The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) was a collegiate

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. Confe ...

which historically operated exclusively in the state of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, but briefly had one

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

member in its early years, and expanded into

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in its final years. It participated in the Division II ranks of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA), originally affiliated in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA) until 1994, but held its final athletic competitions in spring 2013, and officially disbanded on September 1 of that year. Its football-playing members announced in June 2012 that they planned to withdraw to form a new Division II conference effective at the end of the 2012–13 season; this led to a chain of conference moves that saw all but one of the WVIAC's members find new conference homes.

History

The conference was rated as one of the oldest in intercollegiate athletics, dating back to its founding in 1924 by the West Virginia Department of Education. In its final school year of 2012–13, the WVIAC offered championships in 16 sports and was headquartered in

Princeton, West Virginia Princeton, is a city in and the county seat of Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The city is coined the "Heart of Mercer County" or the "Jewel of the South" in past decades. The population was 6,432 at the 2010 census with approximat ...

. Men's championships were offered in football, basketball, baseball, track, cross country, soccer, tennis, and golf. Women's titles were contested in volleyball, softball, basketball, cross country, soccer, track, tennis, and golf. The WVIAC moved into the NCAA Division II in 1994 after its long affiliation with the NAIA. Its post-season basketball tournament, which was first conducted in 1936, was at the time of the conference's demise one of the oldest college post-season tournaments in continuous existence—only the

Southern Conference men's basketball tournament This is a list of regular season and tournament champions in men's basketball of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Southern Conference. Champions by year Divisional format The Southern Conference split into a div ...

, established in 1922, was older.

Chronological timeline

* 1924 - The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) was founded. Charter members included Alderson College, Bethany College, Broaddus College, Concord State Normal School (now Concord University),

Davis & Elkins College Davis & Elkins College (D&E) is a private college in Elkins, West Virginia. History The school was founded in 1904 and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It was named for Henry G. Davis and his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins, who wer ...

, Fairmont State Normal School (now Fairmont State University), Glenville State Normal School (now Glenville State University), the Keyser Preparatory Branch of West Virginia University (now as Potomac State College), Marshall College (now Marshall University),

Morris Harvey College The University of Charleston (UC) is a private non-profit university with its main campus in Charleston, West Virginia. The university also has a location in Beckley, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley. History The school was founded in 1888 ...

(now the University of Charleston), New River State School (now the West Virginia Tech Institute of Technology),

Salem College Salem College is a private women's liberal arts college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1772 as a primary school, it later became an academy (high school) and ultimately added the college. It is the oldest female educational establ ...

(now Salem University),

Shepherd College Shepherd University is a public university in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, the university enrolled 3,159 students in Fall 2020. History Shepherd University began when the county seat of Jefferson ...

(now Shepherd University), West Liberty State Teachers College (now West Liberty University), the

University of West Virginia West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Tech ...

and

West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

, effective beginning the 1924-25 academic year. * 1927 - West Virginia left the WVIAC, effective after the 1926-27 academic year. * 1929 - Morehead State Normal and Teachers College (now Morehead State University) joined the WVIAC, effective in the 1929-30 academic year. * 1932 - Alderson–Broaddus College (now Alderson–Broaddus University) joined the WVIAC due to the merger of both Alderson and Broaddus Colleges, effective in the 1932-33 academic year. * 1933 - Two institutions left the WVIAC to join their respective new home primary conferences: Marshall to the

Buckeye Conference The Buckeye Athletic Association, also known as the Buckeye Conference, was an athletic league formed out of members of the Ohio Athletic Conference. Its original membership in 1926 included Ohio Wesleyan University (Battling Bishops), Ohio Univer ...

and Morehead State to fully align with the

Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The River States Conference (RSC), formerly known as the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC), is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Although it was historical ...

(KIAC) (a second conference they had joined since the 1931-32 academic year), both effective after the 1932-33 academic year. * 1939 - Marshall re-joined back to the WVIAC as a non-competing member, effective in the 1939-40 academic year. * 1946 -

Mountain State University Mountain State University (MSU) was a private university in Beckley, West Virginia. It closed in 2013. It was formerly named Beckley College and then The College of West Virginia. Its Beckley campus is now occupied by West Virginia University ...

joined the WVIAC, effective in the 1946-47 academic year. * 1948 - Marshall left the WVIAC for a second time to join the University Division ranks of the

(NCAA) and the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

(OVC), effective after the 1947-48 academic year. * 1955 -

Bluefield State College Bluefield State University (Bluefield State) is a university in Bluefield, West Virginia that is an historically black university. It is a part of West Virginia's public education system and converted to a university in the summer of 2022. It a ...

and

West Virginia State College West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities ...

joined the WVIAC, effective in the 1955-56 academic year. * 1957 -

Wheeling Jesuit University Wheeling University (WU, formerly Wheeling Jesuit University) is a private Roman Catholic university in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was founded as Wheeling College in 1954 by the Society of Jesus (also known as the Jesuits) and was a Jesuit inst ...

joined the WVIAC, effective in the 1957-58 academic year. * 1962 - Bethany left the WVIAC to fully align with the

Presidents' Athletic Conference The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Of its 11 current member schools, all private, liberal arts institutions of higher learning, nine are located in Western Pennsylvania. T ...

(a second conference they had joined since the 1958-59 academic year), effective after the 1961-62 academic year. * 1963 - Potomac State left the WVIAC, effective after the 1962-63 academic year. * 1977 - Mountain State left the WVIAC, effective after the 1976-77 academic year. * 1986 - West Virginia Wesleyan left the WVIAC, effective after the 1985-86 academic year. * 1988 - West Virginia Wesleyan re-joined back to the WVIAC, effective in the 1988-89 academic year. * 1994 - The WVIAC had achieved full membership status within the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

ranks after years being mostly affiliated in the

(NAIA), effective in the 1994-95 academic year. * 1999 -

Ohio Valley University Ohio Valley University was a private Christian college located between Parkersburg and Vienna in West Virginia. Founded in 1958 (with classes beginning in fall 1960), the school integrated education with teachings of the Christian faith. The col ...

joined the WVIAC, effective in the 1999-2000 academic year. * 2006 - West Virginia Tech left the WVIAC to return back to the NAIA and join the Mid-South Conference, effective after the 2005-06 academic year. * 2006 - The

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (UPJ or Pitt-Johnstown) is a state-related college in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is a baccalaureate degree-granting regional campus of the University of Pittsburgh. The university is located in Richland ...

(Pittsburgh–Johnstown) and

Seton Hill University Seton Hill University is a private Catholic university in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Formerly a women's college, it became a coeducational university in 2002 and enrolls about 2,200 students. History The school was founded in 1885 by the Sist ...

joined the WVIAC as provisional members, becoming the first two institutions to join the conference from outside the state of West Virginia since the departure of Morehead in 1933, effective in the 2006-07 academic year. * 2010 - Salem left the WVIAC to become an NCAA D-II Independent, effective after the 2009-10 academic year. * 2013 - The WVIAC ceased operations as an athletic conference, effective after the 2012-13 academic year; as many schools left to join their respective new home primary conferences, effective beginning the 2013-14 academic year: Alderson–Broaddus, Davis & Elkins and Ohio Valley joined the

Great Midwest Athletic Conference The Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It was named the 24th (at the time) NCAA Division II conference and oper ...

(G-MAC); Concord, Charleston, Fairmont State, Glenville State, Shepherd, West Liberty, West Virginia State, West Virginia Wesleyan and Wheeling Jesuit joined alongside Notre Dame College of Ohio (former D-II Independent school),

Urbana University Urbana University was a private university specializing in liberal arts education and located in Urbana, Ohio. In its final few years, it was purchased by Franklin University and was a branch campus of that university. History Urbana University ...

(from the G-MAC), and the

University of Virginia's College at Wise The University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVA Wise) is a public liberal arts college in Wise, Virginia. It is part of the University of Virginia and was established in 1954 as Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia. The United S ...

(from the Mid-South Conference of the NAIA) to form the

Mountain East Conference The Mountain East Conference (MEC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level and officially began competition on September 1, 2013. It consists of 12 schools, mo ...

; and Pittsburgh–Johnstown and Seton Hill joined the

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The conference was originally formed in 1951 as the State Teachers C ...

(PSAC). The only school since the conference's breakup who hadn't still found a new conference home was Bluefield State.

WVIAC breakup

On June 18, 2012, nine football-playing members of the WVIAC announced they would withdraw from the league to form a new regional all-sports conference. The WVIAC officially ceased to exist on September 1, 2013. Eight of the nine football-playing members (Concord, Charleston, Fairmont State, Glenville State, Shepherd, West Liberty, West Virginia State, and West Virginia Wesleyan) and one non-football playing member (Wheeling Jesuit) of the conference joined a provisional D-II member from Virginia ( UVA-Wise) and two associate

Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) is a competitive college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The GLIAC was founded in June 1972. Its ele ...

members from Ohio ( Notre Dame and

Urbana __NOTOC__ Urbana can refer to: Places Italy *Urbana, Italy United States *Urbana, Illinois **Urbana (conference), a Christian conference formerly held in Urbana, Illinois *Urbana, Indiana * Urbana, Iowa *Urbana, Kansas * Urbana, Maryland *Urbana, ...

) to form a new all-sports conference, the

. Seton Hill and Pitt-Johnstown joined the

. Three of the remaining non-football members (Alderson–Broaddus, Davis & Elkins, and Ohio Valley) accepted invitations to join the

. By the end of August 2012, the only WVIAC member without a conference home for 2013–14 was Bluefield State.

Member schools leaving before 2013

;Notes:

Member schools at breakup

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1924 till:2013 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:1924 till:1932 text: Alderson (1924–1932) bar:2 color:Full from:1924 till:1962 text:

Bethany Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the West B ...

(1924–1962) bar:2 color:AssocF from:1963 till:1964 bar:3 color:FullxF from:1924 till:1932 text: Broaddus (1924–1932) bar:4 color:Full from:1924 till:1957 text: Charleston (1924–2013) bar:4 color:FullxF from:1957 till:2003 bar:4 color:Full from:2003 till:2013 bar:5 color:Full from:1924 till:2013 text:

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

(1924–2013) bar:6 color:Full from:1924 till:1953 text: Davis & Elkins (1924–2013) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1953 till:1955 bar:6 color:Full from:1955 till:1962 bar:6 color:FullxF from:1962 till:2013 bar:7 color:Full from:1924 till:2013 text: Fairmont State (1924–2013) bar:8 color:Full from:1924 till:2013 text: Glenville State (1924–2013) bar:9 color:Full from:1924 till:1933 text:

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

(1924–1933; 1939–1948) bar:9 color:FullxF from:1939 till:1948 bar:10 color:Full from:1924 till:1963 text: Potomac State (1924–1963) bar:10 color:AssocF from:1964 till:1965 bar:11 color:Full from:1924 till:1989 text:

Salem International SALEM International gemeinnützige GmbH is a German charitable company with limited liability based in Stadtsteinach. It describes itself as an international non-denominational Christian non-profit welfare organisation. Its guiding principles in ...

(1924–2010) bar:11 color:FullxF from:1989 till:2010 bar:12 color:Full from:1924 till:2013 text:

Shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

(1924–2013) bar:13 color:Full from:1924 till:2013 text: West Liberty (1924–2013) bar:14 color:Full from:1924 till:1927 text:

(1924–1927) bar:15 color:Full from:1924 till:2006 text:

West Virginia Tech West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech, WVIT, WVU Beckley, or West Virginia Tech) is a public college in Beckley, West Virginia. It is a divisional campus of West Virginia University. History The college was founded in 189 ...

(1924–2006) bar:16 color:Full from:1924 till:1951 text:

West Virginia Wesleyan West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

(1924–1986; 1988–2013) bar:16 color:FullxF from:1951 till:1953 bar:16 color:Full from:1953 till:1985 bar:16 color:FullxF from:1985 till:1986 bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1986 till:1988 bar:16 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1991 bar:16 color:Full from:1991 till:2013 bar:17 color:Full from:1929 till:1933 text: Morehead State (1929–1933) bar:18 color:FullxF from:1932 till:2013 text: Alderson–Broaddus (1932–2013) bar:19 color:FullxF from:1946 till:1977 text:

(1946–1977) bar:20 color:Full from:1955 till:1981 text: Bluefield State (1955–2013) bar:20 color:FullxF from:1981 till:2013 bar:21 color:Full from:1955 till:1962 text: West Virginia State (1955–2013) bar:21 color:Full from:1962 till:1963 bar:21 color:Full from:1963 till:2013 bar:22 color:FullxF from:1957 till:2013 text: Wheeling Jesuit (1957–2013) bar:23 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2013 text:

Ohio Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinoi ...

(1999–2013) bar:24 shift:(-90) color:FullxF from:2006 till:2013 text: Pittsburgh–Johnstown (2006–2013) bar:25 shift:(-90) color:Full from:2006 till:2013 text: Seton Hill (2006–2013) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1925

References

{{NCAA Division II football conference navbox Sports organizations established in 1924 Sports leagues disestablished in 2013 1924 establishments in West Virginia 2013 disestablishments in West Virginia College sports in Pennsylvania College sports in West Virginia Mountain East Conference