Sent from a press release on Monday, August 20, 2012 from Reid Amos (Spokesperson/Recording
Secretary Pro Tem for Mountain East Conference)
The presidents of twelve universities, nine in West
Virginia, two in Ohio, and one in Virginia,
jointly announce the formation of a new all-sports
collegiate athletic conference to be named
the Mountain East Conference.
The new twelve team league's charter membership will
include: Concord University
(W.Va.),
Fairmont State
University (W.Va.),
Glenville State College (W.Va.),
Notre Dame
College
(Ohio), Shepherd
University (W.Va.),
The University of Charleston
(W.Va.), The University of
Virginia's
College at Wise (Va.), Urbana
University (Ohio),
West Liberty
University (W.Va.),
West Virginia State
University (W.Va.),
Wheeling Jesuit
University (W.Va.),
and West
Virginia Wesleyan
College (W.Va.).
"We are extremely pleased to announce the formation of
the Mountain East Conference,"
stated spokesperson Reid Amos on behalf of the twelve
presidents of the new alliance.
"The goal of this effort has been to align like-minded
institutions with similar budgets and
goals across a regional footprint. We strongly believe that
our charter membership creates
a solid foundation that provides mutual benefit and secures
the athletic future for our
institutions. We will collectively make every effort to
provide a high-quality experience for
our student-athletes in Mountain East competition."
The Mountain East Conference intends to commence competition
for the 2013-14 academic
year, but will remain active with their current conference
affiliations until such time that they
would be able to compete as a conference within the NCAA.
The move will not affect any
athletic schedules for 2012-13.
With current sports sponsorship, the Mountain East
Conference will meet the NCAA
requirement for a conference championship in sixteen sports,
including: Men's and
Women's Basketball, Baseball, Men's and Women's Cross
Country, Football, Men's and
Women's Golf, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's and
Women's Tennis, Men's
and Women's Track, and Volleyball.
The West Virginia
institutions are currently members of the West Virginia Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (WVIAC), UVa-Wise and Urbana
were slated to compete in the Great
Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) beginning in 2013, and
Notre Dame is an NCAA
Division II Independent competing in five of its twenty-two
sports as an affiliate member of
the Great Lakes Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (GLIAC). UVa-Wise has been accepted
into the NCAA membership process and will compete within
NCAA Division II in 2013 while
pursuing full membership; the other eleven schools are
all NCAA Division II members
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