NIU men’s Athletic Director Robert Brigham said Tuesday he has been in contact with the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and “two or three” other conferences about possible membership for men’s sports.

This comes one year after NIU withdrew from the Mid-American Conference. NIU’s women’s athletic teams join the North Star Conference this fall.

The MCC includes Loyola, Xavier, Butler, Detroit, Evansville, St. Louis and Dayton, which announced its decision to join the conference Tuesday. Marquette turned down a similar opportunity Friday.

MCC Commissioner James Shaffer said he and Brigham have “discussed the possibility, but nothing recently. We (the MCC members) are leaning toward having only private institutions.”

“We’re open to all conferences,” Brigham said. “We’re independent right now, and we want to look at all our options.”