[2] The G-MAC began conference play in the 2012–13 academic year hosting 12 championships and continued to work through the educational assessment program.

The initial announcement of a potential new conference surfaced in June 2011 when the presidents and athletic directors of Cedarville University, Notre Dame College, Urbana University, and Ursuline College met to discuss plans for a new Division II conference.

[6] The conference then added two more members when it was announced on April 23 and May 1, 2012, that the University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVA Wise) and Georgetown College had been granted provisional membership in the conference pending their approval by the NCAA Division II Membership Committee.

In the fall of 2012, it was announced that Urbana and UVA Wise would spend only one season as active members of the G-MAC.

On the same day, it was announced that Ursuline College had been approved as an active NCAA DII member and Trevecca Nazarene University successfully completed its Year Two candidacy and was moved into the Provisional Year of the membership process by the NCAA Division II Membership Committee.

On August 7, 2013, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference partnered with Cumberland University as it embarked on a transition to potential NCAA Division II membership.

The G-MAC Presidents Council unanimously admitted Cumberland as a provisional member effective immediately and would have sponsored the institution as it worked through the NCAA Division II membership application process.

On August 30, 2018, Davis & Elkins announced that it would reunite with most of its former WVIAC rivals in the Mountain East Conference after the 2018–19 school year.

On February 1, 2019, Malone announced that it had eliminated football and "remains committed to athletic competition in the NCAA Div.

[16] On June 5, 2020, another former WVIAC member, Alderson Broaddus, announced that it was leaving the G-MAC to join most of its old rivals in the Mountain East Conference for the 2020–21 school year.