When Middle Tennesse State left the Ohio Valley Conference in 1999 and Tennessee-Martin’s football program on the chopping block, the NCAA’s eighth-oldest conference had a problem commissioner Dan Beebe thought would be nearly impossible to fix.

But two years later Beebe feels as though he’s on top of the mid-major collegiate world. Jacksonville State University and Samford University will join the OVC next season in all sports making conference 11 members strong.

But he’s not done yet.

“Ideally we’d like to have a 12-member conference,” Beebe said Thursday in a telephone interview. “We’ve made contacts with institutions that we have interest in.”

Beebe said the search for a 12th member will be more difficult than ones in the past because of the state of the economy. Most schools in the Ohio Valley region would have to offer more scholarships to compete in Division I-AA and Beebe said he isn’t interested in adding another school to the league that can’t play football in I-AA. Morehead State and Austin Peay aren’t in the OVC for football because the schools can’t fund the scholarships needed.

Beebe said there isn’t a timetable established to add another school.

Previously Samford played I-AA football as an independent and Jacksonville State played in the Southland Conference where all of its opponents were in Louisiana and Texas. Beebe said the conference should be a perfect fit.

“I believe from their standpoint they match up perfectly in terms of the sports they offer and the conference’s championships,” Beebe said. “They don’t have to add a sport to be able to compete with us.”

Scheduling nightmares won’t be problems in the league anymore. Teams won’t have to schedule as many non-conference games and it provides schedule security for Samford and Jacksonville.

“I think the fact that we’ve been solid for 55 years definitely played a factor in those schools deciding to join,” Beebe said. “We can provide a lot for them.”

The road to some of the teams in the league will provide plenty of miles for team busses. Eastern is over 500 miles away from both Samford and Jacksonville State. Beebe insisted that’s not a major concern.

“That was the sticking point when we added Eastern in 1995,” he said. “We’re not too worried about it though. We feel it will work out.”

In terms of competitive balance, the OVC has plenty to gain with expansion. Samford has been ranked consistently in football and the basketball team has earned NCAA berths numerous times in the last 10 years.

“I think it makes a big difference in terms of competition,” Beebe said. “It’s a much bigger deal if you win a bigger conference.”

While the two Alabama teams are far from the Ohio River Valley, for which the conference is named, Beebe said scheduling the two teams wouldn’t be difficult.

“For the most part, with the exception of Morehead State and Eastern they’re all in the same region,” Beebe said. “When you’ve got all of the teams you play in the same region as you are in, that makes all the difference in the world.”