 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Northern State Wolves" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Northern State Wolves | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | Northern State University |
| Conference | Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference |
| NCAA | Division II |
| Athletic director | Nate Davis |
| Location | Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Varsity teams | 13 |
| Football stadium | Dacotah Bank Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Wachs Arena |
| Baseball stadium | Fossum Field |
| Soccer stadium | Northern State Athletic and Recreation Fields |
| Mascot | Thunder theWolf |
| Nickname | Wolves |
| Colors | Maroon and gold[1] |
| Website | nsuwolves |
 | |
TheNorthern State Wolves are the athletic teams that representNorthern State University, located inAberdeen, South Dakota, U.S., inNCAADivision II intercollegiate sports. The Wolves compete as members of theNorthern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for all 13 varsity sports. Northern State has been a member of the conference since 1978, and they also have the fifth-smallest enrollment of the 16 member schools. In the 1990s, all members of the NSIC solely became members of NCAA Division II, after spending many years with dual membership with theNAIA.
The Northern State Wolves compete in 13 inter-collegiate athletics. The athletic program began in 1902 with men'sbasketball,track andAmerican football followed in 1903, andbaseball in 1904. Northern State has had two national championships in women's basketball which occurred in 1992 and 1994. Today, Northern offers men's and women'scross country, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track, women'ssoccer, women'sfastpitch softball,volleyball, American football,wrestling, baseball, and women'sswimming.[2]
Northern State athletics are well supported by both the students and the community, as men's and women's basketball as well as football are consistently ranked in the top ten nationally forNCAA Division II attendance. The men's basketball team was ranked number one in the nation in attendance for the 2005–06 season.
Thunder the Wolf serves as the officialmascot of the Wolves and of Northern State University. Thunder appears in a variety of sports uniforms and day clothes. Prior to Thunder, the mascot had been known as "Waldo" since the 1950s. However, a dispute withThe Walt Disney Company necessitated a change in the name in the early 1990s.
Men's sports
| Women's sports
|
Northern's football team plays atDacotah Bank Stadium and are led by head coachMike Schmidt. Their inaugural season was in 1902 and they have an all-time record of 167–153–2 as of 2021.[3]
Wolves head basketball coachDon Meyer coached basketball for over thirty years and over that span amassed a number of awards. He achieved 700 wins faster than any other coach in college history. He began his head coaching career atNCAA Division IIIHamline University inMinnesota where he posted a 37–41 record in three years before taking command of DavidLipscomb University inNashville,Tennessee. In his 24 years at Lipscomb Meyer had a record of 665–179, including a national championship in 1986. In 1999 Meyer accepted the head coaching position at Northern State, and in his first nine-plus seasons has a record of 201–81. Meyer is third on the all-time win list for four-year college coaches, surpassing legendary coachBobby Knight on January 10, 2009, with his 903rd victory. Prior to his death, Meyer hosted an annual coaches academy every summer in Aberdeen which brought in college coaches such as theUniversity of Tennessee's Pat Summit, theUniversity of Kansas' Bill Self, theUniversity of Minnesota's Tubby Smith,Gonzaga University's Jerry Krause, and in 2002 the keynote speaker was formerUCLA head coach John Wooden. The Northern State men's basketball team had its best record in school history during the 2017–18 season. Under coachPaul Sather, the Wolves finished 36–4, leading to the first NCAA Division II championship appearance in school history. They fell toFerris State by a score of 71–69. After the 2018–19 season,Paul Sather stepped down as the head coach, ending a 9-year stint which accumulated a 126–71 record, 2 regular season conference championships, 2 conference tournament championships, and one Central Region championship, and was hired as the head coach for theUniversity of North Dakota and was subsequently replaced by formerOhio University coach,Saul Phillips. In Phillips' first year, the Wolves ended the season 26–6 record and won both the regular season conference championship and the conference tournament championship. However, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic the national tournament was cancelled.
Northern State has won 39 Regular Season Championships, 6 Conference Tournament Championships, and 2 Central Region Tournament Championships
South Dakota State Conference
South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference
(Unknown Conference)
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference
NCAA Central Region
Long-time women's head basketball coach Curt Fredrickson retired in 2018 after thirty-nine seasons at Northern State, during which time he amassed a career record of 846–306. During his tenure he led the Wolves to two NAIA national championships and numerous conference titles. He has been named the National Coach of the Year twice, as well as being named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference coach of the year. He is one of only four NCAA D-II women's coaches to reach 600 career wins, and he set a national record by leading his Wolves to 45 straight wins from 1993 to 1995. After losing their season opener in the 1993–94 season, his Wolves won 32 straight games to win the national championship and finish the season with a record of 32–1, a school record. Fredrickson was also an All America selection during his baseball career at Northern, and was inducted into theSouth Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the only player in South Dakota amateur baseball history to win 200 games on the mound and hit 200 home runs in a career. Fredrickson was also the head baseball coach at Northern State from 2003 to 2006.[4]
Northern State has won 2 National Championships, 8 Regular Season Conference Championships, and 2 Conference Tournaments Championships
District Title
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference
The Wolves softball team appeared in twoWomen's College World Series in 1975 and 1976.[5]
