The Kent State Golden Flashes are the athletic teams that represent

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

. The university fields 19 varsity athletic teams in 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) at the Division I level with football competing in the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

. Kent State is a full member of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the t ...

(MAC) and has been part of the MAC East division since it was created in 1998. Official school colors are Kent State Blue and Kent State Gold. Athletic events were held during the very first semester at Kent State in late 1913, with several intramural teams for female students and a limited number of opportunities for male students. Early men's athletic events, in basketball and baseball, were played against local high school, church, and company teams. The first intercollegiate athletic event, a men's basketball game, was held in January 1915 and the baseball team held their first intercollegiate game later that year. A dedicated athletic field was built around 1920 and the school's first gymnasium opened in 1925. Football also debuted as a sport in 1920, followed by wrestling, men's tennis, men's gymnastics, and men's swimming. From 1932 to 1951, Kent State competed as a member of the

Ohio Athletic Conference The Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) was formed in 1902 and is the third oldest athletic conference in the United States. Its current commissioner is Sarah Otey. Former commissioners include Mike Cleary, who was the first General Manager of a profe ...

before joining the Mid-American Conference in 1951. The school's first permanent football stadium and a new basketball gym opened in 1950. Although women's intramural athletics had been part of the university since it was first established, the first women's intercollegiate athletic team was not established until 1964 when the women's gymnastics team, the first women's collegiate gymnastics team in the U.S., began intercollegiate competition after being founded in 1959. Additional women's sports, including swimming, field hockey, basketball, and volleyball, were added as varsity sports in the mid-1970s following the passage and implementation of

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

. Budget constraints and other factors led to the university dropping swimming, tennis, ice hockey, and men's soccer during the 1980s and 1990s, with ice hockey becoming a club-level sport in the

American Collegiate Hockey Association The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated non-varsity programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes qualit ...

(ACHA) Division I as part of College Hockey Mid-America (CHMA). The most recent changes occurred in the late 1990s when women's golf and women's soccer were added as varsity sports, followed by the addition of women's lacrosse, which began play in 2019. Several Kent State athletic teams have enjoyed success in the Mid-American Conference and at the national level over the years and the university has produced individual national champions in both wrestling and track and field. Both the men's and women's golf teams have been the most successful in MAC play having won the most conference titles in MAC history through 2017. The men's golf team has also finished as high as 5th nationally in 2012 to go with 6th and 9th-place finishes, while the women's golf team also claimed a 5th place finish in 2017. Additionally, the men's basketball team made a notable run to the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

in 2002, the baseball team advanced to the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

in 2012, and the softball team qualified for the

Women's College World Series 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. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

in 1990. Kent State also has had high national finishes from the men's indoor and outdoor track and field teams, women's gymnastics, and wrestling. A number of Golden Flashes alumni have gone on to play and coach in both college and major professional sports, such as Jack Lambert,

Antonio Gates Antonio Ethan Gates Sr. (born June 18, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers during his entire career in the National Football League (NFL). He was named to the P ...

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphi ...

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New Yo ...

, Thurmon Munson, and Emmanuel Burriss.

History

Athletics at Kent State began shortly after the school was first organized in 1910 and the first classes held in 1912. The school's first sporting event was a men's basketball game in 1913 against Kent High School and the following spring (1914) the baseball team was organized, known as the "Normal Nine". The football team followed in 1920 and held their first game on October 30, a 6–0 loss to

Ashland College Ashland University is a private university in Ashland, Ohio. The university consists of a main campus and several off-campus centers throughout central and northern Ohio. Ashland was founded in 1878 as Ashland College. It is affiliated with The ...

. Around this same time, the teams became known as the "Silver Foxes" because then-president John Edward McGilvrey raised silver foxes on his farm east of campus. After McGilvrey's controversial firing in 1926, the new administration held a contest to choose a different team name and "Golden Flashes" was chosen, though no significance was included in the name. The first use of "Golden Flashes" occurred in 1927 after it was approved by the student body and faculty athletic committee. The school colors are officially defined as "Kent State blue" and "Kent State gold", which are shades of Navy blue and gold. The original school colors, as chosen by the school's first president John Edward McGilvrey, were orange and blue, believed to have been inspired by the school colors for the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

, where McGilvrey had been a professor. Gold was also used with blue during the 1920s. A committee formally set the colors as royal blue and gold in 1925. Kent State was a member of the

from 1932 to 1951 and joined the

in 1951.

National placements

Although no Kent State team has won a national title in any sport, several Golden Flashes teams have placed highly in NCAA national tournaments. Notable national finishes include: * Men's basketball: tie-5th (2002) * Men's golf: 9th (2000); 6th (2008); tie-5th (2012) * Men's indoor track and field: 5th (1972), 2nd (1973) * Men's outdoor track and field: 6th (1972 and 1973) * Baseball: tie-5th (2012) (CWS Appearance) * Gymnastics:12th (2011) 1st MAC Team to ever qualify for the National Championships * Softball: 7th (1990) * Wrestling: 5th (1941 and 1942) ''NCAA lists men's basketball's appearance in the Elite Eight as a tie for 5th place.'' *Co-ed

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

: 8th (2008); 9th (2009)

Sports sponsored

Kent State sponsors 19 athletic teams at the

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 athleti ...

level, with eight for men and 11 for women. All current teams compete in the Mid-American Conference. The academic year is divided into three seasons, with the fall sports season typically lasting from August into December, the winter sports season going from late November into March, and the spring sports season beginning in early March and ending in June. Fall sports are

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

, women's

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

, women's volleyball, men's and women's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, and men's and women's cross country. During the winter sports season, Kent State has men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, women's

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

, and men's and women's indoor

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. The spring sports season features men's and women's golf,

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

women's lacrosse Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, and men's and women's outdoor track & field. Both men's and women's golf compete in tournaments around the country in both the fall and spring seasons, with MAC and NCAA championship play held in the spring season.

Baseball

The

team is Kent State's second oldest sport, though it is the school's oldest intercollegiate team. Formed in 1914, they were known originally as the "Normal Nine" as the school was originally known as Kent State Normal School. The team has enjoyed significant success both in the Mid-American Conference and on the national level and has sent several players to the major leagues over the years. The team's home field is

Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium is a baseball venue located on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is home to the Kent State Golden Flashes baseball team, a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Ass ...

, opened in 2005 on the site of the team's previous home, Gene Michael Field. The coach is Jeff Duncan, who was hired as coach after the 2013 season. Through the 2018 season, the team has 12 MAC East titles, 15 MAC regular-season titles, 11 MAC tournament titles, and 13 NCAA tournament appearances. In 2012, the team made its first appearances in both the Super Regional round of the NCAA baseball tournament and the

. *MAC East division titles: 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 *MAC overall titles: 1964, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018 *MAC tournament titles: 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 *NCAA Tournament appearances: 1964, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 *College World Series appearances: 2012

Men's basketball

The men's

team, which began play in 1913 and intercollegiate competition in 1914, plays in the

Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center The Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, often referred to as the MAC Center and the MACC, is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. The building is primarily used as an athletic venue that ...

and is Kent State's oldest sport and second-oldest intercollegiate team. After decades of near anonymity, since 1998 the team has been one of the most consistent in the Mid-American Conference with a league record ten straight twenty-win seasons from the 1998–99 season through the 2007–08 season (the previous record was five straight). Kent State was one of only eight NCAA Division I men's basketball programs in the United States to have ten consecutive seasons with twenty or more wins. Kent State also holds the MAC record for consecutive seasons with double-digit conference wins, also for ten consecutive seasons (the previous record was eight straight), and in 2002 finished 17–1 in conference play, setting a MAC record for conference wins in a season. The Flashes amassed thirty victories in the 2001–02 season which culminated in a berth in the NCAA

. In the tournament they defeated seventh-seeded

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, ...

, second-seeded

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, and third-seeded Pitt. One of the stars on this team, power forward

, went on to become a superstar

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers. Kent State has made 12 MAC tournament title game appearances (most in conference history) and has won six (second most), along with six regular-season MAC titles and nine MAC East titles. *MAC East division titles: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015 *MAC overall titles: 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015 *MAC Tournament titles: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2017 * NCAA tournament appearances: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2017 * NIT appearances: 1985, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010

Women's basketball

The women's basketball team, which began play during the 1975–1976 season, also plays

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. ...

games at the

. Currently, they are coached by Bob Lindsay, who has been with Kent State for 21 seasons as of 2009–2010. They have seven MAC East titles, six MAC overall titles, and four MAC tournament titles. In addition, they have five NCAA tournament appearances, the most recent being in 2002, and one WNIT appearance. Kent State has appeared in eleven MAC Tournament championship games (tied for most appearances with Toledo), including seven in a row from 1996–2002. In fact, the 1996–2001 MAC title games all featured Kent State vs. Toledo. In 1998, Kent State became one of only two MAC schools (

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

being the other) to complete the regular season and tournament with a perfect record, going 18-0 in the regular season and winning the conference tournament. Prior to the start of the 2009–2010 season, Kent State had an overall record of 535-387 and a MAC record of 280-179. *MAC East division titles: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 *MAC overall titles: 1981, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 *MAC Tournament titles: 1981, 1998, 2000, 2002 *NCAA Tournament appearances: 1982, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 * WNIT appearances: 2004

Field hockey

The field hockey team plays its home matches at Murphy-Mellis Field, which opened in 2005 and is adjacent to

Dix Stadium Dix Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Kent State Golden Flashes football team. In addition, since 2016 the stadium is also home to the Kent ...

. The team has won 14 MAC titles, with the most recent in 2016, and has 12 MAC tournament titles and NCAA appearances, the most recent being in 2016. In 2001, Kent State hosted the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship at Dix Stadium, where they played their home games from 1997 through 2004. *MAC titles: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 *MAC tournament titles: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 *NCAA tournament appearances: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016

Football

The Golden Flashes

team plays in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Home games are played at

on the far eastern edge of the Kent State campus. Since 2018, the head coach is Sean Lewis. Behind Dix Stadium are practice fields, as well as the Kent State Field House, which contains a full indoor football field. Kent State has four post-season

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

appearances: the 1954

Refrigerator Bowl The Refrigerator Bowl was a college football bowl game played annually from 1948 until 1956 in Evansville, Indiana. The game was named for the local refrigerator A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consi ...

1972 Tangerine Bowl The 1972 Tangerine Bowl, part of the 1972 bowl game season, took place on December 29, 1972, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The competing teams were the Tampa Spartans, that competed as a College Division Independent, and th ...

, 2013 GoDaddy.com Bowl, and 2019 Frisco Bowl. After falling in their previous three bowl game appearances, the 2019 Frisco Bowl was the program's first bowl game victory, a 51–41 win over

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

. Although the team has not enjoyed many winning seasons, Kent State has sent a fair number of players to the ranks of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

as well as in other areas of college football. Don James coached the team from 1971–1974 during the era which also saw future NFL great Jack Lambert and current

head coach

playing for the Golden Flashes and Kent State's only

championship in 1972. Some of the NFL players who played football at Kent State include

Dri Archer Adrion Dante "Dri" Archer (born August 9, 1991) is a former American football running back and return specialist. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Kent State. Arc ...

Joshua Cribbs Joshua Cribbs (born June 9, 1983) is an American former football return specialist and wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Kent State University, and was signed by the Cleveland Browns ...

, Julian Edelman, and James Harrison. In addition,

, who played for the KSU men's basketball team, played in the NFL for 16 seasons. Other notable football alumni and former coaches include current ESPN analyst and former Notre Dame and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

head coach

, former

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their home games at NR ...

head coach and current

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

defensive coordinator

Dom Capers Ernest Dominic Capers (born August 7, 1950) is an American football coach who is a senior defensive assistant for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the inaugural head coach of the Carolina Panthers and ...

(graduate assistant at Kent State), former

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the CFL East Division, East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based i ...

standout

Jim Corrigall Jim Corrigall (born May 7, 1946) is a Canadian former gridiron football player and coach. He was all-star defensive lineman in the Canadian Football League. High school and college Corrigall played football in high school at Scollard Hall, a p ...

(who also served as head coach at KSU) and

Gary Pinkel Gary Robin Pinkel (born April 27, 1952) is a former American college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 1991 to 2000 and the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, compiling career record ...

, head coach of the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...

from 2001 to 2015. *MAC overall titles: 1972 *MAC East Division titles: 2012, 2021 *Bowl appearances: 1954, 1972, 2012, 2019, 2021 *Bowl wins: 2019

Men's golf

The men's golf team has had success both in the Mid-American Conference and at the national level, winning 28 MAC titles and making 36 appearances in the NCAA tournament, including 23 trips to the championship round and three regional championships, as of 2022. They practice at Windmill Lakes Golf Club in nearby

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...

, where they occasionally host matches. The program has produced several pro-golfers and in 2003, former Golden Flashes standout Ben Curtis won the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later ...

in what ABC commentator Mike Tirico called "one of the most amazing stories in the history of the Open Championship" and the "all-time Cinderella story." The team is coached by

Jon Mills Jon Mills (born March 6, 1978) is a Canadian professional golfer. Mills was born in Oshawa, Ontario, and spent most of his childhood in Belleville, Ontario. He developed his competitive game on the St. Lawrence Junior Tour in southeastern Ontar ...

, a Kent State alum who has been head coach since 2019. He succeeded Herb Page, a KSU alum who coached from 1978 to 2019. Page led the Flashes to 21 of their 24 MAC titles, their three regional titles, and 26 of their 28 trips to NCAA competition. In 2008, he coached Kent State to its highest finish ever at the national level, finishing 6th in the country at the NCAA championship as well as a ninth-place NCAA finish in 2000. Page has been named MAC Coach of the Year 20 times through 2017 and NCAA district IV Coach of the Year eight times. In mid–2007, Kent State opened the Ferrara and Page Golf Training and Learning Facility located in Franklin Township adjacent to the former Kent State Golf Course. The facility includes a 350-yard outdoor practice range, outdoor practice tees, and outdoor short-game practice areas as well as an indoor putting and chipping area, a video analysis room, and a science and motion putt lab. In addition, the rear of the facility features heated stalls which allow team members to access the driving range even during the winter months to provide year-round training for both the men's and women's teams. *Ohio Athletic Conference titles: 1934, 1950 *MAC titles: 1954^, 1968, 1977, 1984, 1992^, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 *NCAA appearances: 1947*, 1949*, 1951*, 1954*, 1977, 1984*, 1987*, 1989, 1990*, 1991, 1992*, 1993*, 1994*, 1995*, 1996, 1998*, 1999, 2000*, 2001*, 2003, 2004*, 2005, 2006, 2008*, 2009, 2010*, 2011*, 2012*, 2013*, 2014, 2016, 2017*, 2018*, 2019, 2021, 2022 *NCAA regional titles: 1993, 2001, 2010 :''^=co-champions'' :''*= advanced to championship round''

Women's golf

The women's golf team, founded in late 1998, has enjoyed success from its beginning. Every year of the program's existence it has won the Mid-American Conference title and is so far the only school to win the

Mid-American Conference Women's Golf Championships The Mid-American Conference women's golf championships is the conference championship tournament for women's golf in the Mid-American Conference, a Division I (NCAA), Division I member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). All t ...

, which began in April 1999. Through 2022, they have advanced to NCAA play for 21 consecutive seasons, reaching the championship round in five of them. In 2017 and 2018, the Flashes finished in a tie for fifth nationally, their highest finish to date, after advancing to match play in the

NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships The NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship, played in the month of May, is the annual competition in women's collegiate golf for individuals and teams from universities in Division I. Golf was one of twelve women's sports added to the NCAA cha ...

. while 2008 saw the Flashes win two regular-season tournaments, gain a national ranking of thirteenth, and win their tenth consecutive MAC title by 51 strokes. Their 18th consecutive MAC championship in 2016 set the conference record for most consecutive championships in a sport. Along with the men's team, they practice at Windmill Lakes Golf Course in Ravenna and the Ferrara and Page Golf Training and Learning Facility in Franklin Township. The team is coached by Casey VanDamme, who began his tenure in August 2021 as the program's fourth head coach. *MAC titles: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 *NCAA appearances: 2001*, 2002, 2003*, 2004, 2005, 2006*, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010*, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017*, 2018*, 2019, 2021, 2022 :''*= advanced to championship round''

Women's gymnastics

First developed in 1959, the Kent State women's

team was the first women's gymnastics team at the collegiate level. They began intercollegiate competition in 1964 and

competition in 1981 and have enjoyed consistent success throughout their existence, which includes 11 Mid-American Conference meet championships and 14 regular-season titles. Home meets are held in the MAC Center and the team practices in the MAC Gymnastics Center, an annex on the north side of the building which opened in 1979. The current coach is Brice Biggin, a Kent State alum of the men's gymnastics team who has been coach since 1992. Through the 2013 regular season, he has a record of 342-209 at Kent State. *Ohio state championships*: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 *MAC regular-season titles: 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008,These years are displayed on a banner in the MAC Center 2009, 2010, 2013 *MAC championships: 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2015 ''* the Ohio state championship was held prior to the Mid-American Conference adding gymnastics as a sport. Occasionally the three remaining Division I teams in

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

will hold the "All-Ohio Meet".''

Softball

The

team plays its home games at the Judith K. Devine Diamond, adjacent to

. The team has won six regular season MAC titles and 10 MAC East Division titles, the most recent in 2016, and three MAC Tournament championships, with the most recent in 2017. In 1990, the team went 43–9 en route to their first MAC title, an NCAA regional championship, and a berth in the

. The head coach since August 2015 is Eric Oakley, who came to the program in 2014 as an assistant. The team was established in 1976 and began regular-season play in the Mid-American Conference in 1982 when the MAC added softball as a conference sport. *MAC East division titles: 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016 *MAC regular-season titles: 1990, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2016 *MAC tournament titles: 2006, 2008, 2017 *NCAA tournament appearances: 1990, 2006, 2008, 2017 *NCAA regional titles: 1990

Wrestling

The

team is one of Kent State's oldest sports, going back to its establishment in 1927. It has historically been one of the school's most successful teams, winning multiple conference titles and making a series of appearances in the NCAA tournament, finishing as high as 5th nationally in both 1941 and 1942. For 42 seasons, the team was led by legendary coach Joseph Begala, who compiled a career record of 307-69-5 and the national reputation as the "winningest wrestling coach" coaching Kent State from 1929–1942 and again from 1945 until his retirement in 1971. The team has its home meets at the

, its home venue since 1950. More recently, the Flashes have again received national attention appearing in the national top-25 rankings in each of the past three seasons and began the 2008–2009 season ranked 23rd. The wrestling team is currently led by head coach and Kent State alum Jim Andrassy, who has been with the team as a wrestler, graduate assistant, and assistant coach since 1990 and as head coach since 2003. In 2011, Kent State had its first national champion with Dustin Kilgore at the 197-pound class. *MAC regular-season titles: 1958, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2003, 2009 *MAC tournament titles: 1958, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990 *NCAA tournament appearances: 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1954, 1959, 1960, 1971, 1978, 1981, 1985

Former teams

Additionally, Kent State used to sponsor the following sports, which were eliminated over the years largely due to budget constraints: *

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

(now a club sport); 1980–1994 *Men's gymnastics; 1949–1951, 1970–1994 *Men's soccer; 1965–1981 *Men's swimming and diving; 1936–1988 *Women's swimming and diving; 1962–1988 *Men's tennis; 1931–1982 *Women's tennis; 1976–1982

Facilities

Rivalries

The most prominent rival for Kent State is the Akron Zips of the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classifie ...

, located approximately to the southwest of Kent in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

. The earliest athletic meeting between the two schools is a men's basketball game on February 19, 1916, in Kent, followed by a baseball game later that year, also in Kent. The two schools first met in

in 1923. They were conference rivals as members of the

from 1932–1936 and again from 1944–1951. Kent State joined the Mid-American Conference in 1951 and Akron joined the MAC in 1992 after transitioning to

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). ...

in football. The Flashes compete with the Zips in softball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, women's soccer, and women's volleyball. Since 1946, the two football teams have competed for the Wagon Wheel trophy. Through the 2015 meeting, Akron leads the overall series in football 32–24–2, but Kent State leads the series since the Wagon Wheel was contested, 23–21–1. The rivalry in men's basketball is an even closer series with Kent State leading the Zips 72–71 through the 2015–16 season. Since the late 1990s, both teams have been consistent contenders for the MAC East, MAC, and MAC Tournament titles, so games between the two often have implications in the conference standings or in the tournament. Since Akron's first MAC East title in 1998, the two teams have combined for eight MAC Tournament championships, eight MAC regular-season championships, and 13 MAC East division titles. In 2011, the two schools created the Wagon Wheel Challenge, which counts all athletic contests in the 15 sports where they compete head-to-head. Through a sponsorship agreement with

PNC Financial Services The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (stylized as PNC) is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District of ...

it is known as the "PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge". Each sport is worth one point, awarded to the winning team. In sports with multiple meetings per season, whichever team wins the most games takes the full point. If the teams split the season's meetings, each school gets a half-point. For sports that only compete against each other as part of the conference championship meet, such as cross country, golf, and track and field, whichever team finishes higher in the championship meet is awarded the point. Games in the respective conference tournaments can also factor in to which school receives the point if the teams split their regular-season meetings, with the conference tournament meeting acting as a deciding game. Kent State took the first four seasons of the challenge, while the Zips claimed the overall challenge in 2015–16. Kent State also has a long-standing rivalry with the

Bowling Green Falcons The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Div ...

from

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

Bowling Green, Ohio Bowling Green is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Ohio, United States, located southwest of Toledo. The population was 30,028 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Toledo Metropolitan Area and a member of the Toledo Metropolitan Ar ...

. The two are sister schools, created together by the Lowry Bill in 1910, and both have been members of the Mid-American Conference since Bowling Green joined in 1952, the season after Kent State. While both schools have primary rivals in their immediate geographic regions, the two football teams play annually for the

Anniversary Award The Anniversary Award is a traveling trophy awarded to the winner of the annual college football game between the Bowling Green Falcons of Bowling Green State University and the Kent State Golden Flashes of Kent State University. Both schools ...

and during the 2009–10 season both schools competed for the Centennial Cup to celebrate the respective centennial anniversaries of each school. Points were awarded for every head-to-head matchup in the 14 sports offered at both schools. Kent State won the cup 13.5–7.5. Outside the Mid-American Conference, Kent State has established rivalries with the two other

programs in

Northeast Ohio The region Northeast Ohio, in the US state of Ohio, in its most expansive usage contains six metropolitan areas ( Cleveland–Elyria, Akron, Canton–Massillon, Youngstown–Warren, Mansfield, and Weirton–Steubenville) along with eight ...

, the

Cleveland State Vikings The Cleveland State Vikings, or Vikes, are the athletic teams of Cleveland State University. Before as Fenn College they were known as the Fenn College Foxes or Fenn Foxes. Cleveland State competes in NCAA Division I. The Vikings have competed ...

from

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923 ...

, and the

Youngstown State Penguins The Youngstown State Penguins are the athletic teams of Youngstown State University of Youngstown, Ohio. The university is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, and the Penguins compete in football as m ...

from

Youngstown State University Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergraduate colleges a ...

, both members of the

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Mi ...

. The Flashes and Vikings regularly meet in men's and women's basketball, wrestling, and softball, and previously had a long-standing series in baseball until the CSU baseball program was eliminated in 2011. Kent State and Youngstown State play regularly in men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball, and have played periodically in football, where YSU competes in the

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

(FCS). Through 2014, the teams have played 10 times with the last meeting being in 2003.

Mascot

Flash, a

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird ...

, is the mascot for the Golden Flashes. He was first created in 1985, and the current costume was designed in 1994. The first mascot was a

golden retriever The Golden Retriever is a Scottish breed of retriever dog of medium size. It is characterised by a gentle and affectionate nature and a striking golden coat. It is commonly kept as a pet and is among the most frequently registered breeds ...

named Golden Flasher I, who held the position in 1955 but had to retire after a bone disease. A new retriever named Golden Flasher II was suggested but never became official. It was not until 1968 that Grog, a caveman from the comic B.C. found a place as Kent State's mascot. The mascot was short-lived, however, as it was retired in 1974. In 1971 through 1974, under head coach Don James, a western-themed horse and rider were present at all

games. The horse was an

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

named Raffstar. Along with Grog, Raffstar and its rider were discontinued in 1974. In 1977, another golden retriever became the mascot, this time named Mac the Flash. The dog held the mascot job until 1979. In 1981 through 1983, the mascot went by many different names, including Freddie Flash, Golden Flash, Flashman, and Captain Flash. All of them were costumed people featuring lightning bolts.

References

External links

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