Mid-American Conference

Mid-American Conference (MAC)
Established	1946
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	12 (13 in football, 14 in 2012)
Sports fielded	23 (men's: 11; women's: 12)
Region	Great Lakes
Headquarters	Cleveland, Ohio
Commissioner	Jon Steinbrecher (since 2009)
Website	mac-sports.com
Locations

The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members located in Illinois, Indiana and New York. For football, the MAC participates in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision.

The MAC is headquartered in the Public Square district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, and has two members in the nearby Akron area. The MAC has been referred to as the Conference of Quarterbacks^[1] because of the accomplishments of numerous former players in the National Football League. The MAC ranks highest among all eleven NCAA Division I FBS conferences for graduation rates.^[2]

Member schools

There are twelve schools with full membership:

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment*	Endowment
East Division
University of Akron	Zips	Akron, Ohio (217,074)	1870	Public	29,251[3]	$143 million
Bowling Green State University	Falcons	Bowling Green, Ohio (29,636)	1910	Public	18,756[4]	$118 million
University at Buffalo	Bulls	Buffalo, New York (292,648)	1846	Public	28,601	$494 million
Kent State University	Golden Flashes	Kent, Ohio (27,946)	1910	Public	24,449[5]	$109 million
Miami University	RedHawks	Oxford, Ohio (21,943)	1809	Public	20,126	$348 million
Ohio University	Bobcats	Athens, Ohio (21,342)	1804	Public	20,437	$277 million
West Division
Ball State University	Cardinals	Muncie, Indiana (65,287)	1918	Public	20,113	$141 million
Central Michigan University	Chippewas	Mount Pleasant, Michigan (25,946)	1892	Public	26,788	$66 million
Eastern Michigan University	Eagles	Ypsilanti, Michigan (22,362)	1849	Public	22,974	$39 million
Northern Illinois University	Huskies	DeKalb, Illinois (39,018)	1895	Public	25,313	$157 million
University of Toledo	Rockets	Toledo, Ohio (295,029)	1872	Public	21,594[4]	$162 million
Western Michigan University	Broncos	Kalamazoo, Michigan (77,145)	1903	Public	24,818	$168 million

* Main campus enrollment

Eight schools have affiliate membership status:

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Sport	Endowment
Chicago State University	Cougars	Chicago, Illinois	1867	Public	7,131	Men's tennis	$3 million
University of Evansville	Purple Aces	Evansville, Indiana	1854	Private	3,050	Men's swimming	$64 million
Florida Atlantic University	Owls	Boca Raton, Florida	1961	Public	26,245	Men's soccer	$156 million
Hartwick College	Hawks	Oneonta, New York	1797	Private	1,520	Men's soccer	$52 million
University of Massachusetts Amherst	Minutemen	Amherst, Massachusetts	1863	Public	27,062	Football (starting 2012)	$459 million
Missouri State University	Bears	Springfield, Missouri	1905	Public	21,425	Field hockey Men's swimming	$48 million
Southern Illinois University Carbondale	Salukis	Carbondale, Illinois	1869	Public	21,000	Men's swimming	$76 million
Temple University	Owls	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1884	Public	34,218	Football (East Division)	$235 million

Sports sponsored

The MAC sponsors the following 23 sports (11 men's, 12 women's):^[6]

Men's Baseball Basketball Cross Country Football Golf Indoor track and field Soccer Swimming & Diving Tennis Track and field Wrestling

Women's Basketball Cross Country Field hockey Golf Gymnastics Indoor track and field Soccer Softball Swimming & Diving Tennis Track and field Volleyball

History

Former conference logo

Locations of the football-playing members of the Mid-American conference, including UMass, a future football-playing member beginning in 2012.

The Mid-American Conference charter members were Ohio University, Butler University, the University of Cincinnati, Wayne State University and Western Reserve University, one of the predecessors to today's Case Western Reserve University. Wayne State never participated and quickly bowed out. Butler left after the first year. Miami University and Western Michigan University took the place of those charter members for the 1948 season. The MAC added the University of Toledo (1950), Kent State University (1951) and Bowling Green State University (1952). The University of Cincinnati resigned its membership February 18, 1953, with an effective date of June 1, 1953. Cincinnati's decision was based on a new requirement that at least 5 conference football games would have to be scheduled each season, University President Raymond Walters saying they "...regretfully resign...as the university could not continue under the present setup..." ^[7]

The membership stayed steady for the next two decades except for the addition of Marshall University in 1954 and the departure of Western Reserve, which chose to de-emphasize intercollegiate athletics.^{[citation needed]} Marshall was expelled from the conference in 1969 due to NCAA violations.^[8] The first major expansion since the 1950s took place in the mid-1970s with the addition of Central Michigan University and Eastern Michigan University in 1972 and Ball State University and Northern Illinois University in 1973. Northern Illinois left after the 1986 season. The University of Akron joined the conference in 1992. The conference became the largest in Division I-A with the re-admittance of Marshall and Northern Illinois and addition of the University at Buffalo's Bulls in 1997 and 1998, respectively. The University of Central Florida joined for football only in 2001, becoming the first football-only member in conference history. Marshall (a second time) and Central Florida would leave after the 2004–2005 academic year, both joining Conference USA in all sports.

In May 2005, Temple University in Philadelphia signed a six year contract with the MAC as a football-only school and began play in the East Division in 2007.

The University of Louisville was a MAC affiliate for field hockey for a number of years when Louisville was a member of the Metro Conference and Conference USA, winning two MAC tourney titles in 2003 and 2004.

In addition to football affiliate Temple University, Missouri State University is an affiliate for field hockey, Hartwick College is an affiliate for men's soccer and Chicago State University is an affiliate for men's tennis.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst Minutemen will be joining the MAC in football only in 2012.^[9]

Former members

• Butler Bulldogs
• Cincinnati Bearcats
• Marshall Thundering Herd
• UCF Knights
• Wayne State Tartars
• Western Reserve Red Cats
• Kentucky Wildcats (men's soccer only)

Membership time line

Commissioners

• Dave Reese, 1946–1964
• Bob James, 1964–1971
• Fred Jacoby, 1971–1982
• Jim Lessig, 1982–1990
• Karl Benson, 1990–1994
• Jerry Ippoliti, 1994–1999
• Rick Chryst, 1999–2009
• Jon Steinbrecher, 2009–present

Championships

See also: List of Mid-American Conference champions, Battle for the Anniversary Award, Bronze Stalk Trophy, CMU–WMU Rivalry Trophy, Michigan MAC Trophy, Peace Pipe (college football), and Wagon Wheel (trophy)

Football

Main article: MAC Football Championship Game

The MAC is contracted to provide a team for three college football bowl games, the GoDaddy.com Bowl, Little Caesars Pizza Bowl and the Humanitarian Bowl. The MAC also had a contract with the Birmingham Bowl (formerly the PapaJohns.com Bowl) to provide an alternate team if the Big East Conference could not fulfill its obligation as well a contract with the TicketCity Bowl to provide an alternate team in 2012 and the New Mexico Bowl in 2011 & 2013. ^[10]

Basketball

Main article: Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

Main article: Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament

See also: Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

In August 2010, Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher and the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that the Mid-American Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments would remain in Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena through 2017.^[11] Both tournaments have flourished since moving to Cleveland in 2000, with the men's semi-finals and championship regularly drawing large crowds at Quicken Loans Arena.^[12] In 2007, the MAC also announced a format change for both tournaments, bringing all twelve men's and women's teams to Cleveland. The MAC also co-hosted the 2007 Women's Final Four at Quicken Loans Arena after successfully hosting the 2006 NCAA Women's Basketball Regional at the same facility.

Hall of Fame

The Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame was the first Division I conference Hall of Fame.^[13] It was established in 1987 and classes have been inducted in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994.

In order to be eligible, a person must have participated during the time the university was in the MAC and five years must have passed from the time the individual participated in athletics or worked in the athletic department.^[13]

The following list are the members of the MAC Hall of Fame, along with the school they were affiliated with, the sport(s) they were inducted for and the year they were inducted.

Harold Anderson, Bowling Green, Basketball, 1991 Janet Bachna, Kent State, Gymnastics, 1992 Joe Begala, Kent State, Wrestling, 1991 Tom Beutler, Toledo, Football, 1994 Kermit Blosser, Ohio, Golf, 1988 Jim Corrigall, Kent State, Football, 1994 Hasely Crawford, Eastern Michigan, Track and field, 1991 Caroline (Mast) Daugherty, Ohio, Basketball, 1994 Chuck Ealey, Toledo, Football, 1988 Fran Ebert, Western Michigan, Softball, Basketball, 1992 John Gill, WMU Athlete, Coach, Administrator, 1994 Maurice Harvey, Ball State, Football, 1992 Bill Hess, Ohio, Football coach, 1992 Gary Hogeboom, Central Michigan, Football, 1994 Fred Jacoby, MAC Commissioner, 1990 Bob James, MAC Commissioner, 1989 Ron Johnson, Eastern Michigan, Football, 1988 Ted Kjolhede, Central Michigan, Basketball, 1988 Ken Kramer, Ball State, Football, 1991 Bill Lajoie, Western Michigan, Baseball, 1991 Jack Lambert, Kent State, Football, 1988 Frank Lauterbur, Toledo, Football, 1990 Mel Long, Toledo, Football, 1992 Charlier Maher, Western Michigan, Baseball, 1989 Ray McCallum, Ball State, Basketball, 1988 Jack McLain, MAC Football Official, 1992

Karen Michalak, Central Michigan, Basketball, Track and field, Field hockey, 1992 Gordon Minty, Eastern Michigan, Track and field, 1994 Steve Mix, Toledo, Basketball, 1989 Thurman Munson, Kent State, Baseball, 1990 Ira Murchinson, Western Michigan, Track and field, 1990 Don Nehlen, Bowling Green, Football, 1994 Manny Newsome, Western Michigan, Basketball, 1988 Bob Owchinko, Eastern Michigam, Baseball, 1992 Ara Parseghian, Miami, Football, 1988 Doyt Perry, Bowling Green, Football, 1988 John Pont, Miami, Football Player/Coach, 1992 John Pruis, Ball State, President, 1994 Trevor Rees, Kent State, Football, 1989 David Reese, MAC Commissioner, 1988 George Rider, Miami, Track and field, 1989 William Rohr, Miami, Basketball coach 1994 Don Roundfield, Central Michigan, Basketball, 1990 Bo Schembechler, Miami, Football Coach, 1991 Dick Shrider, Miami, Basketball, 1990 Jim Snyder, Ohio, Basketball, 1991 Shafer Suggs, Ball State, Football, 1989 Phil Villapiano, Bowling Green, Football, 1992 Nate Thurmond, Bowling Green, Basketball, 1989 Bob Welch, Eastern Michigan, Baseball, 1990 Dave Wottle, Bowling Green, Track and field, 1990 Bob Wren, Ohio, Baseball, 1989

Conference facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Soccer stadium	Capacity
Akron	InfoCision Stadium – Summa Field	27,000	James A. Rhodes Arena	5,500	FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field	3,000
Ball State	Scheumann Stadium	20,400	John E. Worthen Arena	11,500	BSU Soccer Field	1,000
Bowling Green	Doyt Perry Stadium	23,724	Stroh Center	4,700	Mickey Cochrane Stadium	1,500
Buffalo	University at Buffalo Stadium	31,000	Alumni Arena	6,100	University at Buffalo Stadium	31,000
Central Michigan	Kelly/Shorts Stadium	30,255	McGuirk Arena	5,300	CMU Soccer Complex ‡	1,300
Eastern Michigan	Rynearson Stadium	30,200	Convocation Center	8,800	Scicluna Field ‡	700
Kent State	Dix Stadium	20,500	Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center	6,327	Zoeller Field ‡	833
Massachusetts *	Gillette Stadium	68,756	Mullins Center †	9,493	Rudd Field †	2,000
Miami	Yager Stadium	24,286	Millett Hall	9,200	MU Soccer Field ‡	1,000
Northern Illinois	Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium	31,000	Convocation Center	10,000	NIU Track/Soccer Stadium	1,500
Ohio	Peden Stadium	24,000	Convocation Center	13,080	Chessa Field ‡	1,000
Temple *	Lincoln Financial Field	68,532	Liacouras Center †	10,224	Ambler Soccer Field †	~1,000
Toledo	Glass Bowl	26,248	Savage Arena	7,300	Scott Park Soccer Complex ‡
Western Michigan	Waldo Stadium	30,200	University Arena	5,421	WMU Soccer Complex	500

* Football affiliate
† Atlantic 10 Conference member.
‡ Women's soccer only

Broadcasts

A number of MAC sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling and volleyball, are telecast on SportsTime Ohio replacing FSN Ohio as the MAC TV Partner the deal was signed in July 2010 and is for three years.^[14] Along with STO, ESPN Regional TV retains the “local and regional” syndication telecast rights to the MAC for Football.

Ball State produces its own comprehensive television package with Ball State Sports Link. Affiliate stations include WIPB in Muncie, WNDY in Indianapolis, The CW in Fort Wayne, WHME in South Bend, WTVW in Evansville, WYIN in Merrillville and Comcast in Michigan. All Ball State Sports Link games are also broadcast on student radio station WCRD and on the Ball State Radio Network produced by WLBC-FM and Backyard Broadcasting.

NIU also has a network station.

MAC Properties

MAC Properties (a division of ISP Sports) is the sponsorship arm of the Mid-American Conference, and handles all forms of sponsorship and advertising for the MAC which includes managing and growing its stable of official corporate partners. As of 2010, the MAC has five official corporate partners: FirstEnergy, Marathon, PNC Bank, AutoTrader.com and Cleveland Clinic Sports Health. There are approximately 20 other companies engaged as sponsors of the conference at the non-official level. MAC Properties also assists with the management of the conference's television and radio contracts, including those with ESPN Regional, FOX Sports Ohio and ESPN 850 WKNR among others.

References

1. ^ "International Bowl 2008". Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
2. ^ "MAC Football Programs Lead I-A Public Institutions In Graduation Success Rates" (Press release). MAC-Sports.com. 2006-09-08. http://mac-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=9400&ATCLID=620773&SPID=3802&SPSID=42968. Retrieved 2009-09-25. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ The University of Akron : Quick Facts
4. ^ ^{a b} "The Blade". The Blade. January 2010. http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20100127/NEWS04/100129764. Retrieved 15 June 2010. 
5. ^ "Concurrent Enrollment Report - Spring". Fifteenth Day Enrollment Statistics. Kent State University. February 2010. p. 4. http://www.kent.edu/rpie/enrollment/upload/ksu-system-15th-day-stats-spring-2010.pdf. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
6. ^ MAC-Sports.com at mac-sports.com, URL accessed June 20, 2010. Archived 06-30-10
7. ^ The Lima News, February 19th, 1953
8. ^ Wilson, Tracy. "The Real Story Behind We Are Marshall". http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/we-are-marshall2.htm. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
9. ^ Elton Alexander (April 19, 2011). "University of Massachusetts football to join Mid-American Conference, sources say". The Plain Dealer. http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2011/04/university_of_massachusetts_fo.html. Retrieved April 19, 2011. 
10. ^ http://mac-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9400&ATCLID=204934295^{[dead link]}
11. ^ "Mid-American Conference and Quicken Loans Arena Announce Extension to Hold FirstEnergy Mac Tournament at The Q Through 2017". Quicken Loans Arena. 2010. http://www.theqarena.com/news/mac_100811/. Retrieved 14 March 2011. 
12. ^ "MAC Tournament History" (PDF). 2008-09 Men's Basketball Media Guide. Mid-American Conference. 2008. pp. 62–63. https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf5/153033.pdf?ATCLID=1620714&SPSID=42971&SPID=3803&DB_OEM_ID=9400. Retrieved 26 September 2009. 
13. ^ ^{a b} "MAC Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110714012203/http://www.mac-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9400&ATCLID=323273. Retrieved 2009-01-26. 
14. ^ http://mac-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9400&ATCLID=204971543^{[dead link]}

External links

• Official website