The Missouri Valley Football Conference will begin the search for its second commissioner as Patty Viverito has announced her retirement following the 2024-25 academic year. Viverito confirmed the news at the MVFC’s media day event on Tuesday. Viverito has been the conference’s only commissioner since its formation in 1982 with football sponsorship beginning in 1985.
Viverito has overseen several changes within the conference over the last four decades. The conference was originally named the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (GCAC) from 1982 through 1992 and began as a women’s-only league followed by football sponsorship in 1985. The GCAC and Missouri Valley Conference merged in 1992 with the result being a new name: the Gateway Football Conference while keeping the GCAC’s original charter. The Gateway Football Conference name lasted until 2008 when it was renamed to the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
The then-Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference had six founding members in 1985: Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, and Western Illinois. It became seven the following year when Indiana State joined. Eastern Illinois left the then-Gateway Football Conference (GFC) in 1995. One of the more high-profile arrivals happened in 1997 when Youngstown State joined after winning Division I-AA National Championships in 1991, 1993, and 1994. The Penguins promptly won the 1997 I-AA title in its first season as a member of the GFC.
Western Kentucky joined in 2001, won the 2002 I-AA title, and then left for the FBS in 2007. The two biggest additions occurred the following year when Division II programs North Dakota State and South Dakota State joined the MVFC in 2008, although it was unknown at the time how dominant the two would become at the FCS level. NDSU won 9 titles between 2011 and 2021 while SDSU has won the last two in 2022 and 2023. The MVFC has also been runner-up four times since 2010 (Illinois State in 2014, Youngstown State in 2016, SDSU in 2020, and NDSU in 2022). The 2014 and 2022 FCS National Championship games are the only time the title game has featured two teams from the same conference.
The MVFC added South Dakota in 2012, North Dakota in 2020, and Murray State in 2023. Western Illinois’ football team left the MVFC beginning with the current 2024-25 academic year while Missouri State will leave in 2025 to join the FBS and Conference USA. As of the 2025 season, the MVFC will have 10 members: Illinois State, Indiana State, Murray State, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, and Youngstown State.
The MVFC has amassed the most FCS Playoff wins overall, the most FCS Playoff road victories, and the most FCS Playoff home victories since 1978. The MVFC has captured the most FCS/I-AA National Championships with 13 since Viverito’s tenure began. Viverito was also the commissioner of the Pioneer Football League from 1993 through 2023 but she elected to step down from that role. Greg Walter was selected to replace Viverito as the PFL commissioner in August 2023.
Photo Credit to North Dakota State University Athletics
