Western Illinois football is joining the Ohio Valley Conference in the 2024 fall while the rest of its sports are joining the OVC this fall.
WIU will remain a Missouri Valley Football Conference member for one more season in 2023. The other sports depart the Summit League.
“This represents a new start, and a new era for Leatherneck Athletics against some old rivalries, as well as some new teams in our geographic footprint,” said Western Illinois Director of Athletics Paul A. Bubb. “When you look at the schools in the Ohio Valley Conference you see schools which are similar in enrollment, the size of communities where they exist, the academic programs they offer, and the athletic budgets each has to work with at the Division I level.”
The OVC, which has lost multiple members over the last few years, will grow to seven football members with the addition of WIU.
MVFC membership will drop to 11 members next fall. It grew to 12 members this season with the addition of Murray State.
“We are delighted Western Illinois has decided to join the OVC,” said OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche. “The WIU athletics programs have long competed against OVC institutions given the similarity of programs and geographic proximity. Accordingly, there is a high-level of comfort and excitement about the Leathernecks becoming part of the OVC community. We cannot wait to extend a warm welcome to WIU’s student-athletes, coaches, administrators and fans.”
The OVC and the Big South have formed a football association that begins this season for one FCS playoff auto-bid. The unique agreement combines the two conferences’ football membership to ensure NCAA championship access. Six teams are needed for a conference to have an auto-bid into the FCS playoffs.
For the 2023 season, the Big South-OVC has 10 members — four from the Big South (Bryant, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Robert Morris) and six from the OVC (Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, SEMO, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin).
Once down to five football members after losing teams to realignment, the OVC added Lindenwood in February 2022 from Division 2. WIU makes it seven football members in 2024, which would ensure NCAA championship access if the OVC wants to be a solo football league again, although that would leave the four Big South football members out to dry.
WIU reached the FCS playoffs in 2015 and 2017. More recently, the Leathernecks have gone 1-11 in 2019, 1-5 in 2020-21, 2-9 in 2021, and 0-11 last season.
