| West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | |
| Founded: | 1924 |
| Folded: | 2013 |
| Association: | NCAA (1993–2013) NAIA (until 1995) |
| Division: | Division II |
| Teams: | 15 |
| Sports: | 16 |
| Mens: | 8 |
| Womens: | 8 |
| Region: | Appalachia |
| Headquarters: | Princeton, West Virginia |
| Commissioner: | Barry Blizzard (1987–2013) |
| Map: | WVIACstates.png |
| Map Size: | 250px |
The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) was a collegiate athletic conference which historically operated exclusively in the state of West Virginia, but briefly had one Kentucky member in its early years, and expanded into Pennsylvania in its final years. It participated in the Division II ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), originally affiliated in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) until 1995, 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 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.
The conference was 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. 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 1995 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, established in 1922, was older.
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.[1]
The WVIAC officially ceased to exist on September 1, 2013.[2] 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 members from Ohio (Notre Dame and Urbana) to form a new all-sports conference, the Mountain East Conference.[3] Seton Hill and Pitt-Johnstown joined the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Three of the remaining non-football members (Alderson–Broaddus, Davis & Elkins, and Ohio Valley) accepted invitations to join the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.[4] The final remaining member, Bluefield State, competed as a D-II independent for 9 years before being invited to rejoin its former conference in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 2023.[5]
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | Joined | Left | Current conference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alderson College | Alderson, West Virginia | 1901 | ABCUSA | ? | ? | 1924 | 1932 | defunct | |
| Broaddus College | Philippi, West Virginia | 1871 | ABCUSA | ? | ? | 1924 | 1932 | ||
| West Virginia University | Morgantown, West Virginia | 1867 | Public | 29,707 | Mountaineers | 1924 | 1927 | Big 12 | |
| Morehead State University | Morehead, Kentucky | 1887 | Public | 11,172 | Eagles | 1929 | 1933 | Ohio Valley (OVC) | |
| Mountain State University | Beckley, West Virginia | 1933 | Nonsectarian | 8,200 | Cougars | 1946 | 1977 | Closed in 2012 | |
| Marshall University | Huntington, West Virginia | 1837 | Public | 13,450 | Thundering Herd | 1924 | 1948 | Sun Belt | |
| Bethany College | Bethany, West Virginia | 1840 | Disciples of Christ | 1,030 | Bison | 1924 | 1962 | Presidents' (PAC) | |
| Potomac State College of West Virginia University | Keyser, West Virginia | 1901 | Public | ? | Catamounts | 1924 | 1963 | Pennsylvania (PCAA) | |
| West Virginia University Institute of Technology | 1895 | Public | 1,106 | Golden Bears | 1924 | 2006 | River States (RSC) | ||
| Salem University | Salem, West Virginia | 1888 | For-profit | 835 | Tigers | 1924 | 2010 | D-II Independent |
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 (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 (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 (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 (1924–2010) bar:11 color:FullxF from:1989 till:2010
bar:12 color:Full from:1924 till:2013 text:Shepherd (1924–2013)
bar:13 color:Full from:1924 till:2013 text:West Liberty (1924–2013)
bar:14 color:Full from:1924 till:1927 text:West Virginia (1924–1927)
bar:15 color:Full from:1924 till:2006 text:West Virginia Tech (1924–2006)
bar:16 color:Full from:1924 till:1951 text:West Virginia Wesleyan (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:Mountain State University (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 (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