Mid-American Conference

The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a college sports conference whose full members are located in the Great Lakes region of the United States. It sponsors 9 men's sports and 14 women's sports at the NCAA Division I level. In football, the MAC is one of 10 conferences that play in the top-level Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

The MAC was founded in 1946 by five schools in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, but only one of the founding members, Ohio University, is still in the conference. All but three of its current full members are in those three states.

 Sports sponsored 
 Baseball (men only)
 Basketball (both men and women)
 Cross country (both men and women)
 Field hockey (women only)
 Football (men only)
 Golf (both men and women)
 Gymnastics (women only)
 Lacrosse (women only)
 Rowing (women only)
 Soccer (both men and women)
 Softball (women only)
 Swimming and diving (women only)
 Tennis (women only)
 Track and field, indoor (both men and women)
 Track and field, outdoor (both men and women)
 Volleyball (women only)
 Wrestling (men only)

 Members 
 Full members 
Currently, the MAC has 13 full members, all public schools, each of which competes in at least 15 MAC sports. Every member of the conference competes in football, baseball, men's and women's basketball, and the following women's sports: cross country, soccer, softball, and indoor and outdoor track and field. For many years the conference was split into East and West Divisions in many sports, but the only sport now  using divisions is women's tennis. The sport that most recently eliminated divisions is football, which started using a single league table in 2024.

Departing member Northern Illinois is highlighted in pink.

 School  Location  Founded  Type  Nickname  JoinedMAC    Akron, Ohio  1870  Public  Zips  1992 Ball State University  Muncie, Indiana  1918  Public  Cardinals  1973 Bowling Green State University  Bowling Green, Ohio  1910  Public  Falcons  1952   Buffalo, New York  1846  Public  Bulls  1998 Central Michigan University  Mount Pleasant, Michigan  1892  Public  Chippewas  1971 Eastern Michigan University  Ypsilanti, Michigan  1892  Public  Eagles  1971 Kent State University  Kent, Ohio  1910  Public  Golden Flashes  1981 Miami University  Oxford, Ohio  1809  Public  RedHawks  1977 Northern Illinois University  DeKalb, Illinois  1895  Public  Huskies  1975, 1997 Ohio University  Athens, Ohio  1804  Public  Bobcats  1948   Toledo, Ohio  1872  Public  Rockets  1950  (UMass)  Amherst, Massachusetts  1863  Public  Minutemen &Minutewomen  2025 Western Michigan University  Kalamazoo, Michigan  1903  Public  Broncos  1947

Associate members
The MAC has 18 "associate members" that play one or two sports in the conference.

A major recent change in associate membership happened in 2019 when the MAC absorbed the Eastern Wrestling League, a single-sport conference that had existed since 1975. All seven of the EWL's final members thus became MAC associates.

A more recent change to associate membership took place on July 1, 2020 when the MAC added three members in the new conference sport of women's lacrosse, along with one former wrestling member dropping the sport.

SIU Edwardsville (SIUE), in full Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, left the MAC men's soccer league in 2021 to return to its former soccer home of the Missouri Valley Conference. It remains a MAC member in wrestling.

Another change in associate membership was announced in June 2020. Bellarmine University, which started a transition from NCAA Division II to Division I that July, joined the MAC field hockey league in July 2021.

At the same time Bellarmine joined in field hockey and SIUE left in wrestling, Georgia Southern University and Georgia State University joined MAC men's soccer, and Missouri wrestling left to become a single-sport member of its former all-sports home of the Big 12 Conference.

The next changes in associate membership took place in July 2022. First, West Virginia University men's soccer left the MAC. WVU planned to move the sport to Conference USA, but changed its plans amid the larger conference realignment of the early 2020s. WVU instead moved men's soccer to the Sun Belt Conference. The MAC replaced WVU with Chicago State University, which was leaving the Western Athletic Conference at that time. However, the MAC would shut down its men's soccer league after the 2023 season. Also in 2022, the MAC added the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) as a men's swimming & diving member. In 2023, UIC added men's tennis to its MAC membership.

More changes to associate membership came in July 2024. First, James Madison University joined the MAC for field hockey. Second, the Missouri Valley Conference, which had been the main home to five of the MAC's seven men's swimming & diving schools, announced it would start sponsoring the sport. The MAC merged its men's swimming & diving league into the new MVC league.

When UMass became a full member in July 2025, the MAC added women's rowing as a sponsored sport. Full members Eastern Michigan, Toledo, and UMass were joined by new associates Delaware, High Point, and Temple. Also, Cleveland State dropped men's wrestling after the 2024–25 season.

Current associate members
 School  Location  Founded  Joined  Type  Sport(s)  Current main conference  Nickname Appalachian State University  Boone, North Carolina  1899  2017  Public  Field hockey  Sun Belt  Mountaineers Bellarmine University  Louisville, Kentucky  1950  2021  Private  Field hockey  ASUN  Knights Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania  Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania  1839  2019  Public    PSAC(NCAA Division II)  Huskies  (Clarion)  Clarion, Pennsylvania  1867  2019  Public    PSAC(NCAA Division II)  Golden Eagles   Newark, Delaware  1743  2025  Public    CUSA  Blue Hens   Detroit, Michigan  1877  2020  Private    Horizon League  Titans  (Edinboro)  Edinboro, Pennsylvania  1857  2019  Public    PSAC(NCAA Division II)  Fighting Scots George Mason University  Fairfax County, Virginia  1957  2019  Public    Atlantic 10  Patriots High Point University  High Point, North Carolina  1924  2025  Private    Big South  Panthers James Madison University  Harrisonburg, Virginia  1906  2024  Public  Field hockey  Sun Belt Conference  Dukes Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania  Lock Haven, Pennsylvania  1870  2019  Public    PSAC(NCAA Division II)  Bald Eagles Longwood University  Farmville, Virginia  1839  2014  Public  Field hockey  Big South  Lancers Rider University  Lawrenceville, New Jersey  1865  2019  Private    MAAC  Broncs Robert Morris University  Moon Township, Pennsylvania  1921  2020  Private    Horizon League  Colonials Southern Illinois University Edwardsville  Edwardsville, Illinois  1957  2018  Public    Ohio Valley  Cougars Temple University  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  1884  2025  Public    American  Owls  (UIC)  Chicago, Illinois  1859  2023  Public    Missouri Valley Flames Youngstown State University  Youngstown, Ohio  1908  2020  Public    Horizon League  Penguins

References


Category:1946 establishments in the United States