South Dakota State has won the last two FCS national championships, continuing the MVFC’s dominance in the sport. (Photo by NCAA.com)
By Dan Verdun
(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series on outgoing Missouri Valley Football Conference commissioner Patty Viverito).
The Missouri Valley Football Conference has emerged as the nation’s top FCS league in large part thanks to the leadership of commissioner Patty Viverito, according to three media members who have witnessed her influence.
“Commissioner Viverito is simply the best of FCS college football,” national writer Craig Haley told Prairie State Pigskin. “Sure, she’s led the growth of the MVFC and the Pioneer League as well. And there’s no stronger FCS conference than the MVFC.
“But she’s a go-to person for all of FCS, and she’s only had its best interests in mind.”
Haley, the Stats Perform/The Analyst FCS senior editor, views Viverito’s influence as far ranging.
“From driving the national prominence of it to a national playoff that’s the pride of the FCS to spotlighting the people in the sport,” Haley said, “she’s had a hand in basically anything and everything.
“Honestly, when I pinpoint one person who is FCS, it’s Commissioner Viverito. I’m honored to know her.”
Mike Reis spent 44 years doing broadcasts for Southern Illinois University athletics. He saw Viverito’s impact from the four-decade old league’s inception.
Reis wants Viverito, who is entering her final year on the job, to get her just due.
“She has to get the credit for the league’s rise as a power. She would get the blame if it didn’t rise,” Reis said. “It’s never just one person in anything, but other than (senior associate commissioner) Mike Kern, I don’t recall a large staff on the football side of the league. Somebody had to do the work, and they sure did.”
‘The world was different in 1985’
Viverito was instrumental in forming the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference, a women’s only multi-sport league with charter membership featuring 10 Midwestern universities, half of which were based in Illinois, in 1982.
Three years later, in 1985, the Gateway added football as its only men’s-sponsored sport with Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Southwest Missouri State and Western Illinois as charter members. Indiana State, previously a then I-AA independent, joined the following season.
“The world was different in 1985 when the Gateway Football Conference was formed,” Reis said. “The concept of a female commissioner of a football league was a foreign concept when she assumed the title in 1985. There was great skepticism and doubt about her ability. She had to earn the respect of a football community that wasn’t very willing to give her respect. She eventually got it, but it took a very long time in my opinion. And it was a rocky road.”
In 1992, the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference merged into the Missouri Valley Conference. The league’s football side was spun off into the standalone Gateway Football Conference, changing its moniker to the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2008.
A major shift occurred in 2008 when North Dakota State and South Dakota State joined the football league.
Reis credits Viverito with the additions of the Dakota schools.
“Their addition is the reason the league became more powerful nationally,” he said. “The Dakotas funded football at a higher level than the MVFC holdovers. Thus, the holdovers had to increase their football commitments in order to be able to compete.”
Moreover, Reis sees that transition and its affects in multiple arenas.
“I never thought football would be as important to these schools as it is now,” he said. “For the longest time, UNI (Northern Iowa) was the only school paying its head football coach a six-figure salary and its assistants competitive wages. That was a big reason UNI dominated. All salaries are higher now. If she gets credit for the league’s power growth, she has to get at least some of the credit for salary growth.”
Kelly Burke has covered the MVFC in various media roles for the past decade. The former Arizona State track athlete echoed Reis’s assessment.
“I can’t speak knowledgeably to the early years, other than she helped bring college football to the Missouri Valley (then Gateway Conference), but I will say this: Patty’s vision to bring in the Dakota schools to the league solidified the MVFC as the premiere conference in the FCS, and frankly a league that could beat many of the FBS conferences,” Burke said.
Burke cited Viverito’s leadership as a driving forced as the conference emerged on the national stage.
“Most recently, the MVFC’s new media-rights deal, which secured several premiere MVFC matchups on national linear TV during the regular season, is a massive step forward in continuing to grow the league’s brand and recognition,” Burke said.
What Viverito will leave behind
Like Haley, Burke and Reis view Viverito’s legacy as one full of landmark achievements.
“Patty is a trailblazer and an inspiration to women everywhere,” Burke said. “She was shattering glass ceilings long before that was even a thing. To think she’s been the only commissioner of the Missouri Valley Football Conference in its 39-year existence speaks to her vision, leadership and exceptional understanding of the ever-changing collegiate football landscape. And most people don’t even realize she was a dual commissioner of the Pioneer Football League too.”
Burke has been affected on an individual level.
“Personally, she, and Mike Kern, have been advocates for me and always supportive and encouraging of my work,” she said.
Yet, Burke also views the larger picture.
“She can hold her own with the best of them and commands respect in any room or football field she’s on. Patty Viverito is one of one, and 39 years later, her tenure continues to make an indelible imprint on FCS football, the MVFC, and most importantly, all the individuals who are lucky enough to know her,” Burke said.
Reis lauded Viverito as a solidifying force as the MVFC came into view nationally.
“Especially in today’s climate, she better get credit for keeping the league together as long as she did,” he said. “For only two schools to leave in her tenure is impressive. She sells the league’s strength very well, even in years when it isn’t as strong as it’s been. It’ll be interesting to see what the league looks like a year after she is gone.”
Reis, like others, will be watching who follows in Viverito’s footsteps.
“Today you know who is in charge of the MVFC. I don’t think that was the case early in her career. The most powerful teams seemed in charge,” Reis said, “and, just like it’ll be interesting a year from now to see what the league looks like, it’ll be interesting to see in what manner it will be administered.”
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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