The Houston Christian Huskies, HCU or Huskies (formerly known as Houston Baptist, HBU) are the athletic teams that represent

Houston Christian University Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University, is a private Baptist university in Houston, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas ( Southern Baptist Convention). Its Cultural Arts Center ...

, located in Houston, Texas, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division I level of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA), primarily competing in the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

for most of its sports since the 2013–14 academic year; while its men's soccer team competes in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

(WAC). The Huskies previously competed the D-I

Great West Conference The Great West Conference (GWC) was an NCAA college athletic conference in the continental United States. Originally a football-only league, it became an all-sports entity during the 2008–09 season. The GWC stopped sponsoring football followin ...

from 2008–09 to 2012–13 after spending one season as an NCAA D-I Independent during the 2007–08 school year (since returning to NCAA D-I as a transitional member); in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its st ...

(NAIA) from 1998–99 to 2006–07; and as an NAIA Independent from 1989–90 to 1997–98. Houston Christian's (HCU) official school colors are royal blue and orange.

History

With the inception of the athletics program at the university in 1960 until 1990 the Huskies were a part of the NCAA. After playing for seventeen years as a member of the NAIA, the Huskies began play as an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

team again in 2007 and became a full member of the NCAA for the 2011–12 academic year. After one year of independent status in the NCAA, HCU joined the

, and began play as a member in 2008 for all sports but basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, and women's soccer. These teams remained independent until the 2009–2010 season when they joined the other HCU teams. Men's soccer joined the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...

since the Great West did not sponsor the sport. On November 9, 2011, officials from the

visited HCU in their expansion drive. On November 21, Houston Baptist accepted an invitation to join the Southland Conference joining July 1, 2013. The school started a football program in 2013 and began Southland play in 2014. There are also plans for a new basketball arena. With the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation dropping men's soccer after the 2012 season, the HCU team moved to the

, which began sponsoring the sport from 2013 onwards.

Varsity teams

HCU competes in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer and track and field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track and field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.

Venues and facilities

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Houston Baptist Huskies, color=white , list = {{Southland Conference navbox {{Western Athletic Conference navbox {{Texas sports

History

Varsity teams

Venues and facilities

See also

References

External links