Fort Hays State Tigers | |
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University | Fort Hays State University |
Conference | The MIAA (primary) GAC (men's soccer) |
NCAA | Division II |
Athletic director | Curtis Hammeke |
Location | Hays, Kansas |
Varsity teams | 18 |
Football stadium | Lewis Field |
Basketball arena | Gross Memorial Coliseum |
Baseball stadium | Larks Park |
Mascot | Victor E. Tiger |
Nickname | Tigers |
Colors | Black and gold [1] |
Website | fhsuathletics |
The Fort Hays State Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Fort Hays State University, located in Hays, Kansas, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division II ranks, primarily competing in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) for most of its sports since the 2006–07 academic year; [2] while its men's soccer team competes in the Great American Conference (GAC). The Tigers previously competed in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) from 1989–90 to 2005–06 (which they were a member on a previous stint from 1968–69 to 1971–72); in the Central States Intercollegiate Conference (CSIC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1976–77 to 1988–89; in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) from 1972–73 to 1975–76; in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIC) from 1923–24 to 1967–68; and in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) from 1902–03 to 1922–23.
Fort Hays State offers eighteen sports at a varsity level. Entering the 2010–2011 school year, Fort Hays State has captured 58 Conference titles. They also have captured nine total national championships. [3]
Fort Hays State competes in 18 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.
Men's sports | Women's sports |
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Baseball | Basketball |
Basketball | Cross country |
Cross country | Golf |
Football | Soccer |
Golf | Softball |
Soccer | Tennis |
Track and field† | Track and field† |
Wrestling | Volleyball |
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor |
The Fort Hays State basketball program holds several national basketball titles; the men's team claimed national championships in 1984 and 1985 (NAIA), back to back, and in 1996 (NCAA Division II) with a 34–0 record. In 2020, the team upset Division I Kansas State with an 81–68 victory.
The women's basketball team also brought home the national title in 1991 (NAIA). The team is currently coached by Talia Kahrs.
The football program at Fort Hays began in 1902. [4] The first year a coach was assigned to the team was 1913 when Ira Van Cleave led the team to a record of 4 wins and 2 losses. [5] Other coaches in the school's history include Wayne J. McConnell, Jim Gilstrap, James J. Yeager, and former Kansas Governor Andrew Frank Schoeppel. The coach beginning in 2011 is Chris Brown. Fort Hays State captured their first ever MIAA conference championship with a 13–12 win over Northwest Missouri State University on November 4, 2017, as they won their 10th game of the season against no losses with one regular season game against the University of Nebraska at Kearney remaining.
The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Its fourteen member institutions, of which all but one are public schools, are located in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. The MIAA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Missouri.
The Heartland Conference was a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level, which was founded in 1999. The majority of members were in Texas, with additional members in Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The conference office was located in Waco, Texas.
Fort Hays State University (FHSU) is a public university in Hays, Kansas, United States. It is the largest university in western Kansas, and the fourth largest of the six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents, with a total enrollment of approximately 15,100 students.
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