Akron

In 1954, an Oberlin College transfer named Stu Parry started the soccer team at Akron. That year, they finished the season with two wins and one tie. The next year, men's soccer was officially offered by the university and after starting the season with two losses, they ended with a 2–4–1 record, with the team's first win coming against rival Kent State.

Parry eventually led the team to nine Ohio College Soccer Association titles as well as six NCAA playoff appearances. In 1986, the men's soccer team gained the most exposure in the NCAA tournament, finishing second to Duke by a score of 1–0. A Duke player, Ken Lolla, took over the program in 1993 and then became Akron's all-time winningest coach, with a record of 160–68–25. He also led the team to their first No. 1 ranking, which was also the first ever MAC team in any sport to be ranked No. 1.

In 2006, Caleb Porter became head coach, leading the team to first-place finishes in the conference every year from 2007 to 2012, an appearance in the final of the national championship (the College Cup) in 2009, and a national championship in 2010.

Jared Embick succeeded Porter as head coach after the 2012 season. The team has finished first in the conference every year since, and reached the national semi-final in 2015.

After the 2022 season, the MAC, whose men's soccer league had been decimated by conference realignment earlier in the decade, dropped that sport. Akron moved men's soccer to the Big East Conference, making it the only one of the four full MAC members with men's soccer teams that did not move that sport to the Missouri Valley Conference.