View source for Midwest Collegiate Conference (1988-2015)

[[image:Midwest_Collegiate_Conference.png|right]]
The '''Midwest Collegiate Conference''' was an NAIA Division II non-football conference which was created in 1988 by six Catholic schools in Iowa and Wisconsin which had, mostly, been women's institutions until the 1970s. [[Clarke]], [[Edgewood]], [[Marycrest]], [[Mount Mercy]], Mount Saint Clare (now [[Ashford]]), and [[Viterbo]] were the charter members. Edgewood left quickly, and their replacement by the non-secular [[Grand View]] (along with [[Saint Ambrose]]) triggered the conference's first name change.

The membership door revolved somewhat rapidly, partly as a result of schools going under ([[Marycrest]]), and partly due to an ill-considered decision in 2012 to eject Ashford and [[Waldorf]] due to their new status as for-profit institutions. The member schools thought they were stabilizing the conference in the face of constant financial troubles faced by for-profit schools; instead, they sealed the conference's fate. Two inevitable events then doomed the league: the poaching of football schools Grand View and [[William Penn]] by the all-sports [[{{haac}}]], and the sudden purchase of [[AIB]] by the [[Iowa|University of Iowa]]. That left the conference with only four members; the decision to eject Ashford and Waldorf left the league with no feasible options and no recourse but to disband.

The conference claimed no NAIA Division II titles, although William Penn did reach the championship game in 2013. However, in the five-year span just before news started dropping about the conference's impending demise the conference did manage four at-large bids and five first-team All-Americans; had the league survived, its profile would likely have remained on the rise.

Note that some details from the early 1990s are still missing and being researched.
=='''Data'''==
{| class="wikitable zebra" style="width: 600px;"
|'''Began play:'''
|1988-89
|-
|'''Affiliation:'''
|NAIA II
|-
|'''Also known as:'''
|Midwest Catholic Conference (1988-1990)
|-
|
|Midwest Classic Conference (1990-2007)
|-
|'''Disbanded:'''
|2015
|}

=='''Historical Data'''==
{{mwclassic mbby}}

=='''External Links'''==
[http://www.midwestcollegiateconference.com/ Midwest Collegiate Conference website]

[[category:{{mwclassic}}| ]]