Overview
The MIAA sponsors 16 conference championships (8 men's, 8 women's) in these sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf (men's), soccer (women's), softball, tennis, track and field (indoor and outdoor), and volleyball (women's). MIAA schools with additional sports (swimming and men's soccer) usually compete independently or as part of a nearby conference. The current staff consists of Bob Boerigter (Commissioner), Larry House (Assistant Commissioner for Championships and Business Development), Amber Feldman (Assistant Commissioner for Compliance and Internal Operations/Senior Woman Administrator) and Josh Slaughter (Director of Communications).
The MIAA is considered one of the top conferences in NCAA Division II, and has seen three member schools move up to NCAA Division I. Southwest Missouri State University (now called Missouri State University) made the jump in 1981, Southeast Missouri State University moved up in 1991, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha joined The Summit League in 2012.
Nebraska–Omaha joined the conference on July 1, 2008. On July 3, 2007, Southwest Baptist University was granted independent status for their football team, while all remaining teams will stay in the MIAA. Lincoln University of Missouri (after revitalizing its dormant football program) was re-admitted to the MIAA by a vote of the CEO Council on January 30, 2009, and resumed membership in the 2010-11 academic year. On July 8, 2009, the MIAA CEO Council voted to remain a 12-team league for the foreseeable future, denying an application by Rockhurst University (which does not have a football team but wanted to compete in other sports). The vote ended short term speculation about the League expanding to 16 teams divided into two divisions. Southwest Baptist will rejoin the MIAA in football for the 2013 football season, which will mean the schools can then play an 11-game conference football schedule with no non-conference games. Currently, only schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) are allowed to schedule 12 regular-season games in all seasons. Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) schools are allowed to schedule 12 games in years that contain 14 Saturdays in the period starting with Labor Day weekend and ending with the Saturday before Thanksgiving; the next season this will occur will be 2013.
In July 2010 it was reported that the conference was seeking to expand to 16 teams and is considering adding the four following schools: On July 30 the MIAA announced the University of Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State University would join after leaving the Lone Star Conference tentatively in the 2012-13 academic year. Lindenwood University submitted an application in May 2010 and after a few months of speculation, Nebraska-Kearney formally submitted an application to the MIAA on August 2, 2010. Both were formally approved and accepted on September 24, 2010. Once the expansion completes in 2012 the schools will only play each other in football and will play no non-conference games. The MIAA has opted not to divide into divisions in the 16-team arrangement. Teams that are closest geographically will play each other every year and will rotate through the other conference members in other years. The move to expand the league was spurred at least in part after Northwest Missouri during its national championship game run had problems finding non-conference teams that would play it resulting in 2010 with it having 10-game rather than 11-game schedule. The arrangement will end annual rivalries such as the Hickory Stick and Fall Classic at Arrowhead with the teams playing each other every other year or more. The following season after the expansion of the conference, on March 13, 2011, Nebraska–Omaha announced that they will be joining the Summit League and moving to Division I for the 2011-2012 season.
In June, 2012 Truman State University announced they had been accepted for membership in the Great Lakes Valley Conference effective Fall, 2013 and would be leaving the MIAA. Truman is one of only three founding members of the MIAA remaining in the conference.
Read more about this topic: Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association