010	Southeast Missouri State	7–1	Second Round
2011	Tennessee Tech $$ Eastern Kentucky Jacksonville State	6–2 6–2 6–2	First Round First Round DNP
2012	Eastern Illinois	6–1	First Round
2013	Eastern Illinois	8–0	Quarterfinals
2014	Jacksonville State	8–0	Second Round
2015	Jacksonville State	8–0	FCS Championship Runner Up
2016	Jacksonville State	7–0	First Round
2017	Jacksonville State	8–0	Second Round
2018	Jacksonville State	7–1	Second Round
2019	Austin Peay $$$ Southeast Missouri State	7–1	Quarterfinals First Round
2020	Jacksonville State	6–1	Quarterfinals
2021	UT Martin	5–1	TBD

$ – Jacksonville State (6–1) had the best record in the conference, but was ineligible for the championship due to Academic Progress Rate sanctions.

$$ – Tennessee Tech won the tie-breaker and received the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs.

$$$ – Austin Peay won the tie-breaker and received the automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs

Basketball[]

This is list of the champions since 2000. For the complete men's history, see List of Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball champions.

Year	Men's				Women's
	Regular Season Champion	Record	Tournament Champion		Regular Season Champion	Record	Tournament Champion
2001–02	Tennessee Tech	15–1	Murray State		Tennessee Tech	15–1	Austin Peay
2002–03	Austin Peay Morehead State	13–3	Austin Peay		Eastern Kentucky Tennessee Tech	13–3	Austin Peay
2003–04	Austin Peay	16–0	Murray State		Austin Peay	16–0	Austin Peay
2004–05	Tennessee Tech	12–4	Eastern Kentucky		Eastern Kentucky	15–1	Eastern Kentucky
2005–06	Murray State	17–3	Murray State		Tennessee Tech	16–4	Southeast Missouri
2006–07	Austin Peay	16–4	Eastern Kentucky		Southeast Missouri	16–4	Southeast Missouri
2007–08	Austin Peay	16–4	Austin Peay Tourney		Southeast Missouri	17–3	Murray State
2008–09	UT Martin	14–4	Morehead State Tourney		Murray State	16–2	Austin Peay
2009–10	Murray State	17–1	Murray State Tourney		Eastern Illinois	16–2	Austin Peay
2010–11	Murray State	14–4	Morehead State Tourney		Tennessee Tech	15–3	UT Martin
2011–12	Murray State	15–1	Murray State Tourney		UT Martin	15–1	UT Martin
2012–13	East: Belmont West: Murray State	14–2 10–6	Belmont Tourney		East: Tennessee Tech West: Eastern Illinois	12–4 12–4	UT Martin
2013–14	East: Belmont West: Murray State	14–2 13–3	Eastern Kentucky Tourney		East: Belmont West: UT Martin	10–6 15–1	UT Martin
2014–15	East: Eastern Kentucky & Belmont West: Murray State	11–5 16–0	Belmont Tourney		UT Martin	16–0	Tennessee State
2015–16	East: Belmont West: UT Martin & Murray State	12–4 10–6	Austin Peay Tourney		UT Martin	14–2	Belmont
2016–17	East: Belmont West: UT Martin	15–1 10–6	Jacksonville State Tourney		Belmont	16–0	Belmont
2017–18	Murray State	15–2	Murray State Tourney		Belmont	18–0	Belmont Tourney
2018–19	Belmont Murray State	16–2	Murray State Tourney		Belmont	16–2	Belmont Tourney

Baseball[]

This is list of the champions since 2000.

Year	Regular Season Champion	OVC Record	Season Record	Tournament Champion	OVC Record	Season Record
2000	Eastern Kentucky	18–6	30–27	Middle Tennessee	17–6	39–23
2001	Eastern Illinois	19–1	35–20	Tennessee Tech	12–9	33–30
2002	Southeast Missouri	16–5	37–20	Southeast Missouri	16–5	37–20
2003	Austin Peay	14–5–1	27–27–1	Murray State	9–11	25–31
2004	Austin Peay	20–7	35–21	Jacksonville State	16–11	31–29
2005	Jacksonville State	19–8	35–25	Austin Peay	16–11	38–24
2006	Samford	21–6	34–25	Jacksonville State	19–8	35–24
2007	Austin Peay	19–8	40–27	Austin Peay	19–8	40–27
2008	Jacksonville State	23–4	37–21	Eastern Illinois	13–13	27–30
2009	Eastern Illinois #	13–5	31–19	Tennessee Tech	10–11–1	31–24–1
2010	Tennessee Tech	14–6	31–25	Jacksonville State	15–8	32–26
2011	Austin Peay	17–6	34–24	Austin Peay	17–6	34–24
2012	Austin Peay Eastern Kentucky	19–7	40–24 31–23	Austin Peay	19–7	40–24
2013	Tennessee Tech	24–6	40–17	Austin Peay	22–7	47–15
2014	Southeast Missouri	23–7	37–20	Jacksonville State	18–12	36–27
2015	Southeast Missouri	22–8	36–23	Morehead State	20–10	38–22
2016	Southeast Missouri	22–8	39–21	Southeast Missouri	22–8	39–21
2017	Tennessee Tech	23–7	39–18	Tennessee Tech	23–7	39–18
2018	Tennessee Tech	27–3	53–12	Morehead State	18–12	37–26

• # = 2009 Eastern Illinois lost 1 conference and 4 non-conference games by forfeit for using an ineligible player.

Softball[]

This is list of the champions since 2000.

Year	Regular Season Champion	OVC Record	Season Record	Tournament Champion	OVC Record	Season Record
2000	Middle Tennessee	16–5	39–21	Middle Tennessee	16–5	39–21
2001	Tennessee Tech	17–4	44–20	Tennessee Tech	17–4	44–20
2002	Eastern Kentucky	16–2	37–14	Eastern Kentucky	16–2	37–14
2003	Tennessee Tech	17–3	41–16	Tennessee Tech	17–3	41–16
2004	Eastern Kentucky	22–4	42–17	Eastern Kentucky	22–4	42–17
2005	Jacksonville State	22–4	41–16	Tennessee Tech	16–8	35–28
2006	Tennessee Tech	24–2	50–15	Tennessee Tech	24–2	50–15
2007	Tennessee Tech	20–5	50–19	Tennessee Tech	20–5	50–19
2008	Jacksonville State	22–4	40–16	Jacksonville State	22–4	40–16
2009	Jacksonville State	19–2	43–16	UT Martin	13–10	38–23
2010	UT Martin	22–3	47–11	Jacksonville State	13–6	30–19
2011	Eastern Illinois	26–4	40–12	Jacksonville State	21–9	40–21
2012	UT Martin	23–6	39–22	UT Martin	23–6	39–22
2013	East– Eastern Kentucky West– Eastern Illinois	19–6 20–3	36–20 36–14	Jacksonville State	11–11	30–27
2014	East– Jacksonville State West– SIUE	22–5 19–5	40–15 30–23	SIUE	19–5	30–23
2015	SIUE	20–6	43–16	Tennessee Tech	15–11	33–28
2016	Jacksonville State	26–0	43–17	Jacksonville State	26–0	43–17
2017	Jacksonville State	15–1	41–12	Jacksonville State	15–1	41–12
2018	Eastern Kentucky	19–3	45–21	Jacksonville State	16–6	35–25

Women's soccer[]

This is a list of Champions since 2000.^[14]

Year	Regular Season Champions	Tournament Champions
2000	Eastern Illinois	Tennessee Tech
2001	Southeast Missouri	Eastern Illinois
2002	Southeast Missouri	Eastern Illinois
2003	Samford	Eastern Illinois
2004	Samford	Eastern Illinois
2005	Samford	Samford
2006	Samford	Southeast Missouri
2007	Southeast Missouri	Southeast Missouri
2008	Murray State	Morehead State
2009	Morehead State, UT Martin	Murray State
2010	Morehead State	Morehead State
2011	Southeast Missouri	UT Martin
2012	UT Martin	UT Martin
2013	UT Martin	Morehead State
2014	Southeast Missouri	SIUE
2015	Murray State	Murray State
2016	Murray State	SIUE
2017	Murray State	Murray State
2018	UT Martin	Murray State

Facilities[]

Departing members in red; future members in gray.

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Soccer stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity	Softball stadium	Capacity	Volleyball Arena	Capacity
Austin Peay	Fortera Stadium	10,000	Morgan Brothers Soccer Field	500	Winfield Dunn Center	9,000	Raymond C. Hand Park	1,000	Cheryl Holt Field	300	Winfield Dunn Center	9,000
Belmont	Non-football school		E. S. Rose Park	300	Curb Event Center	5,085	E. S. Rose Park	750	E. S. Rose Park	250	Curb Event Center	5,085
Eastern Illinois	O'Brien Field	10,000	Lakeside Soccer Field	1,000	Lantz Arena	5,300	Coaches Stadium at Monier Field	500	Williams Field	200	Lantz Arena	5,300
Little Rock	Non-football school		Coleman Sports Complex	300	Jack Stephens Center	5,600	Gary Hogan Field	2,550	Non-softball school		Jack Stephens Center	5,600
Morehead State	Jayne Stadium	10,000	Jayne Stadium	10,000	Ellis Johnson Arena	6,500	John "Sonny" Allen Field	1,200	University Field	500	Ellis Johnson Arena	6,500
Murray State	Roy Stewart Stadium	16,800	Cutchin Field and Crisp Soccer Complex	250	CFSB Center	8,825	Johnny Reagan Field	800	Racer Field	500	Racer Arena	5,500
Southeast Missouri State	Houck Stadium	11,015	Houck Stadium	11,015	Show Me Center	6,972	Capaha Field	2,000	Southeast Softball Complex	1,000	Houck Fieldhouse	1,000
SIU Edwardsville	Non-football school		Bob Guelker Field at Ralph Korte Stadium	4,000	First Community Arena	4,000	Roy E. Lee Field at Simmons Baseball Complex	1,500	Cougar Field	800	First Community Arena	4,000
Tennessee State	Nissan Stadium Hale Stadium	68,000 10,000	Non-soccer school		Gentry Complex	10,500	Non-baseball school		Tiger Field	500	Kean Hall	2,500
Tennessee Tech	Tucker Stadium	16,500	Tech Soccer Field	800	Eblen Center	9,280	Bush Stadium at Averitt Express Baseball Complex	1,100	Tech Softball Field	800	Eblen Center	9,280
UT Martin	Graham Stadium	7,500	Skyhawk Soccer Field	500	Skyhawk Arena	4,300	Skyhawk Baseball Field	500	Bettye Giles Softball Field	500	Skyhawk Fieldhouse	3,000

References[]

^[15]

External links[]

• Official website