Question: What Athletic Association did the MIssouri Tigers belong to before it joined the Southeastern Conference?
Context: The 2012 Missouri Tigers football team represented the University of Missouri in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season.  The team was coached for the 12th season by Gary Pinkel and played their home games at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri for the 87th consecutive season.  In their first season as a member of the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference, Missouri finished fifth with a record of 2–6 in the conference, and 5–7 overall.  As a result, the Tigers failed to qualify for a bowl game for the first time since the 2004 season. The 1927 Missouri Tigers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Missouri in the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (Missouri Valley) during the 1927 college football season.  The team compiled a 7–2 record (5–1 against Missouri Valley opponents), won the Missouri Valley championship, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 129 to 90.  Gwinn Henry was the head coach for the fifth of nine seasons.  The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri. The 2011–12 Missouri Tigers men's basketball team represented the University of Missouri in the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.  Their head coach was Frank Haith, who was in his 1st year at Missouri.  Haith won AP Coach of the Year honors for this season.  The team played its home games at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri and they were members of the Big 12 Conference.  It was the final year in which the Tigers participated in the Big 12 Conference, as they departed for the Southeastern Conference beginning with the 2012–13 season. Phillip Michael Pressey (born February 17, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for FC Barcelona Lassa of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.  His prior professional teams were the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Maine Red Claws and Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League.  As a junior playing point guard for the 2012–13 Missouri Tigers men's basketball team, Pressey announced on April 10, 2013, that he would forgo his senior season of eligibility at Missouri and enter the 2013 NBA draft instead.  He led the 2011–12 Big 12 Conference in assists, steals and assist-to-turnover ratio and was a 2011–12 All-Big 12 team selection as a result.  He shares the Southeastern Conference (SEC) single-game assists record (19) and was the 2012 SEC Preseason Player of the Year.  He earned 2012–13 All-SEC First team selection and was the conference assist champion.  He earned Associated Press 2013 All-American honorable mention recognition.  He holds Missouri single-game, single-season and career assists records and numerous Missouri steals records, including career steals. Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Boone County.  Founded in 1821, it is home to the University of Missouri and is the principal city of the Columbia Metropolitan Area.  It is Missouri's fourth most-populous city, with an estimated population of 120,612 in 2016.  As a midwestern college town, the city has a reputation for progressive politics, public art, and powerful journalism.  The tripartite establishment of Stephens College (1833), the University of Missouri (1839), and Columbia College (1851) has ever since made the city a center of education, culture, and athletic competition; these three schools surround the city's central business district to the east, south, and north.  At the center of Downtown is 8th Street, also known as the Avenue of the Columns, which connects Francis Quadrangle and Jesse Hall to the Boone County Courthouse and the City Hall.  Originally an agricultural town, the cultivation of the mind is Columbia's chief economic concern today.  Never a major center of manufacturing, the city also depends on healthcare, insurance, and technology businesses.  Several companies, such as Shelter Insurance, Carfax, and Slackers CDs and Games, were founded in the city.  Cultural institutions include the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Museum of Art and Archaeology, and the annual True/False Film Festival.  The Missouri Tigers, the state's only major college athletic program, play football at Faurot Field and basketball at Mizzou Arena as members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Faurot Field , at Memorial Stadium is a stadium in Columbia, Missouri, United States, on the campus of the University of Missouri.  It is primarily used for football and serves as the home field for the Missouri Tigers football program.  In 1972, Memorial Stadium's playing surface was named Faurot Field in honor of longtime coach Don Faurot.  During the offseason, soccer goals are set up in the end zones and it is used for intramural matches.  Until 2012 it was the site of the annual "Providence Bowl" game between Hickman and Rock Bridge high schools, so named because both schools are located on Providence Road in Columbia, and Faurot is roughly equidistant between the two.  This tradition stopped when Missouri joined the Southeastern Conference and conference scheduling made hosting the game more difficult.  Faurot Field was also home to the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) football championships for many years, now held in St. Louis in the climate-controlled Edward Jones Dome.  It is the second-largest sports facility by seating capacity in the state of Missouri, to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The Missouri Tigers football statistical leaders are individual statistical leaders of the Missouri Tigers football program in various categories, including passing, rushing, receiving, total offense, defensive stats, and kicking.  Within those areas, the lists identify single-game, single-season and career leaders.  The Tigers represent the University of Missouri in the NCAA's Southeastern Conference. The Border War (alternatively, Border Showdown) is the name of the rivalry between athletic teams from the University of Kansas and University of Missouri, the Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers respectively.  Athletic competition between the two schools began in 1891.  From 1907 to 2012 both schools were in the same athletic conference and competed annually in all sports.  "Sports Illustrated" described the rivalry as the oldest (Division I) rivalry west of the Mississippi River in 2011, but it has been dormant since Missouri departed the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2012.  Despite overtures from Missouri to continue athletic competition, no further games have been scheduled between the two schools. The Missouri Tigers football program is a college football team that represents the University of Missouri in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).  The team has had 31 head coaches since it started playing organized football in 1890 with the nickname "Tigers".  Missouri joined the Western Interstate University Football Association in December 1891, later winning the conference championship three years in a row.  The conference disbanded after the 1897 season and Missouri remained independent until joining the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1907.  After several changes, the conference eventually became the Big Eight Conference.  The Tigers became a charter member of the Big 12 in 1996 when the Big Eight disbanded.  Missouri subsequently left the Big 12 following the 2011 season and joined as the 14th member of the SEC effective for the 2012 season.  The Tigers have played 1,180 games during their 119 seasons.  In those seasons, seven coaches have led Missouri to postseason bowl games: Don Faurot, Chauncey Simpson, Dan Devine, Al Onofrio, Warren Powers, Larry Smith, and Gary Pinkel.  Nine coaches have also won conference championships with the Tigers: Harry Orman Robinson, C. D. Bliss, Bill Roper, Chester Brewer, John F. Miller, Gwinn Henry, Faurot, Simpson and Devine. The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).  Since 2012, Missouri has been a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and is currently aligned in its Eastern Division.  Home games are played at Faurot Field ("The Zou") in Columbia, Missouri.
Answer: Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association