CHICAGO — The University of Illinois at Chicago will get to compete in winter and spring conference championships after the Horizon League’s Board of Directors voted to restore the Flames’ eligibility on Tuesday.
The reversal comes after last week, when news broke that UIC would not be allowed to participate in the aftermath of its scheduled move to the Missouri Valley Conference on July 1.
The Horizon League said UIC “had known for months that failing to provide a one-year notice would render its student-athletes ineligible,” in Tuesday’s statement.
UIC asked the Horizon League to reconsider. The board of directors met again to “consider UIC’s request for a special exemption.”
“I credit our League’s Board of Directors for prioritizing UIC’s student-athletes despite UIC leaders’ continued actions regarding their move to another conference,” Horizon League commissioner Julie Roe Lach said in the statement.
“The response from UIC leaders has been disappointing, disingenuous, and inconsistent with our League values. At the end of the day, our League’s Board of Directors realized that UIC leaders were not going to take any action to restore eligibility for their student-athletes — including by making a simple request to the Missouri Valley Conference to enter in 2023. So our Board chose to exercise their authority to grant the student-athletes an exception to the agreed-upon bylaw.”
The conference’s swimming and diving championships begin Wednesday, its indoor track and field championships are Feb. 26-27, and basketball tournaments start March 1.
