Central States Intercollegiate Conference

In 1976, four members from the Great Plains Athletic Conference decided to move away from that conference, which was affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and form the Central States Intercollegiate Conference (CSIC). Those were Fort Hays State College (now Fort Hays State University), Kansas State College of Emporia (now Emporia State University), Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University) and Washburn University. Other institutions who joined the CSIC were Kearney State College (now the University of Nebraska at Kearney) and Wayne State College, who competed in the Nebraska College Conference; and Missouri Southern State College (now Missouri Southern State University) and Missouri Western State College (now Missouri Southern State University), who competed as NAIA independents.[3][4]

In 1987, all institutions in the CSIC applied for NCAA membership,[5] with the announcement of four schools Missouri Southern, Missouri Western, Pittsburg State and Washburn already becoming a member of the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA, now the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association), effective beginning in the 1989–90 school year.[6][7]