The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I baseball conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from 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. The MAC is headquartered in the Public Square district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
Member schools
There are twelve schools with full membership:
Institution | Nickname | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Endowment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East Division | ||||||
University of Akron | Zips | Akron, Ohio (217,074) |
1870 | Public | 25,942[1] | $212 million |
Bowling Green State University | Falcons | Bowling Green, Ohio (29,636) |
1910 | Public | 22,882 | $70 million |
University of Buffalo | Bulls | Buffalo, New York (292,648) |
1846 | Public | 28,054 | $566 million |
Kent State University | Golden Flashes | Kent, Ohio (27,946) |
1910 | Public | 34,411[1] | $158 million |
Miami University | RedHawks | Oxford, Ohio (21,943) |
1809 | Public | 20,126 | $320 million |
Ohio University | Bobcats | Athens, Ohio (21,342) |
1804 | Public | 20,437 | $240 million |
West Division | ||||||
Ball State University | Cardinals | Muncie, Indiana (65,287) |
1918 | Public | 20,113 | $117 million |
Central Michigan University | Chippewas | Mount Pleasant, Michigan (25,946) |
1892 | Public | 26,788 | $41 million |
Eastern Michigan University | Eagles | Ypsilanti, Michigan (22,362) |
1849 | Public | 22,974 | $50 million |
Northern Illinois University | Huskies | DeKalb, Illinois (39,018) |
1895 | Public | 25,313 | $63 million |
University of Toledo | Rockets | Toledo, Ohio (295,029) |
1872 | Public | 19,706 | $173 million |
Western Michigan University | Broncos | Kalamazoo, Michigan (77,145) |
1903 | Public | 24,818 | $197 million |
History
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. By the time the University of Cincinnati left after the 1952–1953 season, the MAC had already added University of Toledo (1950), Kent State University (1951) and Bowling Green State University (1952).
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. Marshall was kicked out of the conference in 1969. 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 with the re-admittance of Marshall and Northern Illinois and addition of the University at Buffalo 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.
Former members
- Butler Bulldogs
- Cincinnati Bearcats
- Marshall Thundering Herd
- UCF Knights
- Wayne State Tartars
- Western Reserve Red Cats
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–present
External links
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 O'Brien, Dave. "Enrollment at KSU up 1 percent", Record-Courier, Record Publishing, 2008-09-13. Retrieved on 15 November 2008.