Ferris State athletics will be seeing some new competition in the years to come.
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) has announced the addition of two new schools joining the GLIAC after accepting membership.
The announcement, made on Thursday, Jan. 14 will see the addition of Davenport University and Purdue University Calumet, pending acceptance into the NCAA membership process. Both universities are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) currently and are expected to begin GLIAC competition in the 2017-2018 academic year.
The GLIAC currently has 16 total teams, but by the year 2017, the additions of Davenport and Purdue Calumet will not be the only changes to occur in the conference.
In July, Malone will be entering the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC). Five other teams announced last June that they will be leaving the GLIAC for the GMAC in 2017. Those teams include Hillsdale, Walsh, Findlay, Lake Erie and Ohio Dominican. This will bring the GLIAC total to 12 teams by the time 2017 rolls around.
Davenport is currently in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) of the NAIA and are more than prepared to make the jump to Division II and the GLIAC. Starting in 2011, Davenport has won the WHAC All-Sports Trophy for five straight years.
With the addition of the two teams and the departures of others, the GLIAC will be a much different picture come next year.