VALLEY FOOTBALL Year honor, while SIU’s Jerry Kill was National Coach of the Year. In 2005, UNI became the fourth league school to reach the FCS championship game since 1997, while SIU and Western Kentucky combined to hold the nation’s No. 1 ranking in the top-25 polls for five weeks. In 2006, Youngstown State won its secondstraight league championship and the Penguins were joined in the playoff field by Illinois State and Southern Illinois. That marked only the second time in league history the league had more than two teams qualify for the 16team playoff field. SIU’s Arkee Whitlock was a national player of the year award winner (College Sporting News) and was third in the Walter Payton Award balloting. In 2008, six teams were nationally ranked in the same poll, marking the first time in league history that had happened. Those six teams were ranked for four-straight weeks. North Dakota State was ranked No. 1 for its first two weeks as a conference member, while rookie coach Dale Lennon of Southern Illinois became just the third to win Coach of the Year honors in his first league season. And in 2011, North Dakota State won the national crown and finished the season atop the Top-25 rankings. UNI was No. 5 in the final FCS Coaches poll, and Illinois State was ranked No. 20 in The Sports Network poll. For ISU, it marked the first top-25 ranking in a season-ending poll since 2006. Six different league schools cracked into the Top 25 at some point during the season. The original Gateway Conference was founded as a women’s athletic organization in August 1982, following the dissolution of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. In September of that year, Patty Viverito was named the first commissioner of the newly founded conference, a position she maintains today. Before moving to its permanent headquarters in St. Louis, the conference spent three organizational months on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. In 1992, the 10-team conference disbanded as its women’s programs realigned with their men’s teams in their respective conferences. The league assumed its new name on July 1, 1992, becoming the Gateway Football Conference, an NCAA FCS football league comprised of seven Midwest institutions. The Gateway Conference football division was born on August 21, 1985, when the Gateway Conference President’s Council
Bears
2012 Football Guide
voted to add a FCS football division for six of its members to the previously all-women’s athletics organization. Founding members of the football division were Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, UNI, Southern Illinois, Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State), and Western Illinois. The creation of the football division marked the first time in college annals that football was added to a women’s conference. In June of 1986, Indiana State became the seventh member of the conference. In the 27 years of the football division, league membership has been stable -- with only six fluctuations since 1986. Eastern Illinois left the league to join the Ohio Valley Conference in 1996, while Youngstown State joined the conference in 1997 to return league membership to its original seven-member status. League membership reached what was then an all-time high of eight members for the start of the 2001 season with the addition of Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers left the league after six years to join the Sun Belt (FBS). North Dakota State and South Dakota State joined for the start of the 2008 season, giving the league nine members for the first time. And the league expanded to 10 members in 2012 after the University of South Dakota was admitted in November of 2010. The MVFC is the only automatic FCS qualifying conference that only sponsors football, as the league completed its service to women’s athletics following the 1991-92 season. Although the league no longer sponsors women’s sports, the league has a historical place in developing intercollegiate women’s athletics. The 10 founders of the original Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference currently belong to three conferences. Eight members joined their men’s programs in the Missouri Valley: Bradley, Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, UNI, Southern Illinois, and Wichita State. Eastern Illinois is now in the Ohio Valley Conference, while Western Illinois competes in the Summit. Members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (and initial year of membership) include Illinois State University (1985), Indiana State University (1986), Missouri State University (1985), North Dakota State University (2008), the University of Northern Iowa (1985), the University of South Dakota (2012), South Dakota State University (2008), Southern Illinois University (1985), Western Illinois University (1985), and Youngstown State University (1997).
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PATTY VIVERITO Commissioner
MIKE KERN
BILL CAROLLO
Assistant Commissioner
Supervisor of Officials
Valley Football Office 1818 Chouteau Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63103 Phone - (314) 421-2268 Fax - (314) 421-3505 Media Email - kern@mvc.org Web - www.Valley-Football.org Commissioner Patty Viverito Assistant Commissioner Mike Kern Secretary Maxine Day Supervisor of Officials Bill Carollo
Valley Football Membership Eastern Illinois University (1985-1995) Illinois State University (1985-present) Indiana State University (1986-present) Missouri State University (1985-present) North Dakota State University (2008-present) University of Northern Iowa (1985-present) University of South Dakota (2012-present) South Dakota State University (2008-present) Southern Illinois University (1985-present) Western Illinois University (1985-present) Western Kentucky University (2001-2006) Youngstown State University (1997-present)
Five Missouri Valley Football Conference members also compete in the Missouri Valley Conference (Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois). Four league schools compete in the Summit League (North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, and Western Illinois), while Youngstown State competes in the Horizon League for its other sports. In its decade of operation, the Gateway sponsored championships in ten women’s sports and football. The women’s sports were basketball, cross country, golf, indoor and outdoor track & field, swimming & diving, tennis, softball, volleyball and, early on, field hockey.
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