Daily Egyptian

The University of Loyola accepted an invitation into the Missouri Valley Conference as it was announced by the University’s President Michael J. Garanzini and Director of Athletics Dr. M. Grace Calhoun Friday. Loyola will participate in all sports except men’s volleyball for the 2013-14 season beginning July 1.

Garanzini said Loyola’s transition into the MVC will be advantageous for the school and the conference.

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“We are very honored to have received this invitation to join the Missouri Valley Conference, one of the most historic and competitive conferences in the country. We look forward to reestablishing nationally competitive programs and growing Loyola’s modern athletics brand,” Calhoun said at a press conference. “I am confident Loyola will not only be a strong and valued new member of the conference athletically, but will also enhance the reputation of the conference through the addition of a world-class university in a world-class city with student athletes who excel academically, athletically, and in life.”

Loyola University Chicago was first founded in 1870 as St. Ignatius College, and it is the nation’s largest Jesuit Catholic university. This year, the Ramblers celebrated their 50th anniversary of the 1962-63 men’s basketball national championship. That team will be the first-ever inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Loyola sponsors men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s Soccer, men’s and women’s track & field (indoor and outdoor), men’s and women’s cross-country, men’s and women’s golf and softball. The school was a charter member of the Horizon League since it

Before Creighton’s announcement that it will leave the Missouri Valley Conference on June 30, the last MVC membership change happened when the University of Tulsa left joined the Western Athletic Conference in 1996. The University of Evansville was the last institution to be added to the Valley in the 1994-95 season.