35|35 Anniversary Website
This is the 12th installment of a series of 35 moments, milestones, and facts that will be featured throughout the 2013-14 academic year to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
When six charter members joined to form the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 1978, they did so with one primary objective in mind, which was to create the premier NCAA Division II men’s basketball conference.
Seven NCAA Championships since, the GLVC can certainly still stake claim to being the nation’s powerhouse in men’s basketball.
But as times changed and the conference expanded, it became clear that the GLVC was so much more than a men’s basketball conference. It had grown to become a conference among the nation’s best in academic excellence and gender equity.
Sometimes, however, those badges of honor don’t necessarily resonate with the general public.
At the turn of the century, the GLVC was faced with an identity crisis.
Charter (and now former) member Kentucky Wesleyan College had just captured the school’s seventh NCAA Championship in men’s basketball in 1999, which technically served as the conference’s fourth since the Panthers’ first four came prior to 1978. Following the league’s first-ever women’s basketball national title, claimed by Northern Kentucky University in 2000, Kentucky Wesleyan returned the GLVC to glory in 2001 by earning another NCAA men’s basketball title.
Three years, three national championships in basketball. Life was good.
Over the next three years, when the conference began to look into expanding westward, as chronicled in the
Nov. 13 edition of 35|35, institutions interested in the GLVC sponsored basketball, yet two did not offer some of the most basic sports.
Current members agreed that expansion was best for the conference, both for regional and national visibility, while addressing fiscal concerns at the same time.
But questions regarding expansion remained.
At the center, or perhaps it is more accurate to say the core of those questions, was one man.
Who are we? What do we want to be known for? Where do we go from here?
Dr. Brad Hewitt, Director of Athletics at then-member Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, has long been credited as the driving force between the conference’s “core sports” initiative.
Not only did the existing 11 members sponsor men’s and women’s basketball, but each school also sponsored men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, baseball, and softball.
That, in part, provided the answer. From that point forward, the GLVC was to be known as a league dedicated to excellence in the classroom and success in its seven core sports.
“I read articles about the emerging success of a mid-major Division I conference and how those schools believed their success was a result of the institutions committing to core values, priorities, and sport sponsorship,” Hewitt said. “Those schools all committed to broad-based success in more than just one or two sports and expected each member to commit financially to those sports and still allow unique individual choices by the institution to specialize. It seemed so simple, yet so logical, and would go on to solve our challenge of what to become (as a conference).”
With the new direction set, the new identity formed, it would not take long for the conference’s new policies to take effect. Drury University, Missouri S&T and Rockhurst University were admitted to the conference on June 29, 2004, however prior to the inclusion of all three, two of the schools were forced to add sports. Drury was without a baseball and softball program, while Missouri S&T did not sponsor volleyball.
Those three sports were now part of the GLVC’s seven core sports, which meant if those two schools did not elect to add those sports, admittance to the conference would not have occurred.
"Dr. Hewitt was a major proponent for conference expansion from 11 to 14 schools and was actively engaged in the process,” said GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich. “He exhibited great foresight and vision by encouraging the league to more clearly articulate expectations for all GLVC members, which included his recommendation that the league adopt a core sport sponsorship criteria. This concept was one of the most important pieces of legislation that the GLVC has adopted in the past 15 years."
And with that dedication to core sports, suddenly the GLVC was becoming so much more than a basketball conference.
“We were committed to gender equity,” said Hewitt, “and we wanted to pursue national championships in other sports. People are always hesitant about change, but in the end, they make good decisions when they rely on their common values and missions.”
A few years after the conference agreed to implement the “core sports” initiative, two things occurred that set the tone for the league’s core-sport success in the years to come.
While Drury was admitted along with Missouri S&T and Rockhurst in 2004, adequate time was given to both the Panthers and the Miners to build their respective new programs. Drury first fielded a baseball team in 2007, a season in which the Panthers promptly posted a 22-14 league record and captured the GLVC Championship in its first year of eligibility.
The second instance came just weeks later and was one of true validation of Hewitt’s vision.
SIU Edwardsville captured the 2007 NCAA Division II Softball Championship to become the first GLVC school to win a national title outside the sport of basketball.
Longtime SIUE head coach Sandy Montgomery guided the Cougars to the national crown, winning their last 16 games of the season, including a 3-2, 12-inning thriller over Lock Haven (Pa.) in the national championship game.
“We were only as strong as the weakest link” Hewitt said. “Softball, like baseball, evolved quickly to become nationally respected and our top-four programs annually were only a break away or an injury-free season away from the national tournament. (Our 2007 national title) validated that committed made to the "core sports," which has since been matched by soccer and baseball. It is so beautiful when a dream ambition, or a goal of a small group of committed, passionate and hard-working people becomes a reality.”
In addition to the milestone victory in softball, Hewitt’s department was also named the 2006-07 recipient of the GLVC Commissioner’s Cup, given annually to the school that demonstrates the best all-around performance in the league’s seven core sports.
The following summer, Hewitt reclassified SIUE to Division I, becoming a full-time member of the Ohio Valley Conference. Since his departure from active duty in the GLVC, Hewitt has enjoyed watching the “core sports” philosophy flourish as the University of Southern Indiana won the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in the spring of 2010, while months later Northern Kentucky earned the 2010 NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championship – two significant moments for two other GLVC core sports.
The GLVC now owns 12 NCAA Championships, but three of those have come away from the hardwood. Of the seven GLVC core sports, national titles have been earned in five of them, leaving volleyball and women’s soccer left to conquer. In 2000, Northern Kentucky’s women’s soccer team was defeated in the national championship match, while volleyball has twice advanced as far as the national semifinals, including last year’s trip by the University of Indianapolis.
“For many years I have paraphrased Vince Lombardi's words,” Hewitt said. “If we are committed to pursue perfection, even though knowing we will never reach it, along the way we achieve excellence.”
Over the last 15 years, the GLVC has made great strides in achieving excellence in sports other than basketball.
But that pursuit… that commitment… can be traced back to a select group of administrators and the vision of a leader who helped a conference combat an identity crisis by redirecting its focus.
Right down to the core.