Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, a 12-member conference of NCAA Division II institutions in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, was first organized in 1912 as the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Over the past 95 years, the MIAA has gained the reputation of being one of the top NCAA Division II conferences in the nation. MIAA student-athletes have won 14 NCAA team championships and, since 1964, and 159 individual national titles. The MIAA currently conducts championships in eight men's sports and nine women's sports.
For the men, champions are crowned in football, cross country, basketball, indoor and outdoor track & field, baseball, tennis and golf. The women compete for titles in volleyball, cross country, soccer, basketball, indoor and outdoor track & field, softball, golf and tennis.
The MIAA turned a new page on July 1, 1992, when the NCAA Division II conference changed its name from the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
The decision to make the change originated in 1989, when Pittsburg State University and Washburn University became the first schools outside the state of Missouri to gain membership in the MIAA.
The conference was first organized in 1912 with 14 member institutions. Of those original members, the University of Central Missouri, Truman State University, and Northwest Missouri State University still remain a part of the MIAA.
In 1981 the MIAA appointed its first full-time commissioner, Ken Jones. He would be in the position for 16 years, retiring in 1997. Former Gulf South and Metro commissioner Ralph McFillen succeeded Jones, serving 10 years before his retirement in 2007. Jim Johnson succeeded McFillen in July of that year and is the current commissioner of the conference.
In August 1991, Judy Willson was hired as the MIAA's first full-time sports information director. She left in 1994, and was succeeded by Matt Newbery, formerly the assistant sports information director at Pittsburg State. He became the assistant to the commissioner for media relations in 2005. Newbery left in the summer of 2008 and was succeeded by Kellen Coleman, former sports information assistant at the University of Kansas.
A third full-time staff member was added in 2005, as former Emporia State track and field athlete Natasha Oakes was hired as the assistant to the commissioner for compliance. Larry House joined the staff in August 2007 as coordinator of external affairs.