Inductees

Doug Elgin, who in 30 years has brought a firm and steady hand to the Missouri Valley Conference as its commissioner, is quick to share the credit for MVC success with others within the organization.

Elgin salutes the MVC Presidents Council for taking ownership of league membership issues, and also points to the remarkable continuity within the league’s senior staff that keeps day-to-day Valley operations functioning smoothly at a high level.

Since being named the Valley’s ninth commissioner May 17, 1988, Elgin and the Valley staff have been catalysts in helping the St. Louis-based conference regain a position of prominence in college athletics.

“The MVC has always been resilient to membership change down through the years, and has been relatively stable over the past 30 years,” Elgin said. “At each stage of transition, our MVC Presidents Council has acted decisively in reviewing expansion options and extending invitations.”

Which was why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin with the Class of 2018.

The longest-serving commissioner in the Valley’s 111-year history, Elgin’s tenure guiding the nation’s second-oldest conference has seen the Valley lose only three members and add five for the current 10-school MVC structure.

Equally notable is that his time with the Valley has seen associate commissioners Patty Viverito, Joe Mitch, Jack Watkins and Mike Kern combine to total well more than a century of service within their positions.

“Keeping our senior staff in place has given us incredible continuity, which has enabled us to host three NCAA Final Fours and 10 additional NCAA men’s basketball tournament events in St. Louis,” Elgin said. “This is important for the national profile of our conference and hugely important for its economic impact for St. Louis.”

MVC schools have been able to compete on the national stage, regularly earning multiple NCAA tournament bids in team sports, including men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and men’s soccer, plus notable NCAA success in individual sports.

“Our league enjoys strong campus leadership from presidents who have have invested in athletics facilities and programs, and top-flight athletics directors and senior women’s administrators,” Elgin emphasizes.

The league’s television exposure includes long-term coverage by CBS of the men’s basketball tournament title game with additional partnerships with FOX Sports Regional Network, NBC SportsChicago and ESPN3.

The league brought women’s sports programs under the Conference administrative umbrella in July 1992, with 2018 marking its 25^th year.

The league staff also paved the way to establish St. Louis as a long-term neutral site for the men’s basketball tournament, beginning in 1991, one of the most significant developments in the modern era of The Valley. The event is now the second longest-tenured neutral site college basketball tournament in the country.

The Valley followed suit with its women’s basketball tournament, moving it in 2008 to the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri, before relocating the championship to the Quad Cities in 2016. The Valley is one of only two leagues outside the Power Five with its women’s tournament at a neutral site.

Providing a stage for major NCAA events has been a key. In 1993, the MVC hosted the NCAA Men’s Midwest Regional at St. Louis Arena. That first step began an incredible run that has seen the Valley staff manage 11 more NCAA basketball events in St. Louis from 1998 through 2016, including the 2001 and 2009 Women’s Final Fours, the 2005 Men’s Final Four, and eight more men’s NCAA regional or first- and second-round tournaments.

Elgin completed a four-year term on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee in 2002 and is the only Valley representative ever to serve on that prestigious group.  He has also served on the NCAA Administration Cabinet, and NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee. At present, he is a member of the National Invitation Tournament Committee, and the NABC’s Ad Hoc Committee on NCAA Selection, Seeding and Bracketing.

In more than 40 years in college athletics administration, Elgin also has served as sports information director at Frostburg State University, Miami-Dade Community College South, Lafayette College and the University of Virginia. In 1983, he started a five-year run for the Sun Belt Conference as assistant commissioner under Commissioner Vic Bubas, the former Duke basketball coach and College Basketball Hall of Fame member.

A native of Hagerstown, Maryland, Elgin is a 1973 graduate of Lafayette College, and earned a master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio University in 1975. Doug and his wife, Melaine, have six daughters and seven grandchildren.