Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - History

History

On March 15, 1920, a formal constitution was adopted and the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was born, with Carleton College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Hamline University, Macalester College, Saint John's University, St. Olaf College, and the University of St. Thomas.

Concordia College joined the MIAC in 1921, Augsburg College in 1924, and Saint Mary's University in 1926. Carleton dropped membership in 1925, rejoining in 1983. St. Olaf left in 1950, returning in 1975. The University of Minnesota Duluth was a member of the MIAC from 1950 to 1975. Bethel University joined in 1978. The MIAC initiated women's competition in the 1981–82 season. Two all-women's schools subsequently joined the conference, St. Catherine University in 1983 and the College of St. Benedict in 1985 joined the league.

Augsburg did not participate in intercollegiate football from 1935 through 1938. The conference did not play sports from the fall 1943 to the spring of 1945 due to World War II. Saint Mary's discontinued its football program in 1955. Macalester became an independent in football in 2002, but still retains its MIAC membership in other sports. Wrestling was dropped as a conference sponsored sport after the 2002–03 season. St. Catherine and St. Benedict, being both women's colleges, also do not sponsor football. Together with Saint John's, one of only a handful of men's colleges, St. Benedict forms a joint academic institution, known commonly by the initialism CSB/SJU.

From 1947 to 2003 the MIAC had a strong men's wrestling program, which was discontinued following the 2002–03 season. The strongest teams over the history of the conference were Augsburg with 31 team championships, and Saint John's with 14 team championships. The MIAC teams and individual wrestlers demonstrated a strong national and olympic presence in the 1970s and beyond