 Following the move from the College Division to NCAA Division II, Butler won 4 straight conference championships from 1972 to 1975, along with another one in 1977, all under the guidance of Bill Sylvester, Sr. Ashland joined Butler and fellow ICC members to form the Heartland Collegiate Conference, in which Butler won league titles in 1983, 1985, and three straight from 1987 to 1989, under coach Bill Lynch.The Bulldogs also went the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1983 and 1988.Butler and fellow HCC member schools joined with the Great Lakes Valley Conference to form the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference (now the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference).