• The OVC was founded in 1948, making it the eighth-oldest Division I conference. The league celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2022-23 and is in its 78th year in 2025-26.
• The league is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee and has been located in the Nashville metropolitan area since 1964. Nashville is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States.
• The league includes 11 schools from six different states and consists of nearly 4,000 student-athletes.
• League membership includes: Eastern Illinois University, Lindenwood University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Little Rock), Morehead State University, Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University, the University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin) and Western Illinois University.
• There have been only 25 full-time members in league history.
• The OVC sponsors the following sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf and track for men, and basketball, cross country, golf, men's soccer, women's soccer, softball, tennis, track, volleyball and beach volleyball for women. In addition, the OVC also sponsors the combined men's and women's sport of rifle. For men’s tennis, in July 2022 the OVC and Horizon League partnered to combine their teams to compete for the NCAA AQ at the Horizon League Championship. In July 2023, the OVC and Big South Conferences began a similar joint association partnership for the sport of football.
• In its 77-year history, OVC teams have garnered national championships in football along with national team or individual titles in the sports of rifle, cross country, track and golf.
• Over the past 10 years (2015-25) OVC teams have placed multiple teams in NCAA Championship fields in baseball, men’s basketball, football and rifle.
• Over the past 10 years (2015-25) OVC teams have won NCAA Tournament games in the sports of baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, football, women's soccer, softball and volleyball.
• Over that period the league has also had both a male and female golf student-athlete advance to the National Championship and in the sport of cross country had at least one athlete advance to the National Championship meet in 13 of the past 16 years.
• Over the past 10 years (2015-25), OVC programs have been nationally-ranked in media/coaches polls in the sports of baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country and football. The league has also had a Top 30 ranked men's golf program.
• Since 2018 the league has hosted its Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. Additionally, the OVC also hosts neutral site championships in the sports of baseball, softball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s golf and tennis.
• In 2019, two OVC schools participated in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, with each winning a game. It was the first time since 1987 that two teams played in the event in the same year, and first time since 1971 the league had two total victories in the same tournament.
• As many as six (6) former OVC players were on NBA rosters during the 2024-25 season. That included four on opening night rosters.
• Following the 2025 NFL Draft, a former OVC player had seen selected in nine of the past 13 years.
• UT Martin’s Chelsey Perry, who won the 2019-20 and 2020-21 OVC Player of the Year awards, became the highest OVC draft pick in WNBA history, being selected 26th overall by the Indiana Fever in 2021. She was the first OVC selection since 2003 and just the second former OVC player to make an active roster.
• In 2018, the Tennessee Tech baseball team became the first OVC squad to advance to the Super Regionals, coming up one win shy of advancing to the College World Series.
• In 2020, UT Martin alumni Alec Mills threw a no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs, the 16th no-hitter in team history. That same year, former Belmont star Matt Beaty became the first former OVC player to be on an active roster for the World Series Champion, as the Dodgers topped the Rays.
• Danny Willett, 2006 OVC Freshman of the Year and 2007 OVC Medalist, won The Masters in 2016, topping the field by three shots.
• OVC student-athlete annually achieve at the highest levels in the classroom. During the 2023-24 academic year, 1,632 student-athletes were named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll for having a 3.25 grade point average or higher, while 312 of those student-athletes earned the OVC Academic Medal of Honor for having perfect 4.0 GPAs. Over the past decade, over 15,000 student-athletes have earned Commissioner Honor Roll honors while over nearly 1,500 have been awarded the Academic Medal of Honor.
• The OVC has a multi-year media rights agreement with ESPN, including linear television and contests that stream on ESPN+, as well as a sponsorship agreement with LEARFIELD.
• In the 1950s the OVC became a pioneer when Morehead State became one of the first non-traditionally Black mid-southern institutions to accept an African American student. Soon after the passing of Title IX legislation, the OVC began formulating plans for women's athletics, which began in 1977.
• The OVC has long been a national leader in sportsmanship and in 1995 implemented a first-of-its-kind Sportsmanship Statement, a policy that promotes principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one's opponent.
Updated July 1, 2025