Great Midwest Conference
The Great Midwest Conference was an NCAA Division I athletics conference that existed from 1991 to 1995.
History
The conference was formed in 1990 with six members: Cincinnati and Memphis State from the Metro Conference, UAB from the Sun Belt Conference, Marquette and Saint Louis from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, and independent DePaul. Dayton joined in 1993. Cleveland State and Detroit-Mercy had some interest from coaches, while Louisville and Tulane were heavily favored by athletic directors.In 1995, six of the schools in the Great Midwest joined with UNC Charlotte, Louisville, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, and South Florida of the Metro and Houston of the dissolving Southwest Conference and formed Conference USA.
Chronological timeline
- 1990 – The Great Midwest Conference was founded. Charter members included the University of Cincinnati and Memphis State University from the Metro Conference, the University of Alabama at Birmingham from the Sun Belt Conference, Marquette University and Saint Louis University from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, and D-I Independent DePaul University, effective beginning the 1990–91 academic year.
- 1993 – University of Dayton joined the Great Midwest, effective in the 1993–94 academic year.
- 1995 – The Great Midwest ceased operations as an athletic conference, effective after the 1994–95 academic year; as many schools left to join their respective new home primary conferences, effective beginning the 1995–96 academic year: Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Memphis, Saint Louis and UAB joined with the Metro Conference schools to form Conference USA, while Dayton joined the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Member schools
Final members
;Notes:- Dayton and Saint Louis are in the Atlantic 10 Conference
- Following Big East Conference realignment|the July 2013 split] of the original Big East Conference into two leagues, DePaul and Marquette moved to the new, non-football conference that retained the Big East name, while Cincinnati remained in the football-sponsoring former conference, now named the American Athletic Conference.
- At the time of the Big East split, Memphis moved from CUSA to The American.
Membership timeline
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Period = from:1991 till:2025
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Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:Cincinnati
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA
bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East (1st)
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:2023 text:American
bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:Big 12
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:DePaul
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA
bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East (1st)
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text:Big East
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:Marquette
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:end text:C-USA
bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East (1st)
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text:Big East
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:Memphis
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2013 text:C-USA
bar:4 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:end text:American
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:Saint Louis
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA
bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:end text:Atlantic 10
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1995 text:UAB
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2023 text:C-USA
bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:American
bar:7 shift: color:FullxF from:1993 till:1995 text:Dayton
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:end text:Atlantic 10
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text:"Great Midwest Conference Membership History"
Championships
The following were the locations of the GMC men's basketball tournament.- 1992: Chicago Stadium; Chicago, Illinois
- 1993: The Pyramid; Memphis, Tennessee
- 1994: Shoemaker Center; Cincinnati, Ohio
- 1995: Bradley Center; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Men's basketball
Cincinnati won all four years from 1992 to 1995.Women's basketball
- 1992: DePaul
- 1993: DePaul
- 1994: UAB
- 1995: Marquette
Baseball
The Great Midwest also held a baseball tournament for each of its four years to varying coverage.- 1992: UAB
- 1993: Memphis State
- 1994: UAB
- 1995: Memphis State