The OVAC stands for Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, but I’m having a hard time figuring out where the “Conference” part fits in? The point of being in a conference is that it is supposed to make the life of an AD easier in terms of scheduling games and finding teams to play.
Being that the OVAC does not have mandatory scheduling, that benefit is nonexistent to member schools. The OVAC should actually be called a League, as it is not really a conference at all. Because of the lack of mandatory scheduling, we’ve seen other conferences form, most recognized is the Buckeye 8.
The Buckeye 8 consists of 8 Ohio schools; Union Local, Bellaire, St. Clairsville, Buckeye Local, Edison, Indian Creek, Harrison Central, and Martins Ferry. In football for example, these schools all play each other, which gives each school 7 guaranteed games. That is an athletic directors dream! At the beginning of the year they know that all they have to do is find 3 teams to play them, as compared to programs like Steubenville and Wheeling Central who basically start from scratch every year trying to find 10 teams to play them.
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Article by Brian Gossett
