Omaha Mavericks | |
---|---|
University | University of Nebraska Omaha |
Conference | Summit League (primary) NCHC (men's ice hockey) |
NCAA | Division I |
Athletic director | Adrian Dowell |
Location | Omaha, Nebraska |
Varsity teams | 16 |
Basketball arena | Baxter Arena |
Ice hockey arena | Baxter Arena |
Baseball stadium | Tal Anderson Field |
Softball stadium | Connie Claussen Field |
Soccer stadium | Al F. Caniglia Field |
Other venues | Sapp Fieldhouse School of Health & Kinesiology |
Mascot | Durango |
Nickname | Mavericks |
Fight song | UNO Fite |
Colors | Crimson and black [1] |
Website | omavs |
Team NCAA championships | |
10 [2] |
The Omaha Mavericks are the sports teams of the University of Nebraska Omaha. They participate in the NCAA's Division I and in The Summit League, except in ice hockey, where they compete in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC).
A long-time member of the North Central Conference, UNO joined the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association on July 1, 2008 after the NCC ceased operations. In March 2011, the school announced its intentions to move up from Division II to Division I and join The Summit League. In the process it would abandon its football and wrestling programs to better fit with the sports sponsored by The Summit League and to maintain Title IX compliance.
Wrestling had been the school's most successful sport with national championships in 1991, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011. [3] Football also had a long, successful history with multiple conference championships (1983–1984, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004–2007) and several NCAA Division II tournament appearances. Marlin Briscoe, the first black starting quarterback in modern American professional football (the American Football League), played for UNO from 1964–1967. Former Maverick football players currently playing in the NFL include Zach Miller, Kenny Onatolu, and Greg Zuerlein. [4] As part of its Division I move, Omaha added men's soccer (becoming the only school in the University of Nebraska system to sponsor the sport for men) and men's golf, both of which are sponsored by The Summit League. Hockey moved to the new NCHC starting with the 2013–14 season.
In the 1975 AIAW Women's College World Series, the Maverettes (as they were then known) softball team defeated Northern Iowa, 6–4, in the deciding game, led by pitcher Pat Linson to earn the university's first team national championship. [5] In 1969–1979, the team played in ten of the first eleven Women's College World Series ever held, missing only in 1974.
The women's soccer (2005) and softball (2001) teams have won NCAA's Division II national championships, as had the wrestling team, who were seven-time national champions (1991, 2004–06, 2009–11).
Men's sports | Women's sports |
---|---|
Baseball | Basketball |
Basketball | Cross country |
Golf | Golf |
Ice hockey | Soccer |
Soccer | Softball |
Swimming & diving | Swimming & diving |
Tennis | Tennis |
Track & field† | |
Volleyball | |
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor |
The men's ice hockey program competes at the Division I level in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), which began play in the 2013–14 season following a major conference realignment in that sport. Before the formation of the NCHC, Omaha had been a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The men's ice hockey program reached the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament in 2006, 2011, and 2015. During the 2015 tournament, the Mavericks made it to the 2015 Frozen Four, their first in school history. The Mavericks are currently coached by Mike Gabinet. Gabinet is the third coach in program history, following Mike Kemp and Dean Blais. The team moved into the new on-campus Baxter Arena for the 2015–16 season.
The Omaha men's basketball team is led by head coach Chris Crutchfield, and also moved into Baxter Arena starting in 2015–16. They transitioned from Division II to Division I beginning in the 2011–12 season. The 2015–16 season was the first in which they became eligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play (either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT). The Mavericks' all-time record is 1,087–1,083. Omaha won regular season North Central Conference championships in 1979, 1984, 2004, and 2005.
Wrestling has also been a top sport for the Mavericks, winning the Division II championships in 1991, 2004–2006 and 2009–2011. [6] However, in 2011 Trev Alberts made the decision to disband the wrestling team only a few hours after it had won its third consecutive NCAA team title in order for Omaha to transition to NCAA Division I. [7] Head coach Mike Denney and a number of his wrestlers later transferred to Maryville University to start a Division II team.
The Omaha Mavericks have won 10 NCAA Division II national championships, along with an AIAW softball national championship.
Soccer, Men's – 2017, 2020, 2023
Soccer, Women's – 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2022
Baseball – 1979, 1981, 2005, 2008*, 20131, 20141, 2019
Basketball, Men's – 1979, 1984, 2004, 2005, 2008*, 2010
Basketball, Women's – 1980, 1982
Football – 19832, 19842, 1996, 19983, 2000, 2004, 20054, 20065 2007*
Golf – 2002, 2003, 2006
Softball – 1981, 1985, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008*, 2011, 2022, 2023
Swimming and Diving – 2005, 2008*
Tennis – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008*
Track – 1979 (outdoor), 1981 (indoor)
Volleyball – 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 19966, 19976, 20007, 2023
* Final NCC Champions (only 7 competing teams in NCC in 2008)
1Regular-season champion; not eligible for The Summit League tournament because of Division I transition
2Co-champion with North Dakota State
3Co-champion with Northern Colorado
44-way Co-champions with Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota and South Dakota
5Co-champion with North Dakota
6Co-champion with Augustana
73-way Co-champion with Augustana and South Dakota State
Before 1939, UNO teams were known as the Cardinals. [8] From 1939 to 1971, the UNO teams were the Indians; the mascot at this time was a Native American named Ouampi. In The Native Peoples of North America: A History, the mascot is described as "so tacky by comparison that he made the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo look like a real gentleman." [9] The switch to "Mavericks", the current team name, occurred in the summer of 1971. A resolution, passed by an 18–7 vote of the student senate, a 27–0 vote of the university senate, and approved by the university president, called for UNO to "discontinue use of the name 'Indian' for its athletic teams, abolish "Ouampi" as a school mascot and end the misuse of the Native American culture at university activities, such as homecoming and Ma-ie Day.
The North Central Conference (NCC), also known as North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was a college athletic conference which operated in the north central United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division II.
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. The eight teams of the WCWS play a double-elimination tournament until just two teams remain. These two teams compete in a best-of-three series to determine the Division I WCWS National Champion. Previous WCWS losses do not factor into the best-of-three championship series, and the first team to win two of three games is declared the National Champion.
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics and to administer national championships. During its existence, the AIAW and its predecessor, the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS), recognized via these championships the teams and individuals who excelled at the highest level of women's collegiate competition.
The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally known as the University of Omaha. Originally meant to provide a Christian-based education free from ecclesiastical control, the university served as a strong alternative to the city's many successful religiously-affiliated institutions.
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Sports in Omaha, Nebraska are supported by a high attendance at events and tax support from the City of Omaha. Omaha, Nebraska is home to several professional sports teams and modern sports venues.
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The Cal State Fullerton Titans are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Fullerton.
The Omaha Mavericks men's ice hockey team, also called the Nebraska Omaha Mavericks and UNO Mavericks, is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of Nebraska Omaha. The Mavericks are a member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). They play home games at Baxter Arena, an on-campus facility that opened in 2015. The Mavericks hockey program was started in 1997; the team has qualified for the NCAA tournament on four occasions, in 2006, 2011, 2015, and 2021. During the 2015 tournament, the team made their first appearance in the tournament semifinals, branded by the NCAA as the Frozen Four. The Mavericks competed in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) between 1999 and 2010 before joining the WCHA for the 2010–11 season. The Mavericks joined the National Collegiate Hockey Conference starting in the 2013–14 season along with fellow charter members Colorado College, the University of Denver, Miami University, the University of Minnesota Duluth, and the University of North Dakota, plus invited founding members St. Cloud State University and Western Michigan University.
The Omaha Mavericks men's basketball team, also called the Nebraska–Omaha Mavericks, represents the University of Nebraska Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The Mavericks compete in The Summit League. Led by head coach Chris Crutchfield, they play their games at the on-campus Baxter Arena, which they moved to at the start of the 2015–16 season. The 2015–16 season was also the first in which they were eligible for the NCAA tournament, NIT, or The Summit League tournament; they had been ineligible during the school's four-year transition from Division II to Division I, which began in the 2011–12 season. During this period, they made one appearance in the CIT, a tournament which is not directly sponsored by the NCAA, in 2014.
Mike Gabinet is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current head men's hockey ice hockey coach at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The Omaha Mavericks women's basketball team, also called the Nebraska–Omaha Mavericks, represents the University of Nebraska Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The Mavericks compete in The Summit League and play in the new on-campus Baxter Arena, built prior to the 2015–16 season. The Mavericks are now eligible for the NCAA tournament, NIT, or Summit League Tournament, having completed the school's four-year transition from Division II to Division I, which began in the 2011–12 season.
The Omaha Mavericks men's soccer team represents the University of Nebraska Omaha in NCAA Division I men's soccer competitions. The Mavericks compete in The Summit League.
The 2018 Summit League women's soccer tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Summit League held on November 1 and 3, 2018. The three-match tournament took place at Fishback Soccer Park in Brookings, South Dakota. The four-team single-elimination tournament consisted of two rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The Denver Pioneers were the defending champions, and successfully defended their title with a 4–0 victory over the Omaha Mavericks in the final. The win earned Denver the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The tournament win was Denver's third as a member of the conference, all of which have come under coach Jeff Hooker.
The 2020–21 Omaha Mavericks men's ice hockey season was the 24th season of play for the program and the 8th in the NCHC conference. The Mavericks represented the University of Nebraska Omaha and were coached by Mike Gabinet, in his 4th season.
The 2021–22 Omaha Mavericks men's ice hockey season was the 25th season of play for the program. They represented the University of Nebraska Omaha in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season and for the 9th season in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). The Mavericks were coached by Mike Gabinet, in his fifth season, and played their home games at Baxter Arena.
The 2022–23 Omaha Mavericks men's ice hockey season was the 26th season of play for the program and 10th in the NCHC. The Mavericks represented the University of Nebraska Omaha, played their home games at Baxter Arena and were coached by Mike Gabinet in his 6th season.