INDIANAPOLIS - The Midwestern Collegiate Conference annually awards the James J. McCafferty Trophy in recognition of the MCC's all-sport champion. The trophy is presented in honor of James J. McCafferty, former Xavier University basketball coach and director of athletics, who served as the conference's first commissioner from 1979 to 1980. McCafferty, who led Xavier to a 1958 NIT championship, worked 20 years to form a collegiate athletic conference and served as the MCC's first chief executive on a volunteer basis.

The institution with the greatest number of performance points in conference championship competition wins the annual award. Points are awarded on a 7-5-4-3-2 scale; the following guidelines govern the awarding of points in each conference sport:

In sports where regular-season scheduling is required (i.e., team sports), McCafferty points are awarded by combining an institution's points earned in the MCC championship tournament with the points earned by its regular-season finish for a composite total. Overall points are awarded based on the composite total.

In all other sports, points are awarded based on championship tournament placement.

In MCC championship competition that involves a tournament format, order of finish is based on the institution's tournament record. A first-round bye is considered a victory when determining tournament record. In the event of a tie in the final championship standings, the points for those positions are totaled and divided equally among the tied institutions.

Five conference members must compete in a sport for it to qualify in McCafferty Trophy standings.

The conference's all-sports champion receives a specially designed crystal trophy in recognition of its achievement.