Great Lakes Football Conference
The Great Lakes Football Conference was a football-only conference that competed in NCAA Division II for six seasons. Bill Massoels, Athletic Director at St. Joseph's College, served as its commissioner, and the league was headquartered at the college in Rensselaer, Indiana. St. Joseph's was also the catalyst of a previous failed attempt to form a conference of the same name in the late 1990s.
History
Public rumors of the GLFC's formation dated from January 2006.By that April, a schedule for the 2006 season had been drafted, including six founding members: Kentucky Wesleyan College, Missouri [University of Science and Technology], Lincoln University of Missouri, Central State University, Tiffin University, and St. Joseph's. Of the six schools, three were full members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while Lincoln was a full member of the Heartland Conference. Central State and Tiffin were Division II independents.
The GLFC was intended as a football home for schools from conferences such as the GLVC and Heartland, which did not sponsor the sport. Tiffin left the conference after the 2007 season, to accept an offer of full membership from the Great Lakes [Intercollegiate Athletic Conference]. Lincoln left after the 2009 season, when it moved its full membership from the non-football Heartland Conference to the Mid-America [Intercollegiate Athletics Association]. Central State likewise left after the 2009 season, to return to independent status in football. Independent Urbana University joined the GLFC in 2010, giving the league four members for its last two seasons. Kentucky Wesleyan, Missouri S&T, and St. Joseph's were the only members to participate in all six seasons of GLFC play.
No GLFC team ever qualified for the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs. Before leaving to join the GLIAC, Tiffin posted the best overall season records, 10-1 in 2006 and 9-2 in 2007.
Despite its small membership, the GLFC only played a full round-robin schedule in three of its six seasons. William Jewell College, a Division II football independent for the 2011 season, played all four GLFC members that year but was never a member of the conference.
In January 2010, the GLVC established a timeline to begin sponsoring football in the fall of 2012. The plan was announced shortly after William Jewell was admitted to the GLVC, giving it the requisite minimum of six football playing members. Thus the GLFC's last two campaigns were lame-duck seasons, with the demise of the league already a certainty. The transition to GLVC football came not just for Kentucky Wesleyan, Missouri S&T, and St. Joseph's, but also for Urbana, which the GLVC admitted in October 2010 as an associate member in the sport. With all four members of the 2011 GLFC joining the GLVC for 2012, the Great Lakes Football Conference was effectively absorbed by the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Two other former members of the GLFC also eventually played football in the GLVC: Central State as an associate member, and Lincoln as both an associate member and full member.
On October 29, 2011, Urbana clinched the last GLFC championship with a 42-7 victory over Missouri S&T. Including shared titles, St. Joseph's led the way with three. Tiffin, Urbana, and Missouri S&T each won two.
Members
A total of seven schools were members of the GLFC:| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Nickname | Joined | Left |
| Central State University | Wilberforce, Ohio | 1887 | public | Marauders | 2006 | 2010 |
| Kentucky Wesleyan College | Owensboro, Kentucky | 1858 | United Methodist | Panthers | 2006 | 2012 |
| Lincoln University of Missouri | Jefferson City, Missouri | 1866 | public | Blue Tigers | 2006 | 2010 |
| Missouri University of Science and Technology | Rolla, Missouri | 1870 | public | Miners | 2006 | 2012 |
| St. Joseph's College | Rensselaer, Indiana | 1889 | Roman Catholic | Pumas | 2006 | 2012 |
| Tiffin University | Tiffin, Ohio | 1888 | nonsectarian | Dragons | 2006 | 2008 |
| Urbana University | Urbana, Ohio | 1850 | Swedenborgian | Blue Knights | 2010 | 2012 |
Membership timeline
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bar:1 color:LAVENDER from:2006 till:2010 text:Central State
bar:2 color:LAVENDER from:2006 till:2012 text:Kentucky Wesleyan
bar:3 color:LAVENDER from:2006 till:2010 text:Lincoln
bar:4 color:LAVENDER from:2006 till:2012 text:Missouri S&T
bar:5 color:LAVENDER from:2006 till:2012 text:St. Joseph's
bar:6 color:LAVENDER from:2006 till:2008 text:Tiffin
bar:7 color:LAVENDER from:2010 till:2012 text:Urbana
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text:"Great Lakes Football Conference membership history"