Lincoln University announces plans to leave MIAA, join GLVC beginning with 2024-25 school year

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The geographic shift of the Great Lakes Valley Conference continues westward.

Thursday morning, during a press conference on the Lincoln University campus, the idea the GLVC would expand to 15 teams became reality with the Blue Tigers announcing they were leaving the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association for the GLVC. Lincoln officially will join the NCAA Division II league for the 2024-25 school year.

The Blue Tigers were an associate member of the GLVC for football only from 2014-18.

“The addition of Lincoln University as the league’s first HBCU institution is a historic moment in the almost 45-year history of the Great Lakes Valley Conference,” GLVC commissioner Jim Naumovich said in a press release. “President Dr. John Moseley and Vice President for Athletics Dr. Kevin Wilson, along with their leadership team, have generated a great deal of excitement and momentum about the future direction of the institution and the Blue Tigers intercollegiate athletic program, and we share in the enthusiasm that has been created with their move to the GLVC.”

The league, which added Upper Iowa University last November, will feature 10 schools west of the Mississippi River, four in Illinois and one in Indiana when Lincoln joins. Nine of the 15 schools will be located in Missouri at that point.

When Quincy University was one of the three schools to join the league for the 1995-96 season, the GLVC had 11 schools, only one of which was located west of the Mississippi River. At that time, there were four schools located in Indiana and four in Kentucky.

“This puts us in a position athletically where we’ve leveled the playing field by realigning ourselves with others of similar size and similar fiscal commitment,” Lincoln President Dr. John Moseley said in a press release. “This will also give us the opportunity to compete and recruit in areas where Lincoln already has a large alumni base.”

Lincoln also announced it will add three sports — baseball, men’s soccer, and women’s soccer. With the additions, the Blue Tigers will sponsor 14 athletic programs, which include men’s and women’s basketball, women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s indoor track & field, and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field.

“Commissioner Naumovich, his stellar team, and the evaluation committee were overwhelmingly encouraging throughout the entire process,” 

“On behalf of our dedicated student-athletes, faculty, staff, alumni, and administration, we are humbled to become the 15th member of such a competitive conference,” said Dr. Kevin Wilson, Lincoln’s vice-president for athletics. “Our shared values and mission truly result in a match made in the Midwest. We look forward to all of our athletic programs calling the GLVC home in 2024.”