Lincoln University leaving MIAA for GLVC

Kansas City, MO — Next season will be the final time Nebraska Kearney sports teams will play Lincoln University as a conference opponent.

The school in Jefferson City, MO, announced Thursday that it is leaving the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association after the 2024-24 academic year. Lincoln had been a full-time member of the MIAA for 43 years (1970-1999, 2010-2024). The Blue Tigers are joining the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

“Our league wishes Lincoln success with its membership in the GLVC,” MIAA Commissioner Mike Racy said in a statement. “We appreciate Lincoln’s transparency and open communication with our conference leadership as it has explored membership options in the past few months.”

The MIAA is aggressively looking at expansion. Racy joined the Doug & Daddy Show on ESPN Tri-Cities last month and said the conference’s school presidents have discussed growing as large as 20 schools over the next few years. The MIAA will have 13 schools, 11 of which play football after Lincoln leaves.

“We certainly look first to institutions in our current footprint - with football or without football,” Racy said in December. “There may be a day where we need to move into different states, new states and continue to grow the MIAA.”

Lincoln, a historically black college or university, had struggled as some of the major sports but excelled at others. The Blue Tigers have lost 27 straight football games and have posted 10 straight losing seasons in women’s basketball. The women’s track and field teams, however, won consecutive national titles in 2018 and 2019.