Horizon League

The **Horizon League** is a NCAA conference that plays in the NCAA Division I. The conference is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and features universities and colleges from the Great Lakes Region. While it plays many sports, it has never played football.

## History

The Horizon League was founded in 1979 as the **Midwestern City Conference** (MCC) with six members. None of these schools are in the league now. The school that has been in the league the longest is Detroit Mercy, which joined in 1980 (when it was known as simply "Detroit").

The conference changed its name in 1985 to **Midwestern Collegiate Conference**. In 1993, the largest conference expansion in NCAA history that did not involve a merger was announced. Six schools left the Mid-Continent Conference, now known as The Summit League, to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference for the 1994–95 school year. In June 2001, the conference changed its name to the current Horizon League to avoid confusion with the "other" MCC (which did not become The Summit League until 2007).

Today, eight of the Horizon League's 11 full members (those playing most, if not all, of their sports in the league) are former members of The Summit League. The exceptions are Detroit Mercy, Northern Kentucky, and Robert Morris.

The most recent changes to the conference membership happened in the 2020s. First, in 2020, Purdue Fort Wayne and Robert Morris joined. In 2022, UIC left to join the Missouri Valley Conference. Most recently, the conference announced in February 2025 that Northern Illinois, which had left in 1997, would return in 2026. Northern Illinois will return to the Horizon League at the same time that the school's football team joins the Mountain West Conference.

## Members

The Horizon League now has 11 full members, with a 12th joining in 2026.

|School|Location|Founded|Type|Nickname|Joined|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Cleveland State University|Cleveland, Ohio|1964|Public|Vikings|1994|
||Detroit. Michigan|1877|Private|Titans|1980|
|(Green Bay)|Green Bay, Wisconsin|1965|Public|Phoenix|1994|
|(IU Indy)|Indianapolis, Indiana|1969|Public|Jaguars|2017|
|(Milwaukee)|Milwaukee, Wisconsin|1956|Public|Panthers|1994|
|Northern Kentucky University|Highland Heights, Kentucky|1968|Public|Norse|2015|
|Oakland University|Rochester, Michigan|1957|Public|Golden Grizzlies|2013|
|Purdue University Fort Wayne|Fort Wayne, Indiana|1964|Public|Mastodons|2020|
|Robert Morris University|Moon Township, Pennsylvania|1921|Private|Colonials|2020|
|Wright State University|Dayton, Ohio|1964|Public|Raiders|1994|
|Youngstown State University|Youngstown, Ohio|1908|Public|Penguins|2001|

### Future member

|School|Location|Founded|Type|Nickname|Joining|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Northern Illinois University|DeKalb, Illinois|1895|Public|Huskies|2026|

### Former full members

A total of 14 schools have been full members, but are no longer in the conference. Northern Illinois will return to the Horizon League in 2026.

Nicknames are those used when the schools were conference members.

|School|Location|Founded|Joined|Left|Type|Nickname|Current Conference|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Butler University|Indianapolis, Indiana|1855|1979|2012|Private|Bulldogs|Big East|
||Dayton, Ohio|1850|1987|1993|Private|Flyers|Atlantic 10|
|Duquesne University|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|1878|1992|1993|Private|Dukes|Atlantic 10|
||Evansville, Indiana|1854|1979|1994|Private|Purple Aces|Missouri Valley|
|La Salle University|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|1863|1992|1995|Private|Explorers|Atlantic 10|
|Loyola University Chicago|Chicago, Illinois|1870|1979|2013|Private|Ramblers|Atlantic 10|
|Marquette University|Milwaukee, Wisconsin|1881|1988|1991|Private|Warriors|Big East|
|Northern Illinois University|DeKalb, Illinois|1895|1994|1997|Public|Huskies|MAC|
||South Bend, Indiana|1842|1982 1987/1988 || 1986 1995 || Private || Fighting Irish || ACC|||||
|Oklahoma City University|Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|1904|1979|1985|Private|Chiefs|Sooner (NAIA)|
|Oral Roberts University|Tulsa, Oklahoma|1963|1979|1987|Private|Titans|The Summit|
|Saint Louis University|St. Louis, Missouri|1818|1981|1991|Private|Billikens|Atlantic 10|
|(UIC)|Chicago, Illinois|1859|1994|2022|Public|Flames|Missouri Valley|
|Valparaiso University|Valparaiso, Indiana|1859|2007|2017|Private|Crusaders|Missouri Valley|
|Xavier University|Cincinnati, Ohio|1831|1979|1995|Private|Musketeers|Big East|

### Associate members

NCAA conferences often have one or more "associate" members that play only a limited number of sports in the conference, usually one. For most of its history, the Horizon League has not had associate members. The first such member was Belmont, which was a men's soccer member from 2014 to 2018. More recently, the Horizon greatly expanded its men's tennis league. The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) merged its men's tennis league into the Horizon in 2022. At the same time, Belmont returned to the conference for men's tennis, and Chicago State moved men's and women's tennis into the Horizon.

Lindenwood shut down its men's tennis team after the 2023–24 season. At the same time, Chicago State joined the Northeast Conference, which sponsors tennis for both sexes. However, it kept both tennis teams in the Horizon League through the 2024–25 season, honoring its affiliation contract with that conference. Eastern Illinois shut down its men's tennis team after the 2024–25 season.

#### Current

|School|Location|Founded|Type|Nickname|Horizon League sport(s) !! Joined !! Main conference|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Belmont University|Nashville, Tennessee|1890|Private|Bruins|Men's tennis|2022|MVC|
||Evansville, Indiana|1965|Public|Screaming Eagles|Men's tennis|2022|OVC|
|Tennessee State University|Nashville, Tennessee|1912|Public|Tigers|Men's tennis|2022|OVC|
|Tennessee Tech University|Cookeville, Tennessee|1915|Public|Golden Eagles|Men's tennis|2022|OVC|

#### Former

As noted above, current men's tennis member Belmont once housed its men's soccer team in the Horizon League.
|School|Location|Founded|Type|Nickname|Horizon League sport !! Joined !! Left !! Main conference !! Conference in former Horizon sport|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Belmont University|Nashville, Tennessee|1890|Private|Bruins|Men's soccer|2014|2018|MVC||
|Chicago State University|Chicago, Illinois|1867|Public|Cougars|Men's and women's tennis|2022|2025|NEC||
|Eastern Illinois University|Charleston, Illinois|1895|Public|Panthers|Men's tennis|2022|2025|OVC||
|Lindenwood University||1827|Public|Lions|Men's tennis|2022|2024|OVC||