Pioneer Football League

History

Foundation

The PFL was created as a direct result of an NCAA rule change passed in January 1991, which required Division I schools to sponsor all of their sports at the Division I level by 1993. Charter members included Butler University, the University of Dayton, Drake University, the University of Evansville, and Valparaiso University. The University of San Diego joined in 1992, and the league played its first season in 1993.

The founding schools came from a variety of football backgrounds. For decades, Drake played the sport at the Division I level in the Missouri Valley Conference before dropping to Division III for the most recent seven seasons (1986 through 1992). Dayton had made the same move much earlier, in 1977, and appeared in the Division III championship game five times, winning the title in 1980 and 1989. San Diego had played Division III football the longest, since the creation of the division in 1973. Evansville's program competed in the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1988 through 1992 after several years in Division II. Butler and Valparaiso came to the league from the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference in Division II. The three Indiana schools had longstanding football rivalries, having played each other annually for decades in the Indiana Collegiate Conference and Heartland Collegiate Conference.

1997–2001 membership changes

In 1997, the league was reduced to five members when Evansville downgraded football to club status. In 2001, the conference expanded to nine members and was reorganized into two divisions, with the five existing members forming the North Division and newcomers Austin Peay State University, Davidson College, Jacksonville University and Morehead State University forming the South Division. Austin Peay and Morehead State had been playing scholarship football at the FCS level in the Ohio Valley Conference, which continued to be their all-sports home. Davidson, for decades a member of the Southern Conference, had competed for the past several years as a non-scholarship FCS independent. Jacksonville, a relatively new program, likewise had competed as a non-scholarship FCS independent since its inaugural season in 1998. The reorganization of the PFL brought a new championship system in which the best record holders from each division met in a title game for the conference championship.

2005–2008 membership changes

On April 8, 2005, Austin Peay announced its departure from the league effective after the 2005 season, to return to scholarship football competition in the Ohio Valley Conference. As a result, the conference reverted to a single table with the champion determined via regular season round-robin play. On April 7, 2006, Campbell University announced the revival of a football program dormant since 1950, and on December 5, 2007, accepted an invitation to the PFL for its inaugural season in 2008. In February 2008, Marist College announced that it would join the PFL for the 2009 season, after its all-sports home, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, stopped sponsoring football. Although Campbell moved in 2011 from the Atlantic Sun Conference to the Big South Conference, which sponsored football, it did not join the Big South in football and remained in the PFL through the 2017 season.

2013–2018 membership changes and automatic playoff berth

On June 13, 2011, new programs Mercer University and Stetson University were announced as league members effective 2013, expanding the PFL lineup to 12 schools. In addition, as of 2013, the league champion received an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. Soon after its PFL membership was announced, Mercer accepted an invitation to join the Southern Conference effective July 1, 2014. During its one season in the league, Mercer set an FCS record for start-up programs by finishing the 2013 campaign with an overall record of 10–2 including an undefeated 8–0 at home.

The next change in conference membership was announced on November 14, 2016, when Campbell revealed it would transition to scholarship football and add that sport to its existing Big South membership effective with the 2018 season, temporarily reducing the PFL membership to 10. The PFL soon recruited a replacement, as revealed in the November 20, 2017 announcement that Presbyterian College would be joining from the Big South, but not until the 2021 season.

Recent history

Before Presbyterian began play in the PFL, the league lost a member when Jacksonville, on December 3, 2019, announced that it was discontinuing its football program, effective immediately. The departure of Jacksonville left the PFL with just nine teams for the 2020 season, which was rescheduled to spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After two PFL members chose not to play football at all during the 2020–21 academic year, the conference entered into a scheduling agreement with Presbyterian that included it in the spring 2021 schedule, in advance of its formal entry into the league in the fall of 2021. While PC was not eligible for the PFL title in that season, it was eligible for the league's individual awards and honors.

Presbyterian was joined as a new PFL member in 2021 by the University of St. Thomas, a Twin Cities school that had been expelled from its longtime Division III home, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), effective in 2021–22. Shortly after the MIAC announced St. Thomas' expulsion, the Summit League, a non-football Division I conference, offered the Tommies membership for the rest of their sports. The NCAA announced on July 15, 2020 that it had granted a waiver to allow St. Thomas to make the jump from D-III to D-I on a five-year schedule, instead of the four years used for moves from Division II. After the NCAA reduced the transition period to four years in January 2025, the Tommies completed the transition that July, making them eligible for the FCS playoffs for the first time in the 2025 season.

Member schools

Current members

;Notes

Former members

;Notes

Membership timeline

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id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.7,0.5,0.5) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData=

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bar:1 color:Full from:1991 till:end text:Butler (1991–present)

bar:2 color:Full from:1991 till:end text:Dayton (1991–present)

bar:3 color:Full from:1991 till:end text:Drake (1991–present)

bar:4 color:Full from:1991 till:1998 text:Evansville (1991–1997)

bar:5 color:Full from:1991 till:end text:Valparaiso (1991–present)

bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1992 text:Ind. bar:6 color:Full from:1992 till:end text:San Diego (1992–present)

bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1997 text:OVC bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:1997 till:2001 text:Independent bar:7 color:Full from:2001 till:2006 text:Austin Peay (2001–2005) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2006 till:2007 text:Ind. bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:2007 till:2022 text:OVC bar:7 shift:(-5) color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text:ASUN bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:UAC

bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1993 text:DIII Indep. bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:2001 text:I-AA Independent bar:8 color:Full from:2001 till:end text:Davidson (2001–present)

bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1998 till:2001 text:Independent bar:9 color:Full from:2001 till:2020 text:Jacksonville (2001–2019)

bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1996 text:OVC bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:1996 till:2001 text:Independent bar:10 color:Full from:2001 till:end text:Morehead State (2001–present)

bar:11 color:Full from:2008 till:2018 text:Campbell (2008–2017) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:2023 text:Big South bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:CAA Football

bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:1992 text:ACFC bar:12 shift:(10) color:OtherC2 from:1992 till:1993 text:LFC bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:1994 text:Ind. bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:1994 till:2008 text:MAAC bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2009 text:Ind. bar:12 color:Full from:2009 till:end text:Marist (2009–present)

bar:13 color:Full from:2013 till:2014 text:Mercer (2013) bar:13 shift:(50) color:OtherC1 from:2014 till:end text:SoCon

bar:14 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Stetson (2013–present)

bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:2007 text:SAC bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:2007 till:2008 text:Ind. bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2020 text:Big South bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:2020 till:2021 text:Ind. bar:15 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:Presbyterian (2021–present)

bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:2021 text:MIAC bar:16 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:St. Thomas (2021–present)

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Rivalries

One in-state rivalry currently exists in the PFL. A second had existed before Jacksonville discontinued its football program.

Butler and Valparaiso first met in 1927, and have played every year since 1951. Since 2006, the schools have played for the Hoosier Helmet Trophy. Butler leads the all-time series 55–30. The rivalry extended to all sports when both schools were in the Horizon League from 2007 to 2012.

Jacksonville and Stetson had a football rivalry that ran from 2013, when Stetson began PFL play, to 2019, after which Jacksonville dropped football. The schools have been conference rivals in other sports since 1998, when Jacksonville joined the ASUN Conference, home to Stetson since 1985.

Butler and Dayton also have a rivalry based on proximity to each other. The teams have met every year since 1977 with the exception of 1991, 1992 and 2020. Dayton leads 34–15–1.

Conference championships

PFL champions

(*) Due to COVID-19, the Pioneer Football League suspended the fall 2020 football season. Dayton and Marist opted out of the spring season. Presbyterian played a full PFL schedule, but was ineligible for the conference title, and its games were not counted in PFL standings.

League titles by school

• – Won in PFL Championship Game

× – played in spring 2021

Italics – Co-champions

PFL Championship Game

Postseason games

The Pioneer Football League has had alliances with the Gridiron Classic and the Sports Network Cup. In addition, league members are allowed to accept at-large invitations to other college bowl games and teams are eligible to compete in the FCS playoffs.

Through the 2012 season, the NCAA did not offer the league an automatic invite to the FCS playoffs and never offered an at-large bid to any of its teams, effectively barring the league from the tournament. Starting in 2013, the Pioneer League received an automatic bid to compete in the Division I Football Championship as the playoffs expanded from 20 teams to 24. The PFL won its first playoff game in 2016, as San Diego advanced past the first round of the playoffs.

The PFL was a participant in the NCAA Division I FCS Consensus Mid-Major Football National Championship, along with the Northeast Conference and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, two other conferences without automatic playoff bids. The Consensus championship has since been discontinued; the NEC first earned an automatic postseason bid in 2010, while the MAAC no longer sponsors football.

Members pre-PFL postseason results

Below are postseason accomplishments by past and current members prior to the formation of the Pioneer Football League.

PFL Sports Network Cup results

• See Sports Network Cup

PFL Gridiron Classic results

From 2006 through 2009, the PFL and Northeast Conference (NEC) staged the Gridiron Classic, an exempted postseason football game that matched the champions of the two conferences which were technically members of Division I FCS, but which were not the recipients of automatic invitations to the football championship playoff at the time.

NCAA Division I Football Championship results

Since 2013, the PFL champion has received an invite to the FCS playoffs; previously, PFL teams had to receive an at-large bid, which no team ever received.

• • St. Thomas was the PFL champion in 2022; however, they were ineligible for postseason play due to still being in transition from Division III. Davidson, the runner-up, was awarded the auto-bid in their place.

Historical standings

Main article: List of Pioneer Football League standings

Conference facilities

References

References

1. (November 22, 1991). "Drake joins new league". The Telegraph-Herald.
2. (December 5, 2007). "Campbell University Accepts Invitation to Join Pioneer Football League". GoCamels.com.
3. (September 11, 2009). "Marist gets a National Stage and Travel Schedule". nytimes.com.
4. (May 14, 2009). "Campbell University To Re-Join Big South Conference". Big South Conference.
5. (June 13, 2011). "Mercer University, Stetson University to join Pioneer Football League in 2013".
6. Birch, Tommy. (August 23, 2012). "Pioneer Football League officially announces automatic bid". Des Moines Register.
7. "VMI, ETSU, Mercer to join SoCon". College Football.
8. (November 14, 2016). "Fighting Camels football to join Big South in 2018". Campbell University.
9. (November 19, 2017). "Presbyterian College Unveils New Strategic Plan". Presbyterian College.
10. "Jacksonville University Discontinues Football". [[Jacksonville Dolphins.
11. (February 2, 2021). "PFL Announces Updated Spring Schedule". Pioneer Football League.
12. (April 26, 2021). "Valparaiso's Washington, San Diego's Glajchen Highlight 2020-21 PFL Major Award Recipients". Pioneer Football League.
13. Haugen, Emily. (July 15, 2020). "BREAKING: St. Thomas approved to begin transition to Division I athletics". TommieMedia.
14. (November 14, 2014). "Football Program Compliance Update". Jacksonville University.
15. "Drake Stadium History". Drake Athletics.
16. "Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field". Marist Athletics.
17. (June 23, 2025). "Morehead State to Recognize Phil Simms with Honorary Stadium Naming During Homecoming". Morehead State Eagles.