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Horizon League: Raise Your Sights

Member institutions of the Horizon League: Butler University Cleveland State University University of Detroit Mercy University of Illinois at Chicago Loyola University Chicago Valparaiso University University of Wisconsin-Green Bay University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Wright State University Youngstown State University

Entering its 32nd season of operation in the 2010-11 academic year, the Horizon League continues to aspire toward its goal of being one of the nation's leading athletics conferences while being recognized as a leader in the development of student-athletes as leaders and role models.

The Horizon League membership features ten public and private institutions that have impressive academic reputations and a storied tradition of broad-based athletic programs. Current membership includes Butler University, Cleveland State University, the University of Detroit Mercy, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, Valparaiso University, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State University and Youngstown State University.

The Horizon League's primary focus is on adding value to the educational experience through its four platforms: athletic performance, academic achievement, community outreach, and personal responsibility and accountability. It is the League's belief that athletics is a powerful and visible resource tool that can be used to enhance student-athletes' collegiate experience. The Horizon League's goals are to enhance the holistic university experience for the student-athlete, to create an affiliation of institutions with similar athletic goals, and to adhere to the principals of integrity, diversity, excellence and growth. The Horizon League sponsors competition in 19 sports - nine for men (baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field and tennis) and ten for women (basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, tennis and volleyball).

The League receives automatic bids to NCAA championships in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, women's volleyball, and for the first time in League history, women's golf. The Horizon League is headquartered in Indianapolis, the "Amateur Sports Capital of the World," with offices in the Pan American Plaza (201 S. Capitol Avenue), located a block from Lucas Oil Stadium and just minutes from Conseco Fieldhouse, the State Capitol Building, Victory Field (home of the Indianapolis Indians) and the NCAA national office.

A PROUD HISTORY
Founded on June 16, 1979, as the Midwestern City Conference with six charter members, the League changed its name to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1985 and added women's sports for the 1986-87 academic year. Charter members of the conference included current members Butler and Loyola as well as the University of Evansville, Oklahoma City University, Oral Roberts University and Xavier University.

Among other current members, Detroit joined in 1980, and Cleveland State, UIC, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Wright State came aboard in 1994 (along with Northern Illinois University) in the largest non-merger conference expansion in history. Youngstown State joining in 2001 and Valparaiso in 2007.

On June 4, 2001, the Horizon League unveiled its current name and ushered in a new dynamic direction that has brought the League closer to its stated goal of being one of the nation's top ten collegiate athletic conferences with a focus on enhancing the student-athletes' experience by upgrading the League's market and competitive positions.

ATHLETIC SUCCESS
In the past few years, the Horizon League has enjoyed unprecedented success on the national stage, highlighted by Butler's 2010 NCAA men's basketball championship game appearance where the Bulldogs fell to Duke, 61-59. The Horizon League has compiled a 10-7 record in the past five years in the NCAA tournament, ranking sixth among all collegiate conferences for winning percentage.

Green Bay's women's basketball team became the league's first at-large bid to the NCAA Championship in 2010 with Cleveland State receiving the automatic nod. The Phoenix knocked off No. 5 seed Virginia in the first round before falling to Elite Eight participant Iowa State, 60-56.

Men's soccer has tasted victory in seven out of the last eight years (Milwaukee 2002-05, UIC 2006-08), with UIC just one win away from the College Cup in 2007. In softball, League teams won a game in the national tournament four straight years earlier in the decade (UIC 2002, 2004; Wright State 2003; Green Bay 2005) while advancing into the second round in women's soccer three of the last six seasons (Detroit 2004, Milwaukee 2005-06). Butler's Victoria Mitchell became the League's first NCAA individual champion when she won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

ACADEMIC SUCCESS
Horizon League student-athletes also excel in the classroom as more than 500 have been named to the Academic Honor Roll each of the past seven semesters for carrying a grade-point average of 3.2 or better, including more than 600 for the last four semesters. Twenty-seven student-athletes were named to ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District teams in 2009-10, while 10 earned Academic All-America honors.

COMMUNITY SERVICE
In addition to its athletics success, the Horizon League has secured a well-earned reputation for its community service initiatives. Each January, member institutions partner with local elementary schools for an art, music and essay contest highlighting the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with winners recognized at League games on the weekend of MLK Day.

The Horizon League Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) also has continued a tradition of working with youth in Indianapolis during its annual summer meeting. In addition, several League men's basketball coaches coached barefoot to support Samaritan's Feet, and the League's schools and fans donate to Komen for the Cure for breast cancer awareness during its annual women's basketball championship.

On campus, student-athletes have raised money and awareness for such causes as breast cancer, diabetes and hurricane relief, while hosting blood drives, neighborhood clean-ups, Big Brother/Big Sister programs and more.

SPORTSMANSHIP
One of the Horizon League's points of emphasis is fostering collegial environments for competition among student-athletes, coaches, administrators and fans in a pro-active approach. Among the vehicles is the Ethical Conduct Pledge, which is signed each season by student-athletes, coaches, officials, and campus and League administrators. Its purpose is to make all the involved groups aware of the Horizon League expectations of behavior during conference events.

DEMOGRAPHICS
Horizon League institutions boast a combined enrollment of more than 130,000 plus nearly a quarter-million living alumni centered in the League's Midwest footprint. League media markets include five of the nation's top 35 in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Milwaukee, covering more than ten million television households and encompassing more than nine percent of the nation's television audience.

GOVERNANCE
The Horizon League is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of the ten member institutions' chief executive officers. Dr. Bobby Fong, President of Butler, serves as Board Chair through June 30, 2011. Barry Collier, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Butler, serves as chair of the Executive Council, and Elaine Jacobs, Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator at Youngstown State, is the Vice Chair and Joseph Kirsch of Butler serves as chair of the Faculty Athletics Representatives.

LEADERSHIP
Jonathan B. (Jon) LeCrone is in his 19th year as Commissioner of the Horizon League, having been named to the position on May 11, 1992, and is the fifth-longest tenured commissioner among the 31 Division I conferences. He is the fifth commissioner in League history, succeeding Daniel B. "Tucker" DiEdwardo (1989-92), James W. Shaffer (1984-89), Cecil N. Coleman (1980-84) and James J. McCafferty (1979-80).

LeCrone is in the second year of a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Leadership Council after completing a five-year term on the Division I Men's Basketball Committee.

VISIBILITY
The Horizon League has enhanced its media visibility with a number of initiatives. The League is in a three-year agreement with ESPN that includes selected regular-season men's basketball action (ESPN2) and the men's championship game (ESPN) and features increased exposures each year on ESPNU plus inclusion in the annual O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters, one of college basketball's premier in-season events.