Mel Tjeerdsma is a retired American football coach and athletic director at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. He served as the head coach at Austin College in Sherman, Texas from 1984 to 1993 and at Northwest Missouri State University from 1994 until his retirement after the 2010 season. In his 27 years as a head coach, Tjeerdsma compiled a career college football record of 242–82–4. He led the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats to three NCAA Division II Football Championship titles and four additional NCAA Division II titles games.
Bearcat Stadium is the football stadium of the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats in Maryville, Missouri and is the oldest continuous site for any NCAA Division II school.
The 2008 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on August 30, 2008, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 15, 2008 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs defeated the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, 21–14, to win their first Division II national title.
The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team has appeared in ten NCAA Division II national title games – winning six – since going 0–11 in Mel Tjeerdsma's first season in 1994. The Bearcats have made the playoffs in 20 seasons and have also won or shared 30 MIAA titles.
The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats are the athletic teams for Northwest Missouri State University, located in Maryville, Missouri. The Bearcats play in the NCAA Division II. Northwest is a founding member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in 1912 and has remained in the conference ever since. From their founding until 1937, they competed in the Amateur Athletic Union. From 1937 to 1957, they competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics before joining NCAA Division II. Northwest has appeared in ten Division II football title games since 1998. The men's basketball team appeared in an AAU title game in 1930. The men's basketball team won the Division II title in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
The Northwest Missouri State−Pittsburg State football rivalry, also known as the Fall Classic at Arrowhead, is a college football game between Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) rivals Northwest Missouri State University and Pittsburg State University. From 2002 to 2013, the game was played at Arrowhead Stadium, home to the Kansas City Chiefs. The games were played at the teams' home field, due to being unable to reach terms with the Kansas City Chiefs, from 2014 to 2018. The game is set to return to Arrowhead Stadium in 2019.
The Missouri Western–Northwest Missouri State football rivalry between the Missouri Western Griffons football team and Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team is between two Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association NCAA Division II rivals that are less than 50 miles apart.
The 2008 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on August 29, 2009, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 12, 2009 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats defeated the Grand Valley State, 30–23, to win their third Division II national title.
The 2007 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on August 30, 2007, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 15, 2007 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Valdosta State Blazers defeated the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, 25–20, to win their second Division II national title.
The Southwest Baptist University Bearcats football program represents Southwest Baptist University in college football and competes in the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). In 2014, Southwest Baptist became a football-only member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference and remains a football-only member through the 2018–19 school year, after which it will become a full GLVC member. Prior to this SBU was in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association from 1988 to 2007 and 2012 to 2013, the rest of the athletic programs are in the MIAA. SBU's home games are played at Plaster Stadium in Bolivar, Missouri.
Adam Dorrel is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Central Oklahoma Bronchos football team in Edmond, Oklahoma, a position he will begin in 2022. Previously Dorrel was the head coach at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Missouri from 2011 to 2016, and Abilene Christian in Abilene, Texas, from 2017 to 2021. While at Northwest Missouri State he led the program to three undefeated seasons and the NCAA Division II Football Championship in 2013, 2015, and 2016.
The 1998 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on September 5, 1998, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 12, 1998, at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats defeated the Carson–Newman, 24–6, to win their first Division II national title.
The 2005 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on August 27, 2005, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 10, 2005 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Grand Valley State Lakers defeated the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, 21–17, to win their third Division II national title.
The 2013 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on August 31, 2013, and concluded with the National Championship Game of the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 21, 2013, at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama. This was the final championship played in Florence, after twenty-eight straight finals, before the game moves to Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas. The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats defeated the Lenoir–Rhyne Bears, 43–28, to win their fourth national title.
The 2013 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team represented Northwest Missouri State University as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) during the 2013 NCAA Division II football season. Led by third-year head coach Adam Dorrel, the team finished the regular season with an undefeated 11–0 record. They won their fifth NCAA Division II Football Championship with a win over Lenoir–Rhyne in the NCAA Division II Championship Game by a score of 43–28. The Bearcats played their home games at Bearcat Stadium in Maryville, Missouri, which has been the Bearcats' home stadium since 1917.
The 2016 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team represented Northwest Missouri State University as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) during the 2016 NCAA Division II football season. Led by sixth-year head coach Adam Dorrel, the Bearcats compiled an overall record of 15–0 with a mark of 11–0 in conference play, winning the MIAA title. They won the program's sixth NCAA Division II Football Championship with a win over North Alabama in the NCAA Division II Championship Game.
The 2015 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team represented Northwest Missouri State University as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) during the 2015 NCAA Division II football season. Led by fifth-year head coach Adam Dorrel, the team finished the regular season with an undefeated 11–0 record. They won their fifth NCAA Division II Football Championship with a win over Shepherd in the NCAA Division II Championship Game by a score of 34–7. The Bearcats played their home games at Bearcat Stadium in Maryville, Missouri, which has been the Bearcat's home stadium since 1917.
The 2013 NCAA Division II Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game that determined a national champion in NCAA Division II for the 2013 season. It was played at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, on December 21, 2013, with kickoff at noon EST, and television coverage on ESPN2.
The 2009 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team was an American football team that won the 2009 NCAA Division II national championship.
The 1999 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football team was an American football team that won the 1999 NCAA Division II Football Championship.
