The Way We (Defunct Leagues) Were: Who Went Where When? How & Why?

July 20th, 2013 - 19:45

The Great West Conference really wasn't so great. Only in existence four seasons, most of its remaining members were absorbed by the Western Athletic Conference to help the once-proud WAC remain solvent. Following is a look at what happened to an alphabetical list of defunct lNCAA Division I leagues that the Great West has joined:

Defunct DI League Years Intact Summary of End Game Membership
American South 1988-91 Merged with Sun Belt Arkansas State, Central Florida (only 1991), Lamar, Louisiana Tech, New Orleans, Southwestern Louisiana, Texas-Pan American
American West 1995 & 1996 Joined Big Sky and Big West Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Northridge, Sacramento State, Southern Utah
Big Eight 1929-96 Combined with half of SWC to form Big 12 Colorado (not 1929-47), Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State (not 1929-58)
Border 1932-62 Disbanded when WAC was formed Arizona (not 1962), Arizona State, Hardin-Simmons (not 1932-41), New Mexico (not 1943, 1944 and 1952-62), New Mexico State, Northern Arizona (not 1954-62), Texas-El Paso (not 1932-35), Texas Tech (not 1932 and 1957-62), West Texas State (not 1932-41)
Eastern Intercollegiate 1933-39 Disbanded Carnegie Tech, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Temple, West Virginia
Great Midwest 1992-95 Merged with Metro to form C-USA Cincinnati, Dayton (not 1992 and 1993), DePaul, Marquette, Memphis, St. Louis, UAB
Great West 2010-13 Absorbed by WAC Chicago State, Houston Baptist (not 2013), NJIT, North Dakota (not 2013), South Dakota (not 2013), Texas-Pan American, Utah Valley
Gulf Star 1985-87 Joined SLC or became independents before joining TAAC Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, Southwest Texas State, Stephen F. Austin State
Metro 1976-95 Merged with Great Midwest to form C-USA Cincinnati (not 1992-95), Florida State (not 1976 and 1992-95), Georgia Tech (not 1979-95), Louisville, Memphis State (not 1992-95), UNC Charlotte (not 1976-91), St. Louis (not 1983-95), South Carolina (not 1976-83 and 1992-95), Southern Mississippi (not 1976-82), South Florida (not 1976-91), Tulane (not 1986-89), Virginia Commonwealth (not 1976-91), Virginia Tech (not 1976-78)
Metropolitan Collegiate 1966-69 Disbanded Fairleigh Dickinson, Hofstra, Iona, LIU, Manhattan, NYU (not 1968 and 1969), St. Francis NY (not 1969), St. Peter's, Seton Hall, Wagner
Middle Atlantic/East Coast 1959-94 ECC merged with Mid-Continent American (not 1959-66 and 1985-94), Brooklyn (only 1992), Bucknell (not 1991-94), Buffalo (only 1992 and 1994), Central Connecticut State (not 1959-90), Chicago State (only 1994), Delaware (not 1992-94), Drexel (not 1992-94), Gettysburg (not after MAC dispersed in 1974), Hofstra (not 1959-65), Lafayette (not 1991-94), La Salle (not 1984-94), Lehigh (not 1991-94), UMBC (only 1991 and 1992), Muhlenberg (not 1965-94), Northeastern Illinois (only 1994), Rider (not 1959-66 and after 1992), Rutgers (not 1963-94), St. Joseph's (not 1983-94), Temple (not 1983-94), Towson State (not 1959-82 and after 1992), Troy State (only 1994), West Chester State (not 1959-65 and 1975-94)
Mountain States/Skyline 1938-62 Four teams combined with two from Border to form WAC Brigham Young, Colorado (not 1948-62), Colorado State, Denver, Montana (not 1938-51), New Mexico (not 1938-51), Utah, Utah State, Wyoming
New England/Yankee 1938-76 Disbanded Boston University (not 1938-72), Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts (not 1938-46), New Hampshire, Northeastern (not 1947-76), Rhode island, Vermont (not 1938-46)
Rocky Mountain 1923-63 Disbanded Adams State (not 1923-57), Brigham Young (not 1938-63), Colorado (not 1938-63), Colorado State (not 1938-63), Colorado State, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Teachers (not 1935-63), Denver (not 1938-63), Greeley State/Northern Colorado (not 1923-34), Idaho State (not 1923-59 and 1961-63), Montana State (not 1958-63), Utah (not 1938-63), Utah State (not 1938-63), Western State/Colorado Western, Wyoming (not 1938-63)
Southwest 1915-96 Disbanded with members joining three different leagues (Big 12, C-USA & WAC) Arkansas (not 1915-23 and 1992-96), Baylor, Houston (not 1915-75), Oklahoma A&M (not 1926-96), Phillips OK (only 1920), Rice, SMU (not 1915-18), Southwestern TX (only 1915 and 1916), Texas, Texas A&M, TCU (not 1915-23), Texas Tech (not 1915-57)